finally, spring

I had a good evening. Spent a good deal of it visiting old friends. Blogs that I hadn't visited in a very very long time. Catching up. Seeing what was new. It seems everyone has just continued on, sharing their homes, their craft projects, their family.

Here, in my town, we survived another winter of way too much snow. Our winter was too long. Too cold. The good news is, we've had an incredible spring so far. For a change. One thing you need to know about Juneau is it rains all the time and if it isn't raining, it's dark and dreary, and cold, and damp. It can be a very depressing town. And we've had horrid summers the last few years with winters being even worse. So we definitely deserve decent weather. For me, weather in the 60's is just perfect.

It poured down yesterday, for the first time in a few weeks. We definitely needed the rain to soak our soil good, so our plants and trees could grow. But as luck would have it, my husband no sooner finished fertilizing every single plant, shrub, and tree in our rather large landscaped yard.... that it started to downpour.... I hope it had a chance to do some good before being washed away.

But here it is almost June and our gardens are just starting to come to life. The leaves are out on the trees now and our earliest spring blooming perennials are in bloom. One of our earliest spring bloomers is the Trollius, or Globe Flower, with its cheery yellow flowers. Beautiful and so cheery!

My grandbabies are due any minute, so I better run. Hunter is now one and a half years old and Ellis recently turned one year old.

Until next time.... Nancy

is it spring yet?

Tell, me, can it be so.....?????

Spring???

Soon???

Maybe if we put our lawn furniture outside....



I wonder if a hair dryer would help....

the past, the present, the future

This is how I'm feeling.... wilted... defeated... droopy.... sad....

Yesterday was such a dreary day. The weather in Juneau can really get to people. It's called cabin fever. The long winters. The darkness. The rain. It doesn't normally bother me but this year I'm feelin it. Every single time I looked out the window yesterday, it was snowing. It wasn't sticking, but it was snowing. Big, wet flakes. Then in the later afternoon, it turned to big rain. All day it snowed and rained. It was a cold, damp day. And I'm tired of it....

Today is a typical day in Juneau. More drizzle.

Tomorrow.... More rain. The National Weather Service calls for more of the same for the next week. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.... rain.... But there is a silver lining for Monday: "sunny with a high of 44." Subject to change, of course....

Have a good day! Nancy

spring.... not quite here....

I hear rumors that spring has sprung. We're not quite feeling it here yet.... although it is getting daylight earlier and I do see the little red hat of my garden gnome sticking out through the snow so that's a start! But instead of seeing this when I look out the window:




We're still seeing this:




But soon.... the snow will disappear, the soggy soil will dry up, the little red knobs of rhubarb will peak through the remaining snow and ice. Soon....

Meanwhile, Easter will be on us before we know it (March 23) and I've been busy making mental notes for the menu, decorating ideas, and new craft projects.

I found this cute easter eggs book last year and am excited to try some new ideas this year.



I need to buy some eggs and get them dyed and blown out, and then I can start adding all my pretties. Isn't this ribbon just too precious?


And all these cute little embellishments will be perfect!


To get a finished project like this:


I'd really like to make decorating eggs an annual event, like our cookie decorating party, but we've got a lot going on this time of year so I might have to do it alone.

Have a great day!

shopping just got better

I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes and ears! Don't even bother guessing because you'll never guess, in a million years, what could have me practically speechless. We think only women could be so.... so.... what's the word I'm looking for.... so fanatical (is that a word?) about shopping. But not so. In this little town of 32,000 of ours, men, too, can get excited about shopping. Yes, shopping! Here's why:



Home Depot opened its doors today and my husband got up at the crack of dawn (okay, dawn came hours earlier), but he got up at 4:00 a.m. just to be ready to meet Ray at 5:15 a.m. so they could be there when the doors opened at 6:00 a.m. Never mind we only live 8 minutes away but they were so excited about Home Depot coming to town that they wanted to show their support by being there when the doors opened! Now, that's shopping! I had to call at 7:30 to see if they were ever coming home and I was assured they would be.

Juneau is very limited in its shopping facilities. No real malls. No outlet stores, or at least not worthy of mentioning. We do have a Fred Meyer that is very nice and provides the one-stop shopping for all us busy people. We have hardware stores but we're limited to purchasing from the choices of one or two products. If you want a new toilet, you have no options. You buy what they have on the floor whether you like it or not. If you want to order something different, that's considered a "custom" order and you pay for it, big time. So having Home Depot come is a huge thing for Juneau. Maybe it will put one or two stores out of business but.... so be it.... If you can't give the customers want they want.... then you can shop with the rest of us--at Home Depot!

