Sunday, April 25th

It's been a week since my last post, but there is a good reason for that. Miss Eleanor Jane Davis (Ellie) made her entry into the world last Monday and I raced to Williamsburg to see her and to help out with Lily. It was a wonderful week full of special moments--I could have held tiny little Ellie all day and not tired of it--but today it was time to come home. I don't much like driving long distances, but audio books help the time pass. The interstate highways are far too crowded and filled with insane drivers who think that going the speed limit is breaking the law. "Bring back the trains!" says I.

I arrived home about 2:30 and immediately got out in the yard. While I was gone the heucheras Rachael and Brien gave me for Christmas arrived and they needed to be put into the ground. Someone, probably my kindly neighbor, left me two hunks of hostas under the plum tree. I whacked them into several smaller pieces and put them in the ground. The heucheras went into the two beds in my backyard that I'm attending to this year; the hostas ended up in the side shade garden. Thankfully, while I was gone it rained, so everything looks clean and fresh. Things I've planted over the past month look happy. Even the yard looks happy because Paul mowed it yesterday.

I love tomatoes so much that I invested in a strange looking system that is supposed to produce tons of luscious fruit. Then, Rachael gave me ten tomato plants, including three (or four?) Sungold plants, my all-time favorite cherry tomato. Mama mia! I'm a happy woman today. Yesterday, Paul began to assemble the tomato growing system, but it was difficult to do alone. So, today we finished that job. On the deck I set out the tomatoes Rachael gave me so that they could begin to harden off. After a few days spending a couple of hours outside, I think they'll be ready to put into the ground. I had no idea I would inherit this many tomato plants, but I have the perfect place for them. At least, I hope it's the perfect place. The small empty bed on the side of my house gets lots and lots of sun. So, instead of putting in zinnias, as I had originally planned, I'll plant the tomatoes there. I am hoping for a bountiful harvest. As I was musing about my love of tomatoes today and how much I love eating them right off the vine, I realized that I could end up with a bumper crop. This led me to daydreaming about something I used to do when my daughters lived at home--canning fruits and vegetables. I love seeing the quart jars lined up on a shelf, each containing something that I'll joyfully consume when the weather is cold. I used to make spaghetti sauce, so if I end up with more tomatoes than I can eat, I may resume my life as a home canner. I certainly have the jars and the motivation.

Tomorrow I must finish a huge project for Five Ponds Press because it is due on May 1st, a date which is looming. Once I get that finished, if there is still daylight, I'll take pictures of where things stand at present. So far, so good because nothing I've planted has yet died. Let's hope it stays that way.