Early Garden Love

Poppy:

Poppy just bursting out...:

Lupine:

I love lupine's foliage...I'm a bit of a leaf freak:

Hellebore...fading...:

I thought these were some bulbs that I had planted,
but it's my variegated Solomon's Seal that a friend gave me last year:

*sigh* I adore tulips:

**double sigh** I love my view:

I spent many hours and planted a bunch of plants last weekend during that fabulous bout of gorgreous weather we had here in NY. I think I got about eight pots planted, and five garden beds mulched. Time for more digging!!

Random Ramblings

Here's where I catch up on my lag in blogging of late.

1. I can't find my camera, which is making me nuts.
2. I think it's time to clean the house. (see #1)
3. The turkeys are back! I've missed them, and was hoping they would return. I actually scared the daylights out of one of them in my back yard the other day. I threw open my bedroom drapes to greet the day, and a turkey who had been minding his own business perked up when he saw me, then turned and ran like the WIND all the way through the woods and over toward the highway. Poor little guy. Happily, he and his crew were back this morning. In retrospect, I'm thinking I should reconsider throwing open the drapes when I'm still in my underwear.
4. I went to IKEA last week with my friend Kelly (she was a first-timer!), and bought under-cabinet lighting for my aweseome new cabinets. BF installed them the minute I got home, practically. When he was done, Kathleen stood at that end of the counter eating some chips and salsa and said "I feel like a rich person." I said "Why's that?" And she said "This lighting--I've only seen it in rich people's houses." LOL. I said "Yep...we're livin' large here in Selkirk, NY." Hee. I love my kid. She appreciates everything. Even $26 worth of puck lights.
5. Kathleen and I took a drive this past Saturday, since the weather was so gorgeous. We ended up at a store in Rhinebeck, NY called Paper Trail. LOVED it! How cute are these?
   
   
   And these?
   
   
   We bought some dog bone paperclips for my friend Jennifer (the veterinarian), and a map of mid-town Manhattan with a frame for Kathleen. She SWEARS she's going to live in NYC some day. I believe her!
   
   We also stopped at one of the anemone flower growers in Rhinebeck and picked up a bouquet for Kelly. Anemones are absolutely gorgeous, and you can't just get them anywhere!
   
6. I bought 16 yards of linen to slipcover my couch. I got it for $9/yd with my coupon at JoAnn Fabrics. Can you say "bargain?!" It came in two pieces, and I have pre-washed it. Now that I've published this for all the world to see, I may be motivated to start the sewing VERY soon. I'll keep you posted. Sally, if you're out there, keep nagging me, will you?
7. BF has raked every single leaf from this one acre property over the last few weeks. I can't get over how great it looks. This also makes me feel happy (well, maybe "happy" is a little strong a word) to wash his endless stream of laundry, endlessly. I mean, it's better than raking, right?
8. I have bought two gardening/yard magazines in the last week. One of them is Southern Living's Backyard Retreats, and I can't find the other one to tell you what it is!! At any rate, I'm getting inspired! My yard is a blank slate, with gobs of potential. I can't wait to get started!
9. My hellebores are blooming. I love my hellebores. Here's a pic, in case you don't know what they are:
   
   
   I drove by my old apartment last week and saw that I had left one big hellebore plant behind (I brought 2 with me). I am SO tempted to go by in the dead of night with my shovel and rescue the poor thing. I left SO many plants behind--I get sick just thinking about it. Oh well. I have the house, right? The new plants will come. :)
10. Kathleen is going to have a birthday party here on Saturday--this time with her FRIENDS. Apparently the family party wasn't enough. It's supposed to be sunny and in the 80's here on Saturday. We couldn't have ordered up better weather. In fact, that's HOT for me! I'm sure they'll be playing outside...anybody have any great ideas for activities? She says they'll figure it out, but I don't want them to be bored! (I nixed her pinata idea...when's the last time you saw a 14-year-old with a pinata party? WTF?)
    
