Three G's - Grandchild, garage sale, and garden

Goodness, time has a way of slipping by on me. I couldn't tell you exactly what has happened over the last couple of weeks but I know I've been busy.

I took this week off work to do my planting and to prepare for a garage sale this weekend.  All that STUFF that was piled high has been sorted and priced with the hopes that the thundering hordes of deal seeking shoppers will find my home in the maze of suburban streets (thank goodness for GPS).  Did I ever tell you, when we first moved here in 2010, I told the realtor I drove around in circles until I found it?

My daughter came by to help out on Thursday evening, bringing the cutest baby in the world with her. (Nah, I'm not the least bit biased).

This smile just melts my heart.  Eli loves to giggle and coo, he's reaching for items and grasping, and loves anything with lights and sound.  

D says he is starting to sleep 5-6 hours at night, which means he's down to one feed at night.  She says that's often just a couple of ounces, a diaper change, and he's back to sleep.  I keep telling her, she's a lucky girl as he is such a good baby.   

Anyway, back to the garage sale... we opened the garage door at 6:30 on Thursday evening.  By 8:30 I had sold absolutely nothing, though had met several of my neighbours out for their evening walks.  I went to bed that evening with high hopes for a better day on Friday.  The morning was mostly chilly so I told my daughter I'd manage on my own.  Most of the morning consisted of the stay-at-home neighbours stopping by on their morning walks.  I've lived here for almost 7 years and this is the first time I've met many of them, maybe I ought to have had a garage sale early on?

My friend K stopped by about 11:30 a.m., by which point I'd earned a $1.  With her arrival things started to pick up though we managed to have a good visit between patrons.  She was kind enough to run out and pick us up some lunch which we enjoyed on the patio.  K left about 2:30 to do her volunteer bar-tending stint at a local senior's residence while I was dealing with, gasp!, several customers.

I closed down just after 5 p.m, with $85 in my pocket.  Most of the items I sold were priced at $5 or less, so I felt pretty good.  I might have done better if I stayed open a little later but I was feeling wind burnt and ready for the Friday night dinner with friends.  Saturday didn't bring much more business, and I ended at 3 p.m. with another $7. Definitely not worth the effort, but as I told a few people, it gave me an excuse to sit outdoors in the sun and fresh air to read a book.  After closing, I packed everything up to send over to my daughter's place later this week.  She and J will hold a yard sale next weekend.  With any luck they'll get rid of most of it - whatever is left is off to Community Living.  AND then I'll do the final purge, I've got some electronics and cardboard to go to recycling and a few items that don't fit into the waste bin so I'll need to call for a haul away.  

The rest of the week was spent gardening, doing a bit of housework (only when I couldn't find something to do outside or if it was cool/raining).  

I took these photos early this morning, so the sun hasn't made its way around from the east.  In the back are several planters containing sunpatience, petunias, and in the container on the deck fence are the leftovers, some petunia, salvia, and geranium.  I always end with one container that is a mishmash.

Not in the photo are the three containers of geranium, dichondra, and verbena, and one of impatience and pink coleus on the upper deck, a hanging basket of verbena and petunias, and one of pansies and pink coleus over by the shed on the right.

In the front flower bed, I have a container of impatience (ext to the sunflower thermometer), a hanging basket of fuschia, and interspersed among the perennials are several nicotiana.  I found a variety this year of pinks, my favorite is the pale pink below.

I love how they provide a fragrance in the evening and if this plant is any indication, they'll provide lots of blooms.

Not pictured are the three containers of sunpatience, salvia and brachycome to the right of the patio, a hanging basket of petunia and verbena and a planter of snapdragons and salvia close in front of the patio table (these block the view from the driveway.)

My patio is one of my favorite spots in the yard  I'm tucked behind the evergreen in front, which provides great privacy.  It gets sunny later in the afternoon and evening, so also provides a cooler spot to sit in the summer.  K and I enjoyed our lunch the other day sitting here.

Out in the front yard, I went lazy again this year, and used two hanging planters I purchased to fill the tall black containers.  There were petunias, calibrocha, and trailing verbena, and I added a ivy to each to trail down the side  

The other container has wave petunias, some pink and some striped pink.  By the end of summer the pot should be overfilled, but I like the look.

I managed to keep my containers to only 21 this year.  Hooray!  We had a bit of a frost scare last week but it looks like that worry is finally past.  I hadn't bothered to cover anything, survival of the fittest and all that, but lost nothing.  

I've really enjoyed this past ten days away from the office.  I've accomplished a fair amount, but had lots of time to rest and relax as well.  I've read a book from cover to cover this week, had some great cuddles with the cats, hung out with the grandson (and daughter), and simply recharged.  I'm sure tomorrow will be a shock to the system. Oh well, I'll survive as there are only 111 days until my next vacation.  :)

Have marvelous week everyone!