Memorial Day at the Cottage

On Saturday, May 25th, Margery and I headed for our favorite plant sale in Woodstock, VT. We take her truck because we fill it with inexpensive plants that come out of the Woodstock Garden Club members' gardens. Fortunately, they don't have to be planted again right away. That left me free to go to the cottage on Sunday. Gregg, Sarah and Ursula were already there.

It snowed on my newly purchased plants. This is snow on William...proof of a cold spring.

It was also cold at the cottage...bearable by the time I arrived with Ursula's birthday gifts because Gregg had both the gas heater on and the fireplace crackling. 

One birthday gift included a wheelchair, crutches, and broken bone casts that fit her 18 inch dolls.

Here is the bunk bed, also for her 18 inch dolls, but it's the dolls' dolls that are on the bed.

 While playing Rummykub Sunday evening, we heard a loud thunk outside and knew another tree had "hit the dust." We soon discovered that it had also blocked my car from leaving the yard...

No amount of cold weather or fallen trees was going to keep Gregg, Sarah and Ursula from enjoying Lake George...out came the kayaks! Ursula now has one of her own that she sits ON, not in...

The red-roofed building in the background is the boathouse where my family has gone swimming since 1914...

An optical illusion...the dock is not really curved!

Back in Belmont the snow had disappeared. This is a plant that no one else wanted at an orchid auction Margery took me to last year. It has totally surprised me with blooms.

Usually it sits in the kitchen window.

I knew it wasn't an orchid, but have recently learned it is a calanchoe and should bloom once a year.

 

And there is my small gazebo, the newest addition to the yard. Now I have a place to rest in the shade, drink some water, and think about the next thing that needs doing in the vegetable gardens.

One project seems to always lead to another. Now I need a stone wall to hold the pile of small stones that create a level place for the gazebo! Otherwise everything will slowly slide down the hill.

Another nice thing...beavers have returned to the pond. We enjoy watching them, as do our neighbors, but the beavers have also created a need for several projects! More on this in future posts...stay tuned.