11. I'm addicted to Netflix, and have ordered nothing but Seasons 1,2 and 3 of Nip/Tuck for the last month. I love that show. I also love that I can watch movies streamed to my computer as well as getting them on DVD from Netflix. I watched "The Visitor" the other day upon Diane's recommendation. Great movie. I cried.
12. I have to finish two bed skirts for this year's Vanguard Showhouse. I'm not doing a room myself this year, but I'm sewing for Bolt Fabrics. I'm also doing the web site again, and a bef0re/after DVD for them to run during the tour. The house is really great this year--it's a "green" theme, and the designers (a lot of newcomers) are really making it happen over there. If you're local, you should check it out. It opens Tuesday. Click my link for info.

That's all I've got. Hopefully I'll find my camera soon. I'm sure there are pictures on there that I could be sharing. I hope you all get the sunshine and warm temps that we're finally going to have in NY! All I can say is it's about damn time!!

Capital District Garden Show 09

Jennifer and I went to the garden show a couple of weekends ago. We had a great time, and I took a FEW pictures...didn't get any of the flower arranging contests, or door displays, which were all quite fun. We were more interested in the garden and water garden displays.

I loved this arbor because I have the remains of a fort in my back yard, which I think could easily be converted to something similar. Whether it'll actually happen or not is another story entirely, but a girl can dream, right?

The water feature above looked very realistic, with all of the river rock. I loved it.
The one below wasn't as good, but it wasn't bad either!!

Notice below, the fountain built right into the patio. We loved this! I think Jennifer is going to do it on her back patio this summer. Can't you just see yourself sitting there on a hot day with your toes in the water? I can!

I loved the large flat boulders in this next display. Anybody know where I can find some of those CHEAP? Stone is so darn expensive.
I may have to just take BF's truck and start a boulder hunt!!

I thought this tulip display with the painting was clever, so I snapped a pic.

How about the lawn lady?! FUNNY!

I loved the nasturtiums with the coleus here. I think I'll be copying that this season. I still need
some boulders, though, to bring it all together. Don't you agree?

Blue bicycle built for two! :)

It was nice to get a taste of spring before spring has actually sprung! I'm amazed at what they can make happen inside a college gymnasium every year. Next year, I'm thinking Philadelphia Garden Show. Right? I hear it's amazing!

My Uppers! (Cabinets, not dentures...lol)

I still need to give them a couple more coats of paint, but aren't they just scrumptious?! I love them.

I got to christen the kitchen last night with Kathleen's birthday dinner party (she's 14 now--where have the years gone?) There were 12 of us all together, and between the kitchen, LR, and DR, we had lots of room, and it was quite comfy. I'm liking my house for entertaining! We did a make-your-own wraps dinner with chicken and steak, and I made guacamole, salsa, spinach-artichoke dip, and a fruit pizza for dessert as Kathleen's "cake" at her request. My uncle brought a delicious butternut squash soup and a salad, my sister brought yummy scallops wrapped in bacon, and I had shrimp coctail out for Kathleen too. It was a smorgasbord and it was all yummy! (Oh, and don't forget the WINE! There was WINE!) We had lots of piano, clarinet, and flute playing, too. I love a house filled with music. It reminds me of my childhood. My father stayed a little while after everyone left, and played the piano while I did some cleanup and talked to his wife. It was just like the old days! He can't read a note of music, but he plays beautifully by ear.

We had a needle felting party here two weeks ago, and there were nine of us in the living room doing our crafting, and we all fit with plenty of room to spare too. *sigh* I just love it here! I love it even more now that BF spent all day yesterday in the yard doing cleanup. I can't believe the amount of leaves he managed to rake up. AND he's been trying to dig trenches to get the pooled water to move somewhere. I bought a swamp. (But I don't mind! It's a pretty swamp!) He also burned the old kitchen in a big ol' bonfire out back. That was pretty funny. Don't worry--he brought the non-burnable stuff to the dump. It's lookin' pretty good out there now (instead of hillbilly-hayday with the old kitchen in the driveway--now if we could just fit the boat into the garage....) I even have tulip and bluebell greenery coming up, and hellebores blooming! Yay spring!

Thanks for all of your very kind comments on my kitchen. I'm very happy with the way it's turning out. Next is a stove hood and some open shelving. I'm in no hurry. I love it just the way it is!