At play. . .

Who says a Wendy doesn't know how to play? I have been having so much fun in my yard this week. The pictures show me harvesting lettuces and loving up some of my favorite early summer flowers including:

• three types of iris
• three types of bleeding hearts
• Blue bell flower
• clematis
• chives
  

Mike has been hauling rocks like a crazy person and also bought us a 27 year supply of straw at $2 a bale. We put the straw on the strawberries and raspberries to deal with the lack of rain. I think it looks pretty good, although I am not wild about the extra straw storage behind the garage.

We have had 4 days of plus 30 weather and things in the yard have really responded. The tomatoes and peppers are starting to flower and we have our first baby cucumber and spaghetti squash. Mike and I are like a couple at their first ultrasound. We keep looking at baby veggies and wondering if they are just female flowers or actually germinated. Mike has lots of little cherries, which he feel good about.

In addition to gathering rocks, Mike has been out raping and pillaging the landscape in my name. He has returned with a sucker Saskatoon (we hope) and some year one roses from the bush in our park. He also got another cherry tree from his uncle Kent. I am not sure where he envisions all this going, but for now it is some is living in pots on the deck. Our plan to divest large chunks of the front yard of grass will likely provide a home for many things, although the soil will really need some compost.

We put up our pool this weekend and had our first swim today with the girls. Since its really hot out and we are trying to avoid using our air, the dip before bed is a big help.  It's been hard to cool the house without the cats escaping because Merry has figured out how to open the screen door by hanging off of it. We have jury-rigged an elastic system that currently contains her.