Day 2024

Today marks 2024 days of meeting (or exceeding) my step goal of 10K.  It was a nice day, not too cold nor too hot.  I spent part of the day checking out estate sales, looking for things that would work in my garden.  And then after lunch I headed downtown and took a walk in the Jefferson Westside neighborhood.  I started at Broadway and Monroe, ventured as far east as Charnelton and as far south as 17th.  I made several brief stops to photograph flowers I saw along the way.  

And then, I was heading to check out a lovely patch of poppies planted in the hellstrip along 15th between Lawrence St. & Lincoln St.  I've seen these flowers several times over the years, today they were especially stunning.  

As I approached the flowers I encountered a lady and her dog out for a stroll.  Come to find out, Patty lives right there in a house along that strip and one of her neighbors is the one who maintains the flowers.  We ended up talking for at least 20 minutes and I got to meet another neighbor, Rebecca, during that time.  By the time I left I had been invited to join their book group and when I said that I'm not good with book groups I was invited to just stop by for a visit anytime I see her car in the driveway.  

I truly enjoy meeting new and interesting people as I take walks in different neighborhoods throughout Eugene and Springfield.  Flowers and gardens are great conversation starters. 

Here are the other photos from my walk today, in the order I encountered them.

Day 2023

 Day 2023 - 10,000 steps or more!

Today I took more than one walk but the most memorable was in the Washburne District of Springfield.

Here's some of what I saw along the way. Some of the roses had such heavenly scents.  

Day 2000

 It started with a step forward, followed by another and another.

Today marks 2000 consecutive days of meeting (and usually far exceeding) my daily goal of 10,000 steps. I currently use a Garmin watch to track my progress.  (I'm on my 3rd Garmin, the first replacement was by choice to go to a more sleek design. The second replacement was by Garmin to replace a watch that kept having issues.)

In the past 12 months, I have recorded 676 activities with a total of 1341 miles but know that I have done many activities that for some reason didn't sync to the app.  Oh well, I know I did them and at least my daily steps were counted. 

I have had the opportunity to walk in many different parts of Eugene, always enjoying the new scenery as I walk or hike.  I've also put in MANY miles in Australia, Arizona, California, Oklahoma, and Washington as well as many cities and towns in Oregon.  Today I finished my steps in Bend, Oregon where Levi and I went to take Dad out for dinner and stay overnight.  

June 21, 2020 marked the most steps in a single day with 51,147.  

The week of December 23-29, 2019 marked the most in a week, with 189,932, most of which took place in Australia when Levi and I went to visit Cole.  We didn't get a rental car until Tad joined us on January 1st and of course the number of steps plummeted after that. 

May 2021 marked the month with the most steps, 643,618.  And I'm currently in my longest goal streak which I have been able to keep alive despite traveling, having a bout with Covid, and having many days where I just didn't "feel like it." 

If I have a day where I think I don't feel like walking I tell myself that it will NOT be the day my streak dies and I just get out and get some steps.  Somedays I barely clear my goal but my daily average for the past 6+ years is 16,256.  At one time I had a substantially higher average. 

More spring beauty from my garden

Water droplets on hosta 

In order to get these photos posted I'm going to restrain myself from saying much about them.  

New succulent garden beneath family room window.

I think we'll be eating a lot of lettuce this year!

Back yard border on the south side.

Christmas Velvet peony bud in center garden

Knotted (see the trunk) maple tree with metal art from Tad

The first of the alliums to bloom

Red twig dogwood blossom

Native iris-these came with the house 30+ years ago

Ah, the scent of this lovely wisteria. 

Climbing hydrangea. Once it got established it really took off! 
Purchased with Christmas gift card from Justin so I think
of him whenever I look at it.  It's going to have a good covering of 
blossoms this year!  So excited.

A new garden under development in the northwest corner of our backyard.  I see a view of it from my bedroom window so I'm trying to make it into something I can enjoy looking at as I make the bed in the morning.  

Looking to the east.

Oops! Found unplanted bulbs in late March.  They are doing surprisingly well for being planted at such a "late" date.

Such dainty flowers on the Pink Cow Parsley.  

Spring beauties in my garden

I bought this beautiful Axminster Gold comfrey at one of the many open gardens I attended last summer.  It's really coming up well this spring and should get quite large over the next few months.  It will eventually have small flowers though I really wanted it for the beautiful bright foliage colors it adds to the strip garden.  In the background, along the fence, you can see clusters of foliage from the hundreds of daffodils I planted along the fence last fall.  They gave a pretty good show this spring but I plan to add MORE for next spring and I look forward to them naturalizing and really providing a lot of spring color in years to come.  There are several clusters of allium planted along the fence that should bloom in the near future.  And to the top right of this photo is the first bearded iris to bloom in the strip.  It's a fragrant white with a bit of a blue undertone.  Eventually, those big strappy leaves in the middle right of the photo will have day lilies blooming amongst them.

This beautiful lilac was shared with me a few years ago by Deb whom I met through the Lane County Dahlia Society.  I can't believe how quickly the small start has grown to a 7-8 foot tall bush.  The dark blooms are so beautiful and the scent is lovely.

I don't remember when (2022 or 2023) I transplanted some of this Centaurea Amethyst in Snow from the back border garden to the strip garden but it has really taken off in the strip and will probably need to be divided soon.  It adds a lovely layer of color near ground level.  

Some of the beautiful tulips growing in the strip this year.  I need to remember to plant more tulips for next year!  

The Persicaria microcephala Red Dragon adds such a lovely intense color to the strip garden.  It's growing pretty rapidly and will soon need a wire cage around it to help support it throughout the summer.  The green foliage to the left is the butterfly bush that is just getting started.  It will eventually tower over everything around it. 
Back by the gate, you can see two columnar bushes that I received from a neighbor who was replanting a garden bed with rose bushes.  

Here's a wider view of the strip garden.  Mexican orange in the foreground, the red leaves behind it are on a lovely rose bush and then the bright colors of a small maple tree.  A little further away we can see the Persicaria and beyond that tulips and then a yellow twig dogwood and the very tall lilac bush.  

Clematis Vanso Blue Light 

This beauty is to the left of the gate into the backyard.  It has the most blooms it's ever had, the only bummer is that they are all way up high; there's nothing at eye level.  

Lastly, a sweet bouquet of lily of the valley, cerinthe, lungwort and forget-me-nots.

Truly, there's so much more going on in my garden that I've just not had time to document.  So much time has been spent on attempting to keep ahead of the weeds, a battle I'm already losing in some areas of the garden, as well as developing some new areas of garden beds around our property.

Until next time!