Today is a beautiful, sunny day. Things really grew while we were gone. Here's what's blooming in my garden on this sunny day.


Bleeding heart is one of my favorite plants. I was surprised the first time a customer came into the nursery where I work, asking for advice on what to plant over a grave site of their beloved dog or cat. We always recommend the bleeding heart.

Don't you love chives? Not only for their hardiness in a garden (you can't kill it!), but for it's spicy and oniony flavor in cottage cheese. The flowers also make for a great dried flower.


And this is comfry, I think.... I got a small start of it from a friend, never realizing it would turn out to be such a huge plant with such a pretty flower. My dad used to swear by comfry--comfry tea for his health , comfry tea and packs to make the hair on his bald head grow...., comfry bandages for cuts and abrasions. Personally, I think it's a horrid tea and you couldn't make me drink it, but it makes for a pretty plant.


I'm not especially fond of the dogwood shrub.... It gets so tall and so leggy and it's just not so pretty unless you really work at keeping it trim. Clearly, I have not.... But the flower is pretty.


Meadow Rue is an interesting perennial. It grows to about 4' tall and is full of this lacy, fluffy flower. It's really a pretty plant.


This is a hop vine. Yes, like you make beer from. It doesn't have any flowers but I think it's pretty growing up this piece of driftwood my son gave me. It really needs a lot of room to grow as will grow to 20' long. I have a few more plants growing along the split rail fence, but it just doesn't give it enough area to grab on to. Still, I love any vine.


No garden would be complete if there wasn't at least one rhubarb plant! I happen to have about eight plants growing.... enough rhubarb to supply the entire town if I wanted! But it's good for so many desserts. I harvested about six quarts of it yesterday and will get more in the freezer before the week is over. Yummy!

This is my favorite garden in the front yard. The rhodie, ferns, astilbe, bleeding heart, and water barrel all just go together. Don't you agree?



And, last, but not least, my ferns. I love this fern garden. I dug up a dozen of them last year and transplanted them, but looking at this you could never tell. This fall I may have to transplant some more, just to thin it out some and so you can see the other perennials that are actually hiding. You can see the sedum and wild iris. I love this garden as well.


Hope you enjoyed the tour of my front yard. I'll share my back yard tomorrow.

a perfect job

Today I return to work.... but this won't be anything like the job I worked at for 30 years.... this is a dangerous kind of job.... a plant nursery! I've worked there before, when I was younger, but think I still have what it takes to put in a few hours a week. The dangerous part is.... I love to garden. I love to landscape; I love to add new plants to my existing gardens; I love to give plants away; I love to replace plants that aren't doing so well; I love to try something new; I love to garden! And now I can get my fingers dirty to my heart's content all day long.... or at least until our yard becomes a snow-free zone and I'm able to do some real work here.

I spent all day Sunday looking for a giant-size can of Snow Be Gone but none was to be found. I suspect all the people with a snow-free zone have already bought it all.... :) So we had to revert to getting rid of snow the old fashioned way.... Shoveling it onto the driveway, spreading it out, stomping on it, anything to help it melt! My sister had to laugh that all winter we worked endlessly to remove the snow from our driveway.... now we were shoveling it back on!

Yes, we have started shoveling the snow back on to the driveway where it is a little warmer and melts more quickly. We're just helping Mother Nature along. The raised beds will become snow-free sooner, the soil warmed up sooner, and the potatoes planted on time.... maybe.

Have a sunshiny day!

a home without a season

Can you believe we had another sunny day in Juneau?! AND, it was warm, like in the high 50's! It's hard to describe how our moods change when a few rays of sun come out. Typically Juneau is dark and dreary most of the year. Much of the population gets cabin fever in the winter and moods drastically go on the downhill. Thankfully, I'm not one that gets depressed by darkness or rain. But when the sun comes out, it certainly lifts the spirit; it's good for body and soul, for sure.

