I have now finished hacking down the frozen, wilted leaves on my elephant ear plants. I have dug up the two humongous bulbs and stored them in the garage in trash bins filled with peat moss and potting soil. They will stay there during the winter and then I’m HOPING to be able to replant them in the spring when the chance of freezes is gone.
I just melted when I saw this wonderful photo. :0)
Mother Nature provide a lovely sight this morning – the brightest sunshine on a really dense fog in the valley behind the house! I really tried to get pictures of it to share with you, but I couldn’t. :0(
Our weather is really starting to cool off now. I put the electric blanket on our bed when I changed the sheets today. It’s NICE to be able to set it to high while getting ready for bed so it’s toasty warm when we get in.
We did our errands awhile ago – after having to drive out to our shop to air up a low tire on the truck – getting our order from REAL FOOD so we could finish stocking the freezer, mailing books we sold at the post office, stopping at a couple of other places for supplies. Then we fixed lunch when we got things put away and my husband is napping now.
The main thing remaining on my list, other than finishing the laundry, is cleaning out the aquarium.
I hope that you are having a wonderful Monday, and that you have a beautiful Thanksgiving, if I don’t see you again before then.
Filed under DIET!, Mother Nature, Seasons, Thoughts on a ________
I now have 57 books to sell on Amazon, and the majority of ‘keepers’ are out of the guest room and onto these shelves. There is a bit of fine-tuning to do, both in these shelves AND in repurpasing the shelves in the guest room, but the big part of the work is done now.
I may decide to shed a FEW more books here, but there won’t be many. I am pretty much down to my ‘keep’ collection here now.
I’m going to rest a bit and then I’ll start cooking a sausage, egg, and cheese keto bake from Suzanne Ryan of Simply Keto for dinner.
We’re having a very cloudy day today. A cold front is coming through this afternoon, tonight, and tomorrow, bringing wind, rain, and cooler temperatures. We will probably have to turn off and drain our irrigation system before next weekend, when freezes are forecast.
Filed under Organizing/DeCluttering, Seasons, Thoughts on a ________
It’s 44 degrees F. and sunny now, with a high of 70 for this afternoon. NICE!
Yesterday afternoon was calm and still, so we burned the pile of branches we cut down after the fiber optic people had to remove huge parts of our trees that were encroaching on the new lines they were running. The main part of what was cut down is down the hill some. We’re just going to ignore THAT group. THIS one was where we need to mow in the future, so it couldn’t be left alone. There is one pretty large section of log remaining. I will roll that down the hill when I’m sure it’s safe.
My ‘cull-the-book-collection’ efforts continue. I told you I listed 47 books on Amazon last week. I’ve sold about half of them now. I continue to go through my collection upstairs, basically one shelf or more each day, to try to get down to the books I will continue wanting to savor. It’s hard to get rid of ANY books, as far as I’m concerned, but it’s time to share the wealth and pare down the space needed to house my fiction. I’m trying to clean and reorganize things, as well – a good character-building exercise.
We have lots of errands this afternoon, and a beautiful day to be outside, both doing necessary things and working in the yard.
I hope that YOUR Tuesday is a nice one, too.
I’m leaving shortly to have a massage. Ahhhhh!
My wonderful massage therapist will be having surgery very soon, though, and the recovery time is pretty long, so this massage will need to last me until February or so. My wish is that the surgery goes smoothly and that she heals thoroughly, feeling good again.
I was going to call to arrange to have our fall checkup on our geothermal system, plus our quarterly bug spraying, but both companies called ME to schedule! We had the geothermal check yesterday and are good to go now through the winter into the spring. Not only is our guy super competent about how our system works, but he crawls up into the attic to change out one of the filters for us – saving my husband and me the chore – AND our dog, Amber, is in love with him. She wags her tail so hard the whole time he is here that she sleeps soundly after he leaves. He always stops to talk to her and give her a lot of love before he leaves.
Our fish are swimming around in a sparkling clean tank again. They thanked me in their way, for the nice digs.
Our weather has warmed up again, so we’re able to open doors in the afternoon, airing out the house. :0) I’m hoping to be able to do some work outside this afternoon.
I hope that you are having a great day, too!
Giphy
I can’t quit smiling over this. I hope you get a kick out of it, too.
Filed under .gifs I Love, Seasons
Cheezburger-“just-going-for-a-leaf-swim”
I’m still smiling from finding this! I LOVE this cat!
It’s gorgeous, sunny, and 64 degrees F. here in Arkansas today.
I’m still patting myself on the head because I was able to figure out why our yard irrigation system was failing to come on. I don’t know what got it ‘wonky,’ but I was giving it a last-ditch-effort, having tried everything I could figure out to do on reprogramming the thing, and it FINALLY came on as it was supposed to. My husband was impressed. I just smiled – as if it were no big thing – but INSIDE I was jumping up and down. :0)
I will try to spend some time working on my garden boxes today.
Enjoy your day.
Scott Webb – Unsplash
My energy level increases when the summer finally breathes its last and the cooler temperatures begin. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m ‘mature,’ or because I am carrying more weight than I would like, but the hot temperature and humidity of summer do me in sometimes before I’ve done much more than begun. I really don’t like being forced to hurry from one source of air conditioning to the next in order to feel halfway comfortable.
We are feeling definite relief here in Arkansas now. In fact, we have a cold front due overnight which is to bring significantly lower temperatures! :0)
I have always liked cool weather clothes. I love layering, including vests, hoodies, scarves, hats, sweaters, jackets, coats, boots and more. It doesn’t matter that when I pull on a cute hat with a pom pom on the top, I look like I’ve been swallowed. I love it anyway! I am forcing myself to go through my collection, though, because I have WAAAY more than any one person can really use. I will share my wealth of silly hats and great scarves with the people who shop at the Disabled Vets Thrift Town in Ft. Smith. I’m trying to arrange a donation once every other month this year, and my winter stuff is a good place to start.
I love things like hot chocolate, main meal soups, stews, chili. Big hunks of bread (though I will put even the IDEA of this one off until maybe NEXT year – when MAYBE I will have reached my goal weight); walking outside, enjoying the changing colors of the leaves, a fire in the fireplace, sitting under a throw in my recliner with a good book and a cup of coffee…
What is YOUR favorite season?
Tenor
I love this. If “I” tried to do it, though, there would probably be a huge rock at the bottom of the pile waiting for me to bash my brains out jumping in like this. I’m mentally enjoying pretending I am this man, though. It is 60 degrees right now and very cloudy. It’s supposed to clear up and be in the low 80’s with sunshine this afternoon. Mother Nature is really smiling on us right now. LOVELY fall day.
Today we meet our friends for Lunch Bunch and then do a few errands.
Yahoo! Sports
Yesterday I won an award for laziness and procrastination. I had a whole list of things to do, but didn’t do much of anything. I ended up taking a nap in my chair, instead. SURELY I can do better today!
Top 100 Funny Quotes via CoolFunnyQuotes.com
The project for the day is cleaning out the shelves in our master bathroom. There are two floor-to-ceiling sets of shelves, plus a big medicine cabinet – all full of ‘stuff.’ I’m going to see if I can get those cleaned out today. I started to do this recently, but got snafued.
I hope that you have a nice Friday and an even nicer weekend.
Filed under .gifs I Love, Seasons, Thoughts on a ________
PicMix – Tenor
Such a glorious morning!
We have both doors open, encouraging an airing out of the house. My husband is taking a nap, covered with a blanket in his recliner. I had the happy thing of getting a bit TOO chilly while working at my computer, and so got up and turned the ceiling fan OFF! It’s still too wet to work outside, so I’m still concentrating on INSIDE stuff today.
I’m having an easier time of my exercise time on my elliptical trainer. It’s in the garage, so the outside temperatures are a big factor for me. I don’t have to use the fan on the wall in front of the machine now. The little built-in one on the machine is enough. :0) Coupled with my old lady yoga stretches, I feel I am getting a reasonable amount of exercise each day.
“Caught Red-Pawed” – Audrius P. – Bored Panda
I can’t express how excited (and relieved) I am to have found the frozen meals at REAL FOOD in Greenwood. (We put our pre-order in on Wednesday afternoons and then pick the order up the following Monday.) We are building our eating day around the frozen meal as the main meal of the day, eating very lightly the rest of the day. Both of us are continuing to lose weight. I’m am still cooking keto on the weekends. We won’t break any records on fast weight loss, but the scales have quit cringing so much when we get on. I’m also encouraged to have finally re-lost most of the weight I gained during the pandemic, now ready to break new ground in my losing-the-lard efforts. 40 pounds off is a nice, round number. My next goal is 45. I am hopeful that when I measure at the end of the month, my tape measure will be happier, too.
I was dreaming last night of a new group of products to make in my art room. I love quotes, and am really inspired by some, laugh at others – so I’m going to do some paintings on small hard canvas boards, using Unicorn Spit paint, watercolors, acrylics, melted crayons, etc. and then letter good quotes that people might like on them. The ideas are rattling around, so it’ll be fun to get to my art room and see what happens.
I’m still working on cleaning out and getting rid of things – donating the things that others can use, pitching other things, cleaning and reorganizing the rest. I haven’t decided on my project for the day, but I’m leaning toward our master bedroom bath.
Our son lives in Thailand. He said he had been getting some rain lately. Then he sent us a video that he took outside his yard –
The URL is https://youtu.be/cJmdO50_A64 if the video above doesn’t play for you.
I hope that you are safe and well wherever you are today.
Filed under .gifs I Love, Mother Nature, Seasons, Thoughts on a ________
“The one red leaf, the last of its clan,
That dances as often as dance it can,
Hanging so light, and hanging so high,
On the topmost twig that looks up at the sky.”
~Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Evgeni Evgeniev-Unsplash
Fall is my favorite season.
I love it when I am a bit too cool and need to throw on a hoodie to be comfortable. I enjoy snuggling under my throw in my recliner and nodding off when I get sleepy. One of my favorite drinks is hot chocolate. A fire in the fireplace is a luxurious, comfort thing. The colors of the leaves lift my spirits. I hope we get a good, long autumn this year!
Gardening Know How
I got SOME of the onions harvested yesterday before I pulled one and a gazillion ants swarmed out. Thankfully, I was armed with my new 2-gallon sprayer of Eight Bug Killer and hosed down the planter box again. It’s raining today (Tropical Storm Beta) but I’ll try it again when the weather is cooperative.
Depositphotos
I also managed to file (or throw away) the huge pile of paper sitting on the table beside my computer yesterday. Today I will tackle August bookkeeping. Hopefully, I can get that accomplished today – since September’s stuff will be staring me in the face soon.
“Caught Red-Pawed” – Audrius P. – Bored Panda
My husband and I enjoyed Cranberry Pecan Chicken Salad for our dinner last night from REAL FOOD in Greenwood. It was truly YUMMY. We are so lucky it is so good and so convenient for us. I also lost a bit more weight! I looked at my records for South Beach and BistroMD, and I’m losing at the same – if slow – rate. If I live 100 more years, I’ll eventually reach my goal! :0)
Penn Fitness Warehouse
Another thing I love about the fall – I can use my elliptical trainer in our garage in a lot more comfort. My husband mounted a wall fan on the wall in front of it for the summer, but I still end up overheated when the temperatures and heat indices go nuts in the summer. I won’t say I look forward to going out there, but putting in the time is much more palatable now. My yoga stretching in the afternoons is rounding out my exercise nicely.
