The fence panels and posts arrived yesterday morning. I was so excited when I saw the truck! The HH was even more excited because he knew he didn’t have to install them.

We ended up going with a 4 foot high Nantucket style {cedar} fence. Four feet seemed like the perfect height to us. Not too tall, not too short. It will probably take me all summer to get the whole fence stained on both sides but that’s okay.

I do love staining fences. Especially outside in the warm sunshine. It’s so relaxing to me.

Once the fence is fully installed I’ll be able to get all the perennials I’ve been collecting planted and Lucy will be able to hang out in the vegetable garden with me.

Look how much bigger the backyard looks now with the fence installed. It’s crazy!! I told the HH we totally have room for a few more raised garden beds and he just shook his head at me. HA HA HA. 

Today they’ll work on the front fence and then the gates and with a little luck the whole thing will be done by the weekend. I love fences. And I love defined spaces. 

And you know what else I love?

Delphiniums! I picked up a few pots at Market Basket and I absolutely LOVE the purpley blue color of the flowers. 

These will be the first delphiniums I’ve ever planted in a garden before and I’d love to have more. Have you ever grown delphiniums from seed before? Are they easy to grow? 

I’m sure it’s too late to start seeds this year, but if they’re easy to grow I think I’d like to grow a patch of them next year. Planting and painting. That’s what I’ll be doing all summer. And that’s fine by me. 

Here’s hoping today is another productive day here in Maine.

Peace Out. 

~Mavis

OTHER

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I don’t know about you, but I feel like a day doesn’t go by lately that I am not working in the garden. 

If I’m not planting seeds then I’m repotting seedlings or digging holes to plant something in the ground. It’s crazy I tell you. Just crazy. 

The latest area I’ve been working on is the little area between the driveway and the house. Previously I had a line of  bloomstruck hydrangeas planted in that spot. It was nice, but kind of boring. 

So when the HH mentioned he liked how the perennial garden up front looked, I decided to dig up the hydrangea border when the landscape crew was here putting in the seashell driveway and move the hydrangeas next door to create a border over there. 

You know what else I did when the landscaped guys were here moving stuff around?

I hid a time capsule under the steps. In a canning jar! How fun is that!? I’m totally not telling you what I put in there either.

Anyway, back to the new garden bed. {And yes, that’s Jeraimah the bull frog on the steps. I found him in a free pile on one of my recent walks}. 

I’m hoping I’ll come across the right size terra cotta pots this summer to set on steps alongside him. I found a bunch alongside the road last summer and grabbed them but they aren’t the right size.

I can’t remember how long the bed is. Maybe 20 feet by 3 feet wide? That sounds about right. The plan was simple. Fill it with perennials. 

Perennials are all I’m planting from here on out.

Banana cream shasta daisy.

Phlox.

Autumn joy sedum. {The bees LOVE this plant!}

Purple pink hibiscus. 

And a few pincushion flowers to round out the garden bed. I might add a few chive plants. I haven’t decided yet.

I know it doesn’t look that exciting now, but I suspect in another month or so {and after a round or two of Miracle Grow} the plants will start to fill out a bit more and the bed will look nice and colorful. By next summer everything will have filled out even more.

Come fall I’ll load the space with spring bulbs so there will be something to look at while we wait for the summer blooms. 

I LOVE gardening! Have I told you that lately? And I especially love creating new garden beds. Perennial ones especially. 

Well I’m off… To play in the dirt. I hope you have a great day. 

~Mavis

OTHER

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I have a quick question for you. The HH and I were at the grocery store the other day and I mentioned we needed a tomato for taco night. 

You know where this is going… right? 

Well, I proceeded to look for the ripest tomatoes in the produce section and the ripe tomatoes happened to be the greenhouse grown tomatoes from Canada.

And yada yada yada there weren’t any single tomatoes so I proceeded to take ONE tomato off the vine and my husband nearly flipped out telling me I couldn’t do that and I was like what are you? The tomato police?

If I want ONE tomato I can buy ONE tomato. There isn’t a rule saying I have to buy the whole {5!} cluster of tomatoes. 

Embarrassed that I was doing this he turned and walked away and left me in the produce department all alone. Husbands. They are SO WEIRD. Aren’t they? {Fact: This is the same man who puts bananas in a plastic bag.}

So my question for you is… When you shop for tomatoes, do you feel obligated to buy all the tomatoes on the vine? 

I need to know. 

~Mavis

OTHER

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Get Back To The Basics + Learning to Unplug

Remember those free trellises I found alongside the road a few weeks ago? 

They were the perfect size for my snow peas {which only grow to about 28” tall}. These are going to look fantastic in another week or two as those tendrils reach the top of the trellis.

In The Kitchen

A kitchen? What’s a kitchen? 

