Francis

We love us some Saint Francis. Ok, that sounds - irreverant. But somehow, the idea of a man who was deeply devoted to the poor also caring for the animals is comforting, and although saints aren't generally part of our daily life, and garden statuary is not especially cherished in our household, this Saint Francis statue is beloved.

A non-garden bit of wisdom from Francis: "The true peacemakers are those who preserve peace of mind and body for love of our Lord Jesus Christ, despite what they suffer in this world."

Jumpy! No, Spotty!

Peter and I, during the long hours of Grace's absense (first grade takes a long time!) were outside browsing around the hostas, and we noticed this little guy. We watched him hop around a bit, finally resting under one of the hostas, and Peter said, "I will call him Jumpy! Because he has spots! I will call him Spotty!" We decided not to pursue him with the net, but to leave the insect house outside in case he wants to live there.

Sculpture fun in Missoula

So the mascot for the University of Montana is a grizzly, and this sculpture made a big impression on the kids. Grace was more impressed by the flowers, and Peter by the opportunity for quasi-legal climbing, but they both had fun. The cat bench is just outside the carousel in downtown Missoula, which is always on our agenda when we visit. I'm amused, in looking back at these pictures, that Grace is happy to pose while Peter seems to feel like taking pictures is getting in the way of his constant motion.

Then and now...

So, a cute photo of the kids two years ago at the Wilder-side family cabin in Glacier Park, and a cute photo of the same kids at the same cabin two weeks ago. People, they are *big* kids now. Sigh.

Behold, we have vacationed!

Gardens (or edges of parking lots) in which we frolicked while in Montana: a pretty arbor and a nice formal garden in Woodland Park, in Kalispell; some sunflowers outside Rockin' Rudy's in Missoula; and Nana and Papa's garden in Kalispell. For the curious: yes, Grace did bring more than just the one shirt, but it was a beloved one.

Beebalm

You know you're living a somewhat sedate life when the following news is greeted with exclamations, photographs, and shouts through the house: The beebalm is blooming! The beebalm is blooming!

We first considered beebalm after visiting our friend Marsha's garden - she was bemoaning the state of her beebalm, which wasn't spreading very much, and remarked that it had done much better in our friend Renata's last garden, in Oak Park. Hmm, we thought. A plant that allegedly does well in our basic geographical area. So we bought ourselves some beebalm, and then spent a day or so shuffling the pots around in the garden. We finally settled on the spot outside the master bedroom window, because there are some red day lillies there, and we thought the colors would go well, and the amount of sun seemed right.

And now, just a month or so later, it has started to bloom! The reddish flowers are pretty, the plants seem to be doing well where we have planted them, and we learned about another of our favorite kinds of plants: they flower, and they're hard to kill.

Yum.

This is what we do with stuff from the garden. We use the basil for pesto, and we put the tomatoes on a pesto pizza. Our standard bread recipe works well for crust, and the kids *love* it. Grace wasn't so fond of pesto until we spent a recent afternoon making it, and now she's a convert.