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| June on the swing. |
The weather all week was lovely – in the 70's and 80's during the days, and the last frost we had on Wednesday morning was very light. Since then it’s been in the 50's at night. The garden is growing apace. The peas are sprouting. The first asparagus spears are poking up. The apples and lilacs are budding. The plum tree is in full bloom. The lawns and fields are full of dazzling dandelions. And in its little corner of the garden, the black currant is in bloom, perfuming the whole garden with its delicious clove scented flowers.
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| My plum tree. |
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| The black currant bush. |
On Tuesday we saw our first orioles and rose-breasted grosbeaks. I set a dish of grape jelly on the seed shelf outside the kitchen window and within an hour the orioles were there eating it. They are unbelievably beautiful with their brilliant orange plumage. The robins nesting under the back porch eaves are busy now with newly hatched babies. And the warblers are back filling the treetops with their twittering songs.
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| Sunset on Friday. |
Because we got home from our long weekend on Monday, Tuesday seemed like Monday and the rest of the week felt a bit off kilter. The week seemed to pass by in a flash. It’s great having Josiah and Vanessa here. They’ve been helping me and Miriam with so many projects. Every day we worked on some big job.
On Tuesday we moved the twelve older chicks down to the barn. Before we could do that, we had to clean out the middle pen, rake out all the old straw from when the peacocks were in there, put down fresh straw, install a heat lamp, and chick-proof the pen. That meant considering every way a chick could possibly get stuck and kill itself and then remedying it. It was good to get those chicks out of the house. They were mostly fledged and they were getting stinky. We still have the six younger chicks in the dining room. They won’t be ready for the barn for a few more weeks.
On Tuesday we also planted a hundred strawberry plants. Our strawberry bed is now complete. Now we’ll tend them and hope they yield an enormous crop of berries.
On Wednesday the work continued as we finished more of the projects list. We worked mostly in the raised bed vegetable garden. I did some extensive weeding. Miriam helped me reposition the mulch between the beds. We moved the pepper box to a different, more convenient location just behind the greenhouse. Josiah tilled parts of the garden for me. I planted a large patch of wild flowers.
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| The pepper box in its new place behind the greenhouse. |
On Thursday I mowed the lawn and planted some seeds out in the vegetable garden. I planted carrots and beets and another row of lettuce. In the afternoon Miriam and I took Josiah and Vanessa on a drive around our part of the county. We went up the Pushersiding Road to West Bingham and then on to North Bingham and the cemetery there. We drove past Moon’s Corners where the old Howe farm used to be. We stopped to visit our friends Bob and Nancy Jones and then went on to Genesee and then home again. With the woods and fields greening, it was a beautiful drive.
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| A sunset last week. |
On Thursday evening the Thayns arrived to spend the weekend. They got here in time for dinner – homemade pizza and brownies.
Friday was an interesting day. Miriam was in school all day. Hannah and Stacey went to work as usual. Tabor, Rachel, Josiah, and Vanessa went up to Palmyra to visit Church History sites and go to the temple. That left me at home with the grandchildren for most of the day. I love being a grandfather, but I think I’m not very good at keeping children entertained for any length of time. My wife is an expert at that. I am not. We wandered around the yard a bit. I went out to the big garden to talk to Uncle Kurt while Hazel rode a bike around the property and June and Mabel drove the little Gator around. Florence, who is two, was playing on the swing set across the yard. And then she wasn’t. I panicked and we all spread out to look for her. I went to the house to see if she’d gone inside. She wasn’t there. We were calling for her the whole time, but she never answered. Then I looked on the front porch. She was there, quietly playing with toy horses. I kept her by me the rest of the afternoon. When it was time for her nap, she wouldn’t settle down. We spent 45 minutes watching her favorite show, Cocomelon, which I found to be mind-numbingly terrible. I never did get her to take a nap. I don’t have that skill anymore. Miriam came home from school at 3:15 and took charge. I escaped with Kurt to go to a nursery and buy plants. June and Mabel came with us. All the way home from the nursery they bickered in the back seat. So by the end of the day, I was ready for some solitude.
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| Playing on the front porch. |
While Josiah and Vanessa were up in Palmyra, Josiah formally proposed to Vanessa, so now they are officially engaged. They plan to get married in August at the Pocatello Idaho Temple. We’re very pleased. Vanessa is a great girl and we are happy to welcome her to our family.
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| One morning last week. |
We’ve been planting a lot of vegetables. On Friday, Kurt planted half of the potato row. On Saturday I planted some of the plants we bought at the nursery – 36 cauliflower and 36 broccoli plants and 36 cabbages. We also have tomatoes and peppers to plant too, but we will wait until Memorial Day to do that. The garden is filling up and it gives me a lot of hope and happiness to see it.
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| Plants from the nursery. |
Saturday was a busy day. The Fosters arrived to join us for the weekend on Friday night. Saturday morning Sarah, Tosh, Miriam, Hannah, Josiah, Vanessa, Hazel, and our friend Laura Dunn went horseback riding at a ranch over in Tioga County. While they were doing that, Tabor and June went fishing down at Sinnemahoning. I spent the morning in the big garden planting all those brassicas we bought the day before. When I was done, Kurt and I put a fence around that garden to try and keep out the rabbits, woodchucks, and deer. Then I spent a few hours cleaning out one of my new asparagus beds. Hannah and Josiah helped me at the end. It was a beautiful day, warm – 83° and a nice breeze all day. In the evening it rained briefly. It was perfect.
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| Horseback riders. |
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| June and fish. |
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| Planting brassicas. |
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| The brassica patch. |
Saturday evening we celebrated Stacey’s birthday. It is really on Tuesday, the 17th, but we celebrated early while all the family was here. Julie prepared a Mexican fiesta for the occasion – tamales, enchiladas, guacamole, beans, rice – it was great. Miriam made horchatta. Rachel made her special limeade. For dessert there was a lemon bundt cake, brownies, and coconut cream pie. We sang happy birthday and Stacey opened presents. I love having family here.
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| Our fiesta. |
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| Stacey's birthday (early). |
We are home from church now. With all our family there, we nearly doubled our usual attendance. Now we are preparing to gather and eat the leftovers from yesterday’s fiesta. The Thayns are leaving for home later this afternoon. The Fosters will be with us until Tuesday. Josiah and Vanessa go west again on Wednesday. And then the house will be sad again.
We’re five weeks away from the summer solstice and I’m delighted by the long hours of daylight. The sun rises just before 6:00 a.m. and sets around 8:30 p.m. and I love it. During the darker months, I wake up promptly at 5:30 every morning, no matter how dark it is. But in the bright months, I wake up when the light starts to come, which is long before 5:30 by the time we reach the solstice. I love the mornings and cannot bear to miss a minute of light. Tonight there will be a total eclipse of the moon. The weather service says it will be cloudy, but I’m hoping it is wrong (as it usually is) and we’ll be able to watch it.
Sitting here, I can hear all the noise of the house as we wait for lunch. There is a conversation going on in the kitchen and another in the dining room, chatter and laughter. The children are trying to organize a game of croquet in the front yard. I look out the window and I see the lawn full of bright yellow dandelions and the garden looking trim and the orchard beyond that with the first of the apple blossoms showing. Happy noise, happy sights, a happy house. Good Sabbath.
