Timing!

It all looks beautiful (sigh). We just have a few grumpy-looking crocuses. They probably felt the same way I did about the snow this morning.

Well, we also have some unruly yew bushes, or whatever they are. They were supposed to get pruned last fall, but they did not. I would even let Francisco near them when he's done at Maryse's.

It looks so pretty and inviting. Not too big, not too small, just right....

Love the portulaca... reminds me of my grandmother... She plants them in her dead gas grill...

Portulaca will also overwinter in mind climates! I don't see the onion you're growing - has it met an untimely, salsa-related demise?

This new gardener sounds extremely promising; I hope you get enough (but not too much!) rain to keep things green, we are soaked out here in Boston. I'm keeping an eye out for scrap lumber to start building my raft...We will be waiting with bated breath to hear of your first frying of your own okra and of your adventures as Keeper of the Peppers. Your yard is so green, I'm jealous.

*sighs* I really want to get some things growing, but it is just way too damn cold, although by Monday I guess it's supposed to be 70. Do you think that Francisco will ever remember that he was your gardener and come in and hack the bejeezus out of everything while you're not home? That would be traumatic.

one of our neighbors started leaving peanuts out for the mexican jays in the neighborhood a couple years ago. Now, if the bowl is empty, they bang on his door, squawking that it should be refilled, RIGHT NOW. So you may want to make sure they don't see which window is yours, or you might have a new alarm clock.

I like the sound of your new gardner. Good Luck!

So *you* can call them blue jays, but young Kenneth gets corrected?

:)

Your garden is SO beautiful and inviting! Looks like a lovely place to sit and decompress with a glass of wine after work. Nice job! You've inspired me to do something with my sad sad sad patio...Much love to you and your new gardener. Your hedges will be thrilled!

Ohhh, it's a fruitless mulberry tree...that's why Francisco thought he had to whack it into next week. When they are severely pruned like that, the next year's wood is weak at the base and then Francisco-types think they have to whack it back to the same point of attachment to keep the limb from breaking. There is a way to rehabilitate them -- it sounds like your new guy knows what to do.

And rebellious? I recently learned a new word from my Ph.D. psychology friends: "counter-dependent." It means rebellious and contrary without the negative connotations. It's how they describe (their own) pre-teens.

Such a pretty yard! And good for you on knowing your limits on gardeners and temptation.

Your yard is so nice!! I would love to be able to knit outside with a pretty landscape like that.

Laurie,

You have done a SUPERB job with your plants...and with your self!!!!

You have a lovely backyard (New York slang for Patio) hopefully Kenneth will give it the finishing touches it needs!!!

Based on your recommendation, I'm trying that Cat Attract litter. My PetSmart had it. Hopefully, my little princess kitty will stop bing such a princess. Thanks for passing on the information.

You're garden is lovely. I have a black thumb so I'm really rooting for you

Your garden is looking wonderful - so fresh and alive! The new gardener sounds like the right guy for the job; I was in pain looking at Francisco's shorn plants too!

Hey, aren't scrub jays endangered in CA or something? Maybe you could get your back forty identified as good habitat for them and then you could have a consultant come and groom your back yard. Unfortunately, consultants like that are usually kind of hot. Sorry, nevermind!

mmmmm, catnip

And, cute cute yard. How about a garden party around the solstice... (I went to a garden party, they all knew my name, no one recognized me, I didn't look the same...)

"This guy was not knowing anything."

That is priceless.

Your yard looks fantastic. Seeing all that green makes me warm and happy. I'm so proud of you! (And proud that you're resisting young hot gardeners, too.) And thrilled beyond measure that Francisco can no longer massacre your plants. Life is good.

Nell-- please let me know if your cat takes to it. I am SHOCKED that Soba has made it two full weeks now without a single royal poo left on the mat. She used to poo right outside the box, on the little mat, if someone had defiled the box before she got in. It was so frustrating.

