Fluffy Fleeceflower

 I've had this plant for about 30 years. It was a freebie. I've never liked it. But, this year, for the first time ever, it actually looks fairly nice with more than two scraggly stalks blooming at one time.

This is not in the rock garden, but in front where I have not weeded at all yet. I'll get there.

This morning I had a program that took until noon. Since then, I've been working really hard to get my 100 miles of campsites. I'm in the Adirondacks now, and of course, had to switch to a different set of maps and more work to get mileages, blah, blah. I have 80 miles done so far today. I'm feeling highly motivated to finish collecting this raw data and get to the editing. Only 162 miles to go! (So, I'm thinking maximum two more days- but I might spend a lot of time outside tomorrow.)

No gardening or other work happened. Well, OK, I stopped at the store for a few groceries.

See $10000 Plan, $20 Budget

Gary and the Six Dwarves (aka Colette, hike #1)

 Colette has decided she wants to hike all 80 of the Spirit of the Woods Chapter miles of NCT this year. She has invited people to hike with her. I won't be able to make all of them, but I did today's hike. This was our southernmost 10.7 miles. Colette is middle back, right in front of Gary.

It cracks me up when a bunch of us shorties hike with Gary. I'm taking the picture, but I'm shorter than most everyone else. Actually, Michael joined us part way in, so that evened things out a little bit.

I love having things green up. It was an awesome wildflower day. This one is American ginseng (not the famous Appalachian root, but Panax quinquefolius

More familiar are the cousins, Allegheny Foamflower, Tiarella cordifolia and Mitrewort, Mitella diphylla. They were growing together near Jenks Creek.

Much to my surprise, we saw a LOT of Birdfoot Violet. I was surprised only because I hadn't seen it on that part of the trail before. It was actually pale blue (it's often darker blue), but this one looks white. Viola pedata. The leaves are what to look at. This likes full sun and sand. Hmmm. Maybe I should capture one that is going to get stepped on and try it in the rock garden.

Another less obvious one is Wood Anemone, Anemonoides quinquefolia

Everyone noticed the showy stuff. The wild lupine Lupinus perennis. This is not the same as the garden Lupine which gets much larger. The Karner Blue butterflies need the wild one.

And this stunning flowering Dogwood, Cornus Florida. I marked the location of this one, it's so beautiful.

This is the farthest I've walked in a day since I ended the big hike. I'm tired, but not totally wiped out.

And I managed 43 miles of campsites. I've made it to the "blue line," the edge of the Adirondack Park.

Total miles hiked in 2024: 232.3, of which 89.3 is North Country Trail.

North Country Trail, Lake County, MI. 96th St to Bowman Lake TH, 10.7 miles

See Perfect Hiking Weather

Alert!

 By the time I could get in place to take a picture, this bunny rabbit was on full alert. Watching it through the window, it was scratching its ears and being cute. But the camera wouldn't focus through the screen. This furry "friend" hasn't started eating my plants yet, but they are going in prison soon, so it won't be able to. Some of the things it and its friends munched on last year are recovering, but they did some serious damage.

While I'm not showing you rock garden pictures, here's a success story that isn't in any "garden." About 30 years ago, I transplanted one trillium into our overgrown hedge. They reproduce very slowly, but now there are a number of plants, and I counted at least 10 blossoms I could see last week.

Only worked in the rock garden 15 minutes today. Just busy! Volunteer stuff, laundry, errands, bell choir. And I've only got 80 miles of campsites done. I need to get 20 more for the day. But the end of the research is in sight. Then it will be full-on editing. Maybe I'll go do 15 more minutes in the garden while there is plenty of light.

See I Spy

Purple Parade

 After I looked at the pictures, I decided this is an interesting collection. Individually, most people would call all of these purple (maybe with some fading off to maroon, but if you had to pick one of the 6 basic colors, most people would pigeonhole them into purple).

The first one is PURPLE purple. This is Jewel Baby Iris, and it's the first time it's bloomed in a while. So far this year, I've had two blossoms. It's about 4 inches tall.

We all call these purple lilacs- just the old farmstead standby. But compared to the Jewel Baby they look pink.

