leder legends

  April is a month with four family birthdays! Our oldest granddaughter A turned 16 on April 1st.     Hubby turned 78 on the 16th. The youngest granddaughter turned 5 on the 22nd. The oldest grandson turned 10 on the 30th. We can celebrate the first two in person because A lives in town. The other two are celebrated from a distance since they both live in Anchorage Alaska. Dinner was great but as always I burned the garlic bread...it's become a tradition even though it is never done on purpose !!    Aaron made an incredible rainbow jello salad.  He said it only took 4 hours. So beautiful! Celebrating CELIA ...AND SHE'S 5 This one will be 10 tomorrow… full of spunk and mischief like the others (could be typical of those born in April? )!! Loves to read Loves his cousins too! He skis AND HE IS 10!!  

This past week our 70's group got together at our house for a “farewell to winter” dinner. I decided we needed a theme and that was the best I could come up with - which I suppose was as good as any. At the end of this post I have few words about this all originally got started. Each couple was asked to provided a course.  We hosted so we decided to do appetizers - a fruit and goat cheese crostini that wasn't too heavy or filling. Of course I have no photo of them.  The A’s brought an amazing tomato bisque and even brought a beautiful tureen in which to serve it.    The D’s brought a lovely green salad with candied pecans and homemade dressing.      The P’s brought an old-fashioned, hearty beef stew served with crusty bread and high end butter.        The L’s brought a beautiful cheesecake topped with fresh strawberries ! It was so relaxing to have it at home versus in a restaurant and quieter too. We were able to all enjoy the conv...

There are or three very vigorous weeds growing in the yard this spring. The two that I despair of the most are Bitter Hairy Cress and wild onion/garlic. The hairy cress has gotten very tall but it's easy enough to pull. I just need to be persistent.   It was getting to be embarrassing to have them that tall in the front flowerbed, so I braved the cold and pulled. I will have to dig later but by then I should be able to see the perennials. I got as far as the corner of the house...the wind coming from the south was brutal and the bag was full! Before After (it's a start) The wild onion/garlic are impossible and getting more prolific every year. Last year I did a lot of pulling (not recommended) and digging. This year I bought Roundup precision gel. I hope it works! Stay tuned!!

  Red tulips It's been a cold and windy few weeks which makes it difficult for me to get out and work in the yard.  But like my friend R and I keep telling ourselves: it's only April!  The warm weather that we had a few weeks ago caused the tulips and other early plants to bloom.  The subsequent cold has kept the blooms in peak form.   It's been wonderful! I just took pictures ... Trillium- last year there was only one stalk Brunnera A bed of yellow tulips close to the maple  A bed of yellow tulips near the back. This is the first time we have seen these bloom...no rabbit damage this year! Primula and grape hyacinth hosta and violets A couple of stray tulips Columbine- twice as tall this year Lungwort (pulmonaria)

           I visited a small farm that has chickens, goats, mini-horses, a plethora of cats and a dog. Amazing what can be done on a small property out in the country.  I picked up buckets of old goat poop mixed with pine shavings and a bit of horse manure. It's old and quite dry so I can use it directly on the flowerbeds. Bonus? It is almost odorless! Later, Aaron came with a motorized edger and did a lot of the flowerbeds.  It seems that clay soil and the strong grass made it difficult even with this machine. I counted my pots ... 40 of them. I think the plants all survived the winter. Some were in the garage and the rest were set up close to the south side of the house. I watered them all with water from the rain barrels.