It's the first official week of summer. I've made a mental note that all remaining tulips have lost their petals (or sepals, as the tulip aficionado would insist), and that I need to plant flowers that bloom in July. Not sure when I'll do that, but it's in "the plan." If you have a suggestion, let me know! Some of my bulbs are already drying out in my kitchen under a towel, the rest I'll retrieve later this summer after the leaves yellow and the bulbs have gotten as much energy from the sun as possible. The earlier batch were mysteriously dug up one day, by who I am not quite sure still. We came home to find them all in a pile at the end of our driveway. They were neatly placed, with soil over them for protection, so I figured it wasn't malicious. Turns out the fence workers needed to dig a hole exactly where they were. It would have been nice if they had asked, but all Estonians seem to have an expert knowledge of gardening, so I defer to their judgment. Maybe at another time in my life it would have angered me, but I took it in stride, evidence of the mysterious power of God's grace in my life right now!
We took the opportunity of harvesting our first strawberry and turned it into a moment of learning for Olivia. We let her discover, pick and eat it. She was fairly exuberant at the whole experience, for she loves strawberries to begin with. We enjoyed watching her connect all the mental dots. Still working on teaching her about food's journey once it is swallowed. That should be fun!
On Wednesday, the sun was "out" in our part of the world for nearly 22 hours. Estonia celebrated with a two-day holiday marked by backyard fire pits that burned long into the night and neighborhood fireworks. Matt didn't take the holiday, he took advantage of the fact that our neighbor was home and borrowed his concrete mixer for a job he's been waiting to start: the backyard bbq. He worked while the sun shone, literally. I stayed up until 3 am, baking a cake and making tea to help the boys out, but couldn't last beyond that. I woke up at 9 the next morning with Olivia to the sound of gravel thumping around in the concrete mixer. Turns out he had worked straight through the night. It was THE night to do it, I guess, because his noisy endeavor went completely unnoticed by the neighbors, who were out all night partying. Those five logs are what he poured concrete for. They will support a grass roof. He bought all five logs (ash) from a local for twenty dollars. The rocks and bricks came with the property, so all he's had to pay for thus far is four bags of cement and those logs. My hubby sure knows how to stretch a dollar!
Another way I discovered my husband's thrift is in the clever way he used scrap metal for the base of our deck. Yesterday I took my coffee outside and drank it while Matt worked, so that we could spend a few minutes together. So I'm sitting there, looking at his construction, and trying to figure out what those shiny metal things were holding the deck base together. I was pretty sure he hadn't gone to the hardware store in a long time to spend money. :O) Turns out he used left over scrap metal used for installing dry wall on tracks in our house two years ago. I had to give him lots of praise for that idea.
This photo was taken just last night, at about 10:30 pm, after Olivia and I scoured the yard for flowers she could pick. Flowering weeds are the only things blooming right now, but bless her little soul, she doesn't care. A little color is all she's after.
