planting, piecing, practicing patience

Capricious April passes as a roller coaster. I've tried to enjoy the ride for it brings sweetness unlike any other time of year. But I'm impatient.
There have been warm sunny hours, and wretchedly cold, wet ones as well. Ahh, spring in Wisconsin.

A few snapshots of what's been going on…
monitoring the return of perennials, at least one walkabout each day

New growth of a fern-leaved peony transplanted last summer, not the best time for the job

second spring for this Meadowlark forsythia

Keeping a close eye on the seedlings, zipping their back porch greenhouse covers open each morning, closed before sunset. I had to carry these babies back under the lights when the nights threatened to be in the 20s. I hope they can go back out tomorrow.

I did plant the onions, kale, and leeks last week despite the predictions of cold and snow. They've weathered being in ground just fine.
Watching and listening for the critters that share our ridge meadow landscape.

This marvelous fellow called us awake one morning earlier this month and not to frighten him off I took his photo through the upstairs window. I've grown to love his call near or far nearly any time of day. It's turkey hunting season here and the turkeys have been everywhere. I just hope my pheasant cock can survive and court many hens to repopulate what was once a large presence here in the driftless region.

On those days when I couldn't work out of doors I've been practicing my paper piecing techniques. I will be doing a demo next winter for our quilt guild and have decided to produce a variety of pieces to illustrate how paper piecing can be applied. Here is a flower I completed using the technique this week. It will become a pillow, I think. Here just the block is done. It needs framing but I'm happy with how all 8 points of the flower came together.

The photo on my banner today is of my Moongold apricot. In its exuberance, it bloomed a bit too early and has been exposed to the snow, sleet, cold winds of this past week. All of the other fruit trees have had the good sense to take their time. I do hope all will be well with the apricot. It only gets one chance a year.
I bought two new trees yesterday. An Autumn Blaze maple and a Prairifire Crabapple. I am so happy to have them join us here. They won't be able to go in the ground until we have our additional topsoil delivered by truck and dumped and spread on the old barn site, so I'll have to be patient. In the meantime I'll be stroking and talking to them every day. They are so beautiful.
Meanwhile, I'm trying to cultivate a patient attitude for my life in general. Calmly, purposefully, thoughtfully being in the moment. A goal I often forget I've given myself and just now need to put back in practice.