Leaves leaves everywhere

Fall in New england is so gorgeous. Inspired by Maisie’s beautiful ‘artwork’ from nursery (3 leaves stuck on a page), we went on a leaf hunt yesterday just as the sun was going down. I’ve been spotting the best trees all around the neighbourhood hanging over onto the sidewalk, or even better, in the middle of road junctions and by parks, and maybe a graveyard too. So armed with my scissors we went walking.

I know they won’t last long, but they do really brighten up the house, and definitely make it feel very Autumnal. The photos below are pretty rubbish, but you get the idea! I think I like them up on the radiator cover the best, but that corner is pretty empty. Hm!

These are not flowers in the house, but I think leaves are close enough – so it’s that time again where we go to Jane’s to see what everyone else is up to at the moment!

A blue day

This Sunday we went to Westward orchards for some blueberry picking and to listen to the bluegrass jam that happens on the barn porch every Sunday through summer. Maisie took the direct route to picking!

The jam was a lot of fun to listen to, and Maisie enjoyed getting her face licked by a friendly dog. So all in all a good day! It inspired me to practice some fiddle tunes for this weekends festival. I’m not sure how much our new neighbors are appreciating this!! We also ate the last of this round of vegetables from the garden. Bad planning means there’s going to be a gap now until the next set is ready, except for tomatoes! Hopefully i’ll work it out a bit better next year. There’s lots of cosmos and zinnia though, and a couple of bells of Ireland stems are coming up at last!

Boxes, mops, cats and flowers… a busy week!

Last week was a crazy week of moving house. In the middle of the mess I had the chance to take a break and make a bouquet for a 20th wedding anniversary. It was fun to catch my breath and enjoy being in the new house. When I delivered the arrangement I got to meet two beautiful siamese cats and discuss some wedding flowers. One of the cats (Sophie I think) even sat on my knee….it made my day! It was a bit of a rush getting the flowers, but for this arrangement I used some roses, cala lilies, freesia, local zinnias, snapdragons and of course some greens I found down by the river mixed in with the the ‘official’ greens.

In among all the moving I completely ignored my garden for a few days in the heat, and it paid me back…. some of the pea vines were completely scorched, and a ground hog (I think) has been having a good munch on the broccolli plants. Im so annoyed with myself!! But on the other hand, the rest is still growing great on its own, and we’ve been eating carrots, peas, lots of lettuce, squash and zuccinni, and I found my first sweet pea flower blooming! In other news, I am an Auntie again!

The garden is blooming!

Wow! The garden is growing like mad! Everything seems to grow inches between visits. I can see the start of nearly all the veg…. Tomatoes, peas, courgette (or zucchini depending on where you are)! I really don’t know what I’m doing, so I really appreciated it when another gardener came over and gave me some advice….. Cut off all the flowers on your lettuce! Thin the carrots! Eek, ok! I tried to save the lettuce flowers, but they died so quickly. But I enjoyed munching on the victim carrots a lot!

Today I cut some poppies from my garden, and used the walk home as a foraging mission, and managed to get a nice handful of stems, and some dried out seed heads ready to make a little jar arrangement for the house by the time I got back. It’s quite hard to know where the forage/steal line is…… I’m determining it from how quickly I am trying to get away from the scene of the crime! Anyway, today I'm going to link in for the very first time to Jane’s house party Pop over and have a look at what everyone is up to!

Here’s the results of the garden cuttings and walk home.

Here it is again with my favorite goat picture!

Spring is here!

At last spring is here. Wednesday was a perfect midweek day off. I only work on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the minute so I can be at home with Maisie, who is 7 months now. I miss my old job at Bow Street flowers alot, but I love having time with Maisie too! After a crazy week last week it was nice to get back to normality and enjoy the sunshine.

After coffee with some friends I went to work on my plot at the Watertown community gardens to plant some seeds. I’m a beginner, but am excited about my plot. I’ve put in lots of veg, and also cosmos, sweet peas, zinnias, poppies and some more. I really hope at least some of them grow! I got a bit over excited and planted them all over each other, and a lot more than the directions suggested, so I’ll just have to wait and see! With only a small plot it’s hard to decide what to plant, and to remember where seeds have already been planted……

Maisie was happy playing on her blanket while I worked. Especially when she realized there was lots of bark to try and eat close by.

I’m hoping to be able to use some of the flowers for arrangements this summer. I’ll be keeping track of how it goes on the blog!