growth

Enjoying this Sunday afternoon in the backyard, sipping a spritzer.

We don't get many nice days between the humid winter and the suffocating summer, so I'm going to soak up every bit of this tolerable sunshine.

I started tinkering around in the garden, but it's been minimal. Mostly cleaning up all the dead stuff.

Although over the past couple of years I've adapted my planting goals around my own shortcomings and the dog's destructive tendencies, this year I simply won't have the time. I've managed to kill some plants already and got another scolding from my yard guy.

As I cleaned out some sad old pots full of dried up things that used to be pretty, I had a couple of surprises. The small cutting of yesterday, today, and tomorrow from my neighbor came back from assumed destruction. I found some turmeric that my coworker gave me and I long ago dismissed as dead. When I dumped out the pots, they were full of the roots so I replanted them. Two of last year's rosebushes survived the freeze this winter, and the aloe vera is already sprouting babies. Thankfully the rosemary and gardenia bushes were pretty well established and they only had superficial damage. The mums didn't bloom this year but managed to stay alive. That's the kind of plants I need; sturdy survivors.

This year I'll plant a few herbs on the kitchen windowsill in tin cans. Basil, green onion, and oregano are the current contenders. I gave up growing them from seeds and grabbed some already established plants. Hopefully if they're in plain sight, they won't be neglected.

On another note, I'll be traveling a lot to different places I've never been. I thought about starting to collect something from the cities I visit. But I don't want to do something typical like key chains or spoons or post cards. A colleague has a gallery wall full of pencil drawings she's collected on her travels, which I think is spectacular and unique. I'd like to do something like that. Suggestions?