A Breath of Fresh Air

Whew! It’s been a bit gloomy here at Chez Burns lately, hasn’t it? Sorry about that. Gloom and tad of melodrama is what you get around here from time to time. Hopefully I can stay on a more even keel for a spell.

Back to the knitting. Yes, I’ve been knitting. However, I must say that I’ve been knitting with a little less enthusiasm than normal. I think it’s the melodrama and the weather. It’s been rather warm here and we’ve been hanging out on the back deck a lot. Plus, it’s summer. Real, honest to the Universe, summer. That means I can be completely happy hanging out on the deck, sitting in a camp chair, drinking a beer, watching the sun spots flicker and dance in the breeze and shadow cast by the maple tree. (poetic, no?) So, in the spirit of summer I’d like to give you a small update on the various growing things in my life. First, the maple. The maple is continuing to dig its root directly into my sewer line. Yay me. It did however suffer a blow on Wednesday, when a fierce electrical storm, accompanied by high winds and driving rain, ripped a couple of branches from its uppermost boughs. One branch landed in the yard, and the other was precariously placed, tottering in the crotch of another limb. I’m just waiting for it to fall.

The peach tree. An amazing thing has happened to the peach tree. After we planted it, and it froze, and the buds that were forming turned grey and fell off, and I had decided that it wasn’t dead but wasn’t going to do anything this year, it decided to leaf out. So now we have a little leafy peach tree.

Finally, the willows. Our neighbors gave us some rooted willow cuttings about a month ago and last weekend we finally got around to planting them. They’re not much to look at presently, but they are most decided alive and I’m sure they will improve. My fervent wish is for them to grow and spread and block out our view of the neighbor’s yard (can you see why?)

In knitting news, I have finished the first half of my Viennese shrug and have just started the back. I have also finished the baby hat I’m going to send off to the breast feeding education class coordinator. Isn’t it cute? I had to sew the fallen petals back on with embroidery thread, but at least they’re really secure now.

Right at the moment I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders.