It’s been a busy week here at the Acres. We added fresh mulch all around the house foundation beds, rearranged some perennials in the Peace/Bird Garden, and planted peas, onions, and potatoes.
EVSC was on Spring Break, so I spent some time with Samantha – always a treat!
Thanks to my cousin Lori, I got to meet (on facetime) her granddaughter, Saylor Reese Deig, a most adorable little doll-baby, who cooed and smiled and is obviously brilliant!
Today we met up with the Juniors and had a nice lunch, an early Easter get-together. I always forget to take pictures at these things, but take my word for it, we are all darling af.
Now we’re packing up for our trip up North for the Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne 2026 aka World Irish Dance Championships. It’s being held in Schaumburg, Illinois, about six hours from here, and we’re so excited to be there! Eliza dances on Tuesday and Emma on Friday.
The weather looks absolutely hideous, cold, wet, windy, brrr, so I’ve given up any idea of walking much, but we will Definitely be going to the Art Institute of Chicago ! I can hardly wait to see “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte”, the backdrop for the Sondheim musical “Sunday in the Park with George”.
The Art Institute also owns “Nighthawks at the Diner” and currently there is a fabulous exhibit of works by Henri Matisse!
We’ll be returning by next Saturday, so I’ll get you caught up on our trip next Sunday…unless, of course, one of the girls actually Wins the World Championship, or comes in top 5, in which case, I’ll post a quick Breaking News Report. Wouldn’t that be great?
I hope Spring is springing in your neck of the woods.
Okay, it’s true, I lied. I did not get around to starting the new garden blog last week. I have several justifications for delaying its launch, but mostly I was busy with other stuff. I had my annual physical and I must brag that I passed my mini-mental exam with flying colors! St. Patrick’s Day is a Family Holiday with us, so the feast was feasted on Tuesday. It was a jolly day, and followed so quickly by Ostara and its accompanying menu, I’ve been an absolute Bacchus. So I didn’t get any blog blogged…
But if I had posted anything, it would look like this…
Growing Every Season
It’s been a most wonderful start to the season of renewal, rebirth! Up with the dawn to greet the sun, I could feel a resurgence of energy.
We spent the day playing outside. Casey finished the new garden beds and filled them with garden soil and the earthy smell of manure wafted in the breeze. I brought out the over-wintered plants and started cleaning out the shed.
Later on, we had a lovely quiche and asparagus, washed it down with cider, and went down to the firepit to relax and light a fire.
We cannot see the sun set from the grove where the fire blazed, but 12 hours and 6 minutes after Ol’ Sol rose in the east, he set in the West.
If I had written it, it would go something like that, and end with
…Keep on Growing…
When I finally get that blog going, you’ll be the first to know. We’re trying to get as much heavy work done as we can before we leave for Chicago on the 30th, so we’re super grateful for such balmy weather!
Hope you’re having a lovely day in your neck of the woods!
There’s nothing like a trip to Rural King to get you in the Spring planting mood. Monday morning I bought an excessive amount of seeds for both early starts and my countertop garden, and grabbed up a houseplant.
Casey got his pressure washer delivered and my back porch has been transformed.
Check out my new raised beds. He’s tilling them today and we’ll get a load of soil next week.
I spent a lot of last week following up on what I’d spent the week before thinking/stewing about. In the last decade, we’ve all seen families torn apart by politics/religion, and one of them was my birth family. You know, if you’ve been paying attention, that after the last election I turned it off, changed my habit of living in the internet world of “news”, but one can hardly avoid the fact that he’s started a war. I don’t know if that’s why, or is it something else, but many americans are beginning to see him in a different light.
So it was that a couple of the estranged-ers reached out to me (after 10 years!), a little embarrassed and even ashamed, kind of like they woke up… I have grieved losing these dearly-loved people, and once I was sure that they were sincere, my family and I opened our circle. We stepped back and made room for more Love. We are Family and we’ll do whatever it takes to hold each other up, to help us get through.