But now she's using the box all the time, it's crazy. I keep my fingers crossed she can't develop a tolerance to "cat attract" LOL.

And to all the nice words about the patio... I *love* that patio. All my good thinking and drinking and laughing and knitting happens out there. It's my favorite part of the entire house, I love it, I sit out there every night and just listen and breathe.

Your yard looks so lovely. We are only just approaching the Spring Time When Things Get Green and I so wish that I had a beautiful little back garden in which to sit and drink wine and knit. Maybe I should look into hiring a gardener...

Laurie, btw, you have inspired me to post some pictures of Finished Knitted Items! (yikes!)

I agree, your yard looks wonderful, so inviting. I'm glad the new gardener seems to understand what your property needs.

Is it significant that Kenneth brought his son?? Just wondering...

GLORIOUS! Pictures!

So green, so growing... I want to sit there too!

I'll bring a box of fine wine...

Your back 40 is absolutely a breath of fresh air on this dreary PA day! I can't wait until winter finally moves out and I can get my fingers into the dirt. You've totally created an oasis of relaxation. I'm way jealous!

The clueless Francisco and his maniacal pruning habits actually reminds me of my ex-husband, who wasn't happy until he'd uprooted, pruned and chopped down pretty much every growing thing in our front and back yards--I was able to save the valiant lilac bush but never knew what he'd go after next. That wasn't why I asked him to leave, but it certainly wasn't in his favor!

oh yes, i have a cat that specializes in the poo right next to the box trick...i think the message to me is...i COULD go where i am supposed to, it is right there, right next to me, but it has one speck of the other kitty's whatnot in there so i'll just use the carpet, thanks. argh. i am worried he will teach baby kitty this bad habit! i will definitely give the cat attract a try. and super dooper congrats on the GORGEOUS patio. well done!!! the plants look fabulous!

What an adorable back yard! Wish mine were that cute!

This may be the year for brown thumbs to turn green. My solution was to buy a hydroponic (sp?) basil plant. It's been over two weeks and I haven't killed it yet! (My previous record with basil was 2 days...) :( Your yard looks loverly!!

maryse, sorry to hear about your kitteh. it's always hard for me to lose one of my bebehs.

Good luck with don Juan, I hope he does not ruin your beautiful garden. Try asking him if he knows what quimbobo is (the "U" is silent--kimbobo, with stress on the last "o"), that's what we call okra in Puerto Rico and a lot of other Latin American countries.

PS Mexico is one of the largest exporters of okra, maybe they sent it to us and don't eat it themselves. Go figure.

Nice work! Looks like a great place to have a glass of wine in the evening. I need to start getting my pots planted when I get home. Sadly, we are still at a slight risk of frost...usually have to wait until around mother's day in Cincinnati to plant anything.

Other Ruth, I think he brought Kenneth because Kenneth speaks English and Juan is about 20-70 on the English. But Juan was surprised and happy I speak Spanish and have even been to the part of Mexico he's from. I really wanted to explain the okra to him, but it's one of those words I just never said in Spanish so I was tongue-tied a little.

I love living in LA so much because I love the mix of people from everywhere and how you can have a conversation in two languages at once and how they knew what chile pequins were and were so impressed and I felt secretly very happy that I was growing these special Mexican peppers. I'm silly that way.

I'm so jealous of your beautiful yard - what a lovely place to sit, knit, read, think. Congrats on the new gardener. Bringing his son along is (maybe) a sign to all that he's taken and don't mistake him for the pool boy?? But I love that he realizes Francisco's ineptitude and pray he'll help all the little green things heal.

Thanks for another posting, Laurie. Please don't stop publishing your diary for us to share.

The patio looks lovely! A wonderful place to sit with a glass of wine and your knitting.

oh SO jealous! You're back yard looks so lush and warm! I don't garden because dirt + plants = bugs and I don't do bugs, but I appreciate the beauty of a well-maintained garden. Best of luck with Juan, may he have the greenest of thumbs!

