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Last weekend we did a little work the yard to keep our momentum going, mostly defined the beds and moved the extra sod to the two bare areas. One area was where the bees built an underground hive a couple years ago, so there’s a valley in the lawn. The other area was under the holly bush foliage, which is now gone! We continued to consolidate the bricks to an orderly stack behind the shed. I also ordered canna rhizomes and perennials that arrived this week. Brian focused on getting new electrical service to the house (a two day event, including Brian removing ~1200 lbs of rubble from the basement, our contractor lobbying National Grid to remedy the pole corrosion post haste so we didn’t go 24 hrs+ without power. The contractor also had to come back the next day to hook up the kitchen wall, which in total exceeded their estimate for the job, but they only charged us for a fraction of the total time. Good contractors!).

Saturday of the Memorial Day weekend dawned sunny, temps in the 60s, and plenty of mail-ordered arrivals to plant. Pretty exciting! I puttered around in the morning, planting the green beans and another row of greens. (Note that the result of “puttering” was a full lawn bag of weeds. It’s an ongoing battle that I think we are winning this year!) The peas* are up! I started thinning the tiger lilies so I could plant the canna along the fenceline. I didn’t realize how much the lilies had spread until I dug them out. I have two bags of root/bulbs, a box to give away, and still tranplanted several pots and a row of them along the railroad ties. I also moved the bleeding hearts today to make room for the perennials and the tomatoes in the garden and patio beds. While I was puttering, I consolidated the firewood pile to move it closer to the maple tree, leaving more room for the tree people to navigate the spruce, and making it easier to transplant shrubs next week.

The larger patio bed has been planted:

• Monarda (bee balm) will be red in the center of the bed
• yellow Coneflowers (black eyed Susan) are in front of the monarda
• purple Salvia are in front of the Coneflowers
• blue Sedum are planted beside the Salvia
• mums will be on either side of the aisle from the patio to the lawn
• Lavender and Sage are at the back of the bed toward the patio – they smell good!
• Dusty Miller filled in a few gaps, since I had a few extra from the window boxes

This will hopefully produce a red, then yellow and purple color scheme as the season progresses. The goal is also to have some color in the yard throughout the summer and fall. The 2nd bed (where the azalea and rhododendron now reside) will have a smaller mirror image of the same plantings.

Next steps:

• The spruce tree is scheduled for removal on Tuesday
• We’re hoping to gift the holly bushes shortly to the San Clemente’s. They are wrapped in burlap in the interim.
• Once the spruce tree is gone, the azalea and rhododendron will be moved to the back fenceline
• Once the azalea and rhododendron are moved, the 2nd patio bed can be planted
• Once the spruce is moved, the poppies, helleborus (lenten rose) and lilac will finish the back fenceline

We took a break mid-day to look for a patio swing (unsuccessful), trellis and burlap (successful). We both came home and took a nap. It would have been easy to call it a day, but we caught a 2nd wind and kept digging and planting. Perhaps the biggest accomplishment of the day was to remove the holly bushes. Brian had at it, and was victorious! He also discovered some sort of underground structure, a circular brick area with a diagonal wall, that extends several feet into the yard. We are not sure what’s there but think that it’s a good time to excavate before we fill in the rather large gap and sod it over.

*Brian picked out sugar snap peas and I agreed to plant them. The author in no way endorses peas. The author maintains no commitment to eat peas, grown in the garden or otherwise.

Another weekend of good weather meant more time in the yard. This weekend’s activities chipped away at the preparation of the backyard. The beds along the patio all had brick edging. I pulled that up and was ready to pull up more bricks around the garden when I realized it would be a good idea to figure out where the bricks would end up after I was done. The empty space behind the shed seemed like the right spot, but first I needed to clear the last layer of dirt, roots and plant debris. Using the hoe, spade and pushbroom, I got to the bottom of the brick – yes, of course there is a 7 x 10 foot bricked area behind the shed. A prior owner must have really loved paving bricks. They are EVERYWHERE! I pulled out lots of weeds and a couple thorny vines, and also moved all the dirt to a holding area (the spot where we removed the tree). Brian helped clear the last layer of dirt along the shed wall, and also mowed the lawn.

Next I stacked the bricks from the yard, plus a few random ones we’d found while removing the tree, and pulled out another couple rows of bricks to expand the garden beds and combine them. Previously we had two square beds (5 x 5 feet) with an L around them for the garden. I took out the bricks along the L, and expanded the square beds out another couple feet. Finally, I turned over the soil to remove the weeds and get it ready to plant. While Saturday’s work was definitely a required step, I didn’t have much to show for my work, especially since the two rows of neatly stacked bricks are behind the shed, out of view.

