March 2016

Spring is here!! The rains keep coming, though, and there was even snow on the hills to the east of town this morning. Still, it's hard not to succumb to the urge to herald the new life coming! The following photos were taken during a stroll around the house.

 mossy mound, ready to grow

Dwarf cherry trees

Little Ginzu keeps an eye on the walkway - Protector of travelers, women and children.

Trillium - rare and special

 can you see those teeny buds?!

Hummingbird feeder is ready. This bed will be part of the next phase.

Art is Up!

We decided to live with our new space for a little while before unpacking our art and treasures.
Sometime around November, we were finally ready. Here are some updated views of our interior.

Entry/ foyer area

A true mixture of continents: Africa, Asia, South and North America

Plates from Jerusalem and Peru

  tribal fabric hanging next to photos taken by Bruce in the 1970's

       Asian art in the living room

A few of the treasures in the master bedroom:

Purse was made from great-grandmother's shawl, beaded and framed.

Caligraphy by Thich Nhat Hanh

"God Spirit" by Catherine Ventura

   Antique bottles Bruce collected in South Africa

Hand-appliqued hanging from Cairo

Peruvian angels on a Chinese cabinet

   Chinese screens with gong

Oh, the places we've been!

Peruvian textiles

Objets d'art and family memorabilia

September 13

Excuse us for taking some time away in September and October in order to attend to the needs of our elderly mothers. Progress on our house projects will not halt, but will slow to a pace that does not require frequent updates. Today's post may be the last for a little while. Sit back, relax, or go off and do your own thing!

Yesterday was kind of a hard day because we (actually, Bruce) cut down the ailing dogwood tree that has been a sentinel at our front walkway since before the house was ours. It was diagnosed with a dogwood disease that has "anthrax" somewhere in it, so it was only a matter of time. Rather than pull it out, we are trying the route of leaving several feet of the trunk in place and incorporate it into some type of yard art. The final look has yet to be conceived, but we are learning patience in this home restoration business.
We will miss our dogwood. It served the neighborhood birds in all seasons.

Here is the new look by the walkway entrance. We moved some rocks and then put in the plants that have been waiting since June. Some time soon the tops of the trunk will be refined.

I also finished creating the garden bed next to the driveway. Several of our dwarf cherry trees are not doing well. It may be a case of over-watering. We will fill in between the trees with several peony plants in the spring.

The bird feeder is now relocated in one of the japanese maples at the south end of the deck. The chickadees are visiting it, so we hope others will come too.

Thursday, August 20

A lovely star jasmine is waiting to be planted. It will go in a spot where it can climb AND spread its sweet scent.

With stronger netting, our defense against deer is holding.

Zucchini is doing well.

Wanting to save water we have let the yard on the west and north
go brown.

We have de-thatched the yard on the east and will re-seed with a drought resistant mix.

August 12

We apologize to our restless readers! (you know who you are)
We have had family visiting from the midwest, and we took time before they came to prepare. So, while work has never stopped, our photographs and postings have fallen by the wayside. Thank you, readers, for helping us get back on track!

While our sons and friends were with us, we had a little "rock placing party". They laughed at first, but in the end, put their backs and creative energies into it and things are looking quite fine.

Also, we took a trip to the Oregon coast, and while there, collected some driftwood. Those have found places around the beds.

Our issues with the deer continue. We don't think of it as a war, but rather an effort to co-exist. But conflicts have arisen. Our goal is to put in plants they don't find interesting, and protect the ones they do.

An internet search told us that stringing fish line can be a deterrent in some cases. At the appropriate heights, they get confused because they can't see it but it is an obstacle. It has to be close enough to the house or other structures to discourage simply jumping over it. We tried it, but some mornings  we could see from prints and munched plants that it was not totally effective. One day I looked out to see a doe inside the garden. I walked out to the deck and watched as she deftly ducked between the lines and hopped on out. We have put another row of fish line in the middle and are waiting...

We have one more new garden bed. Alongside the straight walkway, its ambling line is meant to create a contrast. We hope the Lilies of the Valley will fill it in.

According to our plan, we still have one more garden bed to create near our driveway. Once the autumn rains begin (notice the optimistic tone that this will, indeed, occur), we will plant about a dozen more trees out at the periphery of our "yard". For now, they are behind protective netting. We have a few more rocks that we haven't placed, as well.

While shopping at Costco, we happened upon some solar powered lights that we are trying out. The largest light the ends of the entrance walkway. Others proved too small to actually light a path and are placed around for general atmosphere.

And finally, a shot of recent visitor (or perhaps a fellow resident!)

Irrigation

As we have created new garden beds, we've been confronted with the challenge of finding the most efficient, most convenient, and most plant-friendly system for keeping it all irrigated. We did have systems in place when we lived here before, but only some of it is functional. All of it is in need of repair and upgrading. We are learning that some watering zones have pop-up and sprinklers paired together in ways that don't work anymore. We are trying to modify what is there to suit our current needs, knowing we need to totally upgrade the whole picture. Aiyahh! Time to call in an expert!

Here's one example of a modification we've made: changing a single sprinkler head to also have a faucet that we can attach a hose to. This one has been a bugger because it kept springing a leak. We'll bury the line once we know it's good.

July 17

Our "mound" continues to develop. Today we took moss from another part of the yard and placed it on the mound area. The moss is pretty cool to work with. Just takes a gentle touch to pull it up in sheets. We gave it a good watering today. Tomorrow we'll try an idea we got online to fertilize it with buttermilk. (!)

The really wonderful aspect of creating our yard space is that it is so dynamic.