What Is So Rare Than a Saturday Morning in June
June 6, 2009
With apologies to James Russell Lowell.
The noon church bells are pealing at the bottom of the hill and spread out over my neighborhood as I sit in the coolness of the porch. The gloomy rain of the past three days has finally ended and the morning's clouds are finally broken by the midday sun.
Mr. Pom and I breathe in the fresh, cool, earthy smells of late spring. We sit in the stillness of the neighborhood, listening to the birds chirping and the church bells begin the prelude to Christ Jesus, Victor. It is indeed a day to adore and celebrate what the Lord has given us.
The morning's errands are almost done. We have exercised the mutts, had our cappuccinos, trolled the Home Depot for sales on annuals, and loaded up the rear of the LabCruiser with as many bags of mulch as it can carry. Last Sunday, I used all my wifely wiles and motherly apron strings to induce Mr. Pom and Mystery Man to expand the narrow strip of garden bed under the living room window.
The idea was to balance out the wedge of garden on the other side of the lawn by expanding the strip in front of the house in curve over to the giant mountain laurel that hides the porch. It took all afternoon, but they got most of the plants in and now we are mulching. It balances out the wedge of garden on the other side of the path. Pictures will follow as soon as it is done.
Typical the prohibiting of activities along the Sound
Of course, in gardening nothing is ever "done". Once I get the major shape and bones put in, I still have the ongoing planting to do as we fill out by season, shifting and transplanting and creating some unity so the eye has somewhere to rest. We were rather haphazard in this endeavor, though we had a clear idea of what we were going to start with.
I choose to undertake this project whilst in the midst of finishing a submission. (One I had over two months to do, of course.) So there was much calling up to the window for me to fly down the stairs and out the front door to look at this arrangement or consult on what we needed in that corner.
The dogs were besides themselves as I flew out the front door, closing them in by themselves. They cannot go out in the front unless leashed because the front yard isn't fenced. I tried once before to keep them in the yard and the minute I grew distracted by a weed, they were a yard away and headed for the busy main street.
Eventually, I gave up the pretense of getting any art or writing done and joined the boys outside where I cut and laid landscape fabric. Mystery Man was taking a shower and Mr. Pom had gone on another Depot run. At some point MM thought I had the dogs and I thought he had the dogs and a search of the house revealed no dogs.
Our new front lawn this is not.
After much frantic running around backyards and hollering their names across the neighborhood and as my stomach jolted everytime I heard a car speed by, MM called out for me to come inside. There, in their crates with the doors open, slept two sweet dogs who apparently knew that if no one was in the house, their crates were homebase and it was time for a snooze.
I took that as a sign for myself and turned on the TV to some inane cooking competition and quickly was snoring along with the dogs. Weekends are meant for less heavy lifting, but it is almost summer and the outside chores are piling up. The work week was just as insane, hence the lack of posting here.
Today we are off to Niece #1's graduation from high school and next Saturday is MM's graduation party. There are annuals to plant, beds to mulch, back porches to paint, menus to plan, and oh, maybe some napping.
Posts to come: the gardens, spring reading, and summer books.
Miss you all !!