It's been forever since I had the opportunity to write. We went to Florida for two weeks. A week after returning we went camping in Big Bear. Five days before heading into the "wilderness" P caught a cold and over the weekend all three of us got it bad. The decent from 7,000 feet with colds and an ear ache (for P) was not pleasant. Luckily, I remembered a friend once told me that drops of Vodka in an ear alleviates and often cures ear aches. We stopped at a liquor store on the way out, gave P a few drops and she was out for four hours. She woke up when we got home completely cured of everything but Dave and I were exhausted. It has taken us weeks to get our energy level back to normal.
I have managed to finish a few projects here and there but my attention has mostly been on the new front garden. The space has been amazing! Big chunks of it are shaded in the late afternoon which makes it lovely. The big surprise has been how much P loves the "race track", her name for the DG path. She loves to run around it pretending to be a race car.
Today she used the path to ride her balance bike. We bought her this bike for Christmas soon after her 2nd birthday. It hasn't been until now, at 3.5 that she is finally using it daily. She's determined to get her pedals on. Because the front yard slopes down and away from the front door the DG path makes a great place for her to coast and get her balance. She keeps going around and around trying to coast longer and have more control every time.
Being outside in the garden has given us the opportunity to meet new neighbors and chat with old ones. It's also given us the chance to meet new creatures: grasshoppers, crickets, spiders, worms, rolly pollies, butterflies and lady bugs. Not to mention the neighborhood cats and the humming birds who for some reason seem to think my ear is a flower. On a few occasions they have hovered right at my ear; a lovely yet eerie sensation.
Of all the plants I planted I lost about a quarter of them. All the Jack Sprat I transplanted have died. The Kangaroo Paw died. Of course the week after everything went in, I took off for Florida and the temperatures reached the 100's. I had the drip irrigation system in and set to go on three times a week but it wasn't enough. As much as I'm dying to go buy more plants I think the prudent thing to do is wait until the fall. At least it will give the plants some winning odds of surviving. Even if I'm buying drought tolerant plants they need to establish before they can endure the high heat.
I am thrilled we FINALLY got the front yard done! Had I known how much P was going to use it and enjoy it I would have done it at least a year earlier. It's the perfect space for her to play, for me to interact with her and with the garden. It literally is heaven for me right now....well, when it's shaded and it's not 100 degrees outside!
Labels: garden, kid space
