Capturing late May in the Garden

Front bed with lavender blooming.


Clematis going up the support


Day lillies about to bloom, and I think there is an echinacea in there too.


I don't know where this dianthus (?) came from! the rose is looking great! and yellow irises. The burgandy ones have not bloomed yet.


Window bed staying strong.


The pink foxglove I planted a couple weeks ago to replace one I planted late season last year that didn't come back.


Spent azalea, and I'm hoping the long stalks are Queen Anne's lace.


Sedum in front, and the hibiscus starting to grow in the back. Next year I need to cut the stalk down further.


Closeup.


Flower pots are looking amazing this year.


The birds like to nest in this hanging pot...
Here is someone tending the nest, or tending the someone in the nest.

From my window...

Asian couple walking by and the woman noted my daffodils.

why? they are neatly tied up in bundles.
like this...

(stolen from web)

and here is a photo of mine:

(I didn't bundle the hyacinths)

She and her husband had a little chat about it.

Home Improvements!! the Bathroom edition v.2.

I have renovated a bathroom once before in my life, and so this whole process was not that daunting.

We have a room in the basement that is ready for a bathroom. We use it for storage, and it's pretty full.
It is actually frustrating not having a bathroom in the basement, though. When you're working out it would be nice to get water and use a bathroom without having to go upstairs, and I would like a place to do handwashing. At first we were going to put in a whole bathroom, and then I said - why?! We need the storage space more, and what do two people need with 3 showers in one house? So we decided that we would not put in the shower and would install "standard and bracket" shelving for storage. I figure this is a good place for the seasonal decorations (read: Halloween!), and some personal archived things that you don't want in the garage.

Here is a photo of the room used for 100% storage - this would be the stuff of the previous owners.


And here it is as our "locker room style" basement powder room:


We will be installing shelving on the back wall in the next couple weeks.






We decided to go ahead and have our GC/handyman contractor, Ryan, do the main-floor powder room changes too.
We wanted this bathroom to look like it was in Africa.
Here's the powder room at the Rhino Post Lodge, which has the feel we were going for...




Here's a kinda before photo from the home inspection prior to purchase:





Our renovation:


We will be putting up photos of animals from our South Africa trip on the wall you see when you walk in.


Eric will be building a shelf to go above the toilet and hold a towel.
I want it to look like this (not white, natural wood... thank you Martha Stewart Living):





LOVE the tile! hard to capture the color in an artificially-lit bathroom.

And there you have it...
slowly, we plug away at making this house more of the home we want it to be.

Observations from my window...

I've decided to start posting here the interesting things I note out of my (home) office window.

Today, a woman about my age doing hill-repeats... so far there has been two downs and two ups.
Road bike, not "pro" looking... kinda like me.
I say kudos to her!
This is on MY list every Tuesday!

Spring Green

We had two hot (80) days, but mostly the weather has been cooler (60) with lots of rain. The garden is more green than anything else.
Here's where we are with spring growth.

My garden is full of a plant that has the leaves of a carrot. I have pulled them up to see if they are carrots, but there is no large root. They smell like carrots. They started growing in the fall and stayed alive over the winter. I'm waiting to see what they are because they could be a wildflower (I seem to remember that there is one that smells like carrots).
Some quick research... Queen Anne's lace Daucus carota


Two lily of the valley came up:




And the bleeding heart is huge!


The side bed never fails to impress.


Foxglove doing well. The pink one I planted next to it did not come back.


This is behind the foxglove. There should be an Agastache coming up that seems to be missing too.


This Columbine is doing very well.


GREEN!
This is two Del Oro's, some sage in the front, and the Buddleia getting full in the back.


Azalea about to pop!
and something growing in front of it... wildflower?


Kitchen window bed is coming along.