Photo intensive garden update time. Enter at your own bandwidth’s risk!

Do you remember what bed A looked like just a month ago? Now look at it!

Carrots and onions and green beans, oh my! Ignore that empty square in the back left corner. My cilantro bolted while we were at the Pagan Campout (I still need to blog about that don’t I?) so I pulled it up. Never fear though, I have the new crop already sprouting in bed B (photo to the right.) But while we are on the topic of bed B…


Cucumbers and Pumpkins (and zucchini which are not pictured.) Cucumbers… well they are rallying at least. My Sugar Pie Pumpkins are doing fabulously though, as you can tell, the kid in the corner won’t be boxed in, but I’m cool with that. I’ve always had a thing for rebels. Please ignore the weeds proliferating in the pathway, I know that I am!

I adore pumpkins, they just make me so happy. Look at this blossom! And who says yellow is an ugly color? (Oh wait, I do. I love yellow in nature!) My sunflowers have several more feet to go before their giant yellow beauties open up, and I really do mean giant, they are 12 foot heirloom Titan Sunflowers. I have them in the four corners of my beds, ants have turned them into aphid prisons.

I really love insects. Look at this jewel-like fly perched on my ground cherry. I am sure it and it’s six-legged cohorts will eat my garden (or their spawn will,) but lets just appreciate how beautiful Mr Fly is, before I catch it munching on my leaf lettuce. I just sowed my second row of lettuce a couple weeks ago (the old stuff was getting a little bitter.)

I have these beautiful Creeping Bellflower all along a section of our fence and one side of our deck. Initally I thought they were the more innocent Ladybells but they are spreading quite voraciously (they are a naturalized but ecologically invasive.) I am keeping them around for those gorgeous flowers, but I plan on annihilating them once they begin to fade. Gardening is a brutal business, I’m telling ya.

Here is a flower that will never be thinned. Mmmmmm cherry roma tomatoes or are they stupice tomatoes? Well they are one of my 4 varieties of heirlooms. Basil is keeping them all company. Basil and tomatoes are just meant to go together. Can you say bruschetta?

Tomatoes are to Michael and pumpkins are to me. It looks like my Giant Valentines (one of my two varieties of hybrids) are beating my Stupice in the race to be adored by him first. Granted, I think my raspberries will be the first to bare fruit. We are both cool with that though.

In fact, we are cool with everything in the garden overwhelming us with bounty. If there is too much for us to eat fresh it will just go in the freezer, in a canning jar, in the dehydrator, to Second Harvest or shared with friends (preferable all of the above.)

I stole mommy camera yesterday and managed to get a few photos of yours truly before I was spotted. Here are my favorites:

HELLO!

I SEE YOU!

This is the last one I took, as Mommy pried the camera from my sly (she says grubby) little fingers.

If I was keeping up a pattern here I would have a very long relatively informative post about the Vernal Equinox and my beliefs in the place of this photo. Truth is, I haven’t even gotten beyond the outline form in the past few weeks with moving and all. And I don’t have one ounce of shame regarding that fact, it will just have to wait until things settle down (and be posted next year.)

I took this photo of Damian and me in our backyard today. I was taking photos of the yard I can plan gardening work (what better way to celebrate the coming of Spring?) I have started working on two raised beds recently too. I’ll post pictures and descriptions about that later, but right now I need to go weave two loaves of challah bread and finish a curried chicken salad.

Or at least, I pull everything out of the boxes when she is not watching and flip them over…

That looks like an incredibly tasty veggie sub.
Did you know I like bread?
Or rather, I LOVE bread.
Can I have a piece?
Just a little piece?
It looks yummy, oh so yummy.
Keep looking at my cute face.
Not my hand sliding towards your bread.
Mmmm bread…

Your shadow puppet cannot hurt me and you are ridiculous.

Someday I will be big enough to ride in the front seat when the car is actually moving. Someday I will be able to drive too. These thoughts make Mommy go ACK!

Mommy wanted a smile for her birthday, so she gets smiles! Lots and lots of smiles, and a healthy dose of drool for good measure too. We are going over to Shannon’s tonight. I heard Daddy tell Mommy that Shannon might have found some wooden toys for me to play with when I am over there. Very exciting!

I made out like a bandit this Winter Solstice! I got…

Wooden blocks from my Great Aunt Ruth and cousin Becka. The blocks are so awesome, I strategically place them so that Mommy steps on them, mwahahahaha! I push my wagon around the floor too! When I unwrapped it, it looked like this!

I got a musical riding horse from Grandma and Great Grandma Mason (Mommy’s family) and lots of cute books and a crawling Pooh bear. The box was pretty fun too! They also gave me the green PJs that I am wearing in some of these photos.

I got a pull along fabric and wood crocodile (which Mommy needs to get a better photo of) from Grandpa Tolman (Mommy’s father.) I crawl around trailing it behind me and then turn around and maul it while growling. I am soooo fearsome! Grandpa Tolman also got me some long sleeve onsies (I am wearing one in this photo,) sneakers and a baby book about the Solstice! Mommy is going to read it to me tonight.

And as if I wasn’t spoiled enough, Uncle Justin and Aunt Heather got me:

Another thing which allows me to unleash my inner geek! Daddy especially loves this one (he had to explain it to Mommy…)

I had a wonderful Solstice and I hope you did too. Thank you for all the gifts, I am really enjoying them. Mommy and Daddy took a video of me unwrapping them which will be online soon.

Baby hugs! (That’s my Grandma Stewart.)

More Photos Here!

Hello, I am Aos, and I approve of presents with ribbon.
Lots of ribbon.

Because a few people have asked recently. Michael and I adopted Windigo and Aos at the same time, they are brothers. They both had really bad upper respiratory infections, so bad that the shelter told us if they died in 2 weeks they would replace them for free or refund us. They survived with lots of pampering of course, but both get reoccurring viral eye infections, hence why they always seem to have runny eyes. It is worse in winter.

They don’t seem to notice too much, every once and awhile it gets particularly bad and mucus seals one of their eyes shut. They have gotten very tolerant of me cleaning their “gookies” away with a warm washcloth (Windigo more tolerant the Aos as it is worse in him.)

I could post about the weekend, or my usual sabbat write up, or link to my podcast but, my write up needs some final touches, as does the podcast… As for posting about my weekend, it was wonderful but I am tuckered out! So I will write more tomorrow, but I wanted to say

To the left, me yesterday at noon. To the right, me today at noon.

Still snowing!

It is official, the weather service says we have broke then 13 inch 24 hour snow fall record set in 1954. 17 inches! Beat it by 4 inches! It is still falling. Huge fluffy flakes, it isn’t packing snow though.

The snow is to my knees (approx 20 inches) we live on the South Hill and get more snow then the rest of Spokane. Some parts of Deer Park (outlaying areas) for 3 feet! For those who got snow, what is your total at the moment?

As promised I went outside and grabbed some photos.

Hasn’t Mother Nature decorated beautifully for the solstice? Impassable roads or not, it is so pretty!

(More photos here…)

I wonder how much we will get?