Summer in May

Yesterday was summer. It was 75 degrees and we spent the entire day outside. I am still giddy from the joy! I am keeping my fingers crossed that today will be just as lovely, but it was 38 degrees when I woke up, so we'll see...

I weeded my entire vegetable garden on Sunday. I know it looks ridiculously tiny, but it's a bit bigger than it seems. If you can see some tiny specks of green in there, those are carrots. They are from last year. They have green tops. I have no idea if they lived through the winter or if they reseeded themselves or what, but I kept them in the garden once I realized they were not weeds. I figure that up north, we need as much help as we can get, so if that means planting carrots and harvesting them an entire year later, I'm in.

Here is what is going into this garden. Well, some of it. We will do beans and peas from seed. Here in the wagon we have tomatoes, cucumbers, and yellow peppers. There are also pansies and a clematis for my flower garden.

Currently I pull the wagon into the garage each night and back into the yard each morning. This is to avoid the inevitable late-May frost.

I spent a couple of hours cleaning weird things out of the yard and woods. Things like broken toys and thistles (also known as porkies for some reason). When I finished, and the garbage can was full despite Monday morning pickup, Kevin mowed the lawn. Dana got her lawn mower and followed him around, eager to do her part. She likes to follow me in the house with her toy vacuum. I love this about her.

Nora lives in the Rhinosaur River. She spends so much time out here, collecting seaweed, mosquito larva, rocks, flowers. I spent a lot of time just downstream from here when I was a kid, and I understand her fascination. For the record, there is a large, flat rock poking just above the surface of the river, and Nora is kneeling on it. She is not kneeling in the water.

Here is a bigger shot of their island. It isn't technically an island, but let's not get nitpicky about it. In the upper righthand corner, you might notice the remains of a campfire, especially if you click the photo to enlarge it. Last weekend, Keenan was over and the three kids conned Grandpa Don into helping them clean up their island. He built a little fire and they burned up all of the "junk" that was in their way (think branches, twigs, rotten tree trunks). They even convinced him to get his motorizer brush cutter out so he could make a clearing. They are all so proud of their island. Zak has a similar island downstream, on Grandpa Don and Grandma Inese's property. They call it George's Island because my dad calls Zak "George". Anyhow, the three younger grandkids are thrilled to finally have an island of their own. Nora went so far as to color a flag on a large sheet of paper. She hung it in a tree, but it rained that night and the flag didn't survive. I foresee a sewing project...

Summer, we have missed you!