This puts my gardening efforts at more than a dozen hours over the last 3 weeks. (I always spring-clean and fall-close my garden but, because I have no car, it's useful to have the help of peeps with trucks.) If it all wasn''t looking so fantastic, I'd be underwhelmed. The window-washers came on the weekend. There hasn't been a drop of rain since last week (hallelujah) and the bright sun and blue sky and vivid colours of the spring, well, springing, is nothing short of life-affirming.
I can tell you a few things that age has taught me:
- Update your vaccines.
- Buy the best you can afford (but know that you can find excellence at a lower price if you're willing to do the research).
- Bring in qualified -and insured - professionals once a year to clean your windows. No, don't try to do it yourself unless you're in a bungalow (those ladders are high!). Don't leave windows to gather dirt till you can't see through them any longer. Clean windows will revive your home like little else.
We were going to do a lot of things this summer:
- Pull off the back of the first floor back room and replace it with French doors
- Go to Berlin and Amsterdam
- Visit up north with friends
- I don't have the energy, this year, to deal with another reno (not to mention the funds). As we now suspect the back room may have structural issues, we're opting to leave it another year (at which point we'll reno the kitchen at the same time - or so I'm saying now). It's gonna be a big fucking project. It can wait.
- A propos of funds, I don't know how I can spend thousands on Europe when I'm expecting to undertake a major reno in the medium-term. Alas, my Euro adventure must wait a couple more years.
- My kid goes to North Carolina, to visit my parents, but not till the 29th of June. That's one day into the long weekend over which some great friends will be traveling to visit some other great friends in the Collingwood area. Furthermore, my husband and I are aiming to go to Montreal and QC on July 1 (the other side of that long weekend). We'll have to see how this all plays out to fit into my husband's increasingly busy work schedule. (Not that I'm complaining about lots of work.)
Today's questions: Do you garden (balcony, urban, vegetable etc.)? What's your favourite aspect of the activity? Or, for the non-gardeners/sewists, does it take more than 3 weeks for Vogue Patterns to reach you?
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Those sound like smart compromises you're making, albeit the last one isn't so much a choice. Still, you may well find that you enjoy that quiet time at home (knowing you, you'll fill it, but you know what I mean!)
ReplyDeleteI'm just marvelling at how less than an hour's weeding can leave me more sore than running 20K!! I've finally been getting into the garden and I'm a bit dismayed at how much needs to be done. Paul's great at the big tasks, but he just doesn't have the eye or the knowledge for some of the maintenance, partiularly weeding, dividing, etc. . .
Isn't it insane how taxing gardening can be? I'm glad to know I'm not the only one...
DeleteIt also takes about 3 weeks for patterns to reach me. There is no instant gratification when it comes to buying patterns, unless I want to spend hours taping together downloaded patterns. Which I do quite a bit because I'm impulsive with starting my sewing. Finishing sometimes is a whole other story... A year later I still need to put buttons on my Gertie jacket. Maybe this week... I'm almost back to where I can fit into it again.
ReplyDeleteThat's crazy! And I find it funny that you won't wait to start but you're happy to wait on finishing. :-)
DeleteI've been waiting on my latest round of Vogue patterns since April 22nd. They may be in the shipment that comes tomorrow- fingers crossed! I wish I was a gardener, but my allergies prevent me from gardening, and well that we live on the 24th floor.
ReplyDeleteYou can still have little flower pots I hope!
DeleteSounds smart to leave the reno alone for another year, especially if you think the room has structural issues. God knows those renos can turn into monsters once previously unknown little things start to pile up. As for the gardening, I love it, and will miss planting season this year – we’ll be on the road. We had a lovely urban vegetable patch on our TO back yard and last summer I had free reign of my in-laws large garden at the farm but unfortunately we left way before harvest season. Strangely, my favourite gardening activity has got to be the constant upkeep. Is this odd?
ReplyDeleteI love garden vegetables but, truthfully, I don't have interest in doing that much work... I do not love the constant upkeep factor!
DeleteWe did community gardening when I lived in East Toronto but having moved to suburbs, with a decent garden space, It's taken me 2.5 trs to sign up for another community garden.