Sunday dawned beautiful and clear. A perfect day to plant peas, greens and the window boxes. Brian and I scoped out a couple garden centers to check their selection of perennials for the backyard, but didn’t buy anything yet. We will wait until the spruce tree is removed before doing the backyard planting – no sense having heavy equipment sqaush our new plantings. But, we did buy red geraniums, dusty miller and sutera, a cascading plant with white flowers. The window boxes and a few rows of the garden are planted.

Brian and I ran the Indianapolis Mini-Marathon, a 13.1 mile race, on May 3. It starts in downtown Indy, goes out to the Speedway, around the race track, and back to downtown. Shortly after the start, the race course goes past the zoo. A large and small elephant were looking down the hill at us, probably wonder what was causing the stampede of 35,000 runners. There are various entertainers along the way; mostly bands, but two of our favorites were the Circle City Cloggers and the square dancers. (The square dancers even had black and white checkered petticoats or ties to keep with the 500 race theme.) We were out for an enjoyable tour of town, not worried about any speed records. Brian set the pace, keeping back my early-race enthusiasm so that we could maintain a 10-minute pace and finish in 2 hours, 11 minutes rather than speeding through the first half and blowing out our knees/hips/quads by mile 10.
We had a great time seeing my brother and sister-in-law play softball, hanging out with my parents, visiting my grandparents, and trying to do enough walking to keep our legs from getting sore and stiff. Spring is about two weeks ahead of New England, so there were lots of tulips, flowering trees and lilacs in bloom.

As many a spring initiative has started strong and whimpered out when schedules got busy and weather got worse, we thought it was important to continue working on landscaping a bit more since our last post.

The tabblo has been updated with more pictures. The holly bush bonsai project was conducted Sunday April 20. I couldn’t bring myself to hatchet down the gigantic bush. I had to deconstruct it to see where things went so horribly wrong. You can see photos of the interim state. The fellow who gave us a quote to remove Spruce tree this week warned Brian that “it will come right back, you know!” Brian assured him that this was round one, but that we were not giving up yet.

The second round of chainsawing and town compost trips occured April 26 (we are up to 5 Subarus full and counting!). Not pictured, we also pared down the 2nd holly bush so the pair is ready to transplant if anyone wants them – hint hint!

Today we ventured out amid the sprinkles and grey weather to measure out the yard so we can plan our attack. We have been working with the New England Garden’s Guide, Botanica’s Annuals and Perennials and our 3D landscape design software program (rudimentary but useful for visualization) to map out the beds and develop our list of candidate plants.

Next week is our race in Indy so we really need to hit the ground running, or rather digging, to get the spring plantings in when we return!

This is the year that we tackle the backyard. We’ve decided that the huge holly bush that blocks the view of the entire backyard has to go, along with the ugly tree back by the shed. At some point we’ll probably have someone cut down the spruce as well. Today we started with the ugly tree by the shed. You can view the photos here. I’m giving up for the day due to tired arms and shoulders and the stump is still in the ground… for now! On the positive side, the yard already looks a lot more spacious and we hauled 3 Subarus worth of brush to the compost facility.

Maybe it’s the hiking influence when we send trail reports to our fellow White Mountain “jackasses” but I felt like I needed to write a “trail report” for Fenway today.

Weather: gorgeous. May all of our April games be so warm and sunny. Hardly any wind. Felt much warmer than 50 degrees.

oops moment: I forgot sunscreen, resulting in a red face from the afternoon game. I did make the game on time after a quick change from suit attire for briefing our General Manager to red turtleneck, blue hoodie and jeans for game. I’ll have my best (hopefully not peeling) face forward for tomorrow’s continuation of our quarterly reviews at work.

Game: wonderful! Red Sox offense good, defense very good, win! A few folks in the stands were sad that Papelbon didn’t pitch, but Oki did a great job. I think DiceK still thinks he needs to finish every game. He looked so disappointed when he was taken out after almost 7 innings of holding the Tigers to no runs, and walking a guy after 109 pitches. Sounds like he was cheered with his new ring though.

Annie: not in her usual seat. I didn’t have a chance to ask Melva and the normal male usher (I forget his name) if they’d heard any news. One of her friends was there but I didn’t recognize anyone else in that row. I’m hoping she scalped her tickets to avoid the crazy drunkeness and will be back next game in her lovely red plaid pants with her radio and score book.

Waves: none. A very drunk and angry woman was trying to spur us on in the 9th. She said we would do the wave the next inning (up by 5, hmmm.) Melva calmly asked her to take a seat or go to the concourse. She chose the latter. Dan would have been pleased. Also zero inflatables. Good day for paying attention to the game, except for having to ignore the completely unsubtle advances by row 14. ew. How long has it been since I’ve been hit on?

