Gardening, beading, etc.

It's been a busy weekend. The weather was beautiful and we tried to take advantage of it to get stuff done around the house and in the garden. Menachem is off to camp for three months come June 1st and whatever doesn't get done before then doesn't get done.
It's also free garbage day this week and we wanted to clean out the garage.
We started with the garage and it wasn't that bad. We had actually cleaned it up in the fall but during the winter we tend to throw stuff in there -- the metal shelving we took out of the bedroom closet, the boxes we bring the groceries home in, excess plastic bags, etc. So we moved the shelves to one side, broke down all the boxes for recycling day, and then took all of the plastic bags and styrofoam containers which don't go in the regular recycling box to the recycling depot. We also took some paints and a printer to the hazardous waste depot.
Then Menachem tackled the maple trees in the front yard. Some of the branches were brushing against the house and on a windy day they can cause real damage. So he cut those down. And then he had to cut them into smaller pieces and bundle them -- our garbage collection guys are quite particular. I did some raking of leaves, last years dead stems on the hostas and pulled the maple seedlings which had started sprouting.
Yesterday, we tackled the back yard. Menachem took down branches of a tree which was growing through our fence with the (not pleasant) neighbours. And cut them up -- the branches, not the neighbours... I continued to gather last year's dead plants and leaves...
Now all that's left to do is mow the lawn and some cutting back of overgrown shrubs.

On the creativity side, I did some beading on Alana's tallit. Yesterday afternoon was my turn as docent at the Pomegranate Guild's exhibit. I took two shifts -- 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. and then 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. There was a flurry of visitors from 3 to 4:30 and then no one until 9... But anticipating this, I took the tallit with me and got all of my embroidery stitching done. It wasn't so much embroidery stitching as it was using embroidery floss to tack down the lacey flowers I had wonder-undered and some weren't so wonderful... The stitches are added protection to make sure the flowers won't fall off. This morning I started beading between the flowers I stitched down and I hope to finish that this evening or in the next few days. I still need to sew the lining, attach the corner pieces, make the buttonholes for the tzitziot and then make the tallit roll (instead of a bag). It really is just a quilted rectangle with buttons and loops, so it shouldn't be that difficult.
Photos to follow, I promise.