Have you ever.........................

been grateful for rainy days and Mondays??? No? Well, I have to say that most of the times I would totally agree with you but just not today. Why you ask? Since I have to go to work that's my excuse not to be home cleaning and raking.

It is that time of year when the flowers are growing and the grass is growing and the gardens and yard are calling my name. LOUDLY. And since my poor yard, including the fifteen individual gardens, have been neglected the past few years I really have my work cut out for me. So once the temps are in the upper 50s and 60s, it's not raining and I am not at work you will find me outside. My rake and trowel and gardening gloves nearby.




The weather this past weekend was picture perfect for Friday and Saturday. I decided that I needed to take Friday off to get a some serious clean-up done. Now I have been doing a little in the yard each weekend for the past month but this one was my most productive. Actually so much so that by the end of Saturday I could barely move. Those little used muscles were really telling me what for. But as you can see in the photo below I got a lot done which made me feel gone. Achy body and all. It includes 5 trash cans filled with larger sticks and branches and 34 bags of leaves and debris!!
I still have a lot to do. Especially before the guy comes next week to mow the grass. If it is covered in leaves and sticks he won't cut it. Also if the garden beds aren't clearly defined than he might mow over them. But once I clear the back corner (photo below) the greater majority of the leaves are cleared.
If any of you are gardeners I just have to show you the best gardening tool I ever bought! Well worth the cost, which wasn't that much.

Knee pads! I got these in the flooring section at Home Depot a few years ago and they have saved my poor knees. The arthritis in my knees as well as the fact that the cartilage is nonexistent , do bother me a lot when I work in the yard. But once I discovered these it made things so much easier on my knees.

Try it and I am sure you will agree.

The daffodils are blooming beautifully this year. I have a few different varieties blooming right now and more to come. These are one of the prettiest. IMO.



A few more in another area. Below is the bleeding heart and it is doing really well. I should start seeing blooms on this in the next week.

Another flower stating to pop up and bloom are the violets. I have purple ones, purple and white ones, white ones, yellow ones and the pink ones I posted in last weeks blog post. There is one thing that drives me crazy about the violets. Maybe someone here can answer this question:

Why do the violets bloom the best when the are growing in the grass rather than the garden they were originally planted in??

Last one (if you have lasted this long looking at my photos--Thank you.)

This big blue thing was left in my yard by the previous owner. Since it made of fiberglass the town won't pick it up as trash so I decided to plant a garden around it. I painted it and planted daffodils and lilies and iris around it. I tried some clematis to climb over the top but it didn't take. So here is what we call the Blue Ball garden with the daffodils in bloom.

Very little stitchy new today. But I did want to say that Vicky, you were close in your guess. Rene you got it right. (Nancy, you did also) That mystery piece I have been stitching on Monday and Tuesday is LHN's Home of a Needleworker Too.

I did start two new pieces over the weekend. one is a birthday gift so no photos and the other have very little done. I will have more progress photos and maybe even a finish (I hope. I hope) soon.

Until next time.......................

Love and stitches

Kathy