Yesterday was all about mulching and some pruning. Lugging bags and constantly bending over to spread the mulch, along with off-the-chart allergies, left me feeling really tired afterward. I love mulching, I like seeing the garden look neater and more defined. But I definitely have a different level of stamina than I did 10 years ago. Unlike going from 45 to 55, for example, when I didn’t really notice any changes, I definitely notice the difference now. So does Don.
Plus, we’ve been in lockdown and we live in a place where it isn’t easy (or safe, at times) to walk and get exercise in the winter months. We’ve gained weight. We’re slowly getting in some sort of shape, through walking and mowing the lawn and chores on the property.
Allergies are the biggest pain, and this year they seem to be worse than ever.
Okay. Enough about that. Don’t mean to whine.
I didn’t get to comments yesterday but I read them all, I promise you.
Today, I’m going to take it easy – just the usual watering, etc., that has to happen at this time of year. And I’m going to paint a bit in the afternoon.
But my heavens, it’s another spectacularly beautiful day out there! Sunny, gorgeous, birdsong everywhere. I listened to so many birds yesterday as I working outside. The sounds, the melodies, the musicality – it all fills me with joy. Noble Robin dive-bombed me when I was watering the areas that we’ve seeded and when I had to get in the shed to retrieve the wheelbarrow. And if I walked to the upper edge of the big garden bed, he appeared out of nowhere and perched in the catalpa to see what I was up to. But one time, I heard a warning chirp and then he treated me to a beautiful song. I thanked him.
Wish me luck as I attempt another painting!
Stay safe.
Happy Tuesday.
I have been slowly getting mulch down too. Sounds like you worked much harder than I. I admit I’m lazy. I still have more to do.
The pandemic took it’s toll here too. I couldn’t go to yoga, I stopped using my treadmill, and I snacked too much. I’m trying to get back on track now.
Have fun with painting.
Stay safe
Thank you Marilyn!
Stay safe.
Yes we are anxious to get back to the “Y” as soon as we feel it is safe
Me for the pool and my husband for the treadmill
Yup the older we get the less calories we need!
We need to remember that little fact!
Stay safe, Linda!
I feel your pain….literally. I bit off way too much this year. Too many plantings, and we still have mulch to do. I do most of the plantings, but I do require help….thank goodness for my husband. I just don’t have the stamina that I used to. I suppose I should cut back on my gardening…but we so enjoy the end result…I’m just not ready to let that go just yet.
We have an oriole feeder…it’s really a jelly station. And lots of birds stop by. We have cardinals that come not only for the black oil seed, but the jelly, too. We had a pair of grosbeaks stop by on their migration…such beauties. Cat birds, that seem to annoy me…and the cat! Red wing blackbirds, robins, and two others who I haven’t identified just yet. And …Orioles, that serenade us with their songs. It’s been wonderful. But, strangely…no wrens here either. (I saw Chris mentioned that yesterday.) wonder why?
It’s a beautiful morning here…one last planting to do….then supposedly, rain this afternoon. I’ll believe it when I see it. We are dry here! Rest up today if you can…good luck with the painting! ;)
I hate admitting that I have less stamina! It’s depressing.
Love all the birds you’re seeing!
Stay safe, Donna!
I have a friend who spends her entire weekends with gardening, tending to her yard with lots of flowers and trees. It’s always been her ‘thing’, for activity/exercise and aesthetics/beautifying, for fun and accomplishment; also for de-stressing. I watched her doing this when we were in our 20s. And, now, she turned age 70 this year. It was only just this past Sunday that she said to me, “I wish I didn’t get so tired that I have to come in before I’m done in the yard. Gardening never used to exhaust me like this, and I also never used to get achy and sore as I do now when I’m on my knees, weeding. I can’t stand that I have to admit to myself that I’ve lost strength but I guess it’s my new reality.” We talked about how it’s probably not due from lockdown because all during 2020, because our weather is pretty good year ’round here in SoCalif, and although she was working virtually at home during the week, she continued to spend her non-work time/weekends in the yard; she didn’t let Covid make her skip a beat. But she’s noticing the progression; that she can’t last as long at gardening as in other years.
We’re all feeling it, Claudia. Age creeps up on us. I’m sure after you’re regularly working in the yard again, because you’ve only just started, you’ll pep up. Do things gradually. Pace yourself. Things will get done. Consider, too, that you’ve been suffering from your allergies, which wears a person down, as well as lack of sleep. I can remember my dad telling me, once he hit the 70s and then his 80s, that the lack of sleep was the one thing above all that would just tank him for a day, if he’d had a bad night with himself or Mom. He said sleep was everything. (And I really don’t know one person in my ‘realm’ right now who’s getting any kind of decent sleep, including me and my husband!)
Allergies have had a big effect on my stamina, that’s for sure. They’re especially bad this year. I woke up too early again today, though I slept longer yesterday. And so it continues!
It’s a hard thing to face, isn’t it? No one wants to admit they have to slow down. I certainly don’t.
Thanks so much, Vicki.
Stay safe.
your hard work is paying off … it looks beautiful! trust you enjoy it all … just tend to yourself, too (allergies, back).
i don’t think you need any luck with painting … just some time to have fun with it!
happy tuesday.
kathy in iowa
Today was a frustrating painting day.
Ah, well.
Stay safe, Kathy.
sorry you felt that. hope the next time painting feels better and you have fun with it!
other than whatever instruction was given in school (minimal and i don’t recall any specific details) and watching a few videos online, i’ve never taken a painting class and maybe never will. i very much love to paint and want to see what i can do on my own. because i love art, look at a lot of it and especially because my mother’s paintings are so wonderful (like her), it’s hard for me to not have expectations of what i want my paintings to look like, but that’s my goal … to paint like that matisse quote says, “every artist is an adventurer” and just have fun with it.
hope tomorrow goes your way.
kathy in iowa
That’s what I need to remember: have fun.
xo
I also like that feeling of a freshly munched bed, the visual, not the physical symptoms that come with it.😁
I like the way you have used stones within the beds to define, and add interest.
