Change, change, change and lots of it

There's been little to no activity at Garden by the Sound or with my fledgling garden design business Dream Garden Designs this year because we've had so many huge "life changes" as they're so accurately called in our family this year.  My husband took a new job in Boston at the beginning of this year and started commuting back and forth to Boston and Connecticut in early March.  I stayed behind with the rest of our crew to finish school and get the house sold.  That fun process started in March also after weeks of cleaning junk out of our house and packing up box after box to get the house "staged" for sale.  Luckily, although it seemed to take forever, our house sold fairly quickly, but my spring was a blur of keeping the house clean for showings while I shuttled kids and pets in and out over and over again.  All this fun in the middle of my daughter finishing up high school and getting ready to graduate, finalizing her college plans, and going to one athletic event after another for my sons.  Needless to say, there was no time for the luxury of writing blogs or designing gardens.  I really got my business off the ground last spring and worked non-stop, but this past spring I had to turn down many jobs and refer them to good friends who also do garden or landscape design.  It was painful to do, but I know I'd do a shoddy job at best if I took any work on.  As it was, I was in a state of survival mode with all the changes going on in our lives.  We finally closed on both the Connecticut house and our new Massachusetts house in late July, but we stayed in Fairfield for a few more weeks so my kids could see their friends, my daughter could work her summer job before heading off to college, and I could just relax a bit before the unpacking here started.  We moved up here mid-August and started the painful and slow task of unpacking and moved my daughter into her college dorm a few weeks later.  So....whew!  Here we are in Hingham, Massachusetts on the South Shore as it is called.  I am still trying to find my way to Stop and Shop without getting lost, figure out how where the kids schools are, and get them ready for school, which starts tomorrow.  I can't wait to get out and explore this beautiful part of New England.  And maybe I can get into my very boring gardens here this fall.  We have almost an acre, but most of it is very green, lush grass or lawn as my husband so lovingly calls it.  The poor guy has struggled with our tenth of an acre or so in Connecticut for almost 13 years valiantly fighting the yearly appearance of the most stubborn crabgrass on the planet, and he is now grinning ear to ear with glee sitting in his Adirondack chair in our backyard every chance he gets.  It's kind of cute and makes me happy seeing him so satisfied, but I can't wait to get into all the pretty much bare beds around the house.  They are a sad assortment of landscaper's specials that just look like they got plunked down in the earth to get the house on the market.  But that's ok, it's a blank slate, and I can't wait to dig in. 

Very early spring here in Connecticut!

Last week in Fairfield, CT...spring is here a bit early this year!  There are daffodils popping up everywhere and fat magnolia blooms on their branches...so strange for March 9th when we're usually blanketed with snow and freezing our buns off...it was low 70s here yesterday.  Hopefully March won't turn around and whallop us with some sub freezing temps.  Even though it was the winter that never was  here, I am so ready for spring and color.

Winter sunrise over the Long Island Sound just now.

Our first winter snow!! This is right by my favorite viburnum, my 'Summer Snowflake' that is loaded with white lacecap blooms all summer and fall.  I love it in this setting, too.  My kids are so snow starved this year that one of them just asked me how we will get outside today because it "must be 20 degrees"!  A little different than last year! 

Good morning from Connecticut and happy 2012!  I never get tired of watching the sun come up over the sound. It's a beautiful day...crisp and chilly with some wind, but beautiful sunshine everywhere.