The Sempervivum sp. 'Arachnoidea' looks really nice. The one I used to have was smaller and green. It's long dead. This one came from Betsy, and it's certainly pushing purple. Its friend is Sedum reflexum, what I call "blue spruce sedum." I've had this forever from a freebie pile. It spreads easily and sprawls all over but never looks all that great. Well! I guess I now know what it needs to look better. In two places where a clump is crowded between rocks it has made this nifty "fountain spray." I like these together.

Found the Sedum 'Cherry Tart!' This is another of the Sunsparkler hybrids. I actually ordered this and got a tiny, tiny sprig for $7 plus shipping. I really wasn't expecting to see it this spring. And then, I wasn't sure where I put it. But I at least got it labeled, even if it didn't get in the notebooks. This is going to be gorgeous when it starts to spread. You might almost call this red compared to some of the purples. Keep in mind this is clump is about 2" on a side. But, it's no smaller than when I planted it, and it's alive.

Just for reference, these are true purple; I think we'd all agree. Plain old common violets, but they fill in open spaces nicely.

And for today's final purple, here's Sedum 'Ezawe' again. I showed you this earlier, and thought it looked more blue then, but maybe not. Today it seems purple. I do like the plants that display multiple colors depending on the time of year, the light, etc. As a reminder, I wasn't sure this one was going to make it, but it seems very happy so far this year.

Today was packed full. I worked on some volunteer stuff. I did 108 miles of campsites. I was interviewed by "Senior Games" for a podcast. It will be out in a couple of weeks, and I'll post a link when I get it. I managed to work for an hour in the rock garden.

I'm tired, but that's the way I like to end the day.

See Sedum Scramble

M/B - Day

 Omer was born on Mother's Day. That was in 1940. He hit M-Day again in 1946, 1957, 1963, 1968, 1974, 1985, 1991, 1996, 2002, 2013, 2019, and this year, 2024.

His mom, Be (Bernice) with #1 kiddo, Om, in 1940. Hard to believe that little butterball is Om.

He probably wanted a bottle that year. Today he asked for steak. Grimace. I haven't cooked a steak in over 35 years. But I succeeded.

We used to each eat one of those. Ha! This time one steak is making 3 servings. We had all we wanted, and there is a little bit left. Added some asparagus, and that was all we needed. He also asked for a Coke.

Please note that the dining room has not exploded into a project space yet. That's a full week. I'm getting antsy.

And, I found the picture I wanted to show you on Mother's Day last year, but couldn't locate. This is Granny, Mom, and me probably in late 1949.

I got my 100 miles of campsites done, worked in the garden, and spent time on a project for someone else.

See Birthday Boy

Sedum Scramble

 This is a report on how some of the many sedums are doing. Also, Since I got some of them last year at maturity, I'm learning what those ones look like as they come up. I'm posting all these partly for you, and partly as a record for me. I think we'll do some today, and some another day.

One that is strikingly different in spring is 'Angelina.' Later in the summer it has light green, sprawling leaves and a tall yellow flower. You can see that at the link below. Here's how it looks now.

Another that I did not have at the beginning of last year is 'Thundercloud." This one gets tall with white blossoms (also in link at end). I like the little mounds it's in now. Both of these two were gifts from Betsy.

This is one I bought last year. I had previously killed a couple, but the lady at the store said she'd never had one die, so I tried again. It looked so pathetic last year that I never even showed you. I split the very crowded pot into three spaces, and it looks like two of them have survived, and are doing well for sure. It's Sedum hispanicum 'Pinkie.' It stays very small. I think maybe white flowers. I'll just have to be surprised later.

And one more I bought last year that did well, and it looks like it is still very happy. This is 'Bright Idea.' It looks very much like it did last year, but that is just fine. This was about the size when I bought it, and it looks the same in May now, so I hope it will spread as the season progresses.

And just because I like it so much, although I've had it a couple of years, this is 'Dream Dazzler.' I split it last year, and both clumps look fine, although this is the biggest.

Finally for today, one I've had forever. I'm not even sure where I got it. Probably free from Matthaei Botanical Garden. Sometimes it looks good, sometimes straggly. But I like how it's filling in around my turtles. This is (I think) Sedum rubrotinctum 'Pork and Beans.' That said, my leaves have never gotten as large as most of the documentation says, but I'm pretty sure that's what it is. You can see a little pink sedum between the turtles. Hope I can find a record of what I put there. It might be 'Cherry Tart,' since I only had a little sprig of that.

It was a little chilly to work outside very much. I mostly worked on the book, but this section is hard. So far, only 53 miles done for today.

Tomorrow is looking like it might be a real outside day!

See 2023 Rock Garden Report 4

That Line of Flowering Trees

 In 2016, I discovered a beautiful line of flowering trees only a half mile from my house. I think they had been hidden before, but a business expanded their parking and removed some other trees that were blocking it from view. It has only improved since being opened up to the sun on this side. It was spectacular this year.

Here's a closeup of one section.

Mostly, it was bye-bye to Steve as I dropped him at the airport.

We both made it to our homes safely. I have managed 70 miles of campsites so far, and spent some time weeding the rock garden. Some of the slower-growing sedums are starting to look nice. Maybe that will be tomorrow's topic. We'll see if I can make myself do 30 more miles tonight. I finished Pennsylvania, and have to move into New York. That requires me to use a different mapping system to get the info, so we'll see how easily that is going to work.

See Guess

The Party's Almost Over

 Wow. We played even more games, although most of them not for points. Steve basically dictated what we did. He's here so seldom that we pretty much let him choose the activities when he does come. Josh is happy to have family time that is more fun than just being here with me alone. I can't sustain the party atmosphere with just two people. Frankly I can't sustain the party atmosphere much longer than a couple of days. I was almost too tired from the cleaning to get the game board set up and organized, even though I'd planned it all way back in Decemeber. But I'm sure glad I did. Steve said he had a great time, and he had a chance to get some much-needed rest.

The prize board was pretty nearly cleared, although no one went for the gift cards, which surprised me a little bit. The numbers on the hooks are game points that have been exchanged for the prizes. However, that big stack of points on the upper left hook will be a donation to Peace Trees, as I explained last night.

We got the nicest family picture we've managed for years. Since Steve has this aversion to being posted on line, I cut out most of him, but you can see that it's a nice photo. The last family picture was in 2018. Of course the green background helps make a good picture.

Steve did let me take a picture of his Star Wars shirt.

Tomorrow morning, I take him back to the airport.

Omer said he might just sit at the dining room table for a while to enjoy looking at the cleaned area. I said all that open space was just screaming for me to start another project. So goes our lives.

See Game Day!

Game Day!

 We had a leisurely morning, and then went out for lunch.

After that... we always pack in the games whenever Steve comes home. The trick is to find ones that all four of us can play and are willing to play (Each of us really dislikes at least one of these). Some are traditional ones. Sorry works.

It's become something of a tradition that I come up with some silly things that are different each time.

The biggest drawback to this has been that I haven't been really successful at finding prizes that people actually wanted. So this year, I made an "Easter Basket" board with prizes on them that we had to earn game points to acquire. There were various things ranging from 3 points for a snack, 5 or 10 for some small items, and several were for gift cards of the winners choice for 20 or more points. So anyone could choose something they wanted, and not get stuck with something they didn't want.

And how did one amass points? The winner of each game got 3 points, second place got 2, and third place got 1 point.

Oh, you want to know what that ball was for?

There were point tickets wrapped in plastic wrap around a basketball. You had to unwrap it to get the tickets. But each person only got to unwrap until the next person threw doubles with a pair of dice. And, wait... You had to wear work gloves while unwrapping. There was one 5-point ticket in there, and Steve got that one.

This game involved finger shooting weird stretchy plastic chickens and trying to knock over the targets.

Another standard game we like is Waterworks. Steve has decided he doesn't want me to show pictures of him, so you are basically getting random body parts of his.

We did several more regular games, Uno, Cootie, one called Trash, and Old Maid.

But this was the super silly one. I wan't sure I could get them to play it, but they did. We played in teams. One person is throwing something at the other one.

But what? The reciever was wearing a shower cap covered with shaving cream. The thrower was tossing cheese curls. Despite all the protests about it being gross, everyone played. That's a win for me! (P.S. Shaving cream really stinks! How do guys put that on their faces?)

One of the most rewarding things for me is that one of the prize choices was trading points for donations to an organization I discovered this past year called Peace Trees. It was founded about 30 years ago by Vietnam Veterans. They work to disarm live ammunition that is still being found in Vietnam, and to then replant trees in the areas that were so dangerous. A significant number of the prize points were traded for that.

And, we still have one more day together! We may play some games, but not the crazy stuff for points.

Yes, this was a lot of fun. No, I do not want to do this every day. But every few years is great.

See Got Him!