I hope all you mothers out there had a good one, and your snotty spawn took some time out of their busy days to call you up and say hello and to give them a brief update on their lives without also asking for money or help.
I went to Good Mansion Wines yesterday and picked up mom a bunch of pastries to eat with dad:
i
She said they were all very good (it was a candied apple tart, a “pearl” with some sort of filling, a raspberry rose filled with a raspberry compote, a mini lemon meringue pie, and a mille feulle.
In other news, yard work for the year has begun in earnest:
Gave the trees a solid pedicure cutting off some minor limbs down low, mulched, got all the herbs in the front planter, and this week we start tackling the good yard. Gotta get everything good looking for when the missus arrives in June for a vacation.
Really settling into a nice spring, although a little late. Hope it stays in this 70’s range for a bit.
satby
That’s a lotta mulch! You just put the new on top of the old so the old can keep composting, right?
Alison Rose
You never send me pastries, John. But that’s okay, they probably wouldn’t survive the journey.
Let us know if you need ideas for wedding songs.
Mike in NC
Put down a couple of bags of cypress blend mulch today around the big cocoa palm in the back yard. Will need a minimum of ten bags tomorrow to begin to fill in where it washed away in our other mulch beds.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Those pastries look delicious, Cole! The front yard is looking good!
way2blue
John! Your front yard looks astonishing. I remember when it was bare. Way to go.
My yard looks lush this year owing to Northern California getting an extra dose of rain. All the plants are happy happy happy. Till the dry heat starts. Pomegranate bush has flowers! Last year I thought it was dying. Foxglove blooming. Iris too. Some odd flowering plants from last year have come back—forgotten what they are… And purple sweet peas from last year have reemerged and are competing with the tomato plants I just planted (Sweet 100s & Sun Golds—I’m too impatient to wait for full sized tomatoes to mature… ) Happy Spring!
Ohio Mom
This blog continues to be an education. I couldn’t count the times we have driven through Wheeling (how else to get to NYC from Cincinnati and back?), never suspecting there was anything worth going into town for to eat there. We may have to work a stop at Good Mansion Wines into our next trip to my homeland.
Reading Cole talk about “the missus” makes me smile
Mai Naem mobile
The house looks beautiful. Lush green yards look so much prettier than the brown stuff in the desert. I went to the Mansion Wines website and it says they serve their sandwiches with mother in law tongue crackers. Why would somebody want to name some food ‘mother in law tongue’ anything . That sounds revolting.
BeautifulPlumage
The front yard is so filled in! Well, except for the area on the left…how about a willow tree there?
kindness
Everything has grown so much. Nice!
frosty
I’m with Ohio Mom regarding the missus. I’m really happy for you.
Re: mulch. I am working on converting one bed to grass (we tore out the awful overgrown foundation planting awhile ago). Another in total shade is going to be planted in ferns, and the one in front is getting some kind of ground cover. I don’t like mulch, I don’t replenish it and weeds take over. I’ll be glad to be done with it.
NotMax
::gasp::
Is that a cathouse — right out in the open?
Think of the children! :)
rikyrah
Looks beautiful, Cole🤗
Jager
@Alison Rose:
My neighbor in Boston went on vacation to Mexico one winter, and a month later a former Miss Cancun showed up, Their “across the hall courtship was noisy, I went to their wedding that summer, and the bride and groom’s first dance was Mellencamp’s ‘Hurts So Good”, 20 years later they have a BC freshman and a sophomore at Boston Latin. Bless ’em.
CaseyL
I can’t get over how simply beautiful your front yard is! I remember how bare it was when you first moved in, and IIRC, you’ve mostly shared photos of the progress of the back yard. So this is the first time I’ve seen the lush, English-garden type space it is now. Kudos!
“The missus” arrives in June? Has the wedding happened, are you officially a married man now?
BeautifulPlumage
@CaseyL: yes about the front yard! We haven’t seen this perspective in a while. It is a lovely transformation.
AJ of the Mustard Search and Rescue Team
Those pastries look great John.
Happy Mother’s Day to all who celebrate.
Anyone else watching Succession? That episode about killed me tonight. 67 mins of hardly breathing. Traumatizing.
Kristine
Adding to the chorus–the front yard looks beautiful!
