Monday Morning

I hope you all had a very nice weekend!

It is a rainy Monday here. You can see the clouds are very low and hiding Mt. Rainier. But we had nice weather over the weekend.

Hubby had a fire burning all weekend for the many large piles of storm debris we picked up. There was a pile about 6 feet high x 10 feet long here before he started. There is still so much to do, but we just keep working a little at a time.

I went grocery shopping and then stopped and bought some flats of flowers. These are red Impatiens that I will pot up and put in my window boxes and shelves. These will bloom in the shade all summer and only need water and occasional fertilizer.

They will add some much needed color to my pots of ivy I placed last fall. You can see how shady it is by the mossy pots. The ivy is growing, slowly but surely and will look so pretty when it starts cascading down among the red flowers. I have two window shelves, this one under my living room window, and the other one under my large bedroom window on the front of the house. I will be sure to show you pictures when I am done.

I also bought these flats of succulents to put in an old bird bath that leaks and won't hold water any more.

The plant behind it is a clematis vine I am going to plant along my deck. It has fragrant light pink flowers.

I bought two clematis, one is an evergreen that I am going to plant on my shed.

Of course I also bought some herbs to add to my herb garden. I garden in half whiskey barrels along the edge of my deck on the ground underneath. You can see the herbs when you stand by the rail and look down. I have Oregano, Mint, Spearmint, Chives, Sage, Santolina, Lavender, and Thyme. I will be adding Chocolate Mint, Dill, and Rosemary.

This barrel holds Lavender and a few tulips I planted last fall.

I grow Tansy in a raised bed along the front of Hubby's shed to use in Moth Repellent Sachets.

The woodlands are full of beautiful wildflowers, starting to bloom. This plant has little green bells which are just beginning to open. It resembles the cultivated Coral Bells, but is carefree and plants itself.

The wild bleeding heart continues to bloom among the unfurling Ostrich fern. These are growing along my long gravel driveway.

This ancient stump also resides along the driveway and hosts a Red Huckleberry. These Huckleberries are long lived and love the acid conditions in rotting cedar stumps. In the summer they have bright red berries beside lime green leaves which makes for a very pretty picture. The birds love these.

Below the Huckleberry, you can see a little colony of the wild Coral Bells.

This very Ancient stump still has the ax marks from the early settlers that cut this magnificent cedar down. It is starting to fall apart now, but it is home to small animals that live inside. You can see the entrance to their home at the bottom. Below on the ground you can see some of the debris left by our terrible ice storm. I am slowly working my way up the driveway and this is at the very top by the gate. I will finish this side, which is almost done, and then move on to the other side and work my way down.

In the meantime, I have been weeding, Hubby has been mowing, and once the rain stops again, I will be out to resume my endless cleanup.

But I am feeling a creative urge, and I will be making a gift for my sweet sister in law, as her birthday is coming. I will share that with you when I am done.

I hope that your Monday is going well, and that you have a little more sunshine than I have!

I will leave you with this quote;

'If you have tried to do something and failed, you are vastly better off than if you had tried to do nothing and succeeded.' - Flora McKennon