May Closes

It's the end of spring and the days are so long, there's almost too much of them to enjoy. I find myself going to bed while it's there's still a bit of dark blue in the sky, like the nursery rhyme.

Our little garden bed is growing pretty well. It's breezy almost every evening, which seems different than previous summers, making it hard for some of the peas to climb, but I help as best I can, rappelling twine down from the tops of poles, cramming their little tendrils into the cracks in the bamboo, hoping they'll have enough time to grown into a hold before the evening breezes start up again. The chard is prone to leaf miner, but I'm determined to rout it out. The tomatoes are all looking hearty, but none has set yet. We've started adding chard, kale, lettuce, and herbs to our meals regularly.

A golden snow pea

Vulcan chard

We've learned a lot about gardening in just this short amount of time, chief among them: soaker hoses on timers is the way to go.

M is busy teaching himself to weld. He's made a couple of machine stands already, one from one of my brake rotors, which he was good enough to change for me. He found a bucket of rusty used horseshoes at a garage sale and is already using them for few household projects.

Potholder corral

Star art in progress

He wants plenty of welding practice before attempting to plug the hole in the Chevelle floorboard. It's good to see him so excited about his projects although the wine bottles into glasses effort has subsided, unfortunately. I think we've drawn about even in terms of crafty dilettantism.

Memorial Day weekend was quiet. I did meet the PA Gals for lunch and a wander through the Rosie the Riveter Museum in Richmond. It was interesting, though of course we did more talking amongst ourselves than museum-ing. I'd like to go back. There was a "Rosie" there, and I think there is most weekends - that would be a fascinating conversation. She and M could have compared learning to weld notes! I have been doing a lot of museums this year. I don't have any more visits currently planned, so I better get cracking. Maybe I should make at least one per month my goal for the rest of the year.

I just got back from a conference in Santa Clara. It went well. I'm glad it's over.