clumsygirl: art + craft + tomfoolery

Today we had brunch at my mentor teacher's new house. She retired at the end of last year, and I've heard not a peep from her between now and then. She had a sick sister, and her parents (who were in their 90's) both passed on this year. So, it was a turbulent time for her. In the middle of the this past week, I looked up from wrangling squirrels... and there she was! In my room! Yay! She passed on the invitation to brunch. She's such an amazingly gracious lady. Her house is beautiful, elegant, creative, artistic and super-impressive. She had it almost completely renovated, but did a lot of work herself. She tiled the masterbath on her own (with a really neat arching tree shape made of contrasting tile). She built her own decks after they hit the top of their budget for contractor work. She made the accent tiles for her kitchen in the ceramics room at school, prior to retiring. She built a two story chicken coop, and an outdoor cat coop. I can't say enough about her and her new home.

In any case, mrpants and I were inspired to finish up the front yard planting when we came home. I think I have everything (except zinnias, which will come later in the summer) planted out front. I may put in some scarlet runner beans to replace the passion flower... or I may not. We'll see. Mrpants finished planting the artichoke, the bronze fennel and some trailing euphorbia. then we planted a few herbs and mrpants starting planting our tomatos and peppers. Only four tomoto plants this year (two amish paste, one roma and one juliet). Six peppers were planted, and I can't name all the types we got. Since we moved the rhubarb, we have room in the second raised bed now. We're going to fill in with some extra soil, and then I'll plant some zucchini and cucumbers.

All in all, the yard is looking so much better. Last year, it just didn't get enough time to get going between ripping out the grass in the first week of April and the start of growing season.

Look at it now!