A quiet 4th of July

We had quite a nice holiday weekend. Not at all typical for us, no parties, no people, no fireworks, no trips.

The weekend started on Friday with a performance at Theatre Lawrence, from the workshop Sugarwings had attended there.

It was very impressive to see how the teachers could corral all of these little ones and get them to understand the workings of being in a play, learning lines, songs, and choreography in just one week. And it is great for the kids to have a chance to be on the fancy stage.

Sugarwings is very serious up on stage, but does sneak looks up to where family is sitting, to make sure we are watching her. And at one point, she broke out in an impromptu, improvised tap routine that had nothing to do with the show. 

Maybe tap lessons should be the next class she takes...

Her favorite part seemed to be the way her sparkling cape could swirl with some twirling in the lobby.

The rest of the weekend was pretty laid back.  My husband and I did some hiking at the lake each morning, then spent the rest of the days doing yard work around the cottage.

Now, my husband isn't exactly a yard work kind of guy.  At least as far as flower beds go. He is more of a chainsaw  type, but when I mentioned that my rose bushes had become so overgrown that they weren't blooming the way they should and were more like thorn bushes than flowers, he was right there with a chain to wrap around them and pull them out with the John Deere Gator.

The roses were planted in bad places, that seemed fine when the plants were little. One was by the patio of the studio, and three were along the side walk to the front door.  As they grew, they needed major trimming to stop their thorns from snagging unsuspecting people walking by.

I've not got a lot of experience with roses, but it seems to me, that the more you trim them, the woodier they become, and the less they bloom.  These were turning into giant thorn trees with woody trunks, not green bushes with flowers.  So, out they went, and the one by the studio was replaced with a hydrangea instead.

 

For the sidewalk area, I purchased 2 azaleas and a topiary. But the topiary wouldn't work, because there is a bedrock of gravel under the bed, and we couldn't dig through it.  The base of the topiary was just too large, but the smaller pots of azaleas were just fine. So, the tree is in a temporary basket for now, and I'll set it in a pot when I find one later (it's time for some good 75% off sales at the greenhouses!)

We also dug out mulch and added a row of gravel along the foundation, due to some termite issues we are having. My husband got to fill his Gator with gravel and use the dump truck function to fill the trench he'd dug.  

We also worked in the veggie garden, and had to pull some vines down from the walls. A vine covered cottage is a beautiful thing, if you don't care about termites and damage to your siding.  If I could let them go, I sure would. Especially since they just start climbing on their own, it looks so charming and natural.  But, nope, they had to be ripped away.

Lots of hard work got accomplished, and we had a good time doing it. I really can't remember the last time the two of us were on our own, and hung out together all weekend.  We tend to have a lot of separate interests and many other people that take our attention from each other.  This was nice.

I hope your weekend was a memorable one too.  I thought I'd work in the studio and add some things to the Boutique, but didn't get around to it til Monday.  

And I didn't mind at all.

Here are a few things that I listed.

 

Comments

[Leanne]

Let me be the first to leap in and say that roses have to be trimmed a certain way. There's a science to how far to cut back and what to trim back and what to remove completely -- but it sounded like they were planted in the wrong place to begin with!

[Karla Nathan]

Yes, I over pruned them and ruined the poor bushes. Definately planted in the wrong place, Leanne! But I sure enjoyed them there for the first few years when they were smaller.