P.S. It's nice to have your opinion about Francisco validated by a professional, isn't it?

Your post today is so mystical. It seems as if the powers that be want your back yard to reflect your inner soul and are sending magical gardeners to do the work. All the rain the first sad year and the sympathetic strange gardener. Then the bleak and destructive Francisco during your transition - maybe so your garden could reflect your anger and disappointment? And now everything's growing and blossoming just like you and "they" have sent you Juan - he's going to be good eh? What's the signifigance of the blue scrub jay though? Hmmmm?

Your back 40 looks fantastic Laurie!! Juan sounds like he'll do justice to the plans that you have for your getting-greener back yard.
I love portulaca - it does well with healthy amounts of neglect.

My husband and I just took a near-death-of-an-experience road trip to Illinois to visit his family and on the way, as you may or may not know, are a gazillion and one cows. There are also horses.
Me: "Oh, look!! A baby cow!! TWO baby cows!!!"
Him: "They're called calves."
Me: "Oh, look! BABY COWS EVERYWHERE!!!!"

Later

Me: "Oh, look, baby horses!!"
Him: "Or, (insert "dumbsh!t" here) foals."
Me: (glaring)"OH MY GOSH LOOK AT THE CUTE BABY HORSES AND BABY COWS EVERYWHERE!!"

You can call your bird whatever you want and anyone who want's to school you on the correct terminology can suck it.

God, I'm not a zoologist!!

Oh, Laurie! Your yard looks beautiful. I remember how it looked this time last year and it is much improved! I thought Fransisco's pruning habits were hysterical, but enough was enough. I'm glad he's gone.

I feel like I could just pop over and put my feet up and have some sweet tea with you. It must be so lovely to sit on your back porch and just look around.

Tana, I think I love you!!!! LOL

I get so tired of always and forever being corrected. I thought I would try it out on Kenneth, but mostly I was just surprising myself for remembering the actual name!!!! LOL

Thank GOODNESS the evil pruner is gone. And congrats on finding someone who knows what he's doing.

Your back 40 is a perfect 10.

Nothing against Francisco, but prayers have been answered!! Your yard looks nice! Do the cats like to watch your Jays?

Your yard is beautiful (its times like this that living in New York stinks)! Stupid snow in April... Way to stay strong on the gardener issue, Juan sounds great.

Hooray for the new gardener!
And yes, I understand the prudent move to a non-Able gardener. Wise choice.
I too, am experiencing strong yard-envy. We have a lovely apartment in Santa Monica, but there's not even a place for a window box, and miss being part of the growing this time of year (sigh). But that just means I'll watch your updates extra-close!
Oh- and we natives a few miles south just call them big birds "Jays". Nice, neutral, accurate, and non-correctable! They are the funniest combo of shrewd and bird-brained. yep, they WILL remind you to fill their bowl and get the funniest sassiest air of entitlement ever about you and THEIR right-to-peanuts BUT-- just watch the dummies try a jillion different places to hide ONE peanut..and then forget it so completely that before you know it, you're growing a little peanut farm in each planter! Really, the Carters oughta work out a sub-contract with the Blue Jay's union back in Georgia--they'd never have to plant a crop by human hand again!

It is so nice to see all the green-ness...

Have you been to the post office? I am 99.999% positive that the second blanket (for Mr. Hakim?) is waiting patiently there for you.

hey, i was holding it together ok until i read your little shout out to me and my poor little kitty. now i'm at work bawling my eyes out like a big dork.

not to worry, it'll take more than a pair of pruning shears for francisco to do his harm. you know the trees in the wizard of oz? mine are bigger and scarier. i'll post a picture for you soon.