Yesterday we went out for smoothies and donuts and let’s just say I think I’ve had my fill of sugar for the week.  

Maybe someday I’ll want to do more than peel an avocado. Or eat beans. But maybe not. It’s hard to tell at this point.

Kitchen Goals For This Year

• Master the pear frangipane tart from Standard Baking Company. 
• Put my Weck jars to use.
• Use two bins of beans {working on it}

Rug Hooking

My drawer runneth over. But my giant rug is almost done, so that’s good.

I had hoped to have it finished by the end of May, but I’ve been hanging out in the garden a lot lately and haven’t had a lot of extra time to hook. 

The new goal is to have it done by Flag day.

Rug Hooking Goals For This Year

• Finish drawing out all my patterns, making kits, dyeing wool by March 31st. 
• Release 10 new rug hooking patterns/kits.  {3 down 7 to go}
• Hook 27 of the patterns from the “someday I’ll hook these” bin. {4 down 23 to go}

Go New Places – See New Things

I’ve been walking, but not enough. Lots of rain the past few days. 

Also, Jen texted to tell me that if we get selected for the Grand Canyon trip there will be donkeys to carry our tents and stuff but we’ll still need to be able to carry 15-20 pounds on our back {down the canyon and back up again}. 

Basically our water, snacks, toiletries and clothing. I told her I’m going to wear one set of clothes the entire trip and only pack a toothbrush.

Travel Goals For This Year

• Travel someplace {internationally} that I’ve never been before.
• Travel somewhere in Maine {overnight} that I haven’t been before.

Places I’ve Been So Far This Year

• Boston {Birthday getaway}
• NYC {Girls getaway}

Walk And Stretch More

Look what I picked up for FREE on my walk yesterday! And it wasn’t even trash day. 

Freebie season has begun I tell you. This is my second find in 3 weeks. The roadside treasures should really start to ramp up now that the weather is starting to warm up. 

The HH isn’t as enthusiastic about the freebies so I need to take the bucket bike out more often and see what else I can find. 

I’m really hoping to find a stash of terra cotta pots this summer. Or a firepit or more garden stuff.

Walking/Stretching Goals For This Year

• Get into some sort of stretching routine
• Fast walk a 5K, 10K, and Half Marathon 

Garden

The hydroseed is coming in! It’s still a bit patchy in spots but we just re-seeded again so it won’t be long now before we’ve got grass growing in all the right spots. 

The tomato and pepper plants I started from seed survived the 30-40 MPH winds on Saturday. I was worried I’d lose a few but they seem to be doing okay. The leeks, radish, beets, carrots and turnips also seem to be doing well. 

I ended up planting 32 tomato plants and 22 pepper plants. I’m working with new garden soil this year so we’ll see what happens. Once the fence gets installed up front I’ll be able to plant my chive and rhubarb borders.

Garden Goals For This Year

• Rework the driveway and garden areas {in progress}
• Go crazy and plant a ridiculous amount of flowers {working on it}
• Step out of my comfort zone and plant some flowers I’ve never planted before

Paint

I finally finished painting the front room. Hooray!

That means the next big project is to sand the oak floors. Which of course, isn’t the funnest thing to do but luckily the HH has sanded floors once before so hopefully everything will go okay. 

Some areas of the floor were covered with carpet, some were not. I suppose it doesn’t matter though since the entire floor will have to get sanded. Fingers crossed that by this time next week we’ll be ready to apply the finish.

How about YOU? How are YOUR goals coming along? 

~Mavis

Painting Goals For This Year

• The Van Gogh wall
• The gallery wall down stairs
• The captains wall in the hall
• Trim and walls 

OTHER

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Do you have any plans for the weekend? 

Yesterday I made a pot of homemade refried beans on the back porch {so they didn’t stink up the house} so we’ll be having tacos this weekend. 

I love tacos, don’t you?

The HH’s big project for the weekend is installing a new toilet. Yee-Haw! I think I’ll be busy doing something else.

Like playing music on the record player.

Rain is in the forecast for Saturday {1.5 inches!}. So that means Lucy and I will need to get all our gardening done today and Sunday.

On the list: 

• Pulling up the last of the tulips
• Trimming the boxwoods
• Cleaning up the peony bed
• Planting beans

The local ice cream stand opened for the season last weekend. We went. Of course we went! And we’ll be going back again this weekend.

Cherry amaretto is my go to flavor. Just look at all those chunks of cherries! 

And last but not least, I plan on spending at least 10 hours working on the giant whale rug while listening to The Correspondent. Have you read it yet? I’m only about two hours in but it’s really good. Finding a good book. It’s so satisfying!

How about YOU? What are your weekend plans? Anything exciting? Curious minds want to know. 

Have a good one, 

~Mavis

OTHER

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