I haven’t any knitting to show off today. Thursday evening the final clue came out on the mystery stole and I’ve been knitting away on that ever since. I am about halfway through the final clue. Depending on my speed and the speed of blocking, I’ll have a finished object tomorrow or Monday to show off. I can tell you this though, connecting the two pieces is AMAZING. It looks great! I can’t wait to show it off. But it’s so amazing that I am not going to even post a photo of where I am now on the knit. It’s a surprise!

In the meantime, I took some photos of some of the trees we planted last year. I mean, it’s so valuable to try to compare them to what they looked like last year, so much do they grow in a year.

See the cypress behind the rose bush?

It seems almost as if it’s doubled in size, and boy has it filled in! Can you tell it’s windy? The wind is whipping it around in this photo.

At the beginning of last year, we also put in a japanese maple. Just a plain traditional one. We’ve put in a bunch more since them, specialty items Mr. Ink researched and fell in love with. However, this one was the first, and I really loved it. But, it didn’t do well last year. In fact, there was a point where the japanese beetles ate it completely down to nothing, there were no leaves on it at all. Just a pathetic stick in the ground. Once we managed to fix that issue, (regular application of neem oil helped) the poor thing then got bag worms, before we figured out what bag worms were. Thankfully this year we know what to look for, and the japanese maple I fussed over all last year looks great this year.

I am thrilled with how well it’s doing! Mr. Ink threatened numerous times to get rid of it, but I’ve put a hard stop to that and I think it’s here to stay.

Up next, Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick Tree. I love this one. Mr. Ink pointed one out at the botanical garden last year, and then we came right home and got one. It’s on one of the front banks. This is not a tree that gets overly large from what I can tell. In fact, none of our trees get overly large. In any case, this one is amazing for it’s odd, twisted, contorted branches, and ours is doing that quite nicely.

I’ve spent a lot of time this winter being semi critical of all the trees Mr. Ink was planting. And, I am highly critical of them when it comes time to mow. But, the other day I was wandering about the yard. I looked at the paperbark maple, new this year, and said “That’s my current favorite tree!” Then I said “No! No, my odd weeping pine is my favorite.” Then I corrected myself again. “No, that’s not true, my favorite is the cypress. Or maybe it’s the new weeping redbud. Or the walking stick!” And then I realized something. I am not actually critical of the trees at all, in fact, I can’t seem to make up my mind about which one I love best. I guess I’ve come around to the idea of our yard being a forest of odd trees.

We’ve been in an all out war with the weeds the past few days, that’s what’s going on in the garden right now. It’s so amazing really. I mean, it’s hot here. And we need rain. The plants droop without it, and yet the weeds NEVER droop! It’s like the revel in it. They are thrilled. They love it, it makes them all the stronger! I’d like to make a stop at the plant store, I never did get there after work this week. I need a cayenne pepper plant! And, I want a few more delphinium. Mr. Ink agrees. They look great, and if they like our soil, we should plant more.

That’s about it from here. Miss Butterfly is with her dad and then headed straight to camp tomorrow. We are having quite a bit of quiet around here. Mr. Ink is puttering in the yard, and I am hoping we manage a bike ride and a little socializing later. Though that’ll depend. The heat will be in the mid 90s and the wind is whipping at 20-30 mph. Not ideal biking weather, that’s for certain. We might just do the socializing part. I can’t decide!