This is the year I’ve really noticed what flowers are in the backyard. For whatever reason (free weekends, spending the whole year at home due to the pandemic, getting older) I’ve been way more away of flowers and such this year, and it’s been fun watching our plants bloom.

There are a ton of irises in the yard, and I’ve learned that likely I need to divide them all, which seems like a daunting task, but means in a few months I can just get started on it, and learn as I go, which has been my gardening motto. (If anybody reading this wants to come help, let me know!)

I’m enjoying watching them bloom. How have I missed this the past 6 years? Probably because May was completely full of gigs, but this year, I’m busy busy and making enough $ but not working as much on the weekends.

I hear a lot about the restaurant worker shortage and how it’s caused by the Pandemic Unemployment Insurance, but I wonder how many folks are just done working weekends? I guess we’ll see what happens. I am not done working them, but I’m done working so many of them.

The big news this week is that Louie built a small “catio” in the back. He took the window in his office, which previously had no screen and therefore could only be opened a few inches, and built it out so the cats can enjoy fresh air.

Since these pictures were taken he added a little more soft padding for them to sit on. They love the catio and have spent hours each day there.

My peas are growing well and will likely soon be at the tops of the poles. The poles are likely too short so then they will grow back down or around, or we’ll see.

I’m planning to plant beans this weekend. I might plant them this afternoon because the weekend looks rainy, so I could just get them in the ground. I have to a do a little weeding first. I may also plant a row of beets. I’m thinking a row of beets, a row of beans, and then in another two weeks, another row of beans, and maybe another two weeks after that, or something. I also have some mixed lettuce and swiss chard coming up, not pictured.

These are growing in the back, amongst the irises (I think), raspberries, and probably some sort of weed that needs to be pulled. There are still pretty wild parts of the yard, and the back corner has raspberry plants interspersed with ivy which is a little bit of an issue, I think. Perhaps less of an issue that the honeysuckle tree next to the garage though, but not everything can be fixed at once!

I had leftover blueberries in the freezer still, from last summer, so I made the second blueberry rhubarb crisp of the season. It was delicious. I recommend Talenti Madagascar Vanilla Bean Gelato for a topping. And I like to call it “blubarb crisp.”

Workwise: I started teaching at home two weeks ago and it’s going well. I have 3 to 4 students coming in person on most days, and otherwise I’m still online, and it’s going just fine. It’s wonderful to see the students and really hear them, and it reminds me how to teach in person (play with them, duets, clapping in time, interrupting right away because they’ll hear you in time, all of that) and then I go right back online and have to do that, so it’s been a great mental challenge, doing both. I have 22 students playing on the recital in a few weeks, so we are preparing for the performance. It will hopefully still be done in an hour or less. I also am switching to a set monthly tuition starting in August and I told everybody this at the beginning of May. I think it’ll work out really well, and will help my budget as well as I can have a more regular idea of what to expect each month.

Anyway, Louie is off on a short weekend trip to visit his dad, so I’d better help him get on the way. I’m not sure the cats will survive without him since they are so used to us both being around all the time.