I don’t have a big project for the day. We drove the trash down to the bottom of the driveway, and I have load #2 in the clothes washer. The dishwasher is running. I’ll go do the elliptical (hopefully doing 35 minutes) and then hit the bookkeeping. I live such an exciting life! :0)
I hope that things are good for you today.
High in the upper 90’s, heat index of 105+, relentless sunshine – finally here today. They say, on the weather website, that we COULD get pop-up showers in the afternoon and pigs may fly –
Although we MADE a flying pig and she flies in our driveway –
We have doors open and ceiling fans on for awhile more this morning, but will have to close up and turn the a/c on soon.
I will check our garden, though it is mostly played out now, and will check to see if we have any ripe tomatoes. We haven’t had any in several days and the plants are stressed – part of the perks of living in Arkansas. I feel lucky that we got anything to grow this year.
My hat is, as always, off to people who not only can grow enough food for their families, but also enough to give away to neighbors or sell. It requires a lot of expertise, knowledge of how to make it through weird weather, determination and stamina.
Citizens State Bank
“A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken.” — James Dent
The sun was out earlier here, but now it’s overcast. We have an 80% chance of storms today – the first day of summer. All people and animals are good today, and we’re hoping for a quiet weekend.
I pre-ordered the latest paperback “In Death” series book by J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts) awhile back. It comes out in July. To celebrate this, I’m enjoying my dive into the world of Eve Dallas, Lieutenant in the NYPSD in the year 2058+. I’m picking up details I missed the first time, as well as just enjoying inhabiting her world – so different from mine. I’m re-reading book # 23 right now (out of 50) and will be ready to add the newest book to my collection when it arrives. (I’ve also pre-ordered the paperback of #51 which will be out at the end of December.)
We are due for a rainy weekend. I’ve been working hard in the yard, trying to keep the weeds at bay. I see evidence that the ‘wild’ would simply take back the land we have enjoyed for over 30 years now if I lost my determination to win the war. The civilized part of our yard looks pretty good now. My next focus will be on weeding my veggie garden and my flower planters around the yard. I’ll enjoy it if I get a bit of a break from the work this weekend.
I heated up the leftover spaghetti with meat sauce I made this week for dinner last night. I used the spaghetti made from chickpeas (brand name Banza) that has half the carbs of regular pasta. It’s still a splurge, but I sure enjoyed it. I made garlic toast for my husband with hot dog buns, and used the keto bread I made for mine.) My husband said, “This was delicious. Thank you!” :0) We will have leftover pork chops tonight with a side salad.
Animal Wellness Magazine
I will continue the longer, slower sessions of gentle yoga I started yesterday. I’m concentrating on relaxing – harder to do these days – and S_T_R_E_T_C_H_I_N _G everything I have slowly and thoroughly. I’m feeling better because of it.
I hope your first day of summer is a nice one, too. ENJOY.
If you’re like me, the pandemic is causing a roller coaster of feelings, a bit of fear, lots of care and caution, and a sincere hope that this new virus strain won’t take many more lives before the experts get a handle on it and we can put this awful scare behind us. I am finding that escaping to my art room, getting paint all over me, helps me cope. I’m trying to get up there for a few minutes each day. I’ve painted an old, stained tee shirt to give it new life. I’ve painted some wooden earrings I look forward to wearing. I have an idea for a painting rattling around now that I hope to start this afternoon.
Another thing that helps is taking walks around my yard, seeing new buds ready to burst into glorious life. The buds are a reliable promise that things will get back to normal in time, and there is hope for the future for people and our countries.
I’m noticing that several of the yard critters my husband and I have made are needing to be spruced up. This sweet shovel bird will get my attention soon. Then I hope to move around the yard, giving our metal yard critters some love – and paint!
