The "Sit Back & Watch" Garden

We managed to purchase a home from an amazing gardener. It has been awesome to sit back and watch as perennial after perennial comes up splashing the front of our house with color. I had been told there were lilacs on the property and looked and looked - mind you with people who knew what they were looking for - and it wasn't until this morning that I saw the brush strokes of light purple among the green the I FOUND THE LILACS! I was so excited! We have an azalia bush in front of the house that is getting ready to bust open too. Flowering quince bushes line the driveway and along the road. It's great!

Then there's the edible stuff. Blossoms on the blueberry bushes, little pea plants coming up, an asparagus bed that gives us a few spears each day, just warming up for the harvesting season! Peppermint and onions are on a mission to take over the yard. Carrots, corn, and snap peas are in the ground and I'm patiently waiting for them to come up. The little strawberry plants seem to be happy enough - although someone told me you're not supposed to let them berry the first year - bah humbug! I'm looking for a second opinion on that one! Anyway, enjoy the picutres of our little corner of the world

So Sara…

What’s going on with Charity’s Candles & Crafts? I’m so glad you asked! I just finished a 5 day craft show in the local mall. Overall, it was good. Too many hours for me, myself and I but fortunately Emrys and friends from church were able to bail me out and give me a few breaks and some company. At the end of the weekend, Charity’s Candles & Crafts has products in over 100 local homes and over $150 will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. I love my job!

Next stop, the Bainbridge General Clinton Regatta over Memorial Day weekend and I’ve recruited a “tent buddy” so I’ll have company and extra help – phew!

Learning the Land

We closed on our house the first of December. As you can imagine, the yard and garden areas were at less than peak. But now it’s spring! As I walk around my yard, because I’m a Gardening Neanderthal the words most commonly heard out of my mouth are “oh look, another pretty flower”. (I have to make time to open up those books my mom brought at Christmas!)

We have bulbs and plants coming up everywhere! I’ve been educated that some of the flowers are irises and crocuses. Both are coming up purple. There are also some little white flowers coming up too. I’ve been cleaning out the garden beds and there are onions coming up all over the place out there. Either they’re renegade onions from years past or something! There’s also a bed that’s supposed to be asparagus. I’m hoping to clean the junk out of it this weekend to see if anything is coming up yet.

I’ve also realized that I have a small streak of “girly-girl”. As soon as the gardening gloves are donned I’m Gardening Girl – unafraid of the dirt and all the creepy crawly things living in it. My confidence bolstered by the thin layer of cotton between me and the dirt. Without the gloves, ew- worms and spiders and “there’s dirt under my fingernails”.

It’s another sunny day and I’m off for another somewhat busy day of running around. But I’m thinking that there will be garden time in there somewhere.

April Snow Storm

That's right folks! These are from Monday's snow storm! Monday, as in April 16th Monday. I sure hope spring's on the way!

On the Rock

Jesus tells us that it's better to build a house on rock than on sand, citing important historical precedents regarding the laws of physics in storms. And I agree with him that it is better to place your foundation upon bedrock than upon a substrate that easily erodes and washes away.

Unless you're trying to put a sump pump in your basement. For that chore, put my house on sand any day.

We are now native New Yorkers, having collected about two inches of water in our basement a week ago. The remedy? The easiest and cheapest remedy should have been to dig a little hole, insert a sump pump, and let it work its magic. However, upon going down with a shovel myself and starting to excavate that little hole, I discovered that our cellar sits directly on the bedrock of the hill: a layer of shale.

I think it's time for a plan B.

~ emrys

Cold, Warm, Cold; Wet, Wet, Wet

Spring thaw, snow melting, rain coming down.
Air gets warm, ground gets soft, water gets in cellar.
Now we're natives.

Shovel equipped, vision planned, French drain waiting.
Cold front arrives, temperature drops, soil hardens.
Stop. Get the snow shovel.
Again.

Still water in the basement.
Harumph.

~emrys

Construction Projects!

