my thyme is blooming

isn't it pretty?

note: you can see the larger size on flickr if you click on the pic above, then go to "all sizes."

what the hell have i been doing?

i swear i look up and months have passed. it's a tad disconcerting. today, out of nowhere, i actually feel caught up enough to write something, so let's catch up, shall we?

today, i am 28 weeks pregnant. and TIRED. but otherwise, it's good. normal complaints from any woman in the 3rd trimester, but so far, all is well. baby is healthy, mama is healthy, and the rest of the family is adjusting to the whole mess. we're keepin' on keepin' on, as it were.

in the past couple of months, a lot has happened. there have been some excursions: we went to the celebrity dairy open house again, like we did last year. it was awesome again, too, but sadly i can find the pictures from that excursion nowhere, so you will just have to imagine cute baby goats, chickens, the critter playing on a bobcat, and us buying goat cheese having forgotten that i can't eat it right now. oops!

on march 7th, gabriella turned seven. it's impossible to believe how grown up she is. she's almost done with first grade, and she's so much fun to talk to and so beautiful. she is smart and funny and a blast, and although she's not mine, i still love her like she is. i am so glad for a little girl i can get my girl on with, especially now that i know i'm not having a girl of my own. she's still the best big sister the critter could ever have, and such a huge part of his village and life. we're lucky to know her.

aside: g's birthday party was a bug-themed affair at the NC museum of life and science, which is an awesome place. the critter had so much fun running around digging for fossils, sitting on dinosaurs, looking at butterflies, and petting farm animals, we ended up joining the place so we can go back there often. highly recommended!

my friend emily and i snuck away for a beach weekend in march, which we seem to be making a yearly tradition. unlike last year, this time we had lovely weather, and i took not a single photograph.we spent time shopping in beaufort, eating seafood, walking on the beach, knitting, talking, and making a ninja strike on the salty sheep on the way out of town. i learned that amber, one of the owners of that most loved of all yarn stores, is also expecting a baby this summer. so cool.

easter happened. we didn't do that much, but we did set up a little egg hunt for the critter in our front yard, and then we went over and crashed a larger hunt in jennifer's cul de sac on the other side of the neighborhood. this year, the critter really GOT the egg-hunting thing, which was really fun. we put a couple of m&ms in each of his eggs, and then hid one larger one with a reese's peanut butter egg (the hippie's favorite!) inside. the kid was thrilled to discover this and to get to eat candy for breakfast. he was so cute looking for his eggs, i couldn't stop taking pictures of him. it's hard to believe that we are only a week away from his second birthday. the kid blows my mind.

in more recent news...

on gardening

hippie and i have long discussed the possibility of adding a charleston-style garden down the side of our house. it's damp and shady, and it seems like a perfect place to make a walk with shade plants, ground covers, and big pots of things that will bloom. we've been slowly collecting pots and ideas and making plans, and last weekend, we jumped into it with both feet. it's a work in progress, but the photos you see here are the work of two critter naps plus a couple more hours. so far, i love how it's coming out. there's much to do yet, but we've done enough now that i can SEE it coming together in my mind. i can visualize what it will be like in 5 years, when the periwinkle and hastas have taken hold and the mosses we planted are all around the flagstones will will soon add to the path we're making. this, more than anything else we've done, really makes me feel like we truly live in this house--like we will be here for a long time. we are making it our own. so awesome.

in addition to the side garden, we've also been refining things along the front walk: getting the grass to take hold at last, replenishing the herb garden, adding annuals here and there, mulching around the perennials that have come back from last year and the year before. we have veggies (radishes, lettuce, onions, black cherokee, red pear, and flame tomatoes, orange bell peppers) in the garden box in the back, although this, too, is a work in progress. and the trees we've planted are thriving, and will one day give us a shady corner in the back where we will be able to add blueberry bushes. my head is full of plans, which is my absolute favorite place to be. loving the yard this year!

on cooking and eating

the farmers market is open again! this means i am inspired to cook. i've also been watching jamie oliver's food revolution, which only strengthens my resolve to feed my family well, to try new things, and to keep on cooking fresh, healthy things for all of us. i have come, over the past few years, to look at this as a serious investment in my health and future, as well as those of my family and friends. i am a food evangelist--i can't help it. and yes, i still love me some cupcakes, which i think is just fine. i don't make them every day, and i really only want the ones made by me or someone i know didn't add a bunch of random junk to them. anyway--i'm not about to start a massive food rant here (again)--i just want to say--hurray for spring and the farmers market and local fresh things that make me want to cook them.

this is a roasted pork loin from fickle creek farm (recipe here)with some fresh grilled asparagus (from whole foods still--asparagus isn't in here yet) that i made on sunday. on monday, in accordance with my and the hippie's new plan to eat less meat and more veggies, i made a lovely roasted potato and wilted kale salad (recipe here). it was SO GOOD! i can't tell y'all how much i am loving the world of food blogs and epicurious right now. the food porn available is truly inspirational to me in the kitchen, plus trying to make more vegetarian dishes has sent me searching for new recipes at least 3 times a week. it also helps that my friend meredith has been having some of the same kinds of food epiphanies that we have over these past years, and that she and i have long loved to cook together. we madly share recipes and ideas, and it's been just great. loving my kitchen as much as the garden right now!

so. in conclusion--life is very full. overall, it's happy and good. as always, i want more time, more sleep, more time, more money, and more time. ain't that always the way, though? knitting and critter and pregnancy updates to come, but i have no more blog in me right now, plus i am totally out of writing time. y'all have a good afternoon and night, and tomorrow i'll show you my new yarn.

visitor

this summer, we have had some lovely herbs planted along the front sidewalk that we've been using in all manner of thing. it's been awesome to just run out front and grab what i need, and it's saved me a fortune. i found, however, that i didn't really use the parsley all that much. so when these fabulous huge yellow and black caterpillars moved in and started to chomp it up, we let them have at it. this photo is a testament to a) how awesome my camera is, and b) how much we've enjoyed these visitors to the yard. the parsley is gone as of a few days ago, and all these caterpillars are off being big swallowtail butterflies now. so cool.

playing in the new yard

funny that it's been over two years,and i still think of this house in which we live as the "new house" and the yard as the "new yard." until this spring, my intentions for this yard have been mostly just intentions. my road to hell is well-paved. and i know, i know-i had a baby--yadda yadda yadda. but that baby is mostly an excuse for times when i just can't get my shit together. and gardening? well--it's hard! and i am ignorant about it, and digging holes sucks. and sweating. and when it's too hot, i tend to prefer sitting onthe porch with a big glass of iced tea to being out where the evil sun can smite me. but as always, i digress...

this spring has been different. this spring, i have started to get my shit together. i have read books, researched, sketched things out in my head, and formed some long term plans. it's as though i am mentally accepting that we really do own this house and are allowed to do things like plant stuff in the actual ground instead of just in pots. oddly enough, our planting efforts seem to coincide with holidays. on valentines day, we bought two trees for the back yard: a red bud and a dogwood. old school, traditional trees i have loved since childhood. i learned that there are one million types of redbud and basically two types of dogwood, although the cherokee dogwood does come in two colors. i picked white, which is what i had growing up in the woods that surrounded my house. the redbud is a lovely lilac-y pink with these gorgeous shiny purple leaves. we got big-ass trees. the hippie dug big-ass holes. they bloomed a LOT, and are now leafy and thriving. one day, they will make a bower of shadiness between them, and i will put a garden bench there with a blueberry bush at either end. and there will be bulbs around the bases of the trees. and periwinkle. and stuff. but not yet. for now--they are just trees.

easter weekend we planted dirt. we dug out the from flower bed (if you can call it that), and replaced about a third of the existing dirt (by which i mean clay with rocks and construction debris in it), with a mixture of peat moss, fertilizer, soil conditionaer, limestone, and perlite. i have become a wheelbarrow chemist. we added a thick-ish layer of mulch on top. then on the following monday, i went to garden supply, which is AWESOME, and got two azeleas, two gerbera daisies, a dahlia, and a scabiosa plant. i had to dig my own holes this time, and i actually managed to get it all in the ground while the critter was a'napping--a miracle. so far, nothing has died and everything is blooming. yay!

