Raven and Sparrow

Don't sit under the apple tree

The apple tree outside the old house has split asunder. Oddly, it has a heavier than usual apple crop under construction and even though the trunk has broken apart, none of the leaves and apples on the limbs are wilting or acting like anything is wrong. The deer are enjoying having the apples in better reach, and I think they are magnifying the split by standing on the branches as they reach for higher, tastier fruit. At least I assume it is tastier. We have found the apples on this tree to be sour in the extreme. It was planted by the woman who built our old house, around 1942. I have enjoyed having its flowers in spring, its animal and bird attracting qualities and its historical associations and will miss it when it is gone. 

We have entered high summer here in the Northwest, with clear skies and warm temperatures. Not too warm though...we are almost always ten degrees cooler than Seattle, which means our average is about seventy five degrees Farenheit in the afternoons. Perfect.

Garden at last

I've been waiting for years for a small garden space and finally I have it. Yippee! It has taken so much time and effort to bring it into being.

Here is how it looked right after the house was built....a thin scrim of gravel over a rock spine. See how the makeshift decklet hangs out into empty space at the corner of the house.

We had to build the front terrace first and used pavers to finish the surface. That took forever.

Then we continued the paving around into the entry area, leaving a rough circle for a garden space. The rock was so close to the surface we had to jackhammer it out. Our sons and daughters-in-law helped tremendously, although they weren't there for the refilling with topsoil. Fortunately our neighbor brought his backhoe over and our backs were saved again.

Finally, finally, the plants are in. I have kept mostly to low growing plants so we can see over them to the water from the house. This year its mostly annuals, but I'm experimenting to see what does well in perennials and tiny shrubs. I love having a small controllable space amidst the sweeping wild plants that cover most of our property.