24 March: reading and weeding

Tuesday, 24 March 2020

Skooter in the morning, next to my sleepy head:

I made a statement on our Facebook business page and felt relieved to have the decision done with. I was probably just making it so no one else would make it for us, because one of my many flaws is that I do not excel at being told what to do or not do.

I got the rainy day I had been waiting for to read my new and quite rare book by Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy, a birthday present from Allan. Only 3000 copies were printed, as far as I can tell. Just 85 large pages long, with Don’s full page illustrations of Christopher and of their friends, it is a month of a Christopher diary.

As I neared the end, the sun came out. I ignored it and finished reading.
I found out where Skooter was when our neighbor, Jessika, texted me this photo.

Allan had observed the visit from his desk window:

Because of an insomniac late start and news reading and the book, it was four o’clock before I got out into the front garden to work further on the east side weeding.

We’d had this much rain:

Allan’s photo

Onyx from next door leapt from our garden over the fence to his own, with Skooter following.

My project before:

and after:

Casualties: One lily bud and one rhododendron bud.
The soil looks quite battered and uneven. I hope to have enough compost to mulch it. Or…I could use leaves that are not yet leaf mold, I suppose, since is this is pretty much a semi-shady shrub border.
Here is blurry proof that my young and shockingly pricey Stachyurus praecox is blooming. I had ordered it through Plant Lust without paying attention to how high the shipping charge was.

It actually originated at Gossler Farms and I should have ordered it direct. I was just so excited to find one after years of questing to have it again. Here is the one from my old house, that was too big to move:

Stachyurus praecox

If I am mostly going to be home for weeks, I really must start using a better camera than my old iPhone.
My large willow leaved stachyurus is not nearly as floriferous.

When I get all the weeding done, I will do some pruning and shaping up.

I love the pink and lavender of this primrose and hebe in Allan’s garden:

The water canoe (Allan’s photos)

Meanwhile, with his boat project on hiatus due to lack of an instruction booklet, Allan worked on the south fence where a branch had pushed down the top board.

Allan’s photos:

That ivy will be dealt with if I get the more important weeding done.

With no work on the immediate horizon, I made an at home gardening list.

You would think I would get that list of indoor jobs done, but I still have not, as I’d rather read a book.
The garden jobs won’t get erased in an orderly fashion because I choose to work in whichever part of the garden is quietest or least windy. I am so grateful that we have a garden to goof around in.

After dinner and some telly, just after midnight, I was catching up on the local newsgroups and saw this.

My heart raced and my nerves jangled until, about fifteen minutes, later an update said no tsunami danger. It’s been on my mind that our worst case scenario here is a tsunami now. Please—Just. Not. Now.
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news from the beach and beyond 

Campgrounds closing, public asked to stay off the beaches
…in an attempt to keep visitors away, usually the opposite of what we want.

An article with some brilliant tweets about the value of old folks