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Flowers from my backyard. Clockwise from left: lilac blossoms (that smell amazing), tulips, purple flox and violets in the background.

I’ve been spending some evenings after work, and lunch breaks, working in my condo’s (shared) backyard. Lots of weeding, de-mulching, planting, transplanting, and pulling up violets.

Yesterday I planted a gorgeous peony, a white poppy, cat mint and two pink helebores under the doogwood tree. Today I planted some nasturtium seeds next the the lilac tree. I’ve never tried them, but nasturtiums are supposed to have very tasty leaves and pretty orange/yellow edible flowers. yum. I also planted some english lavender seeds in two sunny locations out back, as my garden transplants seem to have failed miserably.

The seeds I planted directly in the ground all seem to be doing pretty well. From left to right: green onions, english peas, arugula. I also planted beets (which have sprouted), and parsnips (which may or may not have sprouted, as I need to determine what the sprouts look like).

My transplants – specifically broccoli raab, endive and lavender – are not very happy looking. I think I will try to replant directly in the ground tomorrow after work and see if that works better. I am considering starting some red leaf lettuce seeds directly in the ground tomorrow as well.

I also started my last batch of seeds indoors – pickling cucumbers and a sugar pumpkin. Everything else will get planted directly into the ground (delicata squash and sunflowers). My tomato, fresno chili, herb and tomatillo transplants are all doing quite well, and look very happy. I planted more ground cherry seeds indoors, hoping they’ll sprout this time around – fingers crossed.

After reading a few bucket lists on some blogs I frequent, I decided to make my own. My list leans towards the whimsy side (no 5 year plan here!) – but life is about having really great stories to tell. It’s also a work in progress (I would like to get to 100, and there will probably be edits along the way). However, I thought I’d post it here, so I can cross things off as they are completed.

1. Take a week long sailing trip, preferably to an island
2. Hike all 48 4,000+ footers in the White Mountains (completed: Mt. Moosilauke, Lafayette)
3. Own a victorian house
4. Ride an ostrich
5. Learn to speak French properly
6. Go on a big family vacation
7. Have a chicken in my backyard
8. Own my own business
9. Spend Christmas vacation in a cabin in Vermont
10. Spend an afternoon in a row boat on a lake with food and wine
11. Milk a cow
12. Learn how to french braid hair
13. Write in a 5 year diary every day, for 5 years
14. Start a food fight
15. Hold a croquet tournament
16. Learn how to crochet the tablecloths my grandma makes
17. Make pickles
18. Rent a convertible and drive down the Pacific Coast Highway
19. Learn to identify edible mushrooms in the wild
20. Make a proper macaron from scratch
21. Start a collection
22. Complete a 60 day yoga challenge
23. Finish an entire novel in one day
24. Play the slots in Vegas
25. Roast chestnuts over an open fire
26. Make cheese from scratch
27. Sleep in a castle
28. Take a holiday with just my sister
29. Visit all the modern art museums in Manhattan + Brooklyn
30. Ride in a gondola in Venice
31. Pay for someone’s dinner, anonymously
32. Throw a surprise birthday party for someone
33. Make a pinata by hand
34. Take a haunted hayride on Halloween
35. Bob for apples
36. Start (and finish) a 365 photo project
37. Build a tree house
38. Spend the night on a beach
39. Grow a giant pumpkin
40. Decide on Monday to take a fabulous vacation on Friday to somewhere I’ve never been…and go.
41. Ride a camel in the desert
42. Set foot in all 50 states
43. Swim in a bio-luminescent bay (5/5/10)
44. Grow a fruit tree in my backyard (have a backyard)
45. Ride on a parade float
46. Have a big wedding anniversary party
47. Live in another country for a year (at least)
48. Go somewhere in a horse-drawn sled
49. Visit the Heimburg castle in Germany, try to get inside
50. Take a hot air balloon ride
51. Go whale watching
52. Make my mom’s erupting volcano cake
53. Get a job where I have my own secretary
54. Swim in a fountain
55. Ride a donkey down (or up?) the Grand Canyon
56. Build a snowman
57. Organize a serious snowball fight, with teams
58. Go on vacation for an entire month
59. See the northern lights
60. Dive/snorkel with a whale shark
61. Hug a manatee underwater
62. Be a Big Sister to someone
63. Have afternoon tea at the Ritz in London
64. Swim in Crater Lake (and go on the creepy floating island)
65. Go back to Iceland and camp in the highlands, Western Fyords and see the puffins
66. Ski the Alps
67. Learn to pipe pastry, frosting, etc really, really well, like near professional
68. Fly in a helicopter
69. Travel on a luxury overnight train
70. Mud wrestle someone (preferably someone i can beat!)
71. Write my husband and my initials in a heart, in wet cement, in every city we live in (cambridge, gainesville)
72. Stay up all night watching a meteor shower
73. Sew a clothing item that is nice enough to wear outside the house
74. Hike the Appalachian Trail (the whole thing)
75. Have a pin up girl style photograph taken of myself
76. Visit the 10 best waterfalls in the world: Lower Falls (Yellowstone), Sutherland Falls (New Zealand), Dettifoss (Iceland), Gulfoss (Iceland), Kaieteur Falls (Guyana), Yosemite Falls (Yosemite NP), Angel Falls (Venezuela), Niagra Falls, Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe), Iguazu Falls (Brazil)
77. Visit all the National Parks in America (completed: Acadia, Carlsbad Caverns, Crater Lake, Death Valley, Everglades, Grand Canyon, Great Smoky Mountains, Redwood, Yosemite)
78. Ride a horse at a gallop
79. Find a four leaf clover
80. Fool someone over the age of 12 on April Fool’s Day
81. Create a digital archive of our old family photos
82. Visit the places my parents grew up
83. Develop beautiful cursive handwriting

Seeing as “No Boys Allowed” was such a hit last month, I decided to take advantage of Nick’s absence again with part II. This time around my friend Leeanne brought over Dream Phone (which I loved playing with my best friend in elementary school), and I supplied the other essentials like jello shots, cosoms, snacks, pink hair mascara – oh, and Darci brought over an original 1980s hair crimper. All told, it was amazing.

It was gorgeous on Sunday, after an early brunch with Nick at Friendly Toast in Kendall, I headed over to the plant store to find some flowers for our backyard. I had no luck with that, as I’m looking for something particular (peonies). However, I did run into my new gardener buddy Danielle. We were both headed over to our plots, so I offered to help her tote over some tomato cages and seedlings.

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When I found out that I got into the community garden last winter, I immediately started researching urban gardening techniques. I decided to go with square foot gardening, which seems to take the most advantage of small spaces. Yesterday was so sunny and beautiful that I decided to clock out early and head over to the garden for a different type of work (yay manual labor!).

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