more garden action

After our busy week the vegetable and herb garden was mostly a small maple tree garden, so I did a ton of weeding this morning. Peter helped me make and place some teeny signs that I got at Target months ago, marking out various herbs and veggies by name. I found some volunteer cilantro, from last year's plant seeds, and lots of healthy oregano and mint (surprise, surprise.)

We also have yellow tickseed blooming, and the spirea shrubs are just starting to bloom in pink. It's very pretty.

A few more graduation photos...

A silly cell-phone picture of me getting ready in a restaurant bathroom... earlier when I'd taken Grace to the bathroom and we were talking about the bagpipers we'd spotted at the bar, a woman told me that her son was getting his Ph.D. in philosophy, and was my husband also graduating today? I told her no, that I was the graduate, and she seemed a little nonplussed.



We got a good Wilder family picture from Sara, but the Klinefelter one involves closed eyes and blurred images, so perhaps another camera captured it a little more clearly.


The kids had a great time zipping around the quads after the ceremony - there's so many fun climbing opportunities, plus a cool tent of indeterminate purpose whose floor they really thought must be a trampoline, despite its lack of bounciness.

graduation photos

So I finally, finally graduated... when the Div School Ph.D. folks were standing around before the ceremony in the blessedly air-conditioned gym, we compared notes - of the six of us, one took six years to finish the Ph.D., I was second with eight years, and the sixth guy took fourteen years. Boggle.

But here are some photos, all courtesy of Aunt Sara, several reflecting Peter's fervant wish to not have his picture taken, one reflecting my total dorkiness in teh Big Fancy Gown of Hotness (heat, not cuteness). My favorite moment during the whole thing was as we processed out, and families were lined up on both sidewalks as we walked down the street in the quads, I scooped Peter up and Grace scooted out to join us, so I got to process in this very formal and stately ceremony holding both kids by the hand. The faculty member in front of me (not someone I know) turned around to say, "Triple congratulations to you!" - meaning, the degree and both kids. It was sweet.

Another blooming update

Is that your yucca blooming, or are you just happy to see me? Seriously, it's yet another phallic looking plant in bloom. It's not the prettiest flower, but kind of cool. *Very* cool is Peter with his two cars, gifts from a friend... he has woken up for the last couple of mornings and before he says good morning, he asks if I know where his cars are. (Usually, it's yes...)




The salvia around St. Francis is finally blooming, and the new hydrangia I put in this spring is looking good, although I thought the blossoms would be reddish, not white. C'est la vie...



I'm not sure this particular lily will ever bloom, for reasons of its having been stepped on during its infancy, but it's got little seedy nodules going. The nasturtiums we planted are coming up nicely.




Our mystery vine budded and has bloomed... Wally diagnosed it as a clematis. It looks like it won't be a heavy bloomer, but the blossoms are pretty.

Rain delay

We went to see the White Sox play today, and the game was delayed because of huge, torrential rains that cleared up after about an hour. Combined with last night's tornado warning (which I had to be reminded is more serious than a tornado *watch*) we felt somewhat at the mercy of the weather.

During the delay, we ate cotton candy and popcorn (after having already eaten hot dogs and pizza and beer) and wandered around doing random people watching. Grace made a sign to wave during the game, Peter danced wildly in the rain, and eventually we sat back down and the game commenced (and we ate pretzels and licorice.)

Hyde Park Art Fair...

We took the kids to the art fair in HP today - a longstanding tradition. I was telling Grace about the year we went with her in the sling, six months old, and ran into friends who were expecting their first any minute - a baby who became one of Gracie's first friends. As we walked there, we saw a great collection of places - the used bookstore we frequent when we can (guilty today, in fact), the odd little cafe by the train station, the Medici... Today we also saw an old friend from preschool, and a few other folks we know, and we got to see plenty of fun art. Half of the fair is juried, half not, so there's a great range of prices and intensity of the ARTiness of it all. The kids mostly liked the ice cream and playing in the park, but also enjoyed the train ride up and back - Grace read the whole way both times, and Peter was wild running in the aisles guy.

Blooming and about to be blooming roll call

Pretty rose.



Happy happy yucca. I remembered this week that there's also a smaller, not nearly as happy yucca in the shade garden; maybe I'll transplant it to be in the sun with its buddy.






Mystery vine, about to bloom.






Hydrangias, getting ready to bloom in a couple of weeks.







Peonies, slightly battered by a rainstorm.





One gorgeous iris, one iris-to-be.