RUG HOOKING BLOG

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I'm a mother of four grandmother of seven and great grandmother of three. I live with my husband in the house that we built with the help of my brothers and will have been married for 57 years this February.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

SOMETHING PINK, WINE, FLOWERS AND WEEDS

I finally remembered to get some pink yarn to knit a scarf this week. Every time I go up town, I'm running late and have to rush home in time to feed the calves. This week I made a special effort to get the yarn, I was late to feed the calves and they were happy when I finally arrived to feed them.



It's a knit one purl one repeated over and over. It's called the seed stitch. I only knit a little bit when I get a chance at night.



Tonight, I'm washing some wine bottles. This is an older picture that I had on file so I'm using it again.
I wish that I could just wiggle my nose and they would all be sparkling clean.

I'm getting ready for bottling some wine tomorrow. I do it the lazy way at WineKitz. I chose the wine kits  I want, I pay them and they get the batches fermenting. I make a date for bottling and
 and tomorrow I'll bring my own clean bottles and they will sterilize them.
This time I'm making a batch of my favorite white wine, Ultimate Estate full bodied Gewurztraminer  and a batch of red wine called Ultimate Valpolicella.



I have a  jungle in my own backyard. I'm pretty sure that I will encounter a lion or monkey in there. I can hear the birds on the wire laughing at me.
This is a flowerbed that runs all along the length of the backyard. It was so hot and sunny and the photo didn't turned out well.


It was a matted mess of weeds of every kinds. Where to begin? The front of the garden was in the sun so I started in the back where it was cooler but still muggy. I armed myself with Deep Wood and braved the lion size mosquitoes.

 I decided to weed a path from the front so that I could carry my bucket of weeds to the wheelbarrow back and forth and this was the spot I chose between two peonies that were in buds.



This is the beginning of the garden by  my son's black shed  that is still there since... way back when...
Notice my fiddleheads that I transplanted last spring. I just dug them up from our land by the edge of the river. They grow long stems under ground and out pops up another fiddlehead. They are rather decorative when you let them grow.



My progress, I now have a clearing in the back of the flowerbed framed by wild cedar  hedge at the back.


View of the front after some weeding. It's difficult to get the whole bed in the picture. The sun makes everything so pale.




You guessed it, I'm now tackling the other end by the white shed.  My colorado Blue spruce has some dying branches that I will cut off since my Azaleas are growing under.


This is the section of my flowerbed that is in front of my Colorado Blue Spruce.
I pulled the very tall weeds by hand so I could see where some perennials were before sticking my fork in.You can see a few paver bricks but most are completely covered with grass.


Here I have removed the grass from the paver bricks.
I still have a lot of work to do  It gives you an idea how much this flowerbed needed some rescue. I'm far from done. Got chased in by a big thunder shower  so that I could blog.

I know that I bore you to death with all my weeding but someone has to do it. Just be thankful that you don't have to do it, he,he.


This is why I do it. So I can enjoy the fruit of my labor. Maybe next year I won't have to work so hard. That would be nice but I'm only dreaming.

Have a good week and thanks so much for visiting me. I appreciate that you take the time to leave a comment.

JB





20 comments:

  1. You never fail to amaze me...I really do think you have more hours in your day than I do....and WOW making your own wine...I am so impressed.....

    Lots of work on that bed but just like you said you will reap the fruit of your labor with beautiful flowers.....and I never tire of reading of your adventures....

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  2. I am truly impressed by your energy and the results of your hard work! My knees would be really screaming at me, so that is something I no longer attempt.

    Also, I'm very interested in the wine-making process you are undertaking. I have never heard of that availability around here.

    Pink is a very favorite color of mine!

    Thank you, Julia, for your kind comments on my blog. It felt really strange to have no cat to feed this morning for the first time in 28 years.

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  3. your yard is just so lush and pretty! (and yes, takes a ton of work!) i think you method of wine-making is pretty cool! :)

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  4. The peonies in the last photo are breathtaking!
    Weeding is A LOT of work. I just finished (again) and I hope this time I can keep up.
    Hugs :)
    Lauren

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  5. Wow! Wow! WOW!!!
    That flower bed by the back hedge is soooo huge, I didn't think it was possible to weed it all before the weeds grew back!

    I am looking forward to playing in the back yard with J

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    1. (Don't know what happened there, so I'll finish in this reply box)

      I am looking forward to playing in the back yard with James this August! He's going to be giddy with excitement when he see all the things he can climb on and play around!

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  6. Hi Julia...Your yard is so pretty! My goodness you work hard! What a great patio to sit and enjoy a glass of wine and take in the beautiful peonies! Love seeing the fruit of all your labor!
    Robyn

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  7. your are always so busy it is hot here to be in the garden. do you mulch to keep the weeds down?
    Cathy

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  8. Beautiful yard and flowers! Making wine, too! You are endlessly busy, and filled with talent & surprises! Hugs!

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  9. Oh WOW Julia! Your gardens are beautiful! You do such good work in them! The befores and afters are amazing! Love those peonies... and I never knew what fiddle heads looked like when they grew up! lol! Really.... very beautiful gardens! :-)

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  10. Flowers can be a lot of hard work but isn't it nice to see how pretty it can be. I am way behind on my weeding. Still cleaning up storm damage. A glass of wine sounds oh so lovely!

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  11. WOW you need a helper.. that is way too much for one person with a schedule as full as yours.

    I am in awe. Thanks for sharing

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  12. Wow, you have made your yard a real showplace! You get a lot done in one day, You must have pretty good soft soil there, everything grows so well. By the time I get to one end of my beds the first end looks like I've never touched it.!

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  13. making wine ... are you? what fun! your yard looks gorgeous and beautiful to sit outside and view all that gorgeousness ... and you obviously love it ... no one nary a person would do all that weeding if they didn't ...

    You get to look at your work and enjoy and fix it the way you want ... I hope I'll do that when this weather settles down... tooooooo hot for this old woman to be out fiddling with weeds and plants and flowers...

    love that color pink! pretty scarf yarn.

    going to be 100 and above tomorrow .. not knit scarf weather for sure!

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  14. I've been weeding and trimming and trying to get the lawn under control. I have a bunch of places that need help and I always wonder why I don't do it in the Winter when there are no bugs! Your yard and gardens look wonderful! I hate our mosquitoes this year..massive!

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  15. Wow Julia, your garden is so huge and such a huge amount of work yet you always manage to get it done. Not to mention your Peonies are just incredible.
    I love looking at it all. I am always interested in your wine. I have never heard of that here.
    I like you yarn too.
    You are such a hard worker.

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  16. Your greenery and flowers and yard are stunning to say the least!

    That is a lot of work, but sooooo worth looking at. Such eye candy!

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  17. Sweet Julia I still am amazed with all you do that you manage to knit and sleep. One of my nephews makes wine and I have heard it is very good. I bet yours is good too. What a gorgeous place you have with all the beautiful plants, trees and flowers. You did a lot of work but what a difference you made in how the flowerbed looked. To have a yard so beautiful takes a lot of work. Keep enjoying the fruits of your labor. Hugs

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  18. I love, love your pink peonies, I want to experience seeing that colour in my yard!
    Your garden is such a refection of your appreciation for beauty, if it only came without the work though. lol
    Weeds are everywhere here too, I'll going to start weeding this week & Bill can do the mowing. He's visiting me for a week & maybe I can find a peony bush or two to plant in my new garden. Keep up the good work Julia, you truly inspire me to go gardening!
    Hugs Cynthia

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  19. Wow, what an enormous job! Guess I'm not the only one who lets the garden go untidy for too long. ;o)

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