Teen in the house!

I'm definitely not too young to have a teen, but it's still a bit shocking to me that Beth is 13. 

Technically she turned 13 yesterday already if you take into account the 18 hour time difference between her birth in Australia and here.  My mom's card brought that up.  "13 years ago, on April 23, we were called and told about Beth's birth on April 24." 

For years, a friend of Beth's liked to brag about being older by one day.  Six years of "I'm older than you!" and then I finally asked what hour she was born.  She was born on April 23, about 2 hours LATER than Beth!  All along  Beth was actually older than her. 

Does any of that make sense?  Maybe not, but I don't know what to say on this birthday of my teenaged daughter.  She's pretty amazing and I couldn't be more proud of her. 

Overwintering Geraniums

There are many ways to overwinter geraniums.  I've now only tried two methods, and I don't think you'll find my lazy approach on Youtube or any instructable sites.  I've dug them out of the garden and planted them indoors, keeping them alive in a somewhat sunny window.  As spring approaches, I usually will take some cutting from the mother plant and start them in their own pots, making one plant into a few.  This is an approach that you might actually find as a tried-and-true method.

 I had a few really healthy geraniums by the time frost hit last fall, so I decided to take some cuttings.  I planted two of them and one is blooming now. 

In spite of all my gardening and indoor seed starting, I'm terrible at keep houseplants alive, so this method is perhaps not the plants best chance of survival around here. 

So I tried something new this year.  I had taken more cuttings that never quite got into pots.  They hung out in a mason jar of water all winter.  I had good intentions, but once gardening season is done, I'm usually done too.  I left them in the jar and they produced healthy roots and stayed alive.

Laura and I finally planted them this week and they look pretty good.  They may have forgotten what soil felt like, but they knew what to do when their roots finally had some access.  This is one I hope will survive.  Laura has adopted it as her own. 

Because it's so cute!!

I hope it lives.  That is one tiny pot!

Diversity

We all love taking pictures in this house and we are now all armed with cameras.  Each camera has it's different strength, but so does each photographer.  I love how different our tastes or approaches are.  My camera has the best macro option, so Laura snags it sometimes.  It's one of her favourite settings.

I've been busily planting up all of my seedlings for the garden.  Every year I do more and more as my garden expands, as my mother-in-law has stopped seeding tomato plants for me and I try not to buy so many nursery plants.  Because I'm running out of room under my basement lights and am starting to learn which seedlings prefer a bit of heat, I've finally brought a big light and table into the living room this year. 

I like to take pictures of the big picture, the overall look.  The way I actually see the plants under the lights. 

These are mostly my Mediteranean plants. Basil, tomato, eggplant (something new for me this year) and peppers.  They can all do with a bit of warmer air.

Laura loves the beauty of the individual plant or leaf.

Parsley

Snapdragon

Squash (which may have been an early mistake)

Fennel

Red pepper that wouldn't germinate downstairs

Basil

Is it diversity that makes the world go 'round?  Or love?  I can't remember which.  Maybe it's the love of diversity that makes the world go 'round.  In any case, I love finding pictures on my camera that I didn't put there.  They usually show a perspective I might not have seen otherwise. 

Bored, anyone?

Well, I might be tonight.

If you're bored and want to get out on a snowy evening, consider coming to visit me.  The Girl Guides are putting on a Ladies Night tonight at the Mayfield Community Hall. 

          10941 161 Street
          7:00 - 12:00 pm
          $10 door charge

There is a hair cutter on site (weaving feathers in hair and I'm hoping she'll cut mine!), physic and tea leaf reader, and I think some massage and mani/pedi types.  Each vendor will charge something. Oh, and there are wine coolers and alcohol for sale (otherwise I'd bring Laura for company).   I can't quite tell how it works because I've never attended one of these.  I just know that it will help ship Laura off to Mexico next year. 

I'll be selling my stuff in the basement with a few other vendors. I'd love to see some friendly faces, or I'll just be reading a lot of my book.

Sale! This Saturday!

Spring in Edmonton

Ah, what lovely weather we're having this morning. 

In all honesty, it's not very cold and the soil needs it. 

It's heart attack snow.  I'm sure the Inuits have a name for this type.  I shovelled the front already and it's more like scooping buckets of heavy water and dumping it in the vegetable-growing areas of the garden. 

So, without the deep thoughts and insites that you're used to reading here, these are the pictures on my camera this morning.  

The coop that will hopefully welcome more residents this spring:

The chair that Beth was reading in on Tuesday evening:

The hoola hoops I'm starting to learn to use: 

Beth told me to stop talking about my butt size and start doing something about it. The idea was that we would hoop together for 15 minutes a day. I get a sore back long before that because of all of the reaching to the ground to keep picking it up and starting again, but I can sometimes keep it up.  I won't be hooping outside today.

The simple coldframe I nailed together last week:

I've got seeds under it, and celery and parsley that were starting indoors are holding up.

The clothesline that I started using outdoors again (but again, not today):

My rain barrels that I uprighted last week thinking that gardening season would soon be upon us:

Buried under the snow are some tulips coming up!  They'll like this snow, but I'm happy enough without it.

Downhill slope

This is how we were all feeling on Saturday.  And Sunday.  And Monday.

Especially Monday, when the kids went back to school after a week of spring break!

But today, I've got two kids who express their feelings more accurately like this.

The "Handy Hanky" basket was emptied in no time and Kleenex was upgraded to "a sick man's best friend".