I hope we’ve reached a tipping point somehow and more and more of us come together to repair what has been so tragically broken in our country and in our hearts.
Looking ahead…
We’re expecting a hard freeze Monday and Tuesday, so we’re preparing some covers for our roses. We’ve lost the first buds for the last two years! But my lovely forsythia have got their blooming done…
I don’t care if the Irish like it or not, I’m having corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes on St. Paddy’s Day. This year, I’m adding a new dessert: Lucky Charms Treat Bars, which should be magically delicious.
Then there’s Ostara, the Vernal Equinox, the #1 day of Spring. That involves quiche, green salads, baked bread.
Though the garden does have some green beans still to be harvested, it’s pretty much done and dusted for this year. I’ve figured out a lot, learning from both my mistakes and my successes, and plans are underway for an even more spectacular garden next year.
June
sweet cherry 100s
June
July
butternut squashsweet cherry 100s
July
August
August
September
What the September gardens lack in fruit, they make up for in flowers…
While the Peace/Bird garden’s seem like their blooms are gone, the birds still spend considerable time munching on the black cone remains, and will continue to throughout the winter…
Autumn is still teasing us with heat, but we’ve had a lot of rain and the temps are dropping, so I’m hoping for a colorful display of leaves this year.
We’ll be in Disney World for a week, leaving 10/10, but we have some plans to divide and move some perennials upon our return. At the end of every garden season, we plan for the next!
Hope the flowers are blooming in your neck of the woods..!
We met up with the Jrs at Ellis Park last Sunday for the final race of the season. I can’t win a bet to save my life, but Casey did alright, as did Samantha!
I had surgery on Tuesday to re-center my left optical lens and it went well. This time around the anesthesia left me drugged for a couple of days, more than in the past. Maybe I’m just getting old? After my follow-up appointment on Wednesday, we walked over to the downtown Market on Main. I’ve been meaning to visit since it started up in June, however, it doesn’t look like I’ve been missing much.
Anyway, I did drag around the garden, trimming and uprooting, harvesting, and arranging. Fall is in the air, and both gardens are finishing up their service.
My son, Michael, will be 44 on Wednesday, but we’re celebrating today at our usual celebrating place, so I’ll cut this missive short.
Last week was good. Appropriate cards and greetings were sent to the lucky people who married my children. My long-time hairdresser coaxed my tresses into their usual bleached-blonde-blowout — yes, I actually pay to look this bad. A new longevity-of-phone-call record was set by me and my soul-sister – and I could have talked longer! BruBurger saw me twice, first for a lunch with my sister and then, a couple of days later, dinner with husband to celebrate our Anniversary.
My green beans and cucumbers are popping right up!
I’m still out early in the mornings to water and trim. Tomatoes and Peppers are finishing up their fruiting, but they look pretty spent. As soon as this heat passes, probably Wednesday or Thursday, I’m going to tear in and tear out in both the Edible and the Peace/Bird. I have the beginnings of an idea to transform the P/B garden this fall, complete with native shrubs and some sort of fencing to keep out the deer.
Speaking of deer, we have three fawns that visit daily, hanging out in our backyard with their moms nearby. They are darling. This summer we’ve attracted a couple of skunks – Pepe’ and one of his girlfriends, no doubt – who keep digging along our foundation. Pepper Flakes to the rescue.
I am returning to my Ancestry research. I’ve had my subscriptions on hold for a while, but upgraded to an international version for six months, and will be trying to catch up with my Scots-Irish roots, going back to our 17th century years in the Highlands. My German greats arrived later, and will be easier verify, so I expect to find that I’m some sort of baroness. I publish our family stories over at my Ancestry Blog, and if you have never visited, you really should! It is chock-full of interesting characters, many of whom haunt my house and heart. I’ll be bugging you more about this, so why not bookmark it and give it a read? www.allmyancestry.wordpress.com
Despite the oppressive heat, we’re going to Try to go to Ellis Park tomorrow to watch the thoroughbreds. The last time I attempted this maneuver, the heat shut down the track, so that could happen again. The season is nearly over, so I’m getting a little desperate. I don’t remember the last time I didn’t go to the races at least once in the summer!
