another day outside

today we had been planning to go to the beach, but decided it was just going to be too hot. so instead we had an unstructured day to do whatever. i managed to zonk sylvia out so i handed her off to jeff for some gardening.

i had every intention of heading straight out to plant the bulbs which had been bothering me so much. there was a brief delay as i started obsessively trimming some flower stalks from last years perennials. when i found myself on the corner of the front yard digging up vinca, i came to my senses and returned to project A.

i could not remember what i had left in my magical paper sack so i did a quick inventory.

• 2 kinds of pea seeds which just need to get back downstairs with the rest of the seeds.
  
• a packet of forget-me-not seeds from our realtor (heh)
  
• a dozen or so leftover onion sets. less than i thought, maybe i can find somewhere to tuck them in with the other veggies. i can't stand throwing away plants.
  
• anemone bulbs, or corms or maybe random clods of dirt. they're pretty odd looking, but i believe they will grow. i had forgotten they need to soak for 24 hrs so i hunted up a chinese soup container i had already corrupted for garden use and set them on the front porch to soak.
  
• 1 calla lily. it's called blushing bride or something like that. it was a bit of an impulse and was probably the first bulb i bought this spring. the flowers are white sheaths with a bluish tint to them. it should be breathtaking. i sure hope so, because i don't have much alleged full sun area.
  
• 10 assorted caladiums. having learned the hard way that caladiums are annuals in my area, i had not wanted to spend too much on these this year. my neighbor down the road swears these come up for her every year, but i think she's got a witchy microclimate. i placed most of these bulbs in the front where i had impatiens growing last year. this is where i put my new hostas and heucheras and i think that the caladiums will blend better while adding color. i put a few caladium bulbs by the hostas in the bed in front of the downstairs just to add some random punch. i am now quite happy that i have no idea how these caladiums will come up. i'm hoping for the kind of effect that you can't create on purpose.
  
  then i went inside, rested, fed sylvia while jeff went to home depot to get gutter shields. then it was back outside. this time we put syvia in her carriage and just kept her closer to whichever of us we could. i added some compost to the garden bed by the kitchen door where we had taken out the death bush.
  
  by then, jeff had gotten the ladder out and started cleaning out the front gutters. the shields were harder to install than we'd hoped, but not impossible. i mostly rested in the shade and made sure that sylvia was amused and stood by to call 911 if h_postmortemus fell off the ladder. at one point, sylvia got hungry and i nursed her sitting in our front yard under the dogwood. it was rather comfortable. then i realized that i could actually go up on the ladder as i was no longer pregnant or recovering from surgery and restricted from doing anything vaguely strenuous. it was rather cool even if i didn't get too much done.
  
  since i actually got out in the yard twice, i feel like i accomplished a tremendous amount. as i've been typing this up i've taken a break to eat dinner and feed sylvia twice. now she is sitting in my lap struggling against sleep. i wish i could help her, but at this point all i can do is be here for her.