How's it going? It's been quite an eventful past two months for us. Lots of changes - some good, some not so much. But such is life and we move forward. Around here, these Spring days have been filled with 2-hour long neighborhood strolls with Hoku looking for wildflowers and entire afternoons in the garden repotting plants, chasing lizards (all Hoku) and harvesting broccoli rabe, snow peas and strawberries.
We've also been jet-setting quite a bit. Back in April, we spent a few days exploring Portland and visiting friends in Seattle. Then in early May, I took a solo trip to Hong Kong to work on some fun, new things for Fox & Bagel. A couple weeks later, we were off to New York City to celebrate my sister's graduation from grad school. (She's a Nurse Practitioner specializing in pediatrics so if you're reading this up in the SF Bay Area, hire her! She is awesome.) And from NYC, we set off to Montreal where we finally, finally got to try their namesake wood-fired bagels. And let me tell you, these bagels are as good as they say, maybe even better.
But wait. There's more! The traveling continues next month with Japan and a return to Hong Kong! Are you exhausted yet just reading this? I am. I know this blog is focused primarily on the adorable, furry dude, but would you guys like to see more travel posts on here, even if Hoku couldn't come with? :)
A little garden update! We have a garden bed with 3 types of carrots, 2 types of eggplant, chives, beets, purple cauliflower, edamame, basil and broccoli rabe. We have corn stalks that started off shorter than Hoku and are now taller than us humans. In our wooden barrels, we have snow peas, jalapeños, yellow bell peppers, strawberries and 6 types of tomatoes.
And we're attempting peanuts again! We tried growing peanuts last year and it was all going well until the plant suddenly withered away due to unexplained, natural causes. (Ok fine, it was me. I killed it.) It was a goner, leaving behind only shattered dreams of what could have been an excellent accompaniment to our Friday night libations. Or so we thought. Little did we know, our peanut plant had produced actual peanuts and these peanuts that had been sitting in this bucket of old soil, getting no consistent source of water or sunlight, had grown actual roots. We plucked them out, planted them in the garden bed and boom, hello new peanut plant!
Hoku, of course, has been busy with his garden patrol duties. See how he stealthily blends into the plants, ready to pounce on a moment's notice at any sign of illegal critter activity. The corn stalks have eyes. Adorable, puppy eyes.
In other backyard news, I finally took the leap and lime-washed the crap out of red brick paver patio. It has been a source of much grief but replacing these pavers with something cool like limestone or weather-resistant redwood planks just wasn't in our landscaping budget when we overhauled the yard a couple years back. So I rolled up my sleeves, channeled my inner Chip and Joanna Gaines and bought some lime-wash along with a cheap paint brush at Home Depot. All for under $100. I call it the poor man's hardscaping and I couldn't be more thrilled with how it turned out. More on this and a full reveal on the blog later!
Some other things that made me happy this month: this little plant propagation corner aka my mad plant scientist laboratory. And also, being reunited with Hoku after ten days in New York City and Montreal...and subsequently giving him a bath just to wrap him up in a towel and make him look like a jedi.