Kristy, I haven't been but I know for sure I will go on Saturday in the morning. If I can get out of work early this week (hah) maybe I can go sooner, I hope so anyway! I cannot wait to see it, I am so excited!!

and the cats love to bird watch... it is cat TV :)

You speak Spanish, Laurie? Yet another never-before-revealed facet of Purl. (Actually, since pearls are round, they could be said to have an infinite number of facets, so I shouldn't be surprised.)

(I speak fairly rusty French myself. I can kindasorta read Spanish, and I like to read the bilingual signs in the subway. One phrase I learned thus and like a lot is "vengan de donde vengan," meaning "from all walks of life.")

And your yard really does look like an oasis, so fresh and green and everything growing. I want to take the next plane just so I can sit on your patio.

Happy new gardener and happy garden! I'm glad your plants are thriving.

Laurie, your yard looks so wonderfully green and growing. I miss that about SoCal.

Reading the comments reminded me of the one time my ex did the yard work (I didn't normally let him, after he so proudly pulled up the "wild onions" that were actually daylilies). He was so proud of himself for mowing the front yard, and it took me a while to figure out what was different when I checked it out. Around one of the trees was now naked. I asked him what had happened to the bushes that had been around it, and he thrust his chest out and described how he had dealt with those weeds, lifting the mower up to grind them down to the ground. Only problem - they were actually 4-year-old azalea bushes, just getting ready to bloom again.

My current sweetie girdled and killed 6 apple trees with the weed whacker before I impressed upon him very firmly that he was not to assist me with weeding the fruit trees at all.

maryse, big hugs for you from california :)

oh, Laurie... your pictures make me wish I lived in LA right now, as it's awful and foul in Boston. good luck with your garden - it's truly lovely!

Your yard looks great!! I am going to LA in June/July to visit my in-laws - I can't wait!!! I miss it so much.

Ahhh spring!
Your yard is looking so green and pretty and I loved the pictures Dez contributed. Hee Hee. Did you hear me scream when you said Fransisco was heading this way? I have alerted the Crazy Dog Taz and he has my permission to attack him if he gets near my grape vines.

Your yard is just beautiful! I hope that Juan helps to keep it so nice and also helps to undo the mess that Francisco made.

I love your little garden. It is wonderful and serene. :)

Your yard looks Wonderful! Sounds like you're on the right track with the new gardener. [jealous sigh] We still don't quite have spring here except for sleety rain and borderline flooding. If we tried anything remotely flowering, it would freeze in the bud. But we do have greedy [east-coast] blue jays fighting with the squirrels over feeders that aren't even meant for them. That's almost as good as people tv, or maybe I'm a cat. Dez's pics are fab. And sad. At least icky rats can't hide up in there now!

Oh, what a cute little yard.

(sigh) What I would give for a yard. I love Chicago, but I am starting to get reallllllly homesick for somewhere more green. And less "OHMIGOD-IT'S-SO-COLD-WTF"!

Congratulations on your beautiful garden, and on the prospect that it may continue to be beautiful with the new/competent gardener. May you be knee-deep in okra in no time!

oh look at the colors in your backyard!! Here in the northeast it's still cold (41 f&*!ing degrees) and grey, as if the vampire came and sucked out all color (anyone remember bunnicula?), and Laurie, there is so much LIFE coming out of those picture, those little plants are breathing in your energy and growing, growing, growing!! I don't know how you stay inside and work all day with such beautiful weather outside.

And hang in there Maryse, some virtual hugs and emotional support via internet/CAP posts....

Girlllll your yard looks great!!!

My fingers are crossed that Juan doesn't end up being a nutzo like Francisco.

I just looked up okra in an online Span-Eng dictionary. They say it's "quingombó". I can't tell you for sure if that's the right word for it, but it wouldn't surprise me, because the French word for it is "gombo," which is what they call it in Africa, The word "gumbo" comes from that, since that veggie is an absolute must in gumbo.

