A time to work, a time to rest

It isn't quite from Ecclesiastes, but it has a similar ring. Several months this winter were slow and relaxing, even occasionally boring. But no more of that! It has been a very hectic month. This past week alone, we've had overnight guests, formal dinner for nine, major church responsibilities for three separate days, floral arranging, a vocal solo, heavy baking, garden transplanting, intensive house and car cleaning (three cars, one too-big house, and an extra set of appliances (long story)), and all the other responsibilities of regular life to handle.

Our upstairs heat pump finally went completely out, so I'm getting estimates for that. The Neon has a hole in the manifold, also necessitating several estimates. When I was in the middle of a big fresh flower arrangement, the realtor called and needed to show the house in 45 minutes. We have been about the first to arrive and the last to leave at our new congregation for the past month, with all the duties that come with organizing that. I had the responsibility of making bread for the Passover, which is a new and rather nerve-racking duty. We are the early crew, late crew, and every crew in between at times (sometimes without even a minute to visit the bathroom)! We've fallen into bed well after midnight, only to awaken early, too many times to count lately.

I can more deeply appreciate the cycle of agrarian life this year; the ease of the winter months disappearing into the ever-escalating pace of spring. This break-neck speed surely will subside a bit in another week or so. I hope. ♫Just keep swimming, just keep swimming♫

Landscape Design

We had a fantastic lecture on landscape design in the Master Gardener class by the state specialist. It was such a good fusion for me of my growing love of horticulture and my existing passion for interior design. This is just exterior design! She pulled in several concepts I'm already familiar with such as flow, simplicity, rule of three, etc. They were presented in a new context that sort of clicked for me.

She very organized, and I'm glad she emphasized having a plan. We discussed how to map the property and come up with several templates that designate conditions, positive and negative features, needs and desires, etc. Most gardeners start with a plant and then try to decide where to stick it; her method was the complete reverse. It's such a logical process when done that way. I'm looking forward to implementing this knowledge next week when we design the landscape for a Habitat for Humanity house.

She highly recommended the title "The Southern Gardener's Book of Lists" by Lois Chaplin. It's not a picture book, so you might want a pictorial reference or the Internet handy; but it has lots of categories of plants for specific purposes, such as low hedges under windows or flowers for poor drainage, etc. Between this and several other gardening materials, I'm starting to grow my personal library.

Bloomin' Bushes

Our red tipped Fraser's Photinia bushes are going crazy with blooms this year. We had the same bushes as a tidy hedge row at our bungalow in Arkansas and I'm quite sure they never bloomed there. This is our third spring in this house and I don't remember ever seeing these put on quite such a show. It almost made me second-guess the type of bush, until I looked it up and confirmed that Photinia do flower. We have a very large screen of them at the rear of the property, and it's a nice treat to see flowers all the way up the top no matter what back window from which I look. I even went out and cut several to add to my Friday evening flower arrangement for the dinner table.

Mantel Madness

Though it's certainly not guaranteed that we will be able to buy the farmhouse (since selling our current home in this real estate market will take a miracle), I couldn't pass up buying a little "gift" for our hoped-for home. The farmhouse originally had three fireplaces, but two were closed up. They would have disappeared entirely to be utterly forgotten if not for the solid hearths evident in the wood floors. Though inordinately expensive to restore chimneys, opening up the walls and installing vent-free gas logs is within the budget.

I had already concluded that I wanted one Arts and Crafts era mantel in quartersawn oak, and I was prepared to strip multiple layers of paint off of one given that stained mantels in good condition are over $1000. The second mantel I was picturing would be smaller and simpler, a paint grade specimen that would suit the bedroom.

To that end, I had to jump on the deal I found on eBay. An individual less than two hours away was selling two original mantels for a steal. And, you guessed it, one was a stained, quartersawn oak Arts and Crafts mantel and the other was a chippy white Victorian/Edwardian piece. A breathless, last minute bid and a whirlwind trip 100 miles north with my everloving husband resulted in these two beauties stored in the shop at the farmhouse!

If we don't get to buy the farmhouse, I can clean these puppies up and resell for at least twice (maybe three) times what I paid. Even Jeff was swayed to take the risk by that return!

Delight in every bite!

Jeff took me on a date yesterday evening. We had purchased a Living Social coupon deal to a little Mediterranean/Italian place a few months back, and it was nearing expiration. So we spiced up a mundane Tuesday with dinner followed by ballroom dancing.

The food was fantastic! This place is a bit out of the way from home, but not too far from Jeff's office. I had the grilled sea trout and Jeff enjoyed the lamb. It was a very elegant presentation, but, sadly, you won't get to see that part. I am not much of a photographer and didn't even think about taking a photo until it was too late. Instead, here is a much rarer sight than an elegant presentation of fish set before yours truly:

A completely empty plate! I could have licked it clean. I can't think of the last time I left a restaurant without a take-home box. We really enjoy these elegant restaurants that prize quality over quantity. As Jeff says, he would rather leave an eatery wanting more as opposed to wishing for less. This was the perfect amount for the entree (allowing me to indulge in the rustic bread served with olive oil beforehand without feeling guilty about spoiling my dinner). We were free to savor every morsel and not be too weighted down to samba, rumba, waltz, and swing our way through the remainder of the evening.

Sesquicentennial

Today is the 150th anniversary of the first shot fired in the American Civil War. Jeff and I watched the Ken Burns documentary series on the war last week on PBS. It is really such a huge piece of our history with so many facets. I came away with a much deeper appreciation for the way those four years really shaped the history of the South. I think many of the less than desirable aspects of the South (as I see them; attitudes, habits, education, poverty, etc.) all have roots directly or indirectly in that conflict. It will be a very interesting next four years as Civil War events all over the nation are reenacted and remembered.

Battle of Fort Sumter
April 12-14, 1861

On April 10, 1861, Brig. Gen. Beauregard, in command of the provisional Confederate forces at Charleston, South Carolina, demanded the surrender of the Union garrison of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. Garrison commander Anderson refused. On April 12, Confederate batteries opened fire on the fort, which was unable to reply effectively. At 2:30 pm, April 13, Major Anderson surrendered Fort Sumter, evacuating the garrison on the following day. The bombardment of Fort Sumter was the opening engagement of the American Civil War. Although there were no casualties during the bombardment, one Union artillerist was killed and three wounded (one mortally) when a cannon exploded prematurely while firing a salute during the evacuation on April 14.

Excerpt from www.civilwar.org

How men and women see color...

This is so true, at least for us! Jeff and I joke about this all the time; he insists that he sees the color variances but just doesn't know what to call them. If colors had numbers instead of names, I think he might actually remember and use each one correctly ;-)

But we still have the issue on whole color families. He will see something the shade of Robin's Egg and call it green (I would say blue); he sees Wine and says purple (I would categorize it as a red). It really does make me wonder, is it only the vocabulary or is our color experience truly that different?!