Summer or Spring? May Can't Make Up Its Mind.

I know. I haven't written on this darned blog in forever. Well, since February, to be exact. As usual, my excuse is that I've been busy. Sue me.

So, last week I had on the AC. Yesterday I had to turn it off and switch to heat. My, May is a fickle lady in upstate South Carolina this year.

The good news is that it hasn't gone below 50 degrees, and we've even had a bit of rain to mitigate the deficit (we're about 2 inches under for the year). My Spanish lavender is still blooming, and the English lavender is about to pop. The false indigo has come and gone, along with the rhododendron, Veronica (speedwell), and lots of others. Bob's veggie garden is jamming along, with 55 (yes, fifty-five) tomato plants, squash, cucumbers, Swiss chard, peas, bush beans, zucchini, blueberries, etc. My herbs are doing well so far, too: cilantro, rosemary, oregano, sage, salad Burnet, thyme, tarragon. I keep meaning to snap some photos, but it's been so cloudy the last few days that they won't turn out the way I'd like, so I'm waiting.

School is going great. I've earned my practical nursing diploma and have advanced to the RN level courses; my pinning ceremony is set for October 31 this year, which I think is cool in one respect but crappy in another. Cool because I'll be done and it's an "off" time of the year for new nurses entering the field, so hopefully it'll be easier to find work. Crappy because it's my favorite holiday and I won't have time to prepare for it as I usually do. Each year I do an ancestor's dinner, light candles for my loved ones who've passed away, and I dress up in my best homemade witch, gypsy, or vampire costume for the hundreds of trick-or-treaters that frequent our historic neighborhood. I suppose I will just have to make do and prepare a little at a time over the week prior to Samhuinn (yes, you can call it Halloween all you want, but as for me, I call it what my ancestors did). This year I'm considering just wearing my dressy nurse outfit that I'll wear for my pinning ceremony. Nah! Seriously? How boring. I love nursing, but why would I give up the chance to be something fun and outlandish? Hmm, maybe I'll be a zombie nurse. LOL

Well, it's time for a well-deserved nap. I was up super early, leaving the house by 6:30 a.m. to be on the unit at 7. I want to dream about our weekly Saturday night potluck dinner when all the veggies are in and what I'll cook. What are you dreaming up this summer?

Spring is on the way...

I could feel it today in the air - a certain balminess to the breeze - and see it in the way the sun trekked across the sky: spring is coming, and it's coming quickly. After a record snowfall for my Southern hometown last month and even a white Christmas in December (the first that I can remember here), today was warm (at 69 degrees Fahrenheit), sunny, and bright. The birds were out earlier this morning, and our cats were happy to be outside all day, which is change from Willow being curled at my side constantly when I'm at home. Jude even suggested that we take Ansel for a jog, whereas normally I have to bribe him with Starbucks coffee confections to get him to walk downtown. Kids!

The best part of the beautiful weather? We are preparing the garden. We had a landscaping crew take out two Japanese cherry trees in the front today (one, sadly, died last year) and replace them, and then they cut down a few scraggly pine trees in the back and cleared a large area for...drum roll, please...more vegetable planting space! We have a goal of growing more vegetables that we eat, of having to buy less at the grocery store and farmer's market, and this space is essential to achieving that. Living in an older home, we of course have gigantic trees in the back, especially one oak, so our full sun spots are limited. So it was goodbye pine trees; hello veggies!

So guess what Bob got for Valentine's Day? Yep, in addition to some Godiva dark chocolate truffles, I bought a variety of seeds, mostly plants that like cooler weather (or what's cool for us Southerners): mesclun salad mix, cauliflower, chives, Nantes carrots, radishes (mmm, can't wait for homemade bread, butter, and radishes!), leeks (yummy, nummy leek soup!), sweet Spanish onions, etc... Oh, and I also couldn't resist some Butterfly weed, which I've wanted in the front garden for a long time to make my lepidopterous pals happy (that's butterflies for the non-science-y folks out there), and some Dame's rocket for the woodland area out back (such as sweet fragrance *and* it can take shade), as well as a packet of seed mix for birds and butterflies. We need garlic, cilantro, fennel, spinach, arugula, broccoli...and I'd like beets too. Hmm and I wonder how hard it would be to grow soybeans (edamame) here? And today at Home Depot, I longingly eyed the hollyhocks, snapdragons, dahlias, moonflowers, morning glories, and stargazer lilies. And I think I may have lost 2 lavender plants over the winter, darn it, so I may as well add lavender to the list - after all, can anyone ever have too much lavender? I think not, my friends! I wonder if my oregano, salad Burnet, and sage made it? I'm pretty sure the marjoram bit the dust... The yarrow and Shasta daisies will undoubtedly come back. The rosemary looks pretty gnarly but it seems to be pulling through.

Can you tell I have spring fever??? Who me? Naaaahhh. Yes, it's that time of year. The time of the year when gardeners get starry eyed and tend to bite off more than they can chew. Fortunately, I have the master, Bob, looking out for me. He's the gardening guru in this house in truth. I am just his "Grasshopper" (yes, this is a Kung Fu reference - if you're too young to have ever seen it, it's an old TV show and you must see it!)... Except Bob would say to me, "When you can snatch the trowel from my hand, it will be time for you to have your own space in the garden."

Happy spring dreaming everyone!