A Sunny Day

After Friday's dark and stormy day, yesterday's rare and restorative day of relative warmth and sunshine was a delight to behold. It was a good day to get out and walk around the yard, feed the birds, and get the tomato seeds started. After filling the bird feeders, I took a little walk around to see what's what.

You might remember the little mini iris that magically appeared in the whiskey barrels last year. There were only a few last spring. Now they've divided into an army.

Also, I mentioned in yesterday's post that our daffodils were up. They still aren't opened, but they're close. A few warm days and they'll show themselves.

Right now, it's the heather's turn to shine.

Although the catnip usually reseeds itself, I had to replant it last year when none appeared in the spring. This year it's coming up in quite a few places. We might need to pull some of it up.

You might recall the sunflowers I planted in the herb garden last year. I had all different colors of them, and they were so much fun.

When they were bloomed out, I thought about pulling them up. Then, laziness set in, and I left them. During the winter I was glad I did because the birds could often be seen plucking the seeds from the bloomed out heads. Over the course of the winter they were picked clean.

The flowering plum trees are budding out, but they won't bloom for a month or more.

When they do, they'll look like this.

The cat tails were well represented.

Also the lilac is budding out. Sorry about the blur.

Here's another blurry image of our leaky faucet. It was just dripping when winter set in, but now it's running a steady stream. This looks like a job for the Resident Plumber.

The Andromeda is starting to bud out. Eventually, it will be so showy with its bright red foliage and white flowers. It's always fun to watch this one.

Beyond all the hopefulness of newly formed buds is the disheartening mess of winter kill present this time of year. We'll need a string of sunny days to get it all cleaned up, but for now, the Bleeding Heart is finding its way to the surface.

Remind me to put in a call to the lawn guy to come clean up these pine needles. Ha! As if we actually had a "lawn guy". Generally, yours truly fills that role.

The foxgloves are finding their way to the surface too. Looks like some slug bait might be in order.

The iris are starting to appear. Their life in the garden will only be about one more season. They've become so clumped together and invaded by grass that we're going to dig them up and replace them with peonies. That will have to wait until Spring of 2017, which is when Mike retires. Yay!

The daylilies are popping up. I love these. They were a gift from Erik and Mae.

Here's another blurry image of the star jasmine, one of my personal favorites. It'll probably be another couple of weeks before it blooms. Somebody tell the photographer not to get so close to things. Geez. It's impossible to get good help these days.

By this time, we'd walked all the way around the house and it was time to get the tomatoes started. Their seeds are pretty tiny.

I moisten the end of a bamboo skewer and use that to pick them up.

They're planted 1/4-inch deep, and the skewer also makes a handy planting too.

I started 10 pots with three seeds each. When they get their first true leaves, I'll murder two of the plants in each pot, leaving just the strongest. Gardening: it's a wicked world.

I don't see anything growing yet, do you? It'll take about a week, I'm guessing. For now I cover them with plastic wrap. It keeps the soil moist and also lets in light.

I discovered a delivery at the door and went back inside to open it. Inside was a treasure trove of gifts for the kitties.

And bobbins for Eliza. These were a gift from my good friend Ila. Thanks, Ila! I thank you, the kitties thank you, and I know Eliza thanks you too.

And then it was time to sew! I finished the January blue block for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Initially, I was planning to put buttons where the flowers are. Then, I kind of liked how the black topstitching looked against the yellow fabric, and so I used some blue hot fix nailheads for flower centers.

If I have time today, I'll get started on February's brown block...the one from the pattern.

This morning we're having breakfast with Erik and Mae at Off the Waffle. Erik and Mae love this place, but I've never been. I'm looking forward to that, and I'm looking forward to having a good day. I hope you have a good day too!