Things I have learned this year ...

 Probably the biggest lesson I've learned so far this year is that Mother Nature can be really mean. ... and unpredictable.

Seriously ... 

Here we are, at the end of April, and there's still snow on the ground.  Granted, not as much as there was a couple weeks ago, but still. 

All the plans I had for gardening for this time of year were based on last year, when grass was starting to grow and the snow was gone.  

I've slowed down on the seed starting because I am out of room in the house.  

I recorded a garden vlog at the end of last week and uploaded it yesterday.  

You'll see how big everything is.  All my plants are *so* ready to go into the garden. 

If only Mother Nature would cooperate. 

As I'm writing this blog post, I'm about five weeks away from my last anticipated frost date. There are so many different flowers I want to try starting.  I need to get going if I want to see them bloom this year. 

This past weekend I planted some flower seeds, and some more broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage. The weather was supposed to be sunny and nice. 

Well, they got the sunny part, part-right. 

I was making soil blocks while standing in snow and the wind was blowing just enough to make the whole experience miserable. 

I had hauled out all my plants, thinking I was doing them a kindness. 

I don't think my tomato plants have forgiven me. 

My hollyhocks are *so* ready to be in the ground.  Why did I start them so early? Craziness! 

I'd say the only thing that really liked the weather was my lettuce plants. 

Now I should tell you what flowers I planted. ... I'm trying to recall them all.  I planted a few different types of marigolds and zinnias. Coleus, on of my favorite plants ... Dahlias ... Without getting up and going to look ... I can't name them all off the top of my head.  So much for my notes taking this year.  

Another thing I've learned this year is that you really shouldn't plan your projects. 

I have so many things I wanted to make/create/craft this year.  Things have gone so much more slower than I anticipated.

A few weeks ago I noticed my eyesight has really gone downhill and now I have an appointment to see an eye doctor in early June.  Why so long? There is an optometrist shortage in my area. 

With my near vision in the tank, cross stitch and knitting has come to a standstill.  I'm going to attempt to continue work on my crochet blanket, and pull the spinning wheel back out, dust her off and get to some spinning up some wool. I've already tried cutting up fabric for quilting, but it's hard to see the ruler marks.  Too blurry.  Blurry vision sucks. Specially when you are a crafter. 

If there are any typos in this blog post, now you know why.  Please forgive them. 

Until next time ...