The May Report and Catch Up

At the end of January, while outside playing with Conner, I slipped and damaged my ankle—dislocated it and broke three bones. Now the ankle is held together with a metal plate and several screws. After the surgery I was forbidden to put any weight on it for ten weeks. I've had two months of physical therapy, and now I can walk a bit with a cane. I'm told it may take a year or so to get back to close to normal.

Lacecap hydrangea

Now, in May, I am finally getting back to some of my regular activities—I can wash dishes, make the bed, and do laundry—fun, fun, fun. I just can't stand up for more than about ten minutes.

Oxeye daisies

Sitting on the ground in the cold waiting for someone to come and pick me up after breaking my ankle, I thought some profound thoughts. One was that time is short and I had better get on with doing those things I have always wanted to do. I've always wanted a studio where I could make my crafty messes. The original plan for the house above Heck Creek included a largish area downstairs for this, but when the plan needed to be downsized, the studio was lost. I talked things over with the Ralph, and we decided we could go ahead and build a separate studio. In May the Ralph and his friend, Jerry, rented a track-hoe and began the excavation. Hopefully we can get the foundation poured and the block work done in June.

Conner's gotcha day was in May. We've had him for a year now. In mid-May we had a visit to the bird feeder from a bear. Conner got excited and very loud. For about a week afterwards, Conner would bark at every sound he heard all night long—we had some interrupted sleep and lots of admonishments for him to be a “quiet dog, quiet dog”.

I'm back to making handmade books. I've tried to start a few in the past months, but there are just some things I couldn't do sitting down like cutting book board, making signatures, and making book cloth. Here's my version of the Handmade Book Club May project— a small sketch book with spring leaf binding, a dyed cork fabric cover, and stud closure.

spine

front

Beltane

 The hill across the way dressed in all its Mayday green . . .

Pink . . . Pink . Pink .

Redbud . . .

Crabapple . . .

 

Another crabapple . . . 

 

And a real apple becoming . . . 

 

Springing

The house above Heck Creek is perched on the slope of a south-facing ridge back in a cove so there isn't a long distance view.  What I do see when I look out my kitchen window is the hill across the way.  I love to watch the changing seasons.

 

 

On a sunny morning in late March, you can see the faintest tinge of green on some of the deciduous trees.  Looking closely, you can see the flowers on the red maples.

 

 

End of May

The perfect hosta--

 Unmarred by slug or bug.

The deepest purple iris--

With the most delicate of Spring scents.

I love daisies--

Nothing fancy needed.

Blackberry Summer?

High temperature today--90 degrees.  Where's the traditional blackberry winter?  It seems there was no Spring this year, just a long winter and now summer.

 

Roadside Flowers

As I walk down the driveway to get the mail, I see the first of the year's fleabane.  It's considered a weed, but I like the little white fringe around the egg-yolk yellow centers.

Common fleabane, Erigeron philadelphicus

Across the road by the old barn is a field of ragwort or groundsel.  It seems quite plentiful this year.
  

Golden ragwort, Senecio aureus

At the mailbox I decide to walk east down Heck Creek Road toward the blacktop.  Scattered throughout the woods I see more ragwort and wild geranium.

Wild Geranium, Geranium maculatum

Also, scattered on the forest floor and beside the ditch, mud-spattered, were

violets. The purple of violets is one of my favorite colors.

Common blue violet, Viola sororia

Where the road curves a bit and is shadier and wetter, I find the diminutive dwarf crested iris and rue anemone growing side by side.

Rue anemone, Thalictrum thalictroides

Dwarf crested iris, Iris cristata

A beautiful Spring day.

Greening

Earth Day 2017.   It's been raining all week.  The hillsides are getting greener and greener.  I snuck out between the showers to click a few photos.

 
This time of year always reminds me of Robert Frost's poem: 

        "Nature's first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold,

Her early leaf's a flower, but only so an hour ...."

The woods are full of dogwoods in bloom.

The dawn redwood is leafing out.  I need to find a special place to plant this little tree this spring.

Spring is such a hopeful time of the year.  I'm hoping the environment can  survive the next four years of people in power who care more for money than the earth.

The First Week of April

This past week has been cold and rainy and very windy.  All the clouds blowing in and out have made for some dramatic skies above the house above Heck Creek. 

Of course, no photo can really capture the sky.

Between the showers the Pop, with a little help from me, managed to get almost all of the siding on the big storage shed.  With its construction we now have all the stuff here and can stop paying for the storage unit.  We're slowly trying to sell or donate all the things we don't need so we can get rid of some of the clutter.

 

Finally the wind has blown away all the clouds and we have sunshine.

This morning there's not a cloud in the sky.   I can begin to see some color on the trees on the hill across the way.

  

And the redbud is flowering.

  

 Robyn's daisy just can't wait--it's bloomed its first bloom indoors.

 

It's Springing

The weather's warmed up and it's beginning to look like spring.  We have a few daffodils Ralph planted spring before last. On my garden to do list is to plant lots more spring bulbs this fall.

There are also a few grape hyacinths  scattered around.  Definitely need more bulbs next spring.

 

One of the plants I miss most from the Springfield garden is my pussy willow.  It was always covered in honeybees.  I bought one for a start here at the house above Heck Creek.  We'll plant it down in the bowl not too far from the bee yard.  Just love those fuzzy catkins.

And here's an eastern fence lizard sunning himself in the rock border.