will work for food

In the midst of the heat wave and humidity last week, Joel came for a visit. I think his primary reason for coming was to beat the boredom at home. And I'm pretty sure with a little help from his big sister, that goal was accomplished.

He showed up Tuesday afternoon with lots of these goodies, handpicked himself that morning. Yum! And what a relief that I didn't have to do it this year.



By Wednesday afternoon, I was making a batch of freezer jam while Joel and Morgan were out on a bike ride.



Joel was also instrumental in completing a project that had been nagging at me since early spring. This flower bed on the back of our house was overgrown with enormous orange Daylilies. They were once as high as mid-window at the height of their bloom, and they spread and jumped all over the place.



While perfect for another setting, they just didn't work for me anymore back there. They're hard to get rid of, those crazy perennials, and I had to have Scott do the tough work of digging them out. Which left me with this, a perfectly good flower bed that played hostess to a lovely variety of weeds (minus the two Seedum in the middle). Thankfully, my landscaper extraordinaire swooped in to the rescue.




Joel and I took a walk outside to discuss the options. Here he is, questioning why I planted a random pepper plant and my cucumbers in this flower bed.



After a long evening of perennial research online and a morning scouting mission at three garden centers, Joel and I discovered that I don't care for wild plants. Turns out structure is the name of my game, even in gardening. He really wanted me to get an Astilbe, a plant that I found to be rather wispy, at least the one sitting at the garden center. But I declined. (Maybe next year, Joel, in the front yard?)

Here's Joel on Thursday, working to move my Seedum over for just the right symmetrical balance. It was 9 a.m. and 90 degrees with sweltering humidity!

We also learned that I have room for more plants than I actually purchased. So while the flower bed looks a million times better than it did before, and while it will take some time for the plants to really fill in, I will definitely need to buy some filler. Looking at mulch is not my idea of beautiful.

Along with keeping the Seedum, Joel helped me select a Tiger Lily (another matching Tiger Lily will be transplanted from the side of the house later when my cucumbers are done), some white Delphinium, and some Creeping Phlox. At the end of the summer, I hope to take inventory and make some additions.



After completing that huge project, Joel transplanted a houseplant for me into a larger pot, and sprayed our yard to rid us of clover, killed weeds growing in the driveway and sidewalk, and cut the grass. And that was just yard work. Scott was thrilled!

The rest of his downtime at our house was split between online job searching (read: fending off Morgan from the laptop) and playing with Morgan, who developed a case of the crazies in his presence. It was really blatant disrespect for Uncle Dough-ie (Joely), coupled with her goofy hysterics and overtired, overplayed, over stimulated, delirious self. But there were a handful of quiet moments enjoyed by them both.

Playing "Watch" - a game and term that Morgan came up with where one person sits on the floor while another sits on the sofa, bouncing the ball back and forth.





So thanks, Joely, for all your hard work and effort at our house. Someday, if you ever need it, we'll be able to repay you with our own gifts and talents. We appreciate you!