Here’s a little proof that spring really is here: my dogwood is blooming.

That might not seem like a big deal to those of you whose dogwoods put on an abundant display every year. My dogwood blooms only sparsely and sporadically. That it has chosen to bloom this year, I will take as a sign of good things to come!

It’s supposed to be in the high 70s today, with lots of sunshine. That’s what I think of as perfect weather.

I hope all of you can find a way to get out in it and enjoy! And if the weather in your part of the world isn’t quite as nice, then here’s looking at better days ahead.

A couple of months ago I wrote about the two large Douglas firs belonging to MNTHD (my neighbor two houses down), and the possibility that I would end up in bed with one of them some dark and blustery night.

I hate it when I’m proven semi-prophetic.

Last night when I got home, I thought that one of the trees looked like it was leaning at a slightly different angle. Now it’s at a really different angle! (click the pic for a bigger version in a pop-up)

I didn’t hear the crash, which I understand came about 4:30 AM. When I woke up at 7:30, given the high-wind-warning situation, the first thing I did was look out my bedroom window. I only saw one tree. Now, this isn’t entirely unexpected, given my eyesight. So I put on my glasses. I still only saw one tree standing. So I threw some clothes on and ran out the front door.

Only one came down. And it didn’t come near my house (thank goodness). It hit the house of MNTHD. It smooshed his roof a bit and tore off his gutters. The top 30′ or so broke off and hit the corner of the garage of the next house beyond MNTHD and also did some slight damage to their van. You can see from the pic that my direct neighbor’s fence was pretty well destroyed when the root ball pulled up.

I spoke with the neighbor three houses down, whose garage and van were hit. She had run to MNTHD to make sure that they were OK (they are) and asked about the remaining tree. He said he was

going to have a guy look at it

If you read my earlier entry, you will know that “having a guy look at it” was what he has been promising to do for the last 6 or 8 years while these two trees slowly died. I hope the “guy who looks at it” explains to him that the remaining tree will probably not be standing for long and needs to be removed.

I hope the wind isn’t as bad as predicted!

See these trees? Look really healthy? NOT

That’s my roof line in the lower right of the pic. These trees are more than tall enough to hit it.

I’m afraid that I’m going to wake up in the middle of the night and find myself in bed with an uninvited guy named Doug Fir.

These trees belong to My Neighbor Two Houses Down. They’ve been slowly dying for the last 10 years, ever since the neighborhood was constructed. The poor things have no roots — they were all cut when the yards were graded.

Originally there were 5 trees. Two belonged to the house behind my neighbor. They were removed the first year.

The third year, one of the three belonging to My Neighbor Two Houses Down outright died — turned brown, lost branches, dead as a doornail. It stood for several months. The neighbors worried. The monsoon season neared. One day I saw My Neighbor Two Houses Down outside and walked down to talk to him:

Mom: Hi there. How are you today?

MNTHD: OK. How are you?

Mom: Great! Did you know your tree was dead?

MNTHD: It is? [look up at tree] Huh! Guess I should get that out of here.

Mom: Maybe the other two also, eh?

MNTHD: Yeah. I’ll have a guy look at them.

The dead tree was removed. The other two were left. They died by slow degrees. The neighbors worried. Over the years I had a couple of other conversations with My Neighbor Two Houses Down. They all went like this:

Mom: Hi there. How are you today?

MNTHD: OK. How are you?

Mom: Great! Did you know your trees are almost dead?

MNTHD: They are? [look up at tree] Huh!

Mom: I’m afraid they will come down and hit one of the houses.

MNTHD: Yeah. I’ll have a guy look at them.

The monsoon season has arrived again. During storms, he wind blows something fierce down the hill. The neighborhood waits with bated breath to see which house(s) will be hit. Any of about 8 are in range. I guess if we’re lucky the trees will fall along the back yards and the damage will be only from branches going through windows, etc. If we’re lucky.