Celebrities: You probably already know Bill Buckner threw out the opening pitch. Johnny Pesky said “play ball.” Steven Tyler harmonica-ed and sang God Bless America. New levels of Neil Diamond – Jordan Furniture had Neil record a special “Sweet Caroline” in a Sox jacket with John Henry and other jersey-clad backup singers, and showed it on the Jumbotron. In addition, there was crossmarketing as John invited Neil to sing at Fenway Park and the ‘tron noted that tickets go on sale April 28 for Neil Diamond’s August concert. I am sure Dan will be first in line for this one. ahem. (also note that the video’s existence is already on wiki)

Seat: They look much like the old ones. They are higher (my feet don’t touch the pavement, good news for all you tall folk) and thus have somewhat more leg room. The white extra step at row 13 remains. Luckily the beer spiller was walking uphill and spilled on row 14 this game. The seats are green with the same type of slats. The connectors between seats are metal but the seats themselves are plastic. No cupholders. I am pretty sure they are the same width, since the foreign woman beside me kept hanging her Coach bag over onto my seat. ugh. The only non-sloshed people in our area didn’t speak English? Great! Enough ranting. It was a terrific game. I’m sorry I didn’t take pictures.

Bullpen: No parrot sighting. The hawk did make two appearances, one during the National Anthem and one during the 2nd inning. No Alexa Rodriguez attacks today.

I saved the best for last: my friend Joanne came with me. It was quite a day for her! She had been to the park as a girl but hadn’t been for a number of years. She took the train in so she could enjoy the pre-game festivities, and I met her there at game time. We had a wonderful time. She was a real trooper to walk back to the car on Mem Drive after the game. I couldn’t have asked for a more excited or appreciative companion for the afternoon. What fun!

PS if you are wondering why I’m writing in short bulleted paragraphs, note that I’ve been working on 8 powerpoint presentations for this week. What a terrible habit.

We have glasses. Brian got his first and he wears his more often. After 15 years of wearing contacts and letting my glasses prescription become obsolete, I finally got new glasses too. I don’t plan to wear them all the time, but I can wear them around the house or in case I need a back-up to contacts. I like them so far.

Also new – Sox Tickets! The home opener is April 8. I have 12 games this year. Go Sox!

Today was our church cluster Cantata. Our director is moving to NC, so we don’t know how the Christmas cantata will happen, and it was both sad to think about him moving but at the same time a celebration of the fun we’ve had singing with him for 8 of these events. Today was a thoughtful program about joining Christ in his sorrow, a good way to start Holy Week.

• Lousy Smarch weather!
• We finally have an official legal easement between the church and our neighbors to share use of the driveway and transfer a parcel of land to the church. It has taken a long time but we’re ready to sign, and the District Superintendent gave us the go-ahead. yay!
• We’re still getting donations for Nothing But Nets. We’re over 140 nets now.
• It’s hard to be motivated on a gray dreary rainy cold day
• Going to the grocery store is better together
• Shopping at Tendercrop Farm is way better than at the supermarket
• The crocuses are poking through the ground. We “spring forward” today. I could use another good snow shoe outing but I’m ready for spring weather. Except not rain. icky messy yuck.

Tonight, the People’s United Methodist Church and the Girl Scout Troop we host held a fundraiser for Nothing but Nets. The organization is seeking to purchase nets, distribute them to families in Africa, and “cover the continent” to prevent the spread of malaria, and ultimately to save lives.

It was great on so many levels. First, we raised awareness of how many people suffer from malaria, and how easily it can be prevented by using insecticide-treated bed nets. Many of the church dinner regulars had little understanding of the magnitude of the problem. The girl scouts welcomed each diner, distributed a single page handout explaining how use of bed nets significantly decreases the spread of malaria and helps save lives, and also had a net set up in the church lobby as “show and tell.” We also showed a short video explaining the program.

Second, we raised money! $1322.25 to be exact. At $10 a net, that buys 132 bed nets. Since the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation matches each donation, we will send 264 nets to families in Africa. It feels very tangible. That will cover a village.

Third, there was humor (perhaps bad humor, but humor nonetheless). The NBA is a sponsor of the Nothing But Nets Campaign, which led us to think about the basketball theme in planning the supper. We had the dinner on Leap Day, trying to connect leaping with nets. Get it, basketball, leaping, nets, Leap Day? Yeah, pretty sketchy. If that doesn’t elicit a chuckle, let’s try the local newspaper headline, “Chowder Supper to Prevent Malaria.” Yes, I know you may have thought that insecticide treated bed nets were good prevention, but actually if everyone just ate more chowder, there would be no malaria problem. Next time your friends get malaria, feed them some home-made chowder and they will be cured in no time flat. I’ll get you the recipe.

