the big beautiful mess

This past week’s garden project: advancing the side garden’s terracing. Three years ago, this was a grass/weed covered slope. Daylilies from the old house, surprise lilies and blackberry lilies and glacier rocks from my in-laws’ farm. Pavers and concrete border stones. Adding in perennial and annual herbs, a ReStore arbor, no-dig fencing. A perfect old […]

weed, water, repeat

Spring is full bore, and our wabi-sabi garden is set to explode with life. The hummingbird feeders are out, the bird bath is flipped and filled. The adjacent lot is more manicured and reclaimed than it has been since we’ve owned it, since we’ve owned our house even… The back most raised bed has been […]

catching up to spring

The close of April is hear, and it has been full of color here at our wabi-sabi cottage. Everything is waking up after a harsher-than-usual winter in the Kansas City Metro. The garden is going in, greening up, filling out. Garlic and parsnips, walking and green onions, clamored through the winter and are flourishing. Vegetable […]

“do you wanna build a snow-squid?”

What do you get when you combine a day off with streets too bad to drive anywhere with the most amazing playing-in-the-snow snow of a lifetime? A snow-squid, apparently. I did not go outside planning to release the snow-kraken, although I fully intended to play in the snow. It is after-all the *most* perfect playing-in-the-snow […]

that one tree

I am a Christmas tree junkie. I have put up eight trees in one house before. I’m making no promises that it won’t happen again in the future. (Sorry, Boo!) From my years as a florist, I hold onto a sense of lavishness in such things. From a combination of cost per investment, fire safety, […]

ST:TCT

My husband is a Trekkie, the rarer sort that embraces every series of the franchise. He has also struggles with enjoying the holiday season. Between his parents divorce and significantly older siblings during his childhood and a series of wintertime deaths in his adulthood, he hasn’t been sold the same bill of goods I have. […]

all through the house

Two years ago, we inherited some Christmas figurines from my husband’s Aunt Vertie. Apparently, she loved Christmas decorations (I had never met her). I love holiday decor as well. When we were presented the opportunity to select some figures for ourselves, we focused on a rather large scale holiday dinner scene. I was captivated by […]