One of my favorite parts of the big landscaping project was expanding and refining our vegetable plot. We had two 3×3′ shallow raised beds in the grassy lawn on the east side of the house. I wanted to have more planter beds, and to replace the grass with clover.

We took out a half-height fence that divided the front and side yards. I used that fence to build new planters. Mom donated some old cedar posts for me to use too. Lastly, I took apart my old beds to make a larger, taller bed with stabilized corners.

I got a new circular saw and it did the task better than my jigsaw. I used decking screws to assemble the beds. Sam helped a lot! He was great with the drill.

I also really wanted trellised arches in my garden. I wanted an arbor to replace the fence, with a trumpet vine (like Grandma Cook had) and lilac bushes flanking the portal. I didn’t like the shape or quality of any arbors online. I toyed with the idea of making a Japanese-style arbor, inspired by tori gates. Ben loved the idea and encouraged me to make one. For this project I bought new wood. Again, with Ben’s encouragement, I chose a bright red sealer to color and protect the arbor. I had plenty leftover, so the planters were painted to match. Finally, I installed the arbor to the existing posts that were a part of the old fence gate.

Most recently the kids helped me make stepping stones so that I don’t feel bad crushing the clover every day.

I started the vegetables inside in trays. Nimbus kept eating the sprouts, and it took me a couple tries with different contraptions to keep her out.

The trumpet vines are coming in very slowly, but hopefully in a few years I’ll have a beautiful archway.

The clover took off like mad. I sprinkled in some buckwheat, and I’m delighted by the combination.

I have 3 kinds of carrots, 4 kinds of green beans, cucumbers, shishito peppers, jalapeños, mini bell peppers, banana peppers, pea pods, 2 kinds of lettuce, and 4 kinds of pumpkin. I LOVE my pumpkin arch. I got a cattle panel from the Tractor Supply store. I installed 4 T posts and zip tied the panel to them. The pumpkins are super happy and the effect is so whimsical. In amongst all the vegetables I have rosemary, oregano, nasturtiums, marigolds, and calendula. On the ground around my planters I also have alyssum, sage, regular strawberries, alpine strawberries, leeks, parsley, asparagus, chives, thyme, spearmint, peppermint, a blueberry bush, and two raspberry bushes.

This year we did a huge project that we’ve been wanting for years – transforming the front and side yards to a xeriscape garden. Ben had a friend with a new landscaping company, so after meeting with them in the fall to go over plans, they started tearing up the yard in the spring.

I didn’t take any real “before” pictures. It was bare lawn, with a half-height fence between the front and side yard.) Here’s some pictures as the workers started tearing out grass and installing a brick edge.

And here are some beauty shots from August!

Today I started the RN Refresher program at Red Rocks. I’m dipping my toes in returning to bedside nursing care.

I think it will be a good way to gain confidence and rebuild my med/surg nursing skills. It’s a small class (11 students) and, very lucky for me, the campus is close to home. I was able to come home for lunch break and changed into our scrubs, after they recommended we wear them to class for the skills lab. We have a full day class every Thursday through October, then ten 12 hour shifts of clinical work through mid December, and then we are done! It sounds like a relaxed course, and I’ll be super ready to return to working in a hospital if that’s what I want at the end of this.

So here’s a couple pics of my “back-to-school.”

Ben snuck into the groceries I had left on the countertop and improved the label 🤣

He knows the way to my carat heart ❤️ 💎

Scene – Jack has been complaining and exaggerating about his school schedule since getting home late on his first day of 8th grade. Hyperbole increases on the phone with his grandmother.

Me: “Stop being so dramatic.”

Jack: “I’m going to be as dramatic as I want!”

A proper photoset of Jack’s first day outfit as an 8th grader, being teased by his father.

They are kings of the schools this year – Jack is 8th grade and Sam is 5th grade. Everything looks set for them to a great final year at their schools.

Jack officially starts tomorrow. Today he went as a WEB Leader – 8th graders who will help 6th graders get started, and support them throughout the year. So he only had a half day as part of the club, while 6th graders had orientation.

Sam had an assignment to write us a letter about the day:

“My first day of 5th grade was awesome! My favorite part was lunch because i saw all my freinds. I’m exited for the classes we skipped to prepare. We learned all the rules of the classroom. We also did a fire drill drill. a drill for a drill. in all, it was really fun.”

Summer vacation has officially begun! The kids both got sick the last week of school and had to miss a day. They were glad to recover in time for the last few days.

On the last day they held the 7th Grade Awards. Jack was honored multiple times for music and good grades. I was happy to see so many of his friends recognized as well, and how much they supported each other with applause. He has found a great group of friends.

Sam burst out of class ready for the summer. He went home and immediately made the Kool-aid his teacher gave to her 4th grade students.

Happy Summer Break!

Jack turned 13 this year! He didn’t want to do anything special, so we celebrated quietly at home. He had a friend come over to play video games all day Saturday. Ben took them to the mall to wander and get lunch. I made “Butts Pie” by request (butterscotch-cinnamon pie as seen in the Undertale video game).

Sunday the Waterhouses were visiting. We opened presents together, ate lots of food, and caught up on all our adventures. Jack kept his nose in the new Zelda game most of the day. The kid doesn’t seem to have a limit for wanting to play Zelda!

I saw a joke about the “meat arrow” combination on Zelda and had to serve it to Jack as a joke.

(Linked here, in case the embedded video doesn’t work)

It got a smirk, which I call a win for a 13 year old audience. He was also impressed that I scored a Tears of the Kingdom Link amiibo and the limited edition wood print from GameStop. I painted him a custom hoodie per his specifications (forest green zip-up with a triforce on the front side). He said it was “exactly what I wanted” and that made me so happy to hear. It’s hard to impress teenagers!

The cake was a “Monster Cake” as seen in Zelda. Jack requested chocolate cake with strawberry frosting. I also put in a layer of raspberry coulis.

Happy Birthday, Jack! We love you so much.

Since I started taking classes at Alchemy of Movement in Boulder I’ve been trying to improve my hip hop skills. I never studied the genre before. I’m expanding my vocabulary of steps, learning new transitions, picking up choreo faster, and generally loosening up my muscle carriage.

Today I took a 2 hour workshop aimed at the intermediate/advanced level. It was so fun! Exhausting and super sweaty too, but totally fun. We danced for over 2 hours. The only breaks were for 3 minutes of ab crunches routine on the floor, and another “break” with strutting/posing across the floor to refresh our brains.

We were told to wear baggy pants, a tight/small top, and an oversized jacket/coat/vest. For the small group filmed performances she separated us by jacket type and my vest group was relatively small. So I took the chance (with open doors and fans blowing) to dance without a mask for the first time in forever. Eep!

How fun was this?!?

Here’s some other choreo class videos from this spring: