It Feels Like...

...forever since hubby and I have had a weekend to play, laze around, or linger with abandon. That's because we've been on this final push to get three big projects completed before summer officially begins - the outdoor dining patio, two sets of stairs (patio and front porch) and our picket fence (fence pickets shown above).

Who ever said that building a fence was easy? Oh, no one? The above photo shows my work station for the past week. I haven't actually been working at it the whole week, but having it set up makes me somehow feel like it's getting done.

My task at hand is to sand each picket. I've created this task for myself because I have this disorder (some would say) of 'attention to detail.' You see, some of the pickets we got from the only fence store I could find within a 100-mile radius, are a bit rough. And one thing I like is consistency so I'm sanding each one with a palm-sander to give them all a smoother finish. That's 320 pickets in case you're wondering.

Why am I not out there right now? Well, I made a discovery last weekend. After making a bunch of horrible noise, I discovered a Robin's nest perched up in the eave of this barn. Two baby Robins were huddled together in their nest, compelling me to stop all production immediately!

The work station will have to be relocated of course...until then, I've been turning my attention to the yard where I've planted seven new hydrangeas. Note: this is in no way related to our three big projects that we're pushing to get done before summer officially (June 21st) begins.

For the Love of Ladybugs

This is hubby with a handful of Ladybugs. I love , love, love Ladybugs. Every time I come across one, my day is always better. So you can imagine how overjoyed I was to release hundreds of them last night when we sprinkled them over all of our hedge roses.

Our local nursery sells them for natural pest control...those darn sweet Ladybugs will eat up all of those nasty little aphids, which I've had my fair share of this spring. The Ladybugs come in a perforated little bag, and as you can see above, hubby is shaking the last of them out on to the rose bush.

This isn't our first Ladybug release. I guess we're about on our fifth - this spring. You see, Ladybug lovers have a very hard time paying for their flowers while there are bags of Ladybugs sitting next to the cash register, just singing to come home with you. Oh, it's very difficult and I've tried to avoid eye contact (yes, with the Ladybugs) but it just breaks my heart to leave them behind when they could happily come home with me.

And I have to say, as I lay in bed at night thinking of all the Ladybugs living here on our little farm, a smile overcomes me as I drift off to sleep.

I love you Ladybug.

First Day at the Farmer's Market

I bought these beautiful Sandra Bernhardt Peonies at the Farmer's Market last week. They come from an organic farm that offers amazing organic produce all summer long. You can imagine how thrilled I was that they also had their first crop of organic strawberries!



I bought half a flat and we finished our last berry over the weekend. They were so good!

Happy Strawberry Season!