Happy Friday morning to you! I hope this post finds you happy, healthy and relaxed. It is indeed 5 a.m., but it’s okay, I’m feeling pretty good – rested and ready for the day – I think….lol

Quick update on a few things – the spring market was a decent success. I’m thinking I will reach out to my other artisans and see how they feel about it. Traffic seemed slow, it was a beautiful day – maybe a bit too beautiful to expect people to be out and about shopping – but who knows these days! With the economy being stale, it being just the beginning of Spring where people do a big clean to get rid of things they don’t need – do they really need to go to an artisan market to shop for more things?

I had a really good turn out with people who came to see me specifically – I was honored and humbled that people from Bellingham took the drive out to the place to see us and purchase from us – both pottery and seedlings. Even a student from one of the classes I work in came out – super sweet!

I will add my info-graphic to the post here – something to be looked at later, and something that other potters or flower growers might be able to look at to gauge what it looks like to sell items. Every location is different, every market is different, it’s just being honest and transparent about how “well” I did at a market, and not using vague answers like “I did great” or “it went well”. It’s an extreme disservice and can be super discouraging to those who sell at markets to not have honest feedback.

It was a very enjoyable, fast paced day. I’m not sure if we will do it again next year, or what it will look like, but I’m thinking it is most likely that it will happen again.

We went on our annual camping trip to kick off the camping season. Last year it was cold and rainy, this year it was very warm and sunny. Almost a bit too warm to do much hiking, but I did swim in the lake for the first time in 6 years. It helped that the grand kids were with me, and they were excited to swim – I love swimming – especially with the grands!

We had a fun birthday celebration with the family – my daughter bought me a great cake, it had Disney princess’ on it even! She is so enthusiastic about making it a tradition to buy me a cake at Hanks – the only grocery store for miles and miles around. I happened to look at the calendar, as it turns out my birthday weekend will not fall on that time frame for another 5 years! She likes to go for Mother’s day, that day and Memorial Day float around a bit, and since my birthday will always remain the same, it’s tricky to have it all fall at the same time.

Even my son made it over this year for the second time – I’m so honored to have the kids come over there and spend time with us. Things have been rocky in the past with them, the divorce was not easy to understand, they were young….they’ve gotten older and wiser, it’s amazing to see and be a part of. I’m one lucky lady – great kids, fun grands, a husband who loves and supports my craziness, and even great in-laws!

Anyhow – the gardens….or should I say garden….

Currently the flower garden by the kitchen is a serious hot mess, and it will most likely continue to stay that way. It’s a lot of work – we’ve chatted with someone about redesigning it, she’s currently on the mend from a foot surgery, so we are waiting for more layout pictures and more ideas. It will not be a complicated redo, but it will not happen until the fall because there are things to move, and I don’t want to kill anything this time of year, so it will have to be an eyesore for a bit longer.

The raised beds look horrible, I’ve cleaned two up, one of them has sweet peas in it the other one has Columbine and Delphiniums in it that look great for the most part, but it’s sparse….

The sweet peas have not taken off like I had hoped, the soil in there needs amending, the water facet next to them had a leak in it that drowned out our special rose that I’m hoping pulls through all of the trauma it had this spring. It’s always something….

The garden didn’t get installed until Memorial Day. Which is fine – I’m not on a dead-line for getting flowers out to customers, and this year it’s only 225. My daughter-in-law was surprised- and frankly a bit disappointed! I’m happy to report the rows are straighter, and the walk ways are wider this year, hopefully making it easier to take care of.

This year for flowers & food

• Sunflowers of course
• Zinnia’s
• Cosmos (only one kind because somehow I ended up distracted – big surprise there!)
• Goditias
• Bells of Ireland (six this year, I’m so excited!)
• Strawflowers
• Statice (Rat tail and regular)
• Asters (which look amazing this year!)
• Calendula (which is not in the main garden this year, I’m hoping to find a location that it can grow back next year on it’s own)
• Pride of Gibraltar
• Pumpkins
• Cress
• Amaranth
• Snap Dragons (which look super leggy and not like they are going to do much, but we will see how they do now that they are in the ground)
• Corn
• Green Beans
• Peas
• Squash

I’m probably forgetting something in there, but for now, it’s a good list!

I was pleasantly surprised to find several carnations had come back, and another flower that I cannot think of the name – also popped up from last year. Hubby was gracious enough to save them and move then to the perennial bed! I gave away several of the Maximillian Sunflower bushes, I explained it to the people who I gave it to as the plant version of the friendship bread Herman that people liked to share back in the 90’s. Which I think we should totally bring back!

The weather has been unbelievably kind to us this year, almost a bit too warm to kick off our “summer” with highs into the low 90’s for a few days, I was starting to get a bit worried! Hubby did get the food garden installed, so it will be nice to see how all of that goes this year.

Working full time, and not having a ton of extra to give has certainly put a damper on being able to do much with anything. I played with clay for the first time in over a month last night – that didn’t go as well as I had hoped, but I’m thinking I have a better plan tonight.

Not only have I been busy, but as a dear friend pointed out to me last weekend when her and her husband were here for dinner – I’m not 25 anymore. I’m not by any means old, but things don’t work like they used to. I guess I’m a bit daft – or maybe just in denial perhaps? But honestly, until I had talked to her about the last three years being really hard on my shoulder, injuring it so bad last year that it took me out of commission for a full week after having to have a cortisone shot….I really thought I was just lazy and a failure….. Interestingly enough, I would never say that about anyone else, why are we always so hard on ourselves?

So, this week, has been about me being kind to myself. I’ve worked my full day, I’ve taken care of some business for my mom, come home to walk the dogs out back, water the garden, water the patio plants, make some dinner, have an hour of sit down and relax time, chat with my daughter on facetime, chat with hubby….to bed at a decent time, then back up to do it all over again. I certainly could have come home to slave in the garden, but dinner would have been late, I would have been late to bed and the dogs would not have been taken care of. There’s a balance to be had in there, I’m hoping to find it…..

Speaking of balance, I had better get moving towards that full day of work. I also have an appointment with one of my mom’s care takers this afternoon – I met with the other already this week, to touch base about their expectations and ours. Kind of like an end-of-the-year-review – of which I had mine yesterday, that went well. For whatever that is worth, because honestly, even if I have a good end of year review, it’s still possible I will not be returning next year – and if I do, who knows what it will look like. We think we know, but – things change.

I hope you have found some balance, have given yourself grace, and have been enjoying some fun time with family and friends. Until next time my friends – hugs to you!