ReplyDeleteLast couple of years, we just did the tomato basil stuff in the backyard but my husband often tells our friends that Kay is the out person in earth who has an organic dandelion patch... :o (I picked up the wrong packet thinking its Swiss chard, from the common seed pool) that patch is going strong for the third year now! Sigh!
As for your Landscaper, does she work only in TO or does she also work in GTA? We are redoing our pavement this yr and thinking about going professional with landscaping..
Community gardens are such a great urban invention. OMG, I'd be livid if I unknowingly PLANTED dandelions. I spend all of my time getting rid of them :-) I believe that Chaz works in the GTA as well as downtown. Email if you'd like more deets.
DeleteI've just finally gotten into a community garden here, and I'm realizing that despite a childhood of constant gardening I've completely forgotten everything!
ReplyDeleteTruthfully, I miss the country so much and feel so frustrated with the city that I'm really gardening just for an excuse to have a bit of dirt to call mine. I'm excited to grow food but honestly if all I did was visit a few times a week and dig around and get some dirt under my fingernails, I'd be happy.
You haven't forgotten! You're just rusty. And you cannot lose with your attitude. I'm sure you'll have lots of yummy veggies. And you'll have a terrific time.
DeleteWe are just commencing knocking our house into shape...new windows, new porch, loft conversion, new floors all the way through. As funds and time are on short supply this is going to take a while, so I'm just putting up a lick of paint so the place doesn't look so shabby whilst we save for the windows. I think it'll be worth the wait. As for gardening...I love gardens...gardening not so much! Thankfully ours are small, but still not finished.
ReplyDeleteExciting times Evie! My gardens are small too. The front is about 15 by 20 and the back beds are each about the 5 by 20. But then you have to tend the flower pots and weed the patio and mind the deck and before you know it, it's a production.
DeleteAnd we won't mention the fence panels that need replacing and/or painting! Ssh!
DeleteExciting times indeed...although I may have to send the children up chimneys to pay for it all!
"'ello Mary Poppins!"
Hilarious! Why don't they have those chimney opportunities anymore??
DeleteOur small bit of lawn at the back isn't suitable for well, much beyond weeds it seems. I do grow tomatoes, hot peppers, some herbs (I think I have cilantro coming up in every pot now) and usually some vegetable that catches my fancy at the garden centre in pots on the back deck. I like being able to pick a few veggies from the back yard, it's rather satisfying and pretty. The front yard has mostly perennials (roses, lamb's ears, cantebury bells...) and I will plant portulaca at the base of the tree close to the curb. My bulbs in that area didn't come up at all this year. I also have a hops plant - for beer making. But I'm still figuring out the best way to grow and harvest it. I have to put the string for it to trail up, it will grow higher than my garage in one long vine.
ReplyDeleteWe were doing a little more work on the back deck after work yesterday (I was raking up flakes of paint) and thought I'd just pull up a few thistles that were coming up in the front garden... 45 minutes later we were both weeding. Dinner had to wait until the sun set last night. I will say it looks much better now.
Cilantro is the one herb I CANNOT stand! Tastes like soap :-) That "looks much better" feeling is the best.
DeleteYou are smart to consider your options and set priorities.
ReplyDeleteStaycations are my favorite :). Seriously, I'm glad we did a lot of traveling over the last 9 years but at this point we are content to garden, cook, sew and sing with our friends.
Enjoy the Spring!
Susan: I read that as "swing with our friends" and thought - oh, those crazy Californians! :-)
DeleteIt's too bad you have to postpone your Europe trip, but it's a wise financial move. I am pondering whether we should forego a long weekend in the fall to somewhere like Seattle in favor of a spring trip to Hawaii or Tokyo next year. (That's assuming we have two incomes that whole time.)
ReplyDeleteI think next year I might try to do a bit of balcony gardening since our upper deck faces south and gets a lot of sun (especially in those long days in the spring and summer). I would be tempted to try it this year, but I'll be gone all summer, and don't want my spouse to feel like I'm dumping another project on him.
I know! It sucks. Sometimes, a bird in the hand is the best. So maybe Seattle will be an easy, less expensive - and therefore more relaxing - alternative?
DeleteLiving in Alaska gives a whole new slant to gardening. I'd love to know if there's a proactive garden community there (as there is in so many cities) or if that's not the kind of thing that most people are into, given the length of the growing season.