One of my favorite roses is Rio Samba. I love it because the buds you see here will soon start to open up. They start as bright yellow, then develop a coral edge on the petals, then finally turn almost all coral before needing to be pruned. At one time we’ll have all three stages of blossoms on the plant. This is one of three rose bushes we have.
How can you feel down when you see the promise of a blooming wisteria?
My veggie garden plants are smiling, too, with the promise of a continuing nice harvest. I have harvested twice so far in this young season, giving us lots of head lettuce and spinach leaves for our salads. The plants are loving the cooler gray days with lots of rain. The sun is actually shining this morning for the first time in a couple of weeks, so I’ll get out there, take some pics, and share them with you later today.
I hope that you can look around and find the promise of better times to come, too. If not, I’m delighted to share the promise I found with you.
Stay safe.
I took a walk around our yard this morning and felt instantly cheered by signs of spring. We have several Redbud trees in the yard. Each year we try to cut down things around them, giving them the best chance we can of living and giving us a nice display.
This is our tulip tree. We just love it. It only blooms for a little while each spring, and is usually battered by storms – making the pretty blooms fall – but we love it.
I hope these trees lift your spirits as they did mine.
2017 Tiger Seo via ISO 500px
“An optimist is the human personification of spring.” – Susan J. Bissonette
iStock
“It’s spring fever…. You don’t quite know what it is you DO want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!” Mark Twain
Time
“Be like the flower, turn your face to the sun.” — Kahlil Gibran
Filed under Seasons
Photo via Robert Bennett – LinkedIn
Filed under Awe-Inspiring Photography, R.J. Bennett, Seasons
Professor’s House
I’ve had two sessions up in my art room this afternoon making some new designs in earrings. They are all drying now, but I’ve had a great time getting paint all over me and everything else, experimenting with some new techniques. I hope to show them to you tomorrow.
I’ve also spent some time outside. It has been a gorgeous, sunshine-y day here. It’s still 62 degrees now. I went out to the garden to check my sweet veggies plants.
The weather website for us is predicting 100% chance of rain tomorrow, so these guys will get a nice drink.
I saw yet another sign of spring today –
Our tulip tree is starting to bloom!
This has pretty much been the perfect day. I hope that you have had a wonderful day, too.
Filed under playing in my art room, quality of life, Seasons
Carol Auclair Daly
Isn’t this wonderful? I don’t know who actually sewed this, but I WANT IT!
I’ve been feeling a bit down this morning for no good reason. I took a walk around the yard and immediately felt my spirits lifting.
This afternoon, my husband walked with me while I took Amber out to the garden and around the yard, training her to walk with the no-pull leash/collar combination, and even HE was remarking how lush our daffodils look right now!
If YOU’RE feeling down, come visit!
Kanno Hisao
Leonid Afremov- “Winter Walk” via Roger Ach
Melody Rowlette Miracle via Penny Yaffe Krakow
Stefano Ronchi via Digital Photo Academy
Filed under Seasons
Today was spring-like, but grim and gray. When I walked around in the yard though, after we got home from errands, I couldn’t help but grab my camera and try to capture the richness of our yard right now.
There is still the hole in the middle of the yard where we had to dig up a large part of it to find the leaking water pipe. I told you we managed to roll the rock over the edge of the world, but the hole remains. It now has some dark potting soil, but it’s still an eyesore and will be until we are confident the mower won’t sink down into the hole, and the grass once again covers the area. Even with that, the daffodils take my breath away.
Each year I did up some of the bulbs and plant them in another spot. I’ve done this for several years now, so clumps of daffodils are blooming all over the front yard and we now have a couple of clumps in the back. (The one above is “Debbye” in full bloom now.)
Big happy daffodils in several different shades of yellow and styles, all living together. Long stalks heavy greenery, bringing up my spirits.
These are beside the well house. We have dug them up twice, thinking we got them all, and yet they continue to bloom year after year.
