June 3

Today is June 3rd, a seemingly auspicious date in our family.  Here is why:

On June 3rd 1976, my paternal grandfather, Walter, sadly passed away.  Also on the same day, June 3rd, 1976, my sweet Thorsten was born. Eventually we met and got married.  On our wedding weekend the German National Soccer Team won the World Cup.  The winning goal was kicked by Mario Goetze.  Guess when Mario Goetze’s b’day is…yep June 3. After a while we decided to start a family and so I guess it should not have come as a surprise when the doctor told us that the due date was…June 3.  Well, today is June 3rd and so far, it looks like this little one might be breaking the trend, but only time will tell.

In the meantime it is an absolutely gorgeous day.  Sunny, breezy and 80 degrees F (26 C.)  Wow, what a day for a birthday.

I have to admit that lately daily life has turned into a bit of a waiting game.  A few posts ago I mentioned that the balcony garden was planted.  Getting it in working order for summer was one of the things I really wanted to have checked off my “to do before baby list.”  So luckily the balcony garden and the lovely weather are giving me a great environment for the waiting game.

I’ve mentioned the importance and prevalence of balcony gardens in Bavaria on the blog before (Balcony Gardens).  Last year I was a little late to the party, having arrived in Germany at the end of July.  I loved all the window boxes overflowing with wave petunias and wanted to have them for myself. However it was too late in the season and there were none available.

Here is a photo from last year. I had to “settle” for fuschias. You can see the fuschias in the middle some lettuces on the side and kitchen herbs on the other.

This year I was able to start earlier and embrace the window box tradition of the region with the many offerings of wave petunias available in the spring! I got three different types, all shades of Fuschia or Magenta however, I just couldn’t help myself.  I asked Thorsten one day if he was ok with the color choice.  He said he loves it as long as he doesn’t have to be the one to water it every day. Score!

I also am trying my hand this year at some veggie gardening in containers. We’re starting small with cherry tomatoes and a red pepper plant. They are mixed this year with our herbs (Basil, Lavender, Sage, Rosemary, Dill, Oregano, Mint and Parsley.)

I added a cosmos on the table because I can never get enough of them in the summer time.  They never stop looking beautiful or interesting to me.  I even painted a watercolor of cosmos as a graduate student in our watercolor painting class.  Man! Was it difficult.  But really worth it (as I find with most difficult artsy projects.)

Anyway, here is a photo of this year. You can see that it’s already filling out from the photo I posted a few weeks ago. The vegetables are behind the table. I’m a little nervous that given time and lots of sunshine the tomato plant will take over everything. We’ll see how it progresses.  The petunias are not truly ‘waving’ or cascading yet, and we’ll have to wait a while for our harvest, but there is plenty of time.

I also mentioned the ‘charity’ project I took on out in front of our building. Technically the space doesn’t belong to anyone specific so I guessed that it was ok to just sneak down there, dig some holes and plant them before anyone would know who did it.  At first it was just going to be one Dicentra Spectabalis “Alba”(well the nomenclature gods have renamed it but I’m sticking with dicentra for a while) Easier to call it by the common name, Bleeding heart. Once I got to the nursery I got a little excited and ended up purchasing a few Bleeding Hearts, some wonderfully fragrant Lily of the Valleys and my other spring favorite “Forget me Nots.” Heinz helped me to create a little barrier with wooden stakes and string so that the landscapers would not “landscape” over top of the new plants. Coincidentally they came to mow the next day and luckily their mowers were deterred by the barrier. All the plants ended up blooming nicely for being just planted, seemingly very happy among the grasses and mosses that were already out there.  The area is mostly shady (perfect for these bright beauties) and pretty moist. I think next year they will be stunning when they come back a little bit more filled out.  My fall ambition is to actually make a real border and mulch the area so that it looks more like a welcoming flower bed and less like a messy meadow accident. We’ll see how far I get with that ambition.  Squatting to dig the holes, plant them and water them while I was 9 months pregnant about killed me. I’m pretty sure I had to rest for the remainder of the afternoon after I planted them…That day, I really admired my former self for being capable of working all day in a garden.  Not easy work, especially with a giant belly…although I bet it was entertaining for the neighbors.

So in closing, I leave you with these thoughts: Happiest of Birthdays to Thorsten, and to Weltmeister Mario Goetze, always remembering Grandpa Walter Metzger and wondering when our little bundle will arrive.

Happy June!