I'm Going To Have Blueberries After All

Monday morning sky

I was certain that transplanting my blueberry bushes while they were flowering would be the death knell of any berries this year, but I was willing to sacrifice the handful they'd make to have them in a place where they'll get the sunshine and nutrients they'll need to make a lot more berries next season.  Well.  When I walked past them on Saturday while I mowed,  lo and behold, there were tiny green berries-to-be on the middle bush.  There were still flowers on the largest bush which today are making teeny tiny berries, and the smallest bush has none.  That's okay by me.  They'll all get another dose of their favorite fertilizer (Miracid) tomorrow (they're getting a nice big drink this morning, I've got the sprinkler running) and plenty of sunshine all season so that next year they'll be bigger and stronger and happy to all make me luscious berries for my breakfast eating pleasure.  (Hmm, I just realized that in weeding around my struggling shrub rose bush this morning I stabbed myself repeatedly with the tiny thorns and have blood and little bitty scabs all over my hands.  Such is the life of a gardener, I guess.)  The shallots and herbs are enjoying life on the patio.  It's time to fertilize the shallots too; they like tomato fertilizer because of the high potash content.  I've got some, so that goes on the to-do list for tomorrow.  The poppies are still blooming and the first lilies are blooming too.  Everything seems late to bloom and very scrawny this year, probably because of the drought and heat last year.


DS & DIL1 came over yesterday evening after spending the afternoon at Donald Driver's charity baseball game in Appleton in DS's new employer's luxury box.  They had a blast, DIL1's a big Donald Driver fan (he's a recently retired GB Packer football guy who also won Dancing with the Stars and who is also a fantabulous human being).  Durwood's Father's Day gift from them was an indoor/outdoor weather system, not just a thermometer; it tells barometric pressure, humidity, temp, date, even the phase of the moon.  You hang a sensor outside and it sends the info to the base unit inside.  It's a fun weather toy.  Be ready for some detailed WI weather reporting, out of town family & friends.

I managed to sit myself down in the shade on the patio for nearly an hour yesterday afternoon to knit.  I'm not good at sitting still at all, I keep finding things to do but I managed to resist... for a while anyway.  I'm proud to say that I actually let one big (cutting back the hummingbird vines) chore go even though I had the loppers and work gloves out and ready.  Go, me!  That little job will go on the list for tomorrow.  Watch, it'll be raining... ah well, I won't melt, I'm not water soluble.  Well, I am eventually but nothing like the Wicked Witch of the West.  (how'd she take a shower?  she must have smelled bad, no wonder she was cranky)

June 17--Eugene Delacroix, The Natchez.  She lay there in the lee of the dunes.  Sand had blown over her, whipped by the storm winds into ropes that lashed the beach grass.  The next time she woke the wind had dropped, the waves had calmed a bit, and there were a few peeks of blue sky overhead.  She rocked her head back and forth to loosen the stiffness of lying there for so long.  She groaned at her stiff muscles and felt bruises from branches that had hit her in the storm.  There was sand in her mouth.  She needed a drink a water.  She needed a shower.  She needed a phone.

I have no idea who she is or what she's doing on the beach.  I was just glad I wrote that barely a page and could put The Natchez behind me.  I don't have a lot of interest in those over-romanticized paintings of "the noble savage" from that era (the painting's dated 1835) plus ol' Eugene's French so I'm sure there was a dearth of Native Americans hanging around his studio.  Way to imagine, Eugene!!  It's Monday which means I have to (no, I GET to) go to work.  Will I wear a skirt today?  Maybe.  Depends on how pasty I think my legs look and if I'm in the mood once I put one on.  I'm outta here.  It's Cheerios time, plus there's all that showering and combing that desperately needs to get done.  Seeyabye.
--Barbara