grow and bloom

amazing how closely tied flowers are to my soul! when we moved in, there were no blossoms to be seen from any of our windows. even the green was minimal.

the plan is to not do much yard work this year, but to observe the yard....sunny and shady areas....and contemplate potential plans.

we had a HUGE blue spruce in front of our old house. it was beautiful. and very old. a few years ago we noticed that it had sprouted some seedlings beneath it's boughs.

i unearthed four of them to take to this new house. for now i have them planted in a sheltered spot. we still have a few years before we can decide where they should be moved permanently. and as i was planting i had a great surprise. some of our reno projects included removing old sidewalk blocks. most of the blocks from the front yard were broken down into smaller blocks and bordered the flowerbed in the back. some of the smaller broken pieces were used in my flower pots to improve drainage. they were handy. i was impatient. yes, i can already sense your surprise! in years since, i did less flower pot planting. many of these broken sidewalk chunks had found their way to the garbage. except this one. i thought it was fitting that it be centred between the seedlings. it makes me smile.

the peonies have pleasant blooms. a few were planted amid the grass in the backyard. they won't be staying there! in the meantime i think i want to do a mass planting of this perennial. i just need to decide where....

for some reason, this rosebush was left behind. the crazy family who used to live here "stole" one of two rosebushes. i'd like to give them the benefit of the doubt and say that it died, so she dug it up to save me the trouble. but that is questionable given their other antics. thankfully this is one of my favourite colours of roses. i have never been able to keep a rosebush alive. i figure i've got a head start with this one since it survived the crazy people and one winter already. i have no clue how large this bush will grow and what kind of pruning i'll need to do. i guess we are compatible?

more

of the same.

more work on the garage.

more progress on the playhouse/shed.

the concrete forms are now in place for the garage pad. just waiting for the gravel to settle as we get quotes and dates from concrete companies. the sidewalk forms still need to be formed. i guess that is not as difficult? hmmmm....

the playhouse looks even cuter. Kristian completed the railing while i took the kids to a nearby splash park. without the camera. (which is probably a good thing?!)

i need to take some photos of the yard this week and share them. our yard used to look so "together". it was never a manicured yard. but it hardly seems worth mowing. sigh.

i've been taking photos of my peonies this week. they are only single petal. so they don't last long. the day after i took these the colours were severely bleached by the sun. and the petals looked a little worn from the wind.

this is earlier in the week. still a few buds had not opened.

and the buds that had opened were still not open fully.

and then...

so delicate.

this poor flower. i think Kiara played her own version of "loves me, loves me not". who taught her that?!

and there are the remnants.

check out the bugs. i have seen a few of them around this year. i wonder what they are. and i wonder if they are good to have around.

it was good to keep busy today. we are all quite tired. the day was hot. and our house is now a bit warmer after baking LOTS of cookies for the memorial tomorrow. i pray for my friend, Kathy and her kids and her family a lot during the day. i have not successfully made it through a single day without thinking of her and thinking of some new way to pray for them. we are so thankful that Ella was finally released from the Kamloops hospital today so that they could return to Edmonton. she will still be in the hospital, as i understand. but at least she is getting closer to home.

i took some great and some interesting photos of the kids. i can't wait to share.