I got nothin'

It's frustrating. I walk around the neighborhood, and other people have blooming daffodils. I have no blooming daffodils. I have no blooming anything. Ok, I exaggerate, there's a crocus in the back that's blooming. And the hellibore "christmas rose", which is actually very nice and is doing surprisingly well, especially since I do nothing for it and I think Enzo pees on it all the time. Probably the stray cats too.

Yes, things have leaves -- the hydrangeas, the flowering quince. And the tulip bulbs are half out of the ground. But there's nothing that looks even remotely imminent.

I KNOW I planted early blooming bulbs. I think daffodils even. Narcissus definitely. Where the heck are they? It makes me mad.

Note to self. Next year, the earliest early early bulbs possible. Who cares if they're something kind of dumb like crocuses (crocii?). By this time, you NEED them.

I don't even have pictures, since Steve took the camera to work and there it seems to be stuck.

Evidence of things growing

It's not spring. It's horrible out -- gloomy, 40s, damp, windy. But there are things starting to green and that gives me hope.

The flowering quince for example. This is always one of the very first things to bloom. And it was the very first plant I got for the garden.

And the honeysuckle. I got this at the same time as the quince so it makes sense that it's an early one.

And this guy, which I thought was a late season annual, but now there are green shoots. ??? I like this one's daisy-like flowers, so that would be a welcome return.

And bulbs coming up from the ground. Lots of different ones popping up, and I did plant a bunch of stuff here.

And bulbs coming up in the planters out front. Are these tulips? Seriously? A bit early for that. Makes me nervous.

And, of course, also growing is my belly. This was my attempt to take a picture of it myself. I think I may need to recruit help if I'm really going to do belly shots. 14 1/2 weeks.

enzo's birthday

Big weekend of birthdays -- not just the President, but Enzo, who turned 10. I made him a cake:

Newman's beef and liver on a bed of kibble, wrapped with Happy Hips chicken breast strips, and decorated with his new age in freeze dried liver chunks. He was a happy dog. It was gone before I could get a picture of him eating it wagging tail and all.

xmas tree!

thanksgiving

Somewhere there are more pictures, hopefully those people will send them to me and I can update. Meanwhile: the turkey, before I learned that the real brine recipe called for 7 cloves, not 7 tablespoons of cloves:

And Enzo, proudly wearing his finisher's medal after the turkey trot.

Enzo for Obama

a bit of an autumn revival

As Enzo shows you, things have greened up quite a bit (and my intention was to get him with the hibiscus, still going strong). Ok, most of the greenery is because the grass is REALLY long, and the pictures are missing the bald spots. But somehow, the garden has a second wind. Sure, there's a lot of dead stuff, but there's a bunch that's just coming into its own right now too.

I planted these guys a month ago, don't even remember what they are, an annual I picked up at Shannon to perk up the peony bed. They had buds at the time, but took a month to open.

And then of course the Anenomes, which are still going full force, dotted with those red little guys, still going strong.

On a different note, for a couple months, this big tall guy has been growing in one of the pots. I wasn't worried about him as he was so contained, but wondered what he'd turn into.

The first shot is from early September, but now he's bloomed! Looks like some kind of aster maybe? I see it everywhere (in the weedy sense), but maybe we should say "wildflower." I say welcome.

And I'll finish with a totally gratuitous picture of Cyrus. He'd had a rough night with a head cold.