Back from the brink...

Our little lemon tree had us all convinced that it was dead. The leaves crumpled up and fell off,  I'd unceremoniously placed it on our back deck and paid it little attention. Last weekend we found another small lemon tree (not nearly as nicely branched) at our local Home Depot, and decided we'd try again. Since the new lemon was already potted, it's been sitting in our kitchen window for the past week with no urgency to transplant. Thank goodness we put this aside because today I noticed evidence of life in our first lemon. It's not totally dead after all!

Wash the wool blankets and plant the tomatos

The clouds parted enough today that we decided to eat lunch on our deck. Since it's warming up, it seemed time to wash the wool blankets, and sun dry them in preparation of storing them till next winter. Not everyone has a wool blanket, but the two we have (king size and one twin) generally get washed in the wool cycle perhaps a couple times a year... unless they actually get dirty. Generally, it was still very much a school day with plenty of chores. Still, finding time to be outside seems vital to our health (10 minutes of sunshine makes a daily dose of vitamin D). Not being prepared for a long play session in the yard (we had math to get back to), the young folks helped me plant some more tomato (cherry this time) and cucumber seeds before I pressed everyone back indoors, with minimal protest. Somewhere I read that even if you can't play, finding time to just be outside is really important to health and child development. Seems sage to me.

Spring planting

Yesterday, the boys and I planted zinnias and roma tomato seeds. It's been about 5 years since I last did zinnias and for some reason I'm drawn to them this year. My dear husband likes to have lots of romas so he can make tomato sauce, which we all love.

Hammock for Easter

Our OT therapist often comments about how much my oldest seems to enjoy his time in the "taco swing." I've never seen it, but she says it's like a large hammock which he can wrap himself up in, and receives sensory input from all around...or something like that. The one session I was able to attend I could tell he did need certain movement input to calm his system. Unfortunately, he's so big, and our ability to provide him with some of these opportunities is somewhat limited. I'm certain he'd really enjoy a large trampoline, but it would need to be quite large, and my mother hen fears dictate that we would need a super duper "safe" trampoline, which isn't cheap. However, some of the less expensive things I've been able to procure for him are balance balls, balance board, and of course I try and arrange our home in a way that maximizes open floor space for whatever movements or stretching one might feel inclined to initiate. He likes to do P90X3 with his father, so that requires a lot of open space in front of the T.V.

The view from the hammock

Our Easter gift to the whole family was a new nylon hammock for the back yard (which will be brought inside when not in use), and a hammock chair for our swing set (though it's not a swing). Both have been very popular this weekend and the kids race to them whenever one has been vacated, so that there's almost always someone nestled inside (sometimes more than one). I did manage to snag a few minutes in the hammock myself today and enjoyed the scenery.

We all spent a lot of time outside on this glorious Easter day. The temperature was perfect, and the trees haven't quite hit their pollen producing peak, so allergies weren't overly aggravated. The industrious kids took to building a fort like house with our tomato stakes and bamboo shoots. My husband taught my daughters how to make deviled eggs using some of the dyed eggs (which nobody likes to eat, but everyone wants to make anyhow). Meanwhile, I started my zinnia seedlings for two of the three colors I have planned for our yard this summer. Then I capped off the time outside, by getting started on giving the dog her springtime clipping...which will have to be continued another time, as it's taking a long time to cut through the long winter coat without taking it all off. It would go much faster if I weren't using a guard to keep it from becoming skin tight length. I'd like to leave a little bit of length on her, as temperatures are still fluctuating. For now she looks rather ridiculous, with somewhat of a reverse Mohawk look.

Yard work

Our front yard garden island never got groomed last spring. Every year gobs of bulb plants come to life, look good for a few weeks, then die out for the fall and winter. Large stalks go from green and flourished to brown and crab grass strewn. The former owner, when asked how to maintain it, stated, "Oh it takes care of itself." This is not the case at all. While the bulbs do indeed return every year, the residual plant product has to be pruned and plucked away from the bed.

Initially, ornamental grass tufts lined the perimeter of the island, but more than half of those have died and are completely gone, leaving the border open to the surrounding grass. I'm thinking it might be better to put in a stone border and get rid of the rest of the ornamental grasses.

However, the most that I'll probably do with it this year has been done. Today I pulled up most of the dead stuff to allow the daffodils, crocus, and tulips room to bloom.