Sunday, April 13, 2008

Sunny days


We had a beautiful, beautiful day today, and I finally feel like the chill is out of my bones (might help that I turned the heat past 60 as well). After nap time the whole family worked in the garden—me in a skirt! Greg and Sidamo did a bunch of watering and digging, and I planted some seeds (spinach, kale, arugula, and lettuce in the ground; basil, peppers, and melons in containers to start indoors). Also exciting: We planted two apple trees that we're going to espalier along trellises in the backyard. I'm sort of particular about my apples and wasn't thrilled with the choices available at local nurseries (Golden Delicious and Macintosh), so I did some research and found a web site for a nursery called Trees of Antiquity, which specializes in heirloom varieties. After way too much time reading about all the options, I settled on Strawberry Parfait and Northern Spy. They sound delicious, and I can't wait until the trees start bearing fruit (assuming they survive our black thumbs).

Part two of the Sunny Days theme: Sidamo has really taken to singing actual songs in the past week, and it's hilarious to hear how the lyrics emerge after being processed in a 2-year-old brain. His two songs so far are the Sesame Street theme and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. For several days, the his Sesame Street repertoire was this: "Sun away. Sun away. Sun away." (Repeat ad infinitum.) But he's figuring it out. Today he came out with, "Sunny days. Clouds away. On my way, air is sweet! Tell me Sesame Street!" Pretty darn good! He always ends with, "Max sleeping?" because the only time he gets to watch Sesame Street is when I'm putting Max down for his nap.

Twinkle Twinkle (a.k.a. Tinkle Tinkle) is still very abbreviated, but he's making progress. I'll try to get a video of his performances, but he gets a little camera shy. Nanny cam anyone?

4 comments:

lisa said...

Oh, I've always wanted to espalier a pear tree in the yard-the likely spot doesn't get great light though.
Love the songs-lbg was singing to herself in the bike trailer this morning, but I can't make out anything yet.
I have broccoli and tomato seedlings for you. ~lmc

cathy said...

kids and songs are such a riot. our lily has come up with some classics that we still all sing today. love it!!!

whatever_heather said...

I am so jealous right now.
I wanna plant things!
I guess I should, because if you are doing it, then darn it, I am supposed to be too, right??
;)

Julie said...

Hey-
We just started an ambitious gardening project and I am wondering if you know how invasive the apple tree roots are? We have a great wall for this, but also have pipes underneath.

Your tree looks spectacular! So far we have wine planted (well grapes).