Filed under Gardening, Mother Nature, quality of life, Seasons
This is just one of the groups of happy daffodils in our yard right now. They have exploded in bloom over the last couple of weeks – freezes or not. This is my favorite group, though. It looks kind of like a ‘daffodil bouquet’ on the edge of our yard before a group of rocks marks the edge of the ‘civilized’ part of our front yard.
This is “Debbye” – my good friend who got me into trying to paint, to create things as I have always wanted to do.
She died of breast cancer many years ago. She was sitting on her bed painting a watercolor of a hummingbird (now on the wall of our stairway) when I went to visit one day. I hugged her, then silently watched her paint for a few minutes. Finally, I said, “I WISH I could do that!”
She got angry with me – for the first and the last time in our friendship. She said, “What the Hell are you waiting for? YOU have the time. What do you care if your work never makes it off your own refrigerator door? JUST DO IT!!!!!” She changed my life that day.
At her funeral there were two large barrels on either side of the entry to the church. We were asked to grab a double handful of daffodil bulbs as we left and plant them as a reminder of Debbye. I planted mine in a clump by the rocks where they would be at least a little bit protected. Before each spring starts, the greenery shoots up, full of life and energy, and then Debbye blooms once again.
We would all have our memories of Debbye and her indomitable spirit without the bulbs, but I loved the idea at her funeral and have never heard of it being done before or since. A lovely way to remember a smart, creative, and lovely lady.
Filed under Friendship, memories, Seasons
Alex Howitt
Kanno Hisao
Kanno Hisao
Kanno Hisao
Filed under Alex Howitt, Awe-Inspiring Photography, Kanno Hisao, Seasons
Nihal Buyukeroglu-Love Classical Music
It’s not actually snowing here, but I loved this snowman musician and wanted to share him with you. It is still at freezing here, so I’m waiting a bit to uncover my veggie plants in the garden. The weather has been such I’ll bring the sheets in to dry them before putting them back on the plants before dark tonight.
We got to talk with our son in Thailand this morning via a conference call program where we can actually see his face. I made him smile when I told him what a GOOD man he is. :0)
I’m getting a haircut today. If you’re in the area and are looking for a kind, competent miracle-worker, call Michael Remillard at Tangles. 479-357-9305. 40 Town Square, Greenwood AR 72936. He has taken care of both my husband and me for several years and we truly love him. Today I’m asking him to try to do a ‘shaggy pixie’ or ‘waif’ cut with all different lengths around my face and ears. I’m taking two pics of haircuts I call SASSY….. :0)
UPDATE – Just uncovered the plants – all is fine. Although it is technically above freezing now, it’s C_O_L_D out there! I about froze my parts off. I’m putting the sheets through the dryer so they’ll be ready to spread over the plants again tonight…
I hope you stay warm and dry today.
Life with Dogs and Cats
pelfind.net via Justsomething
Snoopy
Snow Addiction
Filed under Seasons, snow people
Blaze Press
imgur.com via Justsomething
imgur.com via Justsomething
Filed under Seasons, snow people
Z-Man via Yolanda Vanveen
Karen Anne McGlinchey
You Need More Art in Your Life
Filed under Seasons, snow people
Nikita Veprikov via Maria D’Angelo
Newsner.com
Sand-Re-Scape.com via Yolanda Vanveen
Filed under Seasons, snow people
Heavenly Recipes
I don’t really like cold weather, but I do love making snowmen and playing in the snow. I remember one year when my husband-to-be and I were dating (a hundred years or so ago) we built snow people in my parent’s front yard. A man and a woman. Quite traditional. THEN he really wanted to add anatomically correct – even exaggerated – parts to each one. He was very disappointed when I told him we would NOT do that!
Alex Howitt
One of my favorite things is to look on the net to find snow people I haven’t seen before and share them. I’m so happy to live on the same planet as people who not only think outside the box, but burn the box! There is so much humor and creativity out there.
Alex Howitt
Filed under Seasons, snow people
creativeartworksblog 