Things lost, things found

I was cleaning up the vegetable beds last fall, a messy process full of soggy rotting tomatoes and fruit flies. At some point in the day I realized that my garden claw was nowhere to be found. I checked the roof (I've left it there before), to no avail.

 

I don't even know.

 

I suspect it is currently being composted by the city of Portland, having made its way into the green yard debris bin.

I recently misplaced my favorite ring that I bought at Chichen Itza. The ring fits me loosely in the morning and snugly by the end of the day, which means it's never quite comfortable on my hand. I told Greg that I couldn't find it anywhere and that I was "pretty sure I did something weird with it." 

As I was readying to weed this weekend I slipped my hands into my gardening gloves and made a fist to loosen the mud dried on them, which caused pain to flare across my middle finger. I pulled out my hand and there was my ring, which had slipped right onto my finger without me noticing.

 

 

I ran into the house, laughing and laughing, so I could tell Greg. This was the same morning I freaked out because I saw a common robin for the first time (he was unmoved in both cases). Say what you will, everything is more magical when you go through life not really paying attention.

And then later that day I misplaced my weed popper. So it goes.

Magic! Now in pink.

There have been magical things happening in the yard recently. The boy and I are were eating dinner on the deck and I interrupted a story he was telling by swearing and running toward the planter. I had caught a glimpse of hot pink from behind the tomatoes, where the coneflower is planted. I planted the coneflower last spring and it never did anything. I had no idea what color the blooms would be. So imagine my surprise when I saw this:

Daaaaaaamn!

 

My "little honey" oakleaf hydrangea, planted last summer, bloomed for the first time.

I've planted rhubarb twice before and it failed to thrive; not so this time. It's huge! And it's just going to get bigger.

I am so in love with this heuchera. I believe it's Hollywood and it started blooming in early April. The blooms have stayed hot pink (and beautiful) for months and now they've pushed out a second round of flowers. The hummingbirds love them and the foliage is a gorgeous dusty purple. I have some other heuchera varieties in my yard and they're just kind of "enh." The best part of this lovely Hollywood? It was one scraggly plant I bought for $4 at a plant sale that I cut in five pieces and planted.

And dahlias! Hooray for dahlias!

Just one month ago I planted tomato plants.

And now they're doing this.

I don't even water my tomatoes! Magic.