This past weekend we took on the first project in our new house. We took out a drop ceiling in our living room and put in a new sheetrock ceiling and lights! Now it's a bright room, not a cave! Painting is next - stay tuned. Also pix from my first gardening efforts. If you can't see captions, scroll over the picture and the slide will pause and the captions will show up. (internet explorer glitch) Hope you're all well!
~sjt

Baby Steps

Amidst a fair amount of chaos this past weekend my niece decided to share one of her firsts with me (and Emrys and her mom). For her birthday she got a walker type toy and spent Sunday night zooming around the house. She was all over the place. They have a lot of open space so she can’t toddle from one piece of furniture to another or anything so she’s a champion scooter but hadn’t made it too far on her little two feet yet.

And Then… on Monday night we were playing with her and realized that she was standing all by her self, closely examining a piece of paper. So my sister in law scooted back and gave here the “come here”. And a step later, she was there! So Lara and I were all excited and made her do it again before she realized what was going on. That time she got up to four steps. She’s going to be all over the place before we know it!

After the first steps she got to eat icecream with Uncle Emrys which was a treat since she'd been pretty "mommy clingy" most of the day.

I’m the proud aunt and really happy to live within driving distance of the little munchkin!

~sjt

Published!

After five long years, the process is complete! My first novel, As in a Mirror, is now available to the world in hardcover, paperback, and download formats. I made the decision to publish through an on-line publishing company who prints copies only after they are ordered by paying customers. While this means that my book has not passed through an established publishing house, it also means that I don't have to pay an editor, and agent, and a publishing house to get my book in print. It also means less work for me: sending my book to Random House, Del Rey, or another publisher would have meant more revisions for me, more changes, more time, and more anxiety.

Since I want to keep writing as a hobby rather than as another line of work, I decided to publish through the on-line world. Thus my book can be available to anyone who wants it, but especially to family and friends. So if you fall into these categories, this book is for you. Enjoy!

If you'd like a copy, go to www.lulu.com. In the search field enter my name (Emrys Tyler), and tell it to search in "books." You will then have the option to purchase one of the three formats. (I'm sorry about the need to form a login ID with Lulu--it's a hazard of the internet world, I guess.) Know that I am keeping no royalties from the sale of these books. Instead, I am taking inspiration from Sara and donating three dollars from every sale to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Since they're one of the vehicles the Lord used to heal Sara of her cancer, I reckon it's good to return a little of the gift.

Thanks to everyone who gave me encouragement and excitement along the way. Following through on a novel was not an easy task for me. But I'm glad the work has finally come to fruition. I'm excited to see what happens to it from here!

Please do let me know what you think of the book; I'd love to hear your responses. In the meantime, I'll be off to work on novel number two!

Shalom,
emrys

Critters . . .Part II

(Since blogs post newest first, scroll down and read Emrys-1 Critters-0 first)

I'm not a fan of Critters - at all. And very early this morning when was woken by noises it took me a second to realize that they were louder that the scuttering in the attic from the night before and seemed to involve metal and glass. I got out of bed and turned lights on as I looked around the house. I got to the kitchen, wandered through, half awake into the living room and turned again to the kitchen. First my eyes landed on a lot of things that should have been in the window sill, haphazardly in the sink and on the counter. Then over on the top of the stove, sitting very very still was a Critter - little grey squirrel to be exact.

I called up to Emrys - he was still asleep or ignoring the comotion. So I looked around for a box or something to try to lure the little guy into to throw him out - evicted! At 5 am rational thought doesn't come into play - all I thought was "he looks scared and I'm bigger than he is!" Unfortunately he was faster. Even with peanut butter he wouldn't climb into the flower pot I found. Instead he jumped on my hand up one arm, down the other and across the room. I screamed. Emrys finally woke up and called down to see if I was ok. I opened the window and door hoping he'd find his way to the cold air (yeah right!). I closed everything up and went back to bed.

This morning, the flower pot with peanut butter that I left in the sink was still in the sink - minus the peanut butter. Ok Critter, get used to the flavor and find it in the attic. I tried to play nice now Emrys can have ya! And I have to go lysol the Kitchen. :(