The Waiting Game

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I'm getting good at the waiting game. This time it is for the approval of shop drawings. The engineer has to approve the shop drawings before we can move forward with the steel. My contractor keeps telling me that as soon as a we get the steel in - we will be done in 45 days, so I kept being hopeful. Weeks passed and the new concrete our back, sat with nothing to support.

I have been living in a construction zone since February 6, 2015. I have learned to play the waiting game and to squeak out a few pleasures along the way. Take this view for example. Looking at the rear of my house, you see nothing but urban blight. A temporary wall inside each level is the only thing standing between the old brick exterior which will be coming down and the outside world.

Whirl around 180º however and you have the Garden of Eden one year later. About a week after this picture was taken the day lilies on the right blanketed the backyard with a sea of orange and yellow.

My hydrangeas are growing like crazy and will likely cover the ugly back wall soon and my peonies are very large and very sturdy. I was told when I bought them that it often takes 3 years for them to settle in. I was told Year 1 - for roots, Year 2 for shoots and Year 3 for blooms.

But I got blooms in Year two - not a lot of them, but they were big and luscious. All of my peonies come from Peony Envy in New Jersey.

If you are taking on a project like this you have to preserve little bits of sanity and right now, mine is my garden. —Laurie