Clearly my intentions haven’t led to action. Sigh. I used to post SO much more frequently. Sure, I was weaving A LOT more, but still, I do have things to say and show. Let’s start with some garden shots.
Last year I moved my bleeding heart because it was struggling where it was: too much competition, too much late afternoon sun, too much wind. This year it is SO much happier – which makes me happy, too.
Two years ago (I think) I bought a cutting of this lovely shrub at a local garden club sale. It didn’t do much last year, but this year, my Kerria japonica pleniflora is just stunning. Set next to that crabtree – WOWZA! And it makes me really happy that this year, at least, those double flowers are lasting a good two weeks.
This yellow is roughly the same color as a forsythia, but IMHO a much preferred shrub. So I decided to remove the ancient forsythia planted not far away that had been struggling for years. It was a LOT of work, mostly done with a pickaxe, but I got most of those roots out. I guess I shouldn’t have been, but was surprised to see how much of the roots were dead. I’m sure I’ll have to deal with shoots coming up from those roots for the next few years, but I’m very happy to have done this.
Without requiring much work from me, my English primrose are putting on a colorful show this year.
As is the pulmonaria. This plant is so much happier since I transplanted many of the hostas and pruned back the hellebore, both of which were totally crowding it out.
And aren’t these wood hyacinth sweet?
All those things are in my side or back yard. The front, which faces south so gets really hot, presents its own challenges. This year I am really pleased with this east side of the front, showing the golden spirea in the foreground and Japanese maple in the back. In truth, that maple is far too large a variety for where it is planted and I’m not sure how I’ll deal with it in the years to come, but it’s beautiful now. I have three more of those spirea in other spots, and prune them all in the fall, but this one is always the largest and most beautiful.
So what else have I been doing? Well apparently I like to participate in research studies. A few years ago I took part in a Covid vaccine study. This year I’m doing two different ones. The first, which I didn’t take any pix of, was a smell test. Apparently they can do something with these results regarding Parkinson’s disease to help determine risk and develop new treatments.
More in depth, here’s a photo of me getting ready for an EEG. This was phase one of a study being conducted by the University of Rochester. The goal is to develop ways to identify Alzheimer’s disease earlier so they can begin treatment earlier. The test with all those wires connected to my skull took a few hours. Then I went back the following week and took some timed paper and pencil tests. I can quit any time I want, but as long as I choose to stay on I’ll go back annually for both the EEG and the paper & pencil tests. They already have the earliest participants in year 5.
I definitely had some people ask me when SSSid would be back, and I had told them May 1, so that is indeed when he returned. Here are his first few rocks this year.
Last but CERTAINLY not least, I was one of hundreds of thousands of people who got a real thrill seeing the Northern Lights this year. I’d tried a few times last year when they were supposed to be visible but got nothing. This year was such a show! I was surprised that the colors, while visible to the naked eye, were stronger when photographed. I know it wasn’t just me; this was a well-reported phenomena. I took several photos, and will just post a few here.
I have done some weaving, but don’t have great photos yet. Soon, I hope.
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