Hello, Dahlia!

My dahlias are blooming! I knew this day was approaching but I’ve been feverishly trying to reassemble two rooms in our house and so I haven’t been doting on my plants as much. What a happy surprise to check on my dahlias this morning and see that they were no longer buds but beautiful blooms.

 

 

The Great Room Switch is still underway. It’s taking longer than expected but I suppose this is not a surprise to anyone but me. I thought I’d be finished with this already and half way into the next giant project.
 

Progress is being made. Slowly. Somehow I thought the biggest part of all this was getting the flooring in. That was big, mind you, and Hubby deserves the credit. I’ve painted all the walls and some of the trim. The bunk bed is up! The rooms are taking shape. But putting clothes, toys and furniture into the (switched) rooms is taking more than a couple of minutes. Sorting the boxes of stuff is taking some time. Matching socks that were separated in the move (or in some cases, years ago!) is taking a little time. I’m hanging things on the walls. Pondering how on earth we could have accumulated so much stuff. Figuring out how to make the closets at least semi-organized is taking some thought. (And as a side note, these 1956 closet are not exactly roomy, so you have to figure out how to maximize space. You’ll really feel my pain when I tell you that the closets in our darling little house are 55” wide and 24” deep.) Sometimes I’m quite overwhelmed trying to find the new Pergo floors under all the boxes and piles. (By the way, the floors look and feel great. It’s been so hot and stepping barefoot on a cool Pergo floor is much groovier than dealing with a cozy carpet when it’s 90 degrees. Of course, ask me in January, when I’ll swear I’m freezing.)

 

 

Anyway, all this activity inside the house has distracted me from checking on my plants as often. Luckily, the dahlias needed very little coddling—just some water—and they pulled off a delightful surprise for me this morning. They were given to me two summers ago by Jim, who loves to garden. It’s such a treat to have plants and flowers grow and bloom, reminding me of fellow gardeners and their generosity. I love how dahlias have so many petals and have such pretty, symmetrical formation. Some dahlias have the added fun of having tips colored in different shades than the rest of the petal, like French tipped nails.

One of these days I’ll finally be finished with the Great Room Switch and I’ll be glad to have more time to dote on my plants. Goodbye, Closets. Hello, Dahlias!