Not that you really needed to know all that, and they still might not know what it is even if you say it in Spanish. Some people really tend to stick to their home country's cuisine and its ingredients even when in a foreign country. We gave some basil to a Morrocan guy who works for my husband once. He was fascinated by this unusual plant we were growing in our garden and wanted to surprise his wife with something new to try. He's quite familiar with coriander, which is exotic to many people in the US and Western Europe, though.

Life's all a matter of perspective, I guess.

Your yard is sooo pretty! I love it! I hope the rest of your okra survives the birds!

Your garden looks so nice! I wish stuff like that would grow just as good, but I'm thinking it's much too late when I look at it. Maybe you do have a green thumb, it's just that Francisco kept killing it.

The first thing I thought when you were talking about flirting with the gardener is desperate housewives. Hey, you're not married right now so you can pull it off.

Sad, yes. Humiliated, no. You're not the only one who's been there.

Lovely yard!

gotta get me some portulacaportulacapotulaca !
Your yard looks happy ~
Zina

Wait. You have GREEN things in your back yard Plants! They're GREEN! Who would'a thunk it?

Laiane
(another jealous soul in brown, leafless Michigan)

p.s. maryse -- So sorry to hear of your loss. I'm sure your baby knows how much he was loved.

After all your talk about gardeners, I went and hired one (over the phone, so I don't know what he looks like, how old he is, etc.). However, I will be paying him from my paycheck because every time I try to convince my dh to "get somebody who knows what they're doing," my dh (and he really is a dear) says he can "cut the grass himself." As if that were all it needed. (That mud is not grass, honey. It's mud!) I need someone with "green" smarts! (And he'll be my personal gardener- heh.)

Tonight, I will put out peanuts for our blue jays (they really are "blue" jays, though I can't tell one oriole from another -- or from those pretty yellow finches either). I didn't know jays liked peanuts - got any other advice, Laurie?

will you fix your new gardener a plate of fried okra at harvest time? add a couple fried green tomatoes - great southern plates of yumminess!

Everything looks beautiful. You have inspired me to get into my little backyard and make it beautiful like yours. Thanks for the pictures

Your yard looks fabulous! And Laurie, how on earth do you manage to make so much sense - that whole bit about why you don't want the hottie gardener, it just makes so very much sense, and shows how you are so much stronger than I could ever be. I knew how easily I could be led, but I never had the courage to keep myself from temptations like that. I always dove in, in my own little desperate way. You are amazing, and strong, and brave, girl!

I think Francisco once lived in Indiana. I had an apartment in a house in the days when I was an undergrad. There was an enormous lilac in the back yard that was probably as old as the house (about 80 years). It was an absolute delight. I came home from classes one day to find guys with weed wackers and chain saws standing in the back yard. The rental company had hired them to clean up the back yard. It did need some work. The lilac had been hacked to the ground. They thought it was an overgrown weed. I cried. Really. May your lawn be much happier with Juan!

I am so envious at all the green in your backyard... all we have here in MA so far is mud and the trees are not even sporting leaf buds yet! I can't wait for drier, greener days!

A yard and garden is the one thing I've missed since I moved into my place 2 years ago. Well, its not like I really have a green thumb anyways. I can't even keep a cactus alive.

But hey, my KC is still alive...so that counts for something right?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nellbell55420/463215811/

pretty green and full of life patio!
I am so envious, in Michigan spring has barely began to sprung. It's too sad.
How is the bugginess in your yard? I love to sit out on the patio, but can't imagine actually knitting. We get killer mosquitoes.

Wow, your yard is just beautiful. I'm dying to know how you figured all that out! I'm completely dumb about gardening stuff...

Hey, nothing wrong about wanting to be checked out. Better than not wanting to be checked out and having all sorts of creepy crawly feelings of everyone staring at your bum or tatas even though it's more than likely just paranoia.

Laurie, I don't think you've horrified anybody with your sharing. At best, you make us laugh (with you) and cry and at worst . . . you're maybe a cautionary tale sometimes. For example. If Fransisco ever shows up and wants to prune Charlie (our fruit salad tree) or Vivian (his wife, a hamlin orange tree) I know to sic the dogs on him ;)

Your backyard looks absolutely inviting! I can just imagine sitting out there on a warm evening barefoot with beer in hand. It looks great!!