The most difficult aspect of living right now is that we're living without a season. It's officially spring.... but our yard tells us, nope, not yet..... We should be outside raking, thatching, reseeding, trimming, and sprucing up the lawn and gardens. But we can't because we still have snow..... It's sunshiny and warm and I'm outside walking in the snow in my sandals.... Of course my husband had to make a point that they were sandals and not made for snow.... I thought it was best if I wore suntan lotion rather than risk a burn from the reflection of the snow.... So you can't imagine the feeling of joy when I had a 28" strip of lawn to actually rake today! The snow had receded from the driveway enough that I could enjoy the spirit of spring and rake to my heart's content!

Today was a lovely day.

sunny day

What an absolutely gorgeous day! Despite the fact that there was a heap of snow in front of us, the deck chairs came out and my hubby and I enjoyed the first real rays of summer sitting in the sun in our short sleeves and sandals. It was only 54 degrees, but it was sunny AND warm and heavenly. Hardly gets any better than that. Rain is predicted for the rest of the week..... :(

eye spy

I wish there was something other than "snow" and "spring cleaning" to talk about but sadly.... there isn't. Normally this time of year I'd be outside getting my gardens in shape in anticipation of a great summer of gardening and landscaping. After a long winter my gardens are always in need of some special TLC not to mention the projects waiting in the wings. But since we're at least a month behind schedule I have no choice but to continue with my spring cleaning inside.

Yesterday was a good day. It was sunny and gorgeous outside and inside the kitchen was sparkling. I'm excited about the new uses found for my recent thrift store finds. This urn is now holding tea bags and another one is holding garlic. I'm thinking also lemons and limes for this summer.

But I have to say, all the while I was working.... it felt like someone was watching me.... It was eerie....

The biggest part of my day was spent polishing vintage silverware. Where does it come from and why do I have so much of it? The answer is simply.... because I'm a collector; I hate getting rid of things especially if it came from family. But over the years I've learned to downsize and it's time to downsize my silverware as well. We don't use it; it's just for looks and it does require polishing at least once a year. I'll keep my favorite pieces and see if the kids want the rest.

Today is another simply gorgeous day outside.... and here I am, inside.... But it'll feel good to get spring cleaning done.

Just wish I could shake the feeling that someone is watching me....


Have a sunshiny day!

snow free zone

I love sunny days in Juneau! Yesterday was a gorgeous day and it even got into the mid-50's. Never mind that we still have all this snow on the ground, other places around town are snow-free with signs of real spring sprouting up everywhere. This picture is of our wetlands taken on our way into town. It will be covered when the tide comes in.

Mike and I went for a ride in the morning. It doesn't take long.... we don't have to go far.... We only have about 60 miles of road going from one end of town to the next and yesterday we drove about 10 of it. The END is never far in Juneau. Sometimes I remark (okay, whine!), "ohhhhh, I don't want to drive alllllll the way to Douglas!" My husband reminds me it's only a 15 minute drive....

Downtown is getting ready for the tourist season. Yesterday all you saw were construction and city workers busily getting streets and shops spruced up for the tourist season. In about two weeks the scene downtown will look a lot different. We'll have cruise ships tied up at the dock and hundreds of people milling in front of store windows, shopping, and filling their bags with tourist treasures. That could be scenario 1. Scenario 2 could be it's raining sideways and the winds are blowing and the tourists are in their rain ponchos huddled in front of shop doors wondering why they came to Juneau to begin with! Either way, our streets will be bustling and the red T-Shirt Shop bags will be everywhere!

After arriving home, our sweet dog, Kona, surprised us with a visit and spent the afternoon with us. Of course the only thing on Kona's agenda is playing ball, so with ball in mouth, outside we go. We were having a great time--Kona getting to the ball first and Sadie just happy as a clam to have company--totally unaware that Dixie Cup was sunbathing herself in the sunshine. Dixie lives behind us.... with Mercedes the Boxer. Dixie doesn't like Mercedes (Mercedes is just over a year old and too rambunctious) and somehow, some way, manages to scoot her fat little body under the 4" of cyclone fence and scuttles over to our yard. Actually we don't know why she prefers our yard.... but she's a daily visitor. And we let her visit.

This is Kona's version of making a snow angel. I laughed so hard watching her roll around in the snow. She was just having a hay day; happy to be alive and in our back yard running and playing.

These boots were not made for walking! I found them at our local thrift store a few years ago and think they're perfect just where they are, waiting patiently outside my front door for some hen and chicks.... something.... but it will be awhile yet before I can fill them as it's just not spring enough yet.

