Natural Wreaths with Michelle

Every year a group of local teachers and friends get together for their own private natural wreath class. The first hour is spent with Michelle as she leads them around the nursery property gathering twigs and branches...bits of ivy and Oregon grape..a few dried grasses and berries...some russian olives that have turned light grey on the trees...a little bit of everything that catches their eye. Then the fun begins creating their own art piece to grace their front door.

Arranged and organized by the beautiful woman to your right, Melinda, they fill the room with laughter and joy. It feels pretty special to be part of their "Making a Memory" every year. Can't wait to see what they create next.

What gardeners do..........

What do nursery workers do when they get a well-deserved day off, well …….they GARDEN of course.  Yesterday I spent the majority of the day out in the side yard.  Cleaning, raking, re-arranging the plants that still need to go into the ground, I KNOW, I am quickly running out of time. The morning temps were in the high 20’s and I had to wait till mid-morning until the hose was thawed enough to get water through it, but once it started flowing I was on my way. The trees all got a great drink, the shrubs and perennial beds soaked it up and the roses…......well let’s just say the bark I spread last month was floating when I was done. We live in the DESERT….with 4” of moisture a YEAR! I know a lot of you have a hard time wrapping your head around that…especially those of you back east that get a regular dose of 4” a day.  But here in the high desert of Nevada you have to water even in the winter.  At least once a month I pull the hose out, even when it is 20’ out….and give everything a great drink. I’m just very grateful when a sunny day with no wind comes with it.  The upset of my morning, finding all the tomatoes under the plants I pulled up to put into the compost pile. I thought I had gotten all of them and placed them in the garage to ripen before the hard freeze last month.

My plans for Thanksgiving Day: YES, I will get the rest of the bulbs and pots of perennials in their forever location, as long as it is sunny.  

and this leaf from the forsythia.......it's hanging onto summer.......just as I am.....

East Bound

Robert and I took off into the wild blue skies last week for points east. Once a year we go to the kids together, usually around Thanksgiving time. The rest of the year we split up our visits so one of us is here at the house to take care of the two businesses, hug on the dogs and watch out for freezing pipes or burning up plants…depends on the season.  While in the vacation planning stages a few months ago we realized that our oldest grandson is now the required 44" tall, so this trip we were Disney bound. A thrill seeker just like his Dad and PaPa, we couldn't take him there until he was ready for the rides.
 Growing up in Florida I have been to Disneyworld many times, including the month after it opened in 1971. Piled into my Dads borrowed (with permission) pickup, my brother driving, and a couple of close friends in tow we headed north from Miami to spend a couple days in the campground and see what all the hoopla was about. Fast forward 40 years!!! and we were heading south from Jacksonville to do the same with the kids.  Same campground, but this time it was a cabin at Ft. Wilderness instead of an old tent. The magic is still there, and of course …. everything was even more magical with a four year old in tow.  The look of wonder on his face was only surpassed by the smiles on my daughters as she watched her son. As my grandson told me in his own words after we got off the Dumbo ride for the second or third time “Nana, I think all my dreams have come true”.  Mine too Cash, mine too.

 

 and YES Carson, I promise we will take you again when you are four!

15....and counting

October 31st was Halloween for a lot of you, (not if you live in Fallon though, we celebrated on the 29th as Fallon celebrates Nevada Day on the 31st). But for me....it was a birthday of sorts..of our house. The House That Bob Built is now marking it's 15th birthday. Bob, for those of you that don't know us - is my husband of 38 years, my best friend, my confident....and oh yes, the builder of our home. It was a hot summer day that they cleared the then one acre field of alfalfa and marked out the foundation of our house. 89 days, yes 89 DAYS later, it was finished! During those months we were camped out in a crowded little house by the Stillwater refuge, but enjoying our evenings eating pizza at the job site and gathering more and more information from different dealers on what appliance, lighting, plumbing fixtures, carpeting, linoleum, tubs....you get the picture. We were building a home. Having been in construction for years before we started our home, Bob had some pretty "set in stone" rules. The biggest one was Black Black No Trade Back! There were to be no changes once we got started. Couldn't decide that the windows needed to be bigger or smaller, couldn't place a door at the west instead of the east, couldn't move walls to accommodate a bigger living room...black black..NO trade back. But in the end, he was right, as he most often is, darn it....and we kept the house under budget and got the home that we wanted....needed....and to this day...love.

Here it is 15 years later. We have changed the gardens outside many many times. We have added a multitude of trees, rose gardens everywhere the sun shines, an extra large garage out back for Bob's passion - off road motorcycle racing/riding and we have raised our daughter through high school/ sent her off to college/welcomed her future husband into our home as our son/ had their wedding reception in the backyard/ and watched as the little tree we planted out back grew it's branches strong enough to accommodate a swing for their sons. We are happy people, and we love our house....our home...and yes...I want to say...after all these years.....

Thank you Bob, I still love the "House that Bob Built"