Wildflowers are popping up everywhere on the property.

Fleabane with its pale pink buds that turn into delicate little flowers.

Wild phlox or Dame’s Rocket is just starting to bloom.

I have to do some major garden clean up starting today. With all the rain, things have become out of control. Today, I’m going to dig out a bunch of what I think is comfrey that has popped up just outside the big garden bed. I used google lens to identify the leaves. There’s quite a lot of it and it has to go.

Bushes need to be pruned, weeds need to be pulled, and poison ivy has to be yanked, as well.

I’ll work on all of this throughout the weekend. It’s actually not going to rain for several days, so we can do some chores outside, including mowing the front lawn.

The Beacon Hill. I had a very frustrating two days trying to wallpaper the bedroom. I just couldn’t get it right and I had to rip it out – twice. I finally figured out why. Usually when you wallpaper a dollhouse room, there is either a basic window in place with no trim as yet, or no windows at all. Hummingbird Cottage had the windows, but I eventually added the trim after I wallpapered. Dove Cottage was in such bad shape that I removed whatever trim was there before I wallpapered. In the case of the Beacon Hill, all the windows have the trim attached and it is rather ornate. So wallpapering is a challenge. I usually build a paper template with marks where the window and trim are and eventually transfer that to the wallpaper. I did that yesterday but I could never get it right. One wallpaper design was on paper that was way too thick and hard to manipulate. The other design on thinner paper was also a fail. I was so damn frustrated that I ended up painting the wall a pale yellow. There’s nothing wrong with just painting a wall instead of wallpapering. But I find I miss the wallpaper because it gives the room such personality.

If I’d removed all of the windows first this wouldn’t be an issue but trying to do that with an already built house is tricky. I’m not going to paint all of the rooms. I think the bedroom windows were a specific challenge. The others I think (hope) I can handle.

But, what is telling is the fact that I immediately thought, “Am I too old for this???”

I’m not, of course, and after reasoning out why I was having problems, I was let that idea go.

Anyway, this ‘buttermilk’ yellow is nice, but not necessarily what I would have chosen. I simply had more of it on hand than any other paint color and it took several coats to cover up the original brown walls. Let’s see if I can eventually make it work.

Sigh.

Okay. I’m off to make a second cup of coffee and head outside.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.