Hello Hostas!

Hostas are funny plants to watch. One day in spring I look at the ground and there are tiny shoots popping up. Next time I go check about an inch of leaves have come out of each plant. This morning it was like they magically grew into full plants overnight! Perhaps I should call them my Exploding Hosta Plants.

Spring Migration from the Greenhouse

I am still watching the nighttime temperatures, but began the ritual of bringing the plants out of the greenhouse. They wintered over beautifully this last year. I love it when I turn a plant around from the back corner and find a bloom like this.

This is a Martha Washington geranium I propagated earlier in the spring.

The newly painted boxes are holding geraniums along the path. We grow these plants in five gallon buckets, then pull them out in the fall to put in the greenhouse, then bring them back out again in the spring.

The ivy geraniums are ready to brighten up the front walk. Tomorrow is another day and more plants will find their way outside!

The Hens and Rooster Working Overtime

 We let our hens and rooster out to wander around free this evening. With the dogs safely in the house our feathered friends ate some bugs, scratched up some old straw, and enjoyed their freedom.

Kit didn't know quite what to think.

William also came out by the garden to check out the strange birds.

The chickens didn't seem to notice.

An Idaho Treasure: The Cataldo Mission

A few weeks ago when I was visiting family in Kellogg I made a stop at the Cataldo Mission. I love to stop and just be still on that hill above the river remembering all that has come to pass at this spot.

I remember the Cataldo Mission before it was restored. (I took this on Nostalgia setting)

I also remember it as a beacon on the hill that meant we were almost home after a long car trip.

 I was reminded that it was and still is a gathering place for the Indians and many are buried here.

I remember when the river that runs behind the mission wasn't so clean.

 This is probably how photos looked that I took on my 4th grade field trip.

 It truly is an Idaho treasure.

Lake to a River

 The drawdown has caused Lake Roosevelt to be the lowest it has been in many years. Driving home each day and watching the changes is truly amazing. You can actually realize what it was like when the beginning of the Columbia River ran by my house and along the road to Inchlelium.

Another Neruda Favorite

 

Poetry

And it was at that age ... Poetry arrived
in search of me. I don't know, I don't know where
it came from, from winter or a river.
I don't know how or when,
no they were not voices, they were not
words, nor silence,
but from a street I was summoned,
from the branches of night,
abruptly from the others,
among violent fires
or returning alone,
there I was without a face
and it touched me.

I did not know what to say, my mouth
had no way
with names,
my eyes were blind,
and something started in my soul,
fever or forgotten wings,
and I made my own way,
deciphering
that fire,
and I wrote the first faint line,
faint, without substance, pure
nonsense,
pure wisdom
of someone who knows nothing,
and suddenly I saw
the heavens
unfastened
and open,
planets,
palpitating plantations,
shadow perforated,
riddled
with arrows, fire and flowers,
the winding night, the universe.

And I, infinitesimal being,
drunk with the great starry
void,
likeness, image of
mystery,
felt myself a pure part
of the abyss,
I wheeled with the stars,
my heart broke loose on the wind.
Pablo Neruda
http://www.poemhunter.com/