Hope there’s some shade in your neck of the woods!
Despite the charming fantasy of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, the Actual, Factual, honest-to-goodness middle of summer here at Sonnystone is/was August 7. Many of our Spring-plantings have now aged out and we have just enough time to get in a second planting, so I’ve spent the week (mostly) pulling up and replanting, trimming, and harvesting.
Out in the Edible Garden, our tomatoes and bell peppers slowed to a halt under the heat dome, but they are slowly recovering, producing a half-dozen or so new fruits. By early October, we should have a big harvest of green beans, squash, and cucumbers…
The Big Show is the Sunflowers…
Or Maybe it’s the zinnias…
The Peace/Bird Garden is a little faded, but otherwise doing well.
We have a big week ahead – two birthdays, daughter-in-law and son-in-law, as well as our 45th wedding anniversary. We had some plans for this week-end, but Casey is having some dental problems, and we had to adapt so he’ll be better able to enjoy!
45 years is a long time. We never dreamed we’d get this old… Oh, well, beats the alternative. Hope there’s Love flowing around your neck of the woods.
It was a soggy week here at Sonnystone. I’m personally sick of it, and even the gardens seem over it. Despite the assault of storms, we made our way through a fairly mundane 7 days – time with Samantha, hair appointment with Dusti, monthly phone call with Kathy. Now, we are ready for something Fresh!
Eliza and her mother will be here by Wednesday evening and the Fun will begin. The rains are supposed to recede and we’ll put our pool up for floating and frolicking. Ellis Park will be dried by next week-end, so we’ll have a Day at the Races. Eliza is demanding Orange Chicken from the Mall food court, so it had better be there. They will be here until August 1, when we’ll head up the road to Ohio for the Columbus Feis and the Dublin Irish Fest. Sooo excited!
We’ve kept most everything propped as relentless rains pelted down, and that’s about all we can do. I’ve harvested and am still harvesting tomatoes of all sorts and green beans are plentiful.
After I talked smack about the squash and the bell peppers, they decided to give me some fruit…
My poor Peace/Bird Garden is simply saturated. It looks a little tired overall, but if you focus on the blooms, they are bursting with energy!
We’ll be finishing up the preparations for our company these next few days. I would love to hear from any of my dear readers who might want to meet up with us. Let me know! You know how to find me…
If you’ve been following me on FB, you’ll have noticed that my #1 grandie, Emma, is On Fire; she has been first in most of her recent feis outings and second isn’t too bad, either. She placed 22nd in the World Championships in Dublin, Ireland earlier this year and I expect she’ll do even better in this “national” competition.
She did better all right! She beat her nearest competitor by 100 points! She dominated!
Emma Magnolia Mayne Jose
The word Proud doesn’t really convey my emotions. This little girl set her mind to Win back in 2020. She changed from a dance school that continually put her down and dismissed her talent to one that builds champions. Doherty-Petri Irish Dance School, or let’s just shout out her coaches, Lisa and Karen Petri, complemented Emma’s “Winning” attitude with Expectations of hard work, exactly what she needed. Emma Magnolia is very talented, but it’s the effort she’s put in, the training, and the learning from the losses that is so impressive. She deserves this and it fills my heart with Joy to see her achievements.
I wrote:
Unfortunately, my little Eliza injured her ankle and it’s taking its time to heal. She’ll be dancing, though, and she’s good, so we’ll see where she ends up.
She “ended up” #26!!! That’s out of Hundreds, you know, and is a great accomplishment!
