gardening day

I did no work today. I cleaned nothing today. I only gardened. What a wonderful day. 

When Kate was first helping me she asked how much work I wanted to put into the garden. I said, "lots and lots and then none." NowI have a very low maintenance garden and .... I'm running out of things to do. Fortunately I have a deck and I have a teeny area on my front steps. 

A decade of neglect allowed me to grow moss in my window boxes and hanging planters and I was able to mulch a teeny 15-inch Japanese Maple a company mistakenly sent to me with moss. 

I planted some pretty annuals last fall. They are dead now, but each came with a sneaky goldenrod. Today I moved the goldenrod to a new pot, on purpose. We'll see what happens. 

I got to see a video of a fox in my garden Monday night. My neighbor said two different foxes have been coming through nearly every night for two weeks. so the rabbits had better be hiding. If there are any mice thinking of reinvading my home, they had better be hiding too. Such an exciting woodland garden. 

Ukrainian soldiers have been adopting pets at least since Russia took Crimea in 2014. I am not a student of war, I don't know if soldiers typically adopt animals but there was an article in France 24 English in January that said the animals were a particular benefit with fear of Russian invasion. More recently, some Ukrainian soldiers adopted Rambo. Rambo was a little puppy alone in winter in Donbass. The soldiers are happily asserting that Rambo is their protector. If there are strangers nearby he can tell. I'm hoping that these cats and dogs help the soldiers emotionally and reduce the damage war causes the psyche. 

Speaking of puppies, Ukrainian police rescued a puppy from rubble near Donetsk and returned it to its 77 year old owner. 

Ukraine blocked a Russian armored column from crossing a river in Donbass. They destroyed a pontoon bridge and parts of the Russian column and set a Russian naval ship on fire in the Black Sea. 

Wednesday night the Ukraine men's national soccer team defeated the German soccer team and the Germans erupted in cheers, chanting Ukrainian songs, showing yellow and blue flags on their checks, and Ukrainian scarves around their necks. Sportsmanship. 

New week. We can do this.