replenishing day

Life has been harried lately. 

It's raining today, and there will be much television viewing.  Knitting.  Napping.  If it was January, there would be hot chocolate.  It's July, though, so instead there are mojitos.

Our list of things to accomplish will wait until tomorrow.  We'll be more equipped to tackle it then anyway.

Happy weekend, all.  May it be as replenishing for you as needed.

stormy weather

It rained buckets here this afternoon. There was thunder and lightning. There were sheets of water. Even before I walked outside, I figured I'd write a post about it: about how I hoped the seeds I planted this weekend didn't get washed away, about how I had little pieces of cheese at the ready to drop on the floor for Mr. Cecil after each thunder clap.

The storm moved past us, and now it's remarkably sunny. I took Cecil outside for a minute, and when I stepped into the backyard, I realized this was an even more eventful storm than I'd first thought.

Thankfully, the only casualty was the bark on the side of this tree stump:

in bloom: first daylilies

We were lucky enough to be given several varieties of daylilies from family and friends at the end of last summer.  There were so many plants, in fact, that we had the luxury of doing a little experiment: some went to the front yard, where they get full sun, and the rest were planted in a newly created, make-shift garden along the back of the house (which is to say, we dug up some grass and plopped these guys in). 

The backyard is fairly shaded, but oddly enough these were the daylilies that bloomed first.  They're taking an incremental approach, just a couple flowers each day.  I suppose that's fair considering it's their first year here.

From the garden: zucchini!

This is the first season I've grown zucchini.  Years ago, when I lived in an apartment and had a community garden plot, I remember walking by someone else's zucchini plants and marveling at how much space they took up.  I made a mental note not to give up so much valuable real estate for a crop I didn't particularly care for, anyway.

Last summer, though, I discovered the deliciousness that is marinated grilled zucchini.  So we bought kind of a lot of it.  And when we buy a lot of something that could realistically be grown in zone 5, I start thinking about whether we should add it to the garden. 

And so, this year, there are four zucchini plants in the garden. They're doing really well! 

Much to my great and pleasant surprise, they seem to be a relatively efficient use of space; there are so many little zucchinis on each plant. A few of them might even be ready to eat this week.

in bloom: hydrangea

I find it so interesting that hydrangeas can be bluer or pinker depending on the soil they're growing in. At our house, we clearly have blue-ifying soil, whatever that is. And I've decided that "bluer" and "pinker" are words for today.

We got this plant from a dear friend when she sold her house and moved across the country. (Psst, M, let me know in the comments if I can link to your blog!) The Little Hydrangea That Could had a tough go of it last year, what with being transplanted and all, but it's rebounded a bit. Apparently it's also one of the more thirsty plants in the front garden; it wilts alarmingly after a dry day of sun and will only perk up with a couple gallons of water.