What a gorgeous backyard you have. Yay for Laurie and her awesome gardening skills!

I can't believe I did this... I just HAD to use the google on Blue Jay and Scrub Jay.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/BOW/BLUJAY/
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/BOW/WSCJAY/

Is there going to be a test now? Because I need to know if those peanuts are honey roasted and wonder how they get those little packets open because *I* have a devil of a time doing it...

Laurie - I agree with Robyn, I really don't think you've horrified anyone with your sharing. Speaking for myself, your postings have made me look at things and think about my own life and in turn I'm growing. I'm sure there are many out here who look forward to your daily postings who feel the same. You've definitely inspired me to clean up my backyard and dig in! I spent all weekend cleaning out old pots, planting, cleaning and enjoying every glorious minute reunited with something I love and because of some things that put me in a not so great place for a long time I let go of. Why do we let go of the good and happy things we love when something turns our lives upside down.....?? In exchange for too much wine and too many cigarettes and too many tears? I guess we'll never fully understand it. We just have to go with the flow :-)

As always, thank you for sharing and brightening my day!!

Laurie,

I took your cue and am growing 2 catnip plants in hanging baskets in my courtyard. I'm excited: I think this could finally be it! Catnip success! (We have 4 indoor cats, and there are lots of neighborhood cats, who will writhe in ecstacy, given the opportunity, if I plant it on the ground.)

Nancy

So your first gardener was young, good looking and interested in you, and that was bad how?

I love your blog because you put in words all the feelings and thoughts the rest of us have, but are not brave enough to say.

Thank you for sharing.

Wow, your backyard looks beautiful! It really does. Nature will recover from Francisco's shears. :)

Your yard looks happy to have the madman gone.

And I love me some Portulaca.

And since it's out back, you could call it your backportulaca.

Sorry, that's an old joke from when I was a kid and my mama and me planted some new flowers after my dad left and it has been a standing joke every time I hear or see or think of that plant.

And now your commenters are giving you TMI! :D

Enjoy the plants and be careful with those fifty pound feathered monsters. :P

What happened to your dad's seedlings? Are they still in your tub? :)

WHAT??? Oh great - now I have to sit up all night in my back yard with shifty eyes going around in case the mystic Francisco should turn up to trim my infant trillium or "clean up" my teensy jacks-in-the-pulpits!! Thenk yew VERY not-at-all! Hang on, Psychomom; if I see him I'll call the authorities.....

However. That IS a most wondrous yard you're having there. And I never thought of growing my ladies' catnip in big pots (no pun intended....) but it's a good idea, since our overtidy neighbors saw fit to "clean up" OUR side of my honeysuckle hedge, which included "cleaning out" my catnip plants. And I continue to love you anyway, even if you do think Francisco might be headed this way. If he gets here in hot summer I'll hold him - cuz as bad as Michigan Mosquitos are, ours are bigger and stronger. So there. :o)

My formerly almost ok gardeners have turned into Francisco clones. Every week I come home and gingerly peek around corners to see what's been destroyed. This is the third gardener I've had in the past nine years and I guess it's time to change again. Maybe I'll get lucky next time and get a Juan with his own Kenneth!

I LOVE your hanging catnip basket. Isn't portulaca the same as moss roses? At least, that is what we call it in the Midwest. :) Also, just wanted to say, I love your BLOG--read it all the time!

Yes, that's it, moss roses! I had heard that a long time ago and forgotten it.

And I thank you all. You haven't made me feel weird(er) or embarrassed for sharing such things, thoughts about things I do have shame over. It still makes me sad, thinking back on how lonely a person can be even though they're married. And how even though I'm alone all the time now I still feel more like a solid person than I used to.

