Gardening

It's so much fun to peruse seed catalogs in February, planning and dreaming about your summer garden, but reality sets in pretty quick, especially with a new garden.  I picked an area that had previously been a playground for the previous owners which was covered in mulch.  I had my daughter and her boyfriend scoop up the mulch (saved for other uses) and netting underneath.  Fine so far.  It sat vacant until last week after some good rains.  Seems as if the rocks in the soil floated to the surface, so I had a job to do, for sure before I could plant. 

This is, unbelievabley, after it was roto-tilled by my neighbor!  And sorry to day, I almost ruined it with all the rocks - I actually saw sparks spewing from the blades. 

Ok, I know you're bored by now, but I gradually dragged rocks out of the garden space and made a border around the edges.  I have now planted tomatoes, peppers and lots of other stuff which I will post in the next couple days.  Each year will get better.  I keep telling myself. 

Survived Memorial Day weekend craziness

I've been too busy filling orders to blog this past week, but that's all behind me as I shipped off 3 boxes today and 2 yesterday.  Whew!  But I'm not done, because I have a bride who wants more stuff. 

I took some time off during the weekend of Memorial Day and had a wonderful time.  The weather cooperated beautifully.  Carla, my youngest daughter arrived Friday afternoon, and the rest of the gang got here later that evening from Philadelphia.  We cooked a half turkey on the grill that day, and it was demolished before our eyes!  so good!   The next day we made chicken Spiedies ( a local favorite).

Saturday, most of the gang headed up to Ithaca to shop and hang out.  Others stayed behind to relax in the sun. 

Sunday some of us went to Greenwood Lake and rented a boat.  It was truly great fun!  I was planning to just relax under a tree and read, but at the last minute decided to go out on the boat.  I felt like a kid again. 

 

 Monday afternoon, everyone left to go back to Philly except Carla, who stayed until Tuesday morning.  That evening, just she and I sat out on the deck chatting and enjoying the night air.  At least until we heard something rattling around in the recycle bins downstairs and we hightailed it back into the house!  We got a report that a bear is in the neighborhood, so we weren't taking any chances. 

 The weekend was stupendous with great food, and even greater relaxation.  I took the day off Tuesday after I took Carla to the bus depot, then it was back to work filling orders on Wednesday.  I just finished up the other day, and spent yesterday packing and printing shipping labels.  Now I need to start working on the garden.  A neighbor roto-tilled it the other day, but it's literally full of rocks.  Oh, what a pain, but I have to get some veggies in the ground soon or I won't have anything to put up this fall!  And I still have flowers to plant, and landscaping to prune and clean up.  So much to do!