Eliza Belle Mayne Jose
She’s back to full-on practices, so look out for her, especially at their Oireachtas in October. Eliza is super talented and we’re going to be celebrating a #1 for her in our future, as well.
Emma is now on her way back to Colgate University, where she will be doing an internship. This means she is not able to visit Sonnystone this summer. Eliza and Melissa will visit toward the end of the month and we maybe, might be able to sneak Emma in to the Dublin (Ohio) Irish Fest held August 1-3, if her job is flexible. We’ll see. I am prepared for the grandies to grow up, but holding out hope that we’ll all be together at Christmas.
Through all the tears of Joy, I was also shedding tears of fear and sadness – very efficient, but I’d rather not… My sister texted that she had had a “mini-heart attack” on Sunday. She really minimized it, so when she went for a heart catheterization on Monday, we were shocked that they scheduled open-heart surgery for the next day. Turns out she needed a quadruple bypass! The cardiac surgeon nixed the operation, though, as she has a meningioma tumor resting near her brain stem… Sooo, back to the drawing board, the cardiologists put stents in two of the four, and scheduled her back in two weeks to place the other two. She did well, but a previously undetected aneurysm in her ?wrist? burst and her arm “blew up like a sausage in the microwave” (credit to my niece Lauren for the description). What next? They kept her a little longer and did a CT to search for any other potential problems. She’s now home, thank-you Lord! I was a basket case, but this Strong lady has just faced it down with her usual calm. Donna is 17 months older than me, and though we’ve been rather estranged for the last 10 years, she had recently started to be friendly again. I am so grateful and ready to help her and her family through this rough patch.
The garden is pretty, but not all that productive. Oh, the tomatoes are going strong, but where are the cucumbers, bell peppers, and squash??? We’re not quite halfway through summer (mid-point is August 7), so I will try to be patient, enjoy the pretty, and support my fellow gardeners at the local Farmers’ Markets.
The Peace/Bird Garden continues to host a plethora of birds, bugs, and blooms…
These summer days, hot and humid, are comfortingly familiar. I’m so grateful to be able to get my work done early, then relax and enjoy life from the swing, fanning myself, sweat running down my face, and contentment in my heart.
It was a good week here at Sonnystone Acres, despite “feel-like” temperatures in three digits and humidity described as “Very”. We were up with the birds getting the gardens watered and weeded and tied and propped, then I, personally, took it easy doing inside work or at the very least, shady porch work like swinging…
the view from the swing
The dang deer ate all of those lush purple garden phlox blooms in the Peace/Bird Garden. There is a little fawn running around in the meadow that I’m partial to and I’ve been lulled into thinking they are just cute little pets. I missed my chance to save those this year, but I’m dragging out the hot sauce spray for the rest of the season.
Our squash are still not producing fruit and their bloom time is over. I blame the excessive rains in their early days, because now our pollinators are buzzing around. I’m starting some seeds and hope to put some new plants out in a couple of weeks, as they are 55 days to harvest and that gives me until mid-September to get a good crop. Hopefully, the bees will see them this time.
This week in the Edible Garden…
butternut squashsweet cherry 100s
Samantha and I went to the $5 matinee on Tuesday, viewing Disney’s Elio. It was okay, good enough. Disney has really blown it with their recent films and I’m kinda sad about it. This one had no strong opening advertising and I guess they felt like they had spent enough on it. They need to take a look at their creators and try to get them back in touch with the audience. But it was cool in the theatre and we had a good time.
Hope you had a safe and happy holiday! We tried to ignore it, but our neighbors put on some very loud fireworks displays – we couldn’t see them, but we could hear them. It was just too humid to go downtown for the Eville show, so we tried to watch them on TV, but failed. Oh, well.
We’re back to living in the “family” room, though I’m still arranging shelves and such. That may never end, if you know me…
Next Week my calendar is Blank, so I may just do nothing — I’m very good at it.
The News from Sonnystone Acres 