a gradual project

We're in the middle of a terrific thunderstorm, so I'm half waiting for the internet to disappear, but it is definitely time to start posting photos of the new house.  This will be a gradual project . . . let's start outside.

Here's the front of the house, taken from the porch.  We're looking at the open kitchen window and a cherry sapling that might be planted too close to the foundation.

There are great trees: a truly venerable willow, numerous branchy and upright evergreens that I can't yet identify, a sweet pine that I hope will someday shade a yet-to-be-built playhouse, a  tiny grove-let of birches, two or three small maples, and one young lilac standing alone in the middle of the front yard. 

Despite several attempts, I just can't capture both the scale and the gravity of the willow in a photo.  It's got to be five stories high.  It's a tree you just want to listen to.

With all these trees, many of which are maybe only 20 years old, it's odd that the flowerbeds are empty.  We'll set up the gardens next year.  In the meantime, I pulled a ton of mugwort out of the raised beds and we'll replace it with garlic for now.  Garlic is a hardy and reliable annual (watch, now that I've said that it will fail us this year) and it's rewarding all the way around.  The anticipation of scape-cutting and bulb-drying ought to keep us engaged while we figure out the sun and soil and critter situation.

Next year I'd like to add a couple of flats of pachysandra and hostas on the shady north side of the yard (that's the side with the tetherball post), two or three currant bushes in the sun near the back deck, and old-school upstate perennials in the front bed -- peonies, bee balm, echincea, black-eyed susan.  Beyond those indulgences I'm hoping we can plan out a native and wildlife-friendly garden, one that will encourage birds and foxes and even groundhogs (will that sound naive later?) instead of fencing them out.  So far we've seen and/or heard and/or found evidence of foxes, moles, groundhogs, toads, frogs, bunnies, chipmunks, jays, giant dragonflies, fireflies, deer, birds I can't yet begin to identify (as well as the typical jays, crows, robins, and turkey vultures), owls, and coyotes.

Yes, owls!  I've been excited about owls since we took E to the bird show at the zoo last week and last night I'm certain I heard one calling.  The internet tells me it could have been a barred owl, but I don't really know enough to claim that.  I just know it let out a clear and consistent eight-note call, and I listened to it move slowly into the distance from a perch nearby.  SOOOOO cool.  I'm going to make it my business to know all the owls in our neighborhood.