Awash in Lilacs

In our years of being here I’ve never seen our aged lilacs bloom like they have this year. I’ve been enjoying cutting the blooms daily to get their sweet, sweet, heavenly scent inside in every room.

As I note actually, every blooming thing is going to town—the apple trees have more than usual as do the ornamental plum trees. It’s been wonderful for bouquets since I love having flowers inside. The bees are busy trying to pollinate it all for my future harvest.

I’m back to my normal routine at home—all the yard work, mowing, gardening and mostly, weeding. God, they grow too quickly! Dandelions have overrun the entire region in masses also. I’ve planted some new ornamental grasses but not much else. I’m also still volunteering for the humane society. Despite the work burden falling solely on me, I’ve been enjoying my time at home immensely. Daily I try and sit out and have “porch time” and it’s always at this time that I reflect that I wish I didn’t have to make the trip west in the fall. 

I’ve found a new passion in refinishing furniture! I love the process of destroying a damaged or unwanted surface and turning it into some totally different concept and color. I have several projects in front of me but am now working on redoing my old antique iron bed. It was very chippy paint, falling off, probably lead paint, when I purchased it, so I let it sit out this winter and further deteriorate. Stripping it involved a lot of rotor wire brush, paint remover, sanding and repeated sanding. Now I’m working on building layers to accomplish a finish that is yet undetermined. I decided to use up more of the blue mineral paint I had used on the bedroom set but now I will use white wax instead of brown. All of it takes layers and layers. Finding a mattress for this bed has proved problematic; it seems the antique ¾ mattress size is no longer produced unless one wants to spring to have a custom one made. The twin size I used last year is just too small. So, I will be on the hunt for a source for buying foam in large pieces we can custom cut to size.

Word is that the construction crew should be able to start on the sunroom this coming Tuesday. It should only take them a few days to accomplish their portion as Marc intends to finish the interior with electric and what little wall will be necessary. The lower sills will be 18” off the floor to match what is going on with the house front windows and there won’t be much wall space between windows. I had thought of it as being all enclosed by the time they left but in actuality that won’t happen until Marc’s return because we don’t have a front door as yet! We’re planning for a single, all glass French door with side lights and possibly transom windows. Get home soon Marc—your construction skills will be badly needed!