When I was a kid, at home sick from school there were rules. If I was so sick I couldn’t go to school, I had to stay in bed.  Oh sure, I could go to the washroom next door to my bedroom, but even the kitchen was out-of-bounds. I wasn’t allowed to get a cup of tea for myself or glass of juice.. God forbid I should walk past the living room and see the TV. If I did, the world as we knew it presumably, would come to an end. I remember writing a letter to my mother from my sick-bed begging her to let me get up just for 30 minutes to watch Batman. It was my favorite TV show at the time.

I am softer on the house sick rules for E than my mother was to me. I didn’t make him stay in bed. But he wasn’t allowed to work. No projects were completed today. He is on rest detail. I am not his boss. He feels crummy and was quite happy to take it easy. Believe me, there was no argument. He isn’t complaining. There is no Batman on the TV for him to watch but the Canucks are on and that is almost as good.

I began my latest garden project. To reduce the enormous amount of weeding which I had to complete last spring, I have decided to lay mulch. It will also help with the drought issues in the garden. The mulch will help maintain moisture in the soil for my plants.The plan is to bring two bags of cedar mulch over every time we go to town.. As we bring them over I will lay them on the ground. Theoretically, by the spring we will have enough here to save me a ton of work..

The first gallery is the new patch of flower garden at the end of the vegetable garden.  I accept that it looks like hell. But I want you to trust me. I have been busy dividing and moving shrubs, trees and perennials.. When we got here this garden had logan (boysen?) berries in it. I took them out. I have planted a climbing  white rose, a clematis and a honeysuckle to block the gorgeous view of the wooden compost bins. There is also a yellow tree peony, Mombresia, Red Hot Poker, Queen Elizabeth Rose (thanks W’s), pink peony (thanks Didi), pink azalea (thanks M’s),  several columbines, lilac shrub, bleeding heart, fig tree (thanks B&S) and two penstemons. Oh, and a yellow rose that I transplanted from the shadier part of the garden. Can’t forget the herb from EU, it’s called Maggi. And four bags of mulch. Seeing the plants in print here, it sounds like a lot doesn’t it?

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We did the same thing for our garden in L.  It was much easier in those days. The load of mulch would land on the driveway and my staff children would shovel it into the back yard by the wheelbarrow load. It took me twenty-two years to complete the garden project in L. Here, without our kids help and having to carry everything over by boat, you might need to give me thirty years to

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