Jay
@Mai Naem mobile:
Mother in Law’s Tongue is a plant.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracaena_trifasciata
Because of the alum, the plant creates, if you make a tea with it, or salad, it shuts your mother in law up for a few hours.
I can see why a brunch appetizer with the same properties, would be popular.
We phoned T’s Mom today, to wish her a happy Mothers Day. First time in 4 years I have talked to her. We needed help, back in the day, and we lasted a week. The plan was, we would move out there, (better economy at the time), get jobs, help care for them, ( in their 90’s now).
They treated us like garbage. Me, I didn’t mind. They never liked me and few people “get me”, but they treated their daughter, my love, the same.
Anyways,…………..
Jay
Amir Khalid
I look forward to Missus FLOBJ’s guest post next month. With pictures of the happy couple.
Jay
@Amir Khalid:
how’s your health
Jay
Honus
The chef at the Good Mansion is a UVA guy. Met him when I was back home a few years ago and went in there for the first time.
The Good Mansion is a great place for coffee and pastries and really any kind of food. It’s kind of sad though to go to downtown Wheeling on a Saturday morning and see the place completely deserted. When I was a kid in the 60s and 70s the streets, department stores (Stone & Thomas, LS Good etc) Louis’ hot dogs, Elby’s on Twelfth St would all be packed and the streets were full of people.
Amir Khalid
@Jay:
I’m gradually regaining my strength. Thanks for asking.
Nukular Biskits
Holy cow, John. I guess I’ve been a BJ lurker a lot longer than I thought.
I swear I remember there being no trees at the front of the house.
Looks nice!
Geo Wilcox
Any chance you could put up a before picture of the front yard?
currants
@Ohio Mom:
Same–re “the missus”!
Also–where are you in Cincinnati? I’m out there fairly often to visit my daughter and her family (although they’ll likely be moving back east in a couple years–her husband has just finished a fellowship at Children’s).
currants
@Nukular Biskits:
Same–though I remember them being pretty scrawny trees!
evodevo
@Mai Naem mobile: i think it’s a plant…but why you would have a cracker named that I don’t know
Ohio Mom
@currants: I am in Blue Ash; as a mother of a son with a disability, I have been in many corners of Children’s Hospital, and most significantly, know my way around the underground parking lot (a proud and hard won accomplishment). Having a fellowship there is quite the feather in your SIL’s hat. Congrats to him!
There are a number of Juicers in the Cincinnati area —Kathleen, Cincibud and evodevo come immediately to mind. We had a couple of meetups years ago. We could try having another in your honor if you like.
Anyway, having lived here 40 or so years, I heartily endorse your daughter and her husband moving away. This gerrymandered state is trending in bad directions.
oldster
Our house is on the downhill side of the street, so I’m building a winding, serpentine walking path across the front yard that will also double as a French drain in case of excess water washing down the hill. So far it’s a trench about two feet deep and roughly two feet wide that wanders between the various raised beds where my wife has done extensive planting. I’ll put in the corrugated pipe and then cover it with coarse crushed rock, but leave the rock exposed on the top for the walking surface. We might place flag stones on the rock here and there where it appeals to my wife’s esthetic sensibilities (I have none).
One of the wife’s friends recently stopped by and said to my wife, with some alarm, “that ditch across your yard isn’t straight!”
She’s right! I think my wife told her that’s just the sort of shoddy work you can expect when you get your labor for free.
Joelle
The homestead looks lovely my dear. I can’t wait to see Cole Gardens, the folks, all the critters and of course you this summer. We will have to take a photo for your readers under that lovely arch you pruned. Lots of smitten Cole pics to come June 16-31. XXOO – Your Blushing Bride
oldster
@Joelle:
Awww…. Cute overload!
I wish you two all of the happiness in the world.
Joelle
@oldster: Thank you! I love the blog love! I’ll give the readers what they want this summer… hard core coupling and pet pics.
Seefleur
@Joelle: As a total stranger, and regular lurker here, this whole story makes me smile. Like in HUGE grin, from ear to ear – I am so happy for the two of you. Cheers to both of you, and may you have a long and happy partnership together! As a mom of 4 adult kids, you two make me as happy as when my kids found their partners :-)