June 3, 2016

Garden notes need to be here so I can remember where I am planting things. My birdbath circle has lots of new items that I got off the sad rack last fall. I made a video walk through last fall but still need more location pointers for next year. Steve is growing vegetables this year in a small raised garden.

January 2016 Happy New Year

A new year for new beginnings.

Summertime Baseball

AJ is playing baseball again this summer. We went to a game this week and we got to see some good plays. AJ is hitting the ball much better and his fielding skills have improved too. I took this picture from along first baseline and although it was a foul ball you can see his great form. The ball was coming right at me. You can see it in the photo. Unfortunately his team "New York Yankees" has not had a great season.  This evenings game was close but still a loss.😟 

Back to the Gardens

After almost 2 weeks back home the gardens are starting to take shape. There were so many changes I wanted to make this year and starting 3 weeks late into the season has not helped. I spent several days last week just weeding and trying to remember the plants I had put in late last fall. I know I drew a plan with the plants and locations but it could not be found so I was back to looking at the tags I keep and slowly making headway on what plants were emerging from the earth. The peonies are gorgeous and I am happy with their location for now. The Sheffield Daisies are spreading like crazy and I think I will need a specific location for them instead of the 3 separate places I now have them. The front garden is progressing nicely but needs some additional interest. Steve suggested a big rock. One of the Silver Maples has a split in the bark and produced an enormous amount of seeds this year. Not sure if that is a distress call but I think I will get an arborist to take a look at it. I divided Hostas this weekend and replanted around the back deck. I also planted about half of the Zinnia seeds I collected last year. We got over 4 inches of rain in the last 24 hours and that should help as long as it stays nice now. Today the plan is to put some mulch down.

Some views as of this morning.

                                                        Peonies

                                                               Front garden

                                                 Birdbath garden

                                                   Back deck 

                                                         Bedroom deck 

                                    

                                  My goal to have fresh flowers from my garden in my house. 

Real time blog!

It is late by virtue of real time . We got up at 6AM Netherlands time. Which is midnight Toledo time.  And now it is 8PM and we are ready for bed. The adventure ended with a regular flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. Love being home.  

May 18 Brussels Day 16 of Vacation

We decided that we would explore another section of Brussels before we got the train to Amsterdam today. Our host had told us that there was a flea market area that operated everyday. We walked over to the area and passed several Estate Sale type retail businesses and we thought perhaps that was what our host had meant. But no - we see a square that is filled with merchants with wares all spread out on the ground. A very interesting experience.

We ended our Brussels visit with a lunch and a train ride and a walk passing more of the tortured trees of Europe.

 In Amsterdam now in an airport hotel with a shuttle tomorrow morning to Schipol Airport.  Then home.