Elizabeth's birthday week

Yard panorama--out the south and west doors

I took these photos yesterday after we finished mowing. I ran a riding mower (Judy's)for the first time and was so amazed at how much time it saves. Wow. We finished in under two hours what it would have taken me three or four partial days to finish. That's because I can't keep it up for more than an hour or so with the push mower. :-) John mowed all the slopes and down in the gully.
It looks SOOOO nice to me. I have a view now, although I do get sad when we trim off the skirts of the spruce and firs.
The concrete blocks are still there, waiting for more foundation work....Don't tell Judy but I feed the chipmunks there. They sit on top the blocks sometimes and "chip" at me. Judy tells the cats to eat them. I yell at them if they do. The circular mark is from the little pool. And see how huge the raspberries are. John C. wants to put the hardy kiwi on an arbor north of the raspberry, strawberry, herb bed.
It looks as though nothing is blooming in one of the garden beds but the hydrangeas are really pretty. The lilies were incredible but are mostly finished and the roses are rebudding. The Knockout double pink had been really full of bloom. The luna hibiscus will start blooming soon and keep going until frost.
For some reason I seem to be trying to clean the upstairs bedroom and start the painting in Elizabeth's room on the same day. The paint is a Laura Ashley color "Cream Rose" in a Diamond Vogel paint. The closet is "Rosewater", also by Laura Ashley. The walls, however, will be so much lighter. I had a hard time distinguishing the new paint from the Dogwood White which was there. It does dry pinker and is a brighter color. I had great plans to take down the shelf in that room and buy a fairly large curio cabinet that is at Farm King. However, I realized that it's glass to the floor and maybe not grandchild friendly. :-{ So, I'm trying to figure out another home for the Ginny dolls. The old china cabinet in the kitchen and the old secretary desk/bookshelf (which has no glass now anyway) can both smell musty in humid weather so that's a no go.