If I’m not lucky, Doug will come calling one of these nights, and I don’t think it’s going to be the most fun I’ve ever had in bed.

Just to prove that I’ve not been idle, here’s a new finished object to show off. This is a large-sized “buttonhole bag“.

It was knit with two strands of chunky wool yarn on size 15 needles. I’m not overly fond of fun fur and eyelash, but I thought a little bit would add a fun funkyness to the whole rather retro color scheme.

The top pic is pre-felting and the bottom is the finished product. (Click on either pic for the larger sized version.) I felted it in my front-loader (YEA!), and I’m glad to know that I can actually do that successfully. I could have felted it harder and lost all stitch definition, but as you can see from the bottom pic it’s hard enough to stand on its own.

I encouraged the top to roll because I liked that look. I still need to add a lining. The finished bag is large enough (about 17″ at the widest) to make a nice-sized project bag so I want the lining to include a few little pockets to hold sundries..

In other news, the grapes are ripening and I’ve picked several pounds to give away to friends. I managed to save almost all the harvest this year from the furry little black-masked bandits that have robbed me the last two summers. I grow the variety Himrod, and have two vines on an arbor over my back patio against the south side of the house. Because I’m on the north side of the hill, the growing season in my yard starts late and is slightly shorter than the valley floor. Himrod is an early variety, but I don’t usually have ripe grapes until the end of September. This year the abundant sun and warm weather helped them ripen about a week early. The good news is that the harvest usually extends for several weeks, so hopefully I will have enough time to deal with the crop.

My grapes grow under my usual gardening philosophy of benign neglect. The grapes get nothing: No water or fertilizer, no spraying. Nothing. I whack them back a couple of times a year to keep them from taking over the yard and tearing the house apart and I harvest the crop when it’s ripe. That’s it. The two vines, each the size of small trees, reward me yearly with bountiful crops of some of the best grapes I’ve ever eaten.

Found a present from my african violet this morning when I got to work. In two years this is its first bloom! Guess its happy!

P.S. Not a very good pic. The camera on my phone sucks (but it’s otherwise a great phone).

These are the rose pictures that I really meant to post this morning, but couldn’t because I stupidly didn’t upload the actual pictures. I tell you, my mind just keeps getting leakier and leakier. Maybe I need a vacation? At any rate, click the pics for the close-ups.

This is the Apothecary’s rose, R. R. gallica officinalis. This is the oldest gallica rose still in cultivation. It was brought to France from Damascus during the Crusades in the 13th century. Used extensively for medicinal purposes it became a symbol of pharmacology. As “The Red Rose Of Lancaster,” it figured prominently in the War Of The Roses during the 15th century. (The House of York used a white rose, R. alba as its symbol.) There are roses that are showier, yes, but I appreciate its history, its medicinal value and, since I don’t spray, its hardiness. (My garden can be a good example of surviving under extreme odds.)

This is the David Austin rose Jude The Obscure. It’s the most beautiful pale yellow changing to apricot in the center. It’s one of the most fragrant roses I know of, with a scent that is sort of fruity, vanilla-ish, rosy. Before this flower even opened, I could smell it from my back door — a good 15 feet away. One blossom can perfume an entire room.

Like many David Austin roses, Jude is hardy and disease resistant.

And besides, there just aren’t that many roses named with my name!

This is one of my very favorite roses ever — Eyepaint — one of the McGredy “hand-painted” roses. It seems to be getting hard to find, since I had to go to Canada to get it, and I think that’s a shame. It deserves to be more widely grown. A floribunda, it covers itself with smallish flowers for a long blooming period.

This picture is a little washed out, at least on my monitor. The petals are actually a very bright fire-engine red with a white center. The reverse of the petals is white, so when the bush is loaded and a breeze blows the blossoms appear to be winking on and off. It always looks so cheerful when I see it out in my garden. I think of it as a “lift your spirits” rose.