Crazy, I tell you.

Also -- I'll have to post pepper pics tomorrow!!

Your garden looks great, so bright and green. The plants looks nice and healthy

Laurie, Hold about 5 peanuts in your hand and stand verrrrrry still. They are easily tamed! Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClpNa5ZzfEI

OMG Jillie that is CRAY-ZEE-ZEE!!!!!!!

Laurie, I think someone actually mentioned this in your comments yesterday, but if you are addicted to royal gossip (like me) word on the tabloids is that Queen Elizabeth didn't approve of Prince William's girlfriend's mother because she said "toilet" instead of "loo"!

So the Windsors are probably one of the families that don't talk about such things. THought you would want to know in light of your belief that Princess Diana does such things.

Your backyard is so beautiful! I wish mine looked half a nice.

Thank you for sharing, Laurie. Your writing helps me remember there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Hugs,
Sara

Hey,
I've been reading your blog for a while now, but I've never commented (Goodness, that was a profound statement. Master of the obvious, I am!) Anyway, I just thought I'd tell you how much I love your blog. You always have wonderful things to say, and you make me laugh and think at the same time.

Thank you.

Sam.

Juan and Kenneth sound like a wonderful team -- although I still think it's amazing that a gardener comes with the house! And I love portulaca -- it's been my favorite think to hang out front of my house. Have you seen the kind with double petals?

I uh, definitely do the "too much makeup at the grocery store so that someone, anyone will look at me like I'm pretty" thing, except in my case, it's "shirts that are too close fitting up top." I didn't even think about it until I read your statement about it. sigh. It's time for a change.

Anyway. Peppers! I've got hordes of snails in my backyard so I'm terrified of planting anything outside.. I've got like, ten pepper plants in a big ol' pot in my kitchen. yay growing things :)

I uh, definitely do the "too much makeup at the grocery store so that someone, anyone will look at me like I'm pretty" thing, except in my case, it's "shirts that are too close fitting up top." I didn't even think about it until I read your statement about it. sigh. It's time for a change.

Anyway. Peppers! I've got hordes of apparently ravenous (and now very fat) snails in my backyard so I'm terrified of planting anything outside.. I've got like, ten pepper plants in a big ol' pot in my kitchen. yay growing things :)

Your backyard looks like a small paradise.

I forgot what green grass looks like. Haven't had rain for so long, and with water restrictions (Melbourne, Oz) there is no watering our lawns!

I just rang our gardener and told him to not come back untill further notice because he insisted on still fortnightly mowing and whippersnippering our sandpit which was formerly known as the lawn.

Tonight I went to the market. I left the market with a bottle of cabernet, two pints of Brownie Batter, a loaf of garlic bread and the most expensive, organic, wheat/corn/soy-free cat food available on the market in both cans AND kibbles. I thought of you. Then I came home and I read this post and it made me feel better.

Your journal sometimes looks a little like my light at the end of the tunnel that I don't see yet.

I'm glad your garden is blooming.

I can't wait to try and feed my jays from my hand too! Only problem, is the squirrels and crows ALSO wait for me to put out peanuts every morning...Do you suppose the crows will try this too? They might take some fingers off.

The yard looks great, Laurie! I spent $58 at the Do-It Center on pots, dirt, tomato plants, a couple of peppers and some cucumbers. Think of how many veggies I could have bought at the farmer's market with $58! But still we plant...

I'm so jealous of the green! *sigh*

I'm so glad your going to post pictures of your peppers, I really want to see them!! I'm glad that you and nature are starting to get along somewhat.

Glad you liked the photos, Laurie.

And I want to send really huge hugs to Maryse. There is no love in the world like the kind you get from animals. It is absolutely unconditional.

Is it just me, or do those trees look like phallises? Maybe we just see what we want to see...

