Big theatre goers that we are (so not), we splurged and went to our local live theatre venue, THE CAMELOT THEATRE in downtown Talent, Oregon! It was as they say in reviews, "a night not to be missed" as we were treated to a spectacular show featuring all the Eagles hits, along with the history. The local band EAST MAIN BAND was fabulous. The only thing missing was Miss Linda R's voice on Desperado.
For us, as dancers, it's VERY FRUSTRATING not to be able to dance to this group. Most of the great local groups play at wineries, as does this one. Wineries don't have a clue about providing a dance venue. To them, dancing is just wiggling your butt to music, not moving around a floor to music. So in past that means to enjoy great groups we've had to SACRIFICE OUR BODIES by dancing on concrete with dangerous expansion grooves, rough wood decks and flimsy plywood with little support underneath or slippery tile. NOT COOL! But we did it because we were desperate.
Looking back on the "Eagles era" of the 1970's, I was busy raising babies and keeping the train on the tracks with my first husband. It was a full time job to say the least, but the Eagles provided lots of background music that made the job a bit easier and kept me at least partially sane.
The audience for this concert was just about totally gray-haired. It made me realize that it really was just about 50 years ago I first heard them. Oye!
Did I mention that my under-gardener is also an erstwhile sign painter? So he gifted me with an early birthday present since I happened to walk into his workshop whilst he was painting it. It was meant to be a surprise for later in the month.
The play on words is thanks to long time garden columnist Dulcy Mahar's husband Ted, who had a sign made to put on her much larger potting shed (which was really a nice hideaway at the back of her garden, complete with a sofa for napping and artwork!)
Mine...not so fancy and A LOT smaller! That means that I can't do as much POUTING AS I'D LIKE! Since I've grown up though, I don't pout as much as I did when I was a teenager and my mom accused me of being a Ubangi! Those are the folks in Africa with the enlarged lower lips thanks to bones placed in them...what we all learned from the National Geographic back in the day! Well, pouting aside, the sign adds a nice touch, don't you think?
Notice too that my potting, er pouting shed is almost empty of plants. Even with shade cloth draped over the roof, it gets up into the 100's quickly on warm days. Who needs a crockpot?...I could just do a pot roast in a casserole dish in there and I'm sure it would be cooked to perfection by dinner time!
I usually have to force myself to pick the first flowers that bloom. We're promised 3 days of rain and thunderstorms so I told myself that I might as well enjoy these early blooms while I could...indoors!
This vase contains roses, clematis, a peony and some geraniums.
A good year for my Viburnum and iris in the driveway bed. The Viburnum "Watanabe" was supposed to be about 5' tall but it likes it here and is now about 7' and growing!
Above is "Before The Storm" and below is "Skating Party." These are descendants of my original iris from Cooley Iris Farms in Silverton, Oregon...no longer in business but I have kept these rhizomes going since about 1994.
Above, a closer look at my Viburnum, loaded with blossom clusters. Below the iris "Skating Party" enjoying the mild "May gray" weather.
I've been wishing for a garden gate since we built the arbor in the backyard. It just looked unfinished to me and I wanted more separation from the ornamental garden into the "working garden." So I prevailed upon my under-gardener to help me realize my "heart's desire" (when it comes to gates...) Below is the "before."
We built the frame in the driveway using some leftover boards from a long ago fence. Jack used metal plates to attach the pieces.
We attached the fence boards with screws and ripped them in half except for the ends and the middle board. Next we cut an arc at the top to give it some style.
I'm using my favorite garden paint, Miller Storm in "Boxwood" which is a slightly blue-green color. I gave it about 3 coats in all. Then we attached the hinges and a diagonal rod with a turnbuckle to keep it from sagging.
It couldn't have turned out any better! I love it!
Even with cool temps, rain showers and o'cast skies, it didn't stop the muscari, tulips, iberis, veronica and ferns from doing their thing
Looking north from the perennial garden into the rose and veggie garden beyond the arbor and "O" red maple.
Practically the only annual I bother with is Alyssum. It is just a lowly ground cover but it fills in nicely and blooms all summer long. I pot up the baby plants from their nursery jumbo paks and let them grow for about a month in the cold frame. This nice sunny morning I ran out to the garden to lift the lid on the cold frame to vent it and my nose was overwhelmed with the scent of honey and vanilla from these little wonders! Gee, they really do have a fragrance!
The grafted tomato plants were delivered from Territorial Seed just 2 days ago. I left them on the kitchen counter overnight and they doubled in size! Here they are in the greenhouse, potted up and they've grown up and need stakes already. The larger plant is the wonderful slicer "Legend" and the smaller one is the double grafted Brandywine on one side and German Yellow on the other. I buy grafted plants because the hardy root stock they use is resistant to most of the viruses that plague tomatoes.
The geraniums are blooming their fool heads off...don't they know it's not summer yet? I guess since the geenhouse gets up to 100 degrees on sunny days, they're very happy to flower. It's time to throw the shade cloth over the greenhouse roof and lower the solar gain to 80 degrees!
My under-gardener was pressed into service yet again today to use the trusty truck to haul some big bundles of goodness home from the Grange...6 bags @ 3 cubic feet each of raised bed potting mix and Happy Frog top dressing. I have given up saying, " That's all that I'll probably need for this year!" He knows better, even if I believe it every time that I say it! Oye!