this weekend, the hippie is going to help me make a box for a small raised vegetable garden in the back yard. and we are going to extend the from flower beds to accomodate some herbs. this part scares the beejeezus out of me. the herbs i think will be fine. the vegetable box could well be a huge unmitigated disaster. i have never grown a vegetable in my life. however, i am going to give it a shot at least. and if it works out, i will add a second box next year. and if THAT works out and i end up enjoying that part of it, i will add some raised beds to my long-term landscape architecting plan for the back yard. this plan is very long term, and involves things like retaining walls and screened in porches and how the neighbor's tree will grow to chade part of the yard, etc. there is much to consider.

there are days when i miss our old yard so much! it was insane, but it had once been heavily gardened and loved--there was ALWAYS something blooming, and things would come out of nowhere and surprise you. i miss walking through the yard and cutting little bouquets for my little bee bottle. but at the same time, i now get to create a whole little landscape, literally from scratch. it's kind of thrilling, but also intimidating.

so look people--help! if you have ideas or suggestions, or sources of information, or good gardening books to recommend, PLEASE share them! especially on gardening in the south, and vegetable and herb gardening in small spaces. i ahve been relying heavily on don hasting's book, month-by-month gardening in the south, which came highly recommended and has yet to fail me, but i know one resource isn't enough. so you know, help a sister out.

ps--i took all those flower pictures with my new camera, which is really not all that new at this point, but which i am finally starting to learn to use. the hippie gave it to me for my birthday last year, so he's been a little annoyed that i haven't used it more. again with the intimidation. however, so far, it's awesome! i think it will get even better if i get around to reading the book of instructions. hmmmm...

on gardening

alice bradley is moving from the 'burbs back into brooklyn, from when she came. i am positive that she has many many reasons for doing so, but the one i can relate to the most is the mulch. when we lived downtown, our house had a yard filled with lovely blooming things that had been planted 50 years earlier and loved long enough to become well established. the grass would not grow, but there was always something lovely and interesting going on. i had ideas then of gardening--of what i would one day do, given a yard of my own. i have a yard of my own now. i hate my yard. i hate my lack of time for it and how it alwyas looks just half-assed. i have these pictures in my head of what it may one day be, but in truth, i just don't see how it's ever going to get there--at least not till the kid is about 10 and able to help trim the holly bushes that threaten to overtake the porch. someone should really do something about all the plants i have that need to go into the ground. someone should also maybe finish the Great Soil Amendment Project of 2008^* that i started last march while still pregnant and filled with illusions of grandeur. someday i will finish it. someday i will plant trees. and bulbs so i have daffodils in the spring. someday i will repot all my houseplants. someday i will mulch. meredith's coming into town this weekend. maybe i'll make her hold the baby while i work on the yard.

* the flower bed in the front of my house is full of builder's detritus and clay. i've been slowly digging this out and amending the "soil" with a mixture of peat moss, perlite, and fertilizer. it's working wonders for the weeds adjacent to the bed, and i am guessing would also be good for the plants in the bed, were there any. the hippie pokes fun at me for "planting dirt", but i maintain that this must be done before we plant anything else. last time i checked, plants and bulbs did not find tar paper and 10-penny nails nourishing. but i digress...

dragonfly

this guy was sitting on my car antenna, perfectly aligned with my car. he looks a bit creepy in macro, but man--i LOVE his wings. click on the picture to see him in greater detail--he's best viewed large.

roller coaster

man, this week! it's all up and down. the hippie's birthday was tuesday, and he loved his gifts--at least the ones that made it here on time! on the other hand he's sick. i've had long conversations with well-loved and old friends. on the other hand, it's mostly because some of us are going through a tremendously shitty time, and the others of us are rallying around them. it SUCKS watching your friends deal with the hard parts of life. stuff in the yard is blooming. except for the stuff that's dying instead. i am getting caught up at work, but my concentration level is for shit. i am just all over the place. oh yeah, and the car? seven hundred and fifty-one smackers. but hey--it's running now! so yeah. enough talk--let's look at pretty stuff!