Very nice.
One thing we have a lot of on this property is stones!
Stay safe, Jan.
I have been following your blog for ages but I believe this is the first time I’ve read the tagline “Solitary person who is chatty.” What an apt description! I feel that way as well, especially after this last year. I have, however, an equally chatty 3 year old companion 2 days per week! Really enjoy your posts – being a fellow New Englander (transplant, not native) it’s like having a friendly neighbor! Best!
Chatty 3 year olds are the best!
Thank you so much for commenting Carol!
Stay safe.
I had a doctor visit yesterday and mentioned that my right elbow is so sore some times. She said that I should weed with my left hand! Gardening is a workout!
I guess that’s a good idea!
Stay safe, Ellen!
I love your cottage and your beautiful grounds. Your hard work shows!
Noble Robin is on diligent duty! We once watched a mama bird chase a squirrel all the way up the tall tree in our back yard while pecking at his rear end the whole way!
Love that story, Melanie!
That squirrel got a scolding.
Stay safe.
You’re not whining; you’re making a lot of progress! Love your spring-green yard settings.
Thanks, Vicki.
A frustrating couple of days. Today’s painting session didn’t go well.
Time to eat dinner and cuddle with my husband. That will help.
Stay safe.
Well, how many writers have we ever observed, even in a fictional setting like a film, where they rip the page off the old typewriter and wad it up, angrily throwing it into the waste bin across the room?
Or when an artist isn’t happy with his/her work and paints over part of it, trying to rework it. Or so frustrated that that they take a wide brush, paint a swath of black paint over it and go throw it into the dumpster outside?
I think there’s another kind of art, and that’s the art of perfection. It’s hard maybe to be an artist, striving for perfection. If the painting was perfect, it would come from a machine, so who wants that?
I have two paintings from an artist I like. The same dog is in both paintings. However, in each, even though they’re supposed to look the same, they don’t. At first it bothered me; now, I like the variation in the dogs’ eyes, the color of their coat depending upon the light the artist captured on the canvas; also because I know the artist painted out of love, and she’s human; maybe it’s how her hand ‘worked’ that day as she held the brush. (Heck, my own dog often looks different, in photos, in person; depending upon her expression, what she’s doing, what’s she’s hearing, what she’s sniffing in the air. [She REALLY looks diff right now with a stitched nose from her surgery!])
Claudia, you’re just beginning! Don’t give up! You’ll be learning. You’re self-teaching. Cut yourself a little slack. Be patient; encourage yourself. It’ll come. Remember piano lessons? Try, try, try again. Practice! Practice gets you closer to perfect.
Yes, that’s good advice, Vicki! Don said much the same thing yesterday. I need to explore and have fun and I’m going to do some small studies today – make it less about a “piece” and more about having fun.
Thank you.
Stay safe.
When I turned sixty, I had just finished my Masters while teaching full time. I started that fall working. High school day and university night
I hired someone to mow..they put down 20-30 bags of mulch for me. It was such a relief. The cost was minimal and the lifting of the bags was the best thing…I didn thave to do it. My kids’ dad, the thirty years we were together always did all the outside. Glad you enjoy it…gorgeous…enjoy painting
Well, we like to mow and I would have to give so many instructions about where to mulch that it’s much better if I do it. And I only do it every few years, so I won’t have to deal with it next year.
Stay safe, Brenda!
Very difficult for me to give up control of my yard
There was a learning curve
I managed finally to do it and when I got home from teaching I smiled…loved it
I had mulch put down yearly for some reason…
I do not love yard work except the flowers lol
Love condo where someone does it all except my flowers on patio
Glad you enjoy it
I don’t mind yard work at all, it’s just that it’s harder to do nowadays!
Stay safe, Brenda!
Pollen is wretched this year. Super wretched. Just after one overnight I had to wipe pollen down off the outdoor table. I need to get mulch and then outside is finished. No, it’s not. It is NEVER finished!
Today is one of those five-star days. Warm but not too warm; bit of a breeze but not a wind. Kind of perfect! Have a wonderful evening.
Wretched indeed! Oh my heavens, is it wretched!
Stay safe, Jeanie.
My stamina is way down after a year of not doing much at all. Slowly doing better but still not safe to walk much with some issues I have. I’ll figure it out. Happy you and Don are still able to do all that yard work. My back has sidelined me from such activity for now it seems. Take care and enjoy this lovely weather. Hugs!
I’m sorry your back is bothering you, Linda. I hope you have some relief soon, my friend. I understand!
Stay safe.
Oh, I do love that you are painting!! I have no artistic talent at all. But I have been quilting a doll quilt. There was no quilting it together because it was stamped on the fabric so only had to find some batting and backing which I also had in my stash. It has been quite fun seeing if I could make small stitches around all the scenes. My dolls are going to be warm this winter because I have three more to stitch!
Are you wearing a mask outside while you work in the yard? That may cut down on how much pollen you inhale. Pollen is big so most masks would catch it, I think. I have allergies in the spring and summer too, but my husband likes to putter in the yard, so I can stay in the house. I know what you mean about feeling the yard work, but take it slow and it will keep you young! You and Don have a good day.
It depends on what I’m doing. Since I’m usually stuffed up, wearing a mask when I mow is hard because I often have to breathe through my mouth. Today, however, when I was weed whacking, I did wear one. Hope it helps.
Thanks, Tana.
Stay safe!