House and garden report

Garden report:

Taking over a garden is a delicate thing, especially if the new owner is a gardener. If the new owner is not a gardener, then the old owner and their friends pass by and click their tongues and mourn the passing of a good garden. Really, anything the new owner does will be critized and if plants languish and die, eyebrows will be raised in an ‘i told you so gesture’ to their walking mates. If the new owner is a gardener, she must proceed with caution. To plunge in and change everything is probably not very neighborly. To ask for advice and many questions may be preferred – give the old owner a sense of importance and of pride in what they have handed over.

But then there is the reality of the garden. Take the compost. There is a three-bin set up here that was here when the old owners moved in 15 years ago. I have never worked with a three-bin set up and for my lazy gardener’s way of making compost, two tall bins were very sufficient. There is also a big black plastic compost maker. One of those containers that is supposed to do speedy compost. I found a mouse in there one night so I don't think there is much compost being made quickly or otherwise. An animal might visit and eat what is on top, but if compost is being made the bin or pile is too hot for little critters to move in. Mine was usually even hot in the middle of the winter.

I waited until yesterday to touch the compost. MJ (previous owner), came over last weekend and emptied one of the bins for herself and left me with a couple of bucket of compost. I dug out another wheelbarrel full this morning. And then I transferred the dried garden waste from the top of the two other bins. And then watered the newly full bin. I think there is quite a bit of finsihed compost in the other two bins. The system needs more management that MJ has done.

Then those big big beds in the front. Indy must have really rubbed off on me. The messiness of the front beds disturbs me. I am sure that MJ has not had time to do much to the beds at this house because she moved more than a month before we bought the house. There are lots of weeds. I’ve been weeding little by little around the flowers, but there are also rows of weeds that would be easy to spray with Round Up. And so I did. I don’t know how PC it is to do that in this town – very natural place. Ummmm.

There are also no evergreens that are part of the landscape. I who once balked at any and all evergreens, now see them as an important design element. Some will go in, but not too quickly and not too many at the same time. I need to see what is planted here for the spring before I do much. A full garden cycle would be a good idea, but I don’t know if I can wait that long.

House report:

We spent the morning shopping for the house. AND we bought a bed. First time in our married lives (plus living together for a few years previously) to have a new mattress and box spring. They deliver it tomorrow. David insisted on a king and I found a lovely simple platform bed with a modern/Arts &Crafts type headboard.

We've slept on David's Nana's bed for years, and during the past few, we're both realized independently that those old, old mattresses were not comfortable. When you get a better night's sleep on the couch than on the bed, it is time to do something! So it's only taken us 18 months from realization to getting into a store. I did some web research and mattresses and headboard, and Julia and I went shopping last week. I picked out what I liked and then showed it to David. (Is this the way I should do all the house shopping?) I thought he would probably like the frame and then he tried a bunch of the mattresses and settled on my second choice. He is much more particular that I am about how firm/soft the mattress is, so I wanted him to make sure he liked it.

We also are starting the process to re-do the bath. Considering the size of the room (5'x11') there are only a few options -- no deluxe tub or separate shower or wall of glass blocks. I got a quote from the "best in town" guy last week and it was very high. I will talk to a few more places that plan the whole job, but I am thinking about being the general contractor and doing my own scheduling of workmen. I have to investigate it a bit more, but I don't see why I can't do it. Am I crazy?

We are thinking of a tube that is deeper and has jets but it will be the size of a regular bathtub because that is all that can be fit in that room. I am also thinking of white tile -- long rectangles called subway tile (Ah, NYC) with some chunky finish on the top. I saw the old octagon tile for the floor -- the traditional has 8 white octagons surrounding a black octagon. I am thinking of having grey centers instead of the black. The tile would come half way up the walls and the rest of the wall and the ceiling would be painted a dove grey -- very calming. If we want color, we can have it with towel, rug, etc.

Okay, that is all I can stand to talk about this stuff right now!

Julia's room

Working on Julia’s room today. She is on the floor playing with her clay and I open the boxes that I have found with toys and winter clothes and games and dolls. She plays quietly and comments only on what she is making with the clay, but she is watching the rug go down and the furniture and shelves be moved around. Toys that she has not seen (and has not missed or asked for) that have been packed away for three months now emerge. Rose the bear! The old cabbage patch dolls! Puzzles! And the pound a peg! She finishes playing with the clay, washes her hands, after three reminders, and revels in the old, now new stuff.

I am making a list – again, with the lists! – of what there is to do in each room. From painting and replacing a window pane to getting light installed in the closets and a few spots out of Julia’s rug. I’ll do the same for each room and then have a whole list of projects to work on. I do have to find a handyman. Oh, and we have California closet units in each of our tiny closets. I was not too impressed at first, but working with Julia’s stuff, I am finding the units and moveable shelves to be quite useful and easy.

Better check on my spicy dragon who has been washing her hands too quietly for a LONG time.

Our crayon box

Here is the new house. When Cheshire saw the house, she said it looked like a crayon box, and the name is appropriate.

This is the front of the house and the deck. There is a built in bench and we put our outdoor table and chairs. It is shady in the morning which is great for sitting and drinking that hot morning drink.
This is a garden bed between the sidewalk and the street. There are a few of these in Indy but Madison seems to have a few on every block.
This garden bed looks better up close than it does in the picture. There are some weeds but there is also lots and lots of interesting plants to work with. There are also two terraces that can't be seen right now. This is going to be a fun garden to work on. I am going to give it time to grow to just see what it is like. I don't intend to do much this year and even next apart from weeding and mulching.

Of course, I can't be held to that.
The front door is where the crayon effect is the plainest. I admit that it is growing on me. I was thinking yesterday that the light above the door does not do the painting justice.

A contractor came over yesterday. He is looking at our bathroom and our kitchen to figure out what to do with these rooms. We are planning to redo both of these rooms within a year (with the assumption that I will be working before the end of the year).

He also took some molding off a door way so that we could fit our frig into its space.