Meanwhile, life goes on. The snow too will melt and my flowers will bloom and life will be good. Today is a non-rainy day and is actually pretty nice out. I plan on continuing my spring cleaning and will work in the kitchen today. I found some treasures at the thrift store yesterday that I'm thrilled about but they need to be washed up before I can show them. So until tomorrow, have a sunshiny day filled with good things!

spring has sprung

Okay, I've been hit by the blogging bug! I can't help it but my days are filled reading every one's posts and falling in love with their decorating ideas. Thank goodness I'm retired and have time to do this....

I know it's officially "spring," but it sure doesn't feel like it. Here in Juneau we still have a ton of snow on the ground. And it's ugly snow.... dirty, ugly, end-of-the-season snow. As it recedes along the driveway, you can see all the ugly winter debris that has laid dormant underneath it all winter. I can hardly wait to get outside and start raking it up. This picture was just taken yesterday. Doesn't hardly look like spring, does it?!

Yesterday I did some assessment of the damage that I can see so far.... the snow guards, that prevent the snow from sliding off our metal roof, have been ripped off from so much snow and ice. As you can see below, our split rail fencing has fallen also from the weight of so much snow. We'll have to replace most of the posts and rails this summer:

And, no, this picture isn't upside down. This is my cherry tree.... After I cut off all the broken branches there may not be many left to bare cherries. This is a similar scene with most bushes that are breaking loose from all the snow.

When you look outside it still is pretty distressing.... BUT, I saw some pussy willows in bloom yesterday and the Canadian Geese are in the wetlands, and the last little red hat of my garden gnome is sticking through the snow. Never mind that he's on a 3' high rock! Every day I see a little more of his little cap and I know spring will be here.... eventually....

Now, if only my baby Rocker Jays would show up. It's pretty funny to see all their downy fluff sticking out all over their bodies. But no babies just yet; maybe they're sitting on their nests since we still have so much snow.

But the real indicator that spring is here.... I'm in the mood to clean! Nothing is sacred this time of year--closets and drawers; clothes; books; bedding. Every nook and cranny gets cleaned out and pared down; boxes and boxes of good stuff gets donated to the kids or the local St. Vincents; places get cleaned that haven't been cleaned for months.... Our winters are so long and so dark that spring is a definite renewal of the spirit and soul. It's a time for change; for refreshing our surroundings. This year I'm ready to get back to "cottage." I used to be more of a cottage person than I am now. Over the years I've downsized too many times and have passed on a lot of my goodies to my daughter, Tracy. I wonder if she'll give it all back....? :) Now our home is a mixture of Alaskana/country/cozy cottage with a mixture of mission and antiques. But it should be easy to incorporate a little more "cottage" into it because I've got the bug. The bug for vintage, for colors, for casual quaintness.

To that end, I started in our bedroom yesterday. We've never had a "bedroom bedroom." It's always been a catch all room for anything without a true home.... So my goal this week is to make it into a real bedroom, a romantic and comfortable room without all that other stuff! I mean we have baseball cards, office papers, umbrellas, tools, magnetic health products, paper rolls for our loose change, luggage, extra furniture, and the list can go on and on. Does this sound like a romantic bedroom? I think not! So it's all coming out! Not certain where it's going, but it's all going to find a new home. A big problem I have is our California closets.... I'm not so crazy about them because they're just open, there's no closet doors to hide things behind so you can see everything and it looks cluttered. So I bought some baskets to hold our stuff (or to hide it....) but need a few more.
I also found this cute retro pillow for the bed. I fell in love with it the second I saw it. It'll be a perfect addition for my blue and white bedroom.

Can you tell if this plant is real or not? It's not.... The lady at the checkout even smelled it! (She also calls the turnips by name.... "Hi, Mr. Turnip....") It looks great on my bedside table.
So things are looking up. Today I need to buy a couple more baskets for the closet and some 6" deep plastic bins to store seasonal clothes and slide under the bed. Maybe I'll get some spring flowers at our local grocery store and put my summer (non-flannel) sheets on the bed and look for some better art work to put on the wall, and some bluish rag rugs for next to the bed, and pick up paint samples from Valley Paint, and then try to pull it all together by the end of the day. It's a tall order.... in Juneau.... where our shopping is limited.... But maybe by the end of the week it'll be a beautiful, romantic bedroom!

Have a sunshiny day!