Cedars

When we first moved in we cut down the cedars in front of the living room window.  They looked great from the street but from inside we could only see dead wood.  I've since found out that they really have a limited  lifespan.  Like you, Beth, I've had second thoughts, as we've never found anything that looked as good from street level, but in the long run, we spend a lot more time looking out the window than people walking by spend looking at the house.

We had a visit from "The Grassman" yesterday, pointing out that they couldn't start our lawn care program until the front lawn had been raked, so David spent time yesterday cleaning up a bit.  He has been moving the  composters around.  When they replaced the short sidewalk to the small door in the garage last fall, they ramped it before putting down the paving stones.  This left a small but steep hill on the garden (west) side, that we knew would quickly erode away.  So by moving the composter, there was enough room that he was able to reduce the degree of slope to be much more manageable.  Then he declared that my lovely cedar planters at the edge of the patio were  too broken down to be either safe or usable.  So they are gone as well.  And the good news is--we have rhubarb growing everywhere!  It has come back where we took it out in the fall, as well as various places in the flower bed along the garage, and in the flower bed on the south side of the property, against the neighbour's fence, where we planted it, in hopes of containing it.

But this year we face the same problem we had in past years--what to put in under the living room window.  David and I disagree about what the problem is in the area, but I think lack of water, and lack of sunlight both play a role.  Last fall we moved some of the red peonies from beside the garage into the area, and they appear to have survived, but are growing very slowly when compared to other peonies in the garden.   My memory says that we moved a peony out of there a couple of years ago because it wasn't doing well.  But the Lily-of-the-Valley ( from the house on Maplewood), that was put in there a couple of years ago has thrived.

And what am I doing, while David his spending all of his time in the garden?  I have spent more time the studio over the past two weeks than I have been able to spend in quite along time.  It has been wonderful.  I have had a little more energy and have been able to get the main floor cleaned up to a certain extent.  Bit by bit the work is getting done, even if I have to pace it slowly.  I have accepted that it will never be perfect, and am able to relax a bit, but the work is getting done