Time to build an ark?

I don’t know how the weather has been where you are living but we’ve had a cold, damp spring here in Nova Scotia.  There was a short reprieve from the rain yesterday and I did manage to get a few more plants into the ground however that was short-lived because…guess what?  It’s raining again today and it’s calling for more of the same over the next two days.  I’m not really complaining because my new plants are thriving with the abundance of natural water.

It’s time to build an ark…just in case!  *wink*

Apart from the two shrubs and lungwort plants,  all the other perennials in the flower bed on the side of our house are new this spring.  This side of the house gets both early and late afternoon sunlight and is in shade for the rest of the day so I chose plants accordingly.

Look at the chestnut tree in the background.  The flowers are beginning to form and should be in full bloom within the next couple of weeks.

This is also the bed where we dug up some overgrown pines and shrubs.  Along with various perennials, I planted a pink magnolia.  There is still a lot of work to be done in this area but gardens are always a work in progress.

Here’s a close up of the magnolia in the foreground and a pink rhododendron on the corner of the bed in the background.

Just outside our back door and relatively close to the house is where my herb garden will be.  So far we have planted 3 varieties of rhubarb and some raspberry canes.   Just yesterday I put in some onions and I’ll plant the herbs later on this week.  We’re hoping that because they’re so close to the house, the deer won’t venture here.

These guys are waiting patiently to take root in their new surroundings.  It is our goal to have them planted by the end of the week because…

Mr. Painted Quilt is digging me a huge new bed, halfway between the house and barn.  This is the barn that will house our chickens in due course.

I don’t think I’ve ever shown you what we call the back porch.  This room leads into the kitchen and is situated at the back of the house.  From the outside, we enter into a ‘mud room’ and then step up and through another door into this area.

This room was a part of the addition to the original house which took place in 1917.  Directly above this room is Mr. PQ’s office.  There is another porcelain sink with running water however we do turn the water off in the winter.  The outside tap is also connected to the same water line. 

I apologize for the dark picture but the steep steps on the left lead up into Mr. PQ’s office through a trap door.  They certainly had much smaller feet in those days…bodies too it would seem!  Each stair is well worn in the center so they were definitely used and served a purpose at some point.

With all the physical work of digging and planting, I haven’t seen the inside of my studio for the last little while.  All I want to do when I come indoors is to have a shower, have a bite to eat and curl up with a book.

If you are looking for a great read, I definitely recommend this book.

I started it on Thursday and finished it last night.  It was almost impossible to put down.  I promise you a great read.

And the library called on Friday to say that the book that I had reserved was in so I drove into town and picked up…

The latest book in the Elm Creek series called The Union Quilters.  I have read all of Jennifer’s other books in the series and I couldn’t wait for this one.

Guess what I’ll be doing tonight?