the hibiscus bush that gave not a single flower last summer is bloming up a storm. it's been hot as balls lately, and this thing loves it! we will not speak of how much water it needs, and we will not tell the town how much we give it, either. but we will speak of the vibrancy and beauty of these flowers. i love them so much! and at long last, the crepe myrtle tree in the front yard has revealed itself as a white tree. i have mixed feelings about this. i generally prefer my crepe myrtles to be colorful because the white ones start to look like they have mud spashed on them when they begin to fade. that said, it sure is lovely right now! the flowers are so clean and delicate! this baby is just getting revved up, and promises to bloom like crazy in spite of my fears that the frost had killed it off. what is it about flowers? no matter how crappy i feel, flowers make me feel better.

and so does yarn!!!

jaeger, sadly, is going out of business. this means that webs is selling their yarn in super-cheap close-out prices! as you see--i stocked up. a few of these balls of yarn are for meredith, but most are for me! whoo hoo! it's all good baby sweater/dress amounts of wool and cotton in many colors with the exception of that stuff in the bag that's hiding in the back--that's 2000 yards of matchmaker 4-ply in anthracite, which someday... a day a long time from now... will be come a fine cabled sweater for me.

mama's house

this weekend i went home to see my mama. i haven't been home since christmas, which always makes my parents a little sad, so i figured it was time to make the effort. plus i miss them! it was one of those quickie trips home that left me pretty exhausted, but it was also utterly relaxing to be there. since my father retired, he has taken on the yard as one of his major projects, and my mother has joined forces with him--it's been great for both of them. and the yard? it's looking pretty awesome. there's a path through the woods--the same path where my childhood bff, lee, and i used to run together--that my father has taken firmly in hand. he's turned into something of a garden: he and my mother have planted hastas and azeleas and ferns as well as carefully babying the shade blooming groundcovers, mosses, and ferns that were already there. the wild ginger is thriving. there was even a trillium lily about to bloom. my dad has gotten all into roses, and has some lovely and fragrant ones blooming and climbing trelises. there are rhododendrons and beds of wildflowers and sweet william in the yard. my mother kept telling me that i had missed all the spring blooms and that i should have seen it 3 weeks ago, but to me--it seemed that there was something lovely every way i turned. and the smell!!! i forgot that lush green earthy small that you get in the spring in the woods. so peaceful. i spent most of my time there knitting in the swing in between walks through the woods. i could have stayed a month.

i didn't take a ton of pictures, but the ones i did take are here if you are interested. this one of my dad's favorite toy might be my favorite.

angst past, new house still the Right Thing

now that the well-timed bout of food-poisoning is past, my angst and doubt over the new house appears to have evaporated as well. the new house is so pretty inside, and it's starting to fill up with our stuff, which makes it feel more like Our House. the hippie's been saying that it has felt for the past month like we have been painting someone else's house. i think we are both pretty ready to move in and stake our claim. i wish i could lay claim to this lovely plum tree as well--it's in our neighbor's yard, but the yards are so small that this translates to--right beside our driveway. these blossoms are so lovely--they lift the spirit.

ask and ye shall receive

what was it, like a week ago that i asked for snow? well--i got some! not a lot, mind you. not enough to have me snowed in, on my couch with a fire going, making some stew, watching all of season 4 of 24 in real time, and knitting up a storm, but still. maybe i should be more specific next time i wish for something... anyway--i am like a kid when it snows--i get all excited, which the hippie thinks is just ridiculous. but i can't help it! maybe it's having grown up in the South where it doesn't happen very often. it's raining now, and the snow is all going to melt, but it was still awfully pretty to wake up to! it was colder than the beejeezus this morning, too--and i went outside in my PJs to snap this picture of these cute little birds, who didn't seem to mind the weather in the slightest. yay for winter! (you know, for a few days until i get sick of being cold and want may in january back again.)

winter sky

apparently the sky knows it's winter, even if the weather hasn't quite caught up. it was over 70 degrees here yesterday! my dafodils are blooming! they are saying that this coming summer is going to be the hottest on record in north carolina. is it wrong that i just want it to snow?