Finally, the shared goal built us up as a community. We were challenged to donate 15 nets as a church. We thought even as a little church (30 people on Sunday is good for us), we could do better. Doing what we do best – cooking and hosting – we raised almost 10x our goal. And, throughout all the preparations, I kept hearing people rally around the cause. “A few hours of washing dishes is a pretty easy way for me to save a kid’s life” and “One net can cover six people? So I’m helping a whole family!” Not only did regular church attenders help work at the dinner, but two men from our Emotions Anonymous group, several church member’s families, as well as half a dozen Girl Scouts also came to help, and got to know one another. We even had two local Massachusetts Mosquito Control workers come and eat with us, and also give a generous donation. Mosquito haters unite across continental boundaries, it seems.

I’ll take two fish chowders for carry out and two bed nets for Africa, please. That will be $20. Seems like a pretty good deal all around.

I think 33 feels more than 1 year older than 32. I needed a longer birthday celebration to offset it.

Wednesday: Steak dinner by Chef Beej. By far the best ribeye in town. Perfectly medium rare. Served with herbed mashed potatoes, sautee’ed spinach and red wine. yummm.

Thursday: Pedicure and Hair cut at the spa. It’s nice to be pampered. I came out with the softest feet in Newburyport courtesy of my Pomegranate pedicure. Then on to dinner at Ab and Dave’s. It was great to see them. AJ was already in bed but I did see the latest photos of Englebert/ha. S/he looks healthy, and we figured out the photo was shown actual size (about 2 inches long). Ab has a lot going on lately so it was nice to carve out a few hours to catch up.

Friday: It snowed! The storm was forecast to start in the afternoon, but it was already snowing in Burlington and Arlington when I woke up, and started snowing in Newburyport a short time later. I made a few phone calls, sent a few emails, and decided to work from home. Dan Dunn arrived around noon time, also working from “home” – in this case our living room. Nate, Brian K, Ronin and Atticus arrived at 5:30pm; Dan and I were almost done working by then. Heather took the train, which got her to Newburyport by 8pm. It was a party!! Brian K’s birthday is Feb 23 so it was a multiple birthday celebration. We ate dinner at Agave, sat around and chatted until past midnight, and retired to our rooms for a long winter’s slumber, after the ~8 inches of snow accumulation. The Juddmansee B&B accommodations were simple but provided sufficient soft horizontal surfaces for everyone.

Saturday morning dawned clear and warm. The boys (Ronin and Atticus) woke up around 7am, eager for a romp in the snow. Heather and Brian took them out to the backyard, tired them out, then all went back to sleep. The rest of us started emerging between 8am and 11am, lounging around and enjoying bagels and coffee. Oh, and the juicer. We loved playing the the juicer on Friday night and Saturday morning. 1000W of powerful juicing action! It also buffs your floors – just kidding. Eventually it was time to get on with our days. Guests left for Arlington, Brian and I packed, napped, I finished some work, and we headed up to New Hampshire to stay at the Christmas Farm Inn for a couple days of snowshoeing.

Sunday, a beautiful day for a birthday (bright sun, cloudless blue sky and about 19 degrees), and the perfect way to spend it was on a scenic winter hike. We met Steve Hines in Franconia Notch, tromped up to Lonesome Lake, stopped at the lodge to rest and eat, and arrived back at the trailhead in less than 4 hours. Here are photos courtesy of Brian. It was especially cool to see it in the winter, after we’d hiked that area with the Sheldons in April 06. We decided to head up to The Flume to see the ice climbers while we were in the area. Then we said goodbye to Steve and drove back to Jackson, NH to soak in the tub, relax by the fire, and enjoy a romantic dinner at the Inn.

Monday: With the epic snowfall this season and another beautiful day, we couldn’t resist another snowshoe outing. But first, sleeping in (ahhhhh – no alarm clock) and a hearty breakfast at the Inn to fuel us for the trip. On Steve’s recommendation we went to the Pinkham Notch visitor’s center to do a loop along Old Jackson Road and George’s Gorge before driving back to Newburyport.

On top of all this, I received several cards, messages, and a singing voicemail!  Now that I’m back home, I’m feeling my normal obligations start piling up on my shoulders, but that just means that I was able to shed them for a few days.  That might be the *best* part of my birthday – to fully enjoy each moment and not worry about the stuff that wasn’t getting done in the mean time.