For several years, we have used the Merlin Bird ID app to identify different birds while on our walks. This morning, I heard a different bird (from our usual robins and house sparrows), and it said it was a red-bellied woodpecker. I stepped out on the porch and quickly found the little guy on a tree in our front yard!
We have had this plan for the front yard planting bed for quite a few months. However, with Michigan weather, you have to wait until sometime in May before the risk of overnight freezing goes away. Our plan was to do this as soon as we returned from our vacation out west, but we unfortunately fell sick and that derailed us just a bit as we rested and recovered.
Thankfully, Mom was bored in the house and in the house bored on Sunday, so she called us looking for something to do while Dad watched his races at home. We invited her over and the three of us headed to Telly’s Greenhouse – a local plant shop that we like.
We had a hard time sticking to just plants for the planting bed, as there were so many pretty and interesting plants, but I think we did a good job with our selections! We wanted to have plants of varying heights, and ended up with some grasses and dahlias for the back, cosmos for the middle layer, and some feathery plants and the little colorful ones (I’d have to look at the tags to see what they were) for the short layer up front.
Donald and my mom go to work weeding out the planting bed and getting the dirt ready. There were some existing plants: a couple hostas and my azalea bush. There were a few baby mums, but we transferred these to some pots and will re-home them to the back yard. They had me come out periodically to help determine plant placement. When they didn’t need me, I was inside playing Animal Crossing. My island had been neglected.
We love our plants! I’m so glad that Donald loves keeping our yard looking great! It was a lot of fun to pick these out together. Disclaimer: Yes, I know the house needs painting. We are going to try and get that done this summer.
These are a few photos of the final result! The flowers will continue to grow and get established, and I’ll try to remember to post some updates later on. Of course, as it happens, it decided to rain pretty hard just an hour or so after we finished planting. We checked on the plants in the morning, and – for the most part – they looked to have survived the deluge pretty well. Just the cosmos flowers were bent over.
Donald quickly stood them back up and packed some dirt around them before we headed over to Mom and Dad’s for a Memorial Day lunch. After getting back home, he used some of the posts we had from our foray into tomato growing to bolster the cosmos a bit until they could get a little stronger.
We think it looks a lot better and the pops of color and cute flowers make us smile whenever we see them!
Love, Jenn and Donald
With our kitchen reconstruction almost finished (!!), we are slowly starting to form morning routines.
First – of course – was coffee in the morning. We dismantled our “morning kitchen” in the bedroom and let the coffee maker assume its rightful place on the kitchen counter. At lunchtime, we clean the carafe and filter. At bedtime, we set up the coffee maker to make a pot about 10 minutes before we want to wake up. Then, some unspecified time after the alarm (and X number of snoozes), we will come out to the kitchen table and enjoy!
With our coffee, Donald catches up on world events with the “Morning Joe,” while I remind us of past adventures using the “Timehop” app. We have our planners at the table in the mornings and evenings so that we can plan and prep for our days together. (At the evening planner checks, we annotate each other’s planner – it’s cute to see what thoughts the other has about the events of our day!)
We like watching something while we have our meals, so my iPad is generally on the table. This makes it easy for me to grab it and dash off a quick post (like I’m doing right now, while Donald makes us some yummy breakfast sandwiches)!
As you can see, we still have boxes to unpack and figure out where things will live in the new space, but we are excited to have a bit of normalcy back in our mornings!
Happy Tuesday!
— Jenn & Donald
Every year, I like to do the Epiphany Home Blessing, a tradition in the Catholic Church.
Lord God of heaven and earth, you revealed your only-begotten Son to every nation by the guidance of a star. Bless this house and all who inhabit it. Fill us with the light of Christ, that our concern for others may reflect your love. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
We weren’t in Michigan last Epiphany, so the last time the house was blessed was 2021. It would be superstitious to say that it’s because it wasn’t blessed in 2022 that we had pipes burst and have to undergo major reconstruction, but…. 😉
Today is the day we finally checked out of the hotel and moved back permanently into our house! Today, Donald also found the Epiphany Home Blessing card and chalk that we got from church. Together, we blessed the home for 2023.
We are so happy to finally be back home – really home! – and are looking forward to finding new local adventures!
Have a blessed day!
— Jenn & Donald
Paroxysm of Giggles / Critical Mass 