Plants look great. I'm probably not the first, but I have awarded you the "Thinking Blogger Award" for your honest portrayal of life after divorce. You have put words to what I went through 15 years ago (Wow, has it been that long). Check it out at spiritualknitter (at) blogspot (dot) com. Thanks and keep up the great blogging!

P.S. --Love your yard, it looks so happy.

How friggin' poignant.

But about the hot, young gardener thing? Haven't you seen Something New? Totally worked out there.

Hi there. My friend Becca introduced me to your page. She is a knitter, and that's how she knows you. I have to say I love reading your blogs. I am a new mom and am stuck in the house all day. Reading your entries is like reading a novel to me. Thank you so much.

That looks like the sweetest retreat and don't mind Bossy: she'll just sit here in the frosty, brown, cold lawn chair.

Lovely sweet post. I am glad there is healing in the back 40.

Funny how the yard is kind of a metaphor for you. I know, I know. But don't you think it's odd that Francisco disappeared about the time other things in your life started coming together? And now just about everything is greener and livelier?

Not to overspiritualize it or whatever, but it's a nice 'coincidence.'

Funny, what Ruth wrote-- the first thing I thought when I saw the picture was "that garden looks happy!"

Everything looks so green and lovely! I hope your new gardener puts everything right.

I saw a commercial for this product and thought you needed it.
http://www.miraclegro-organics.com/

HANGING catnip?? Who knew? Must investigate.

Your yard is so pretty!

Hey, what's up with Mount Poop?

Your yard looks great to me! I'm especially envious of your moss roses. I've never seen them look so lush. Maybe I should try them in a planter, too.

Excellent growing skills, I have none, I could kill a silk plant

Your yard is be-a-u-ti-ful! I'm very jealous, since I'm an apartment dweller. Thanks for sharing your sunshine and greenery :)

curious to know and not dedicated enough to read *first* thourgh the comment I found 2 things on the great web:
- Guingambo is the word described in spanish cooking websites for Okra (worth trying too?)
- Ladie's fingers is another name in English (eeww) BUT in French ladie's fingers are actually salsifi...me think *scratches head*

So there you go...

Anyway, I love you blog, and all i can think of gardener related is that Able Abel still does the NEIGHBOUR'S yarn ... so he is in the neighbourhood WITHOUT risk for your garden's future happiness ;-)

Wish i had a garden to lure cute young attractive gardeners in...tra-la-la ;-)

Please post more pictures of your beautiful backyard. I live an apartment and I want to live vicariously through you!

I’m glad the mystery of the missing Francisco is solved. I always loved the Francisco stories, even if her wan not knowing anything J Oh, this post makes me long for a back 40 of my own. Or at least a patio, or balcony, or anything bigger than my fire escape really. We are doing *very preliminary* research on the possibility of buying a *very tiny* house, maybe as soon as November this year when our lease is up. DF is meeting with the credit union today. Fingers crossed.

I believe we have "scrub Jays" here in Oregon. They have no "top-knot". But they are just called "Blue Jays" here. To me, they look like the mocking birds we had in Calif. But what do I know. They are quite large and VERY bold and noisy!

Your patio/back 40 is LOVELY. I can't grow plants to save my life--I do well to keep my cats & dogs alive, and that's only because they remind me in no uncertain terms of what they need. Plants are just too subtle for me.

Glad to hear about the new, non-Francisco gardener. Sounds like a good match! (in a totally business way, of course)

In Honduras, okra is called Quingambo (or something like that), but they have actually integrated a lot of African words into the Spanish they speak there, and it kinda sounds to me like that might be one of them.
Could Francisco concievably be Central American? My hubby is, and his ideas about pruning are very different from my own, to put it mildly. I attribute it to 2 factors: 1. Things grow a lot faster there so you can absolutely butcher things with the confidence they'll grow back and look fine the next year and 2. they prune everything with machetes. Which doesn't allow you much finesse.

Your garden looks awesome Laurie. Great job. So does your hat. Go you indeed. I'm a big carb fan too. Enjoy!