I found some wonderful pictures yesterday of what they call “Giants” in Coopers Rock State Forest in West Virginia. I wanted to share them with you.
credit: http://www.onlyinyourstate.com
Harvest 7-14-2021
I made a quick trip to the east side of the house where our two tomato planters are to see if we had any ripe tomatoes. WOW!!!!! I left the ones that looked ripe, but were still firm out there. We have enough that I can share with our friends!
Two updates:
- The experiment where I bought and planted two live lettuce plants last week was a bust. It’s just simply too hot now for them to live. There is the possibility that a plant or two could live IN the house on the window sill, but I didn’t see them the last time I was in the store. Maybe next time.
- Yesterday I showed you a breathtaking picture of a Cerinthe Major – Pride of Gibraltar – Purple Wax Flower
- I managed to find a place selling seed packages, so I bought two and will read more about what they need. (Here’s the link to the post if you missed it)
Filed under Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
“Emu” Planters
We got the refurbished “emu” planters in place last night. We pounded in a short piece of rod with a sledge hammer and then ‘tied’ it to the leg of the emu. This will keep the planter from falling down, being blown over, etc.
I will put potting soil in each of the pots and then we’ll get some flowers to plant soon.
The emus are living where the woods start one one side of the walkway between the house and the shop.
If my day goes how I’m planning it, I will start cleaning the dog critter today.
Filed under Uncategorized
Anything
I’m being a very good girl. I’m eating my raw veggies with a bit of dressing as my mid afternoon snack after taking my husband a bagel loaded with French Onion cream cheese and Chives.
I did my two sessions of exercises with weights yesterday and yoga, and will do my longer session of just yoga today. As I type, I’m drinking my second bottle of water. Since my eyeballs are floating with all the water, maybe I am just retaining water, though I’m definitely moving more, running to the bathroom particularly after the second bottle…
I’m much more motivated when the scales are looking impressed, but that hasn’t happened in several days. I’m determined to build good habits here, though, so I keep on keepin’ on.
Hahahahahahahahahaahah :0)
Filed under DIET!, exercise, Funny Signs - Humor
Wood Art to Make You Smile
Filed under Chainsaw Art, Driftwood Art, When Wood Comes Alive
Super-Busy, Good Day
We’ve been super busy since I wrote my first post today about 9am. It’s been a good day – full of errands. We got most things accomplished and made it home for a late lunch. It’s very hot, so it was wonderful to get back into the air conditioning. We had lunch and a nap.
Yesterday I finished the refurbishing of the 4 ’emu’ planters. They are ready to come out, but it’s WAAAY too hot now to do it. We’ve figured out where we want them to live, and maybe it will cool off enough before dark for us to get them out. We get gusty winds here, so we got some U-bolts we can use. I plan to put one over a ‘toe’ of each of the ’emus’ pounding the U-bolt into the ground to make them steadier. I’ll take pics when we get them back together outside.
My husband is having a bit of trouble welding now because of shaking hands. He got upset the other day, thinking he would have to give it up. Since his shaking varies from day to day, I reminded him of that and suggested he just wait until he’s have a ‘good’ day and weld then. Today we got a full cylindrical bottle of argon to replace the empty one we took in. He was able to finish making a brace to make a beautiful, specialized welding table yesterday. :0)
I have finished 10 yard critters so far, and we now have 3 more in the shop for me to clean and refurbish – a ‘peacock,’ a shovel bird, and a dog.
We’ve had SO much fun making these wacky critters!
Filed under Lewis Art, Lewis projects, Lewis yard art, Thoughts on a ________
Beautiful Way to Start A Day
I found this yesterday in my travels around the net. This may be the most gorgeous flower I’ve ever seen. My heart filled when I saw it. I’ll have to look it up to see if I can try to grow one. Fingers crossed.
Laugh and Hug
I’m giving myself a hug and smiling right now. I just had two sales (one yesterday and the second this morning) from my HandmadeHavenbyLinda Etsy website! A really nice start to the day and a spirit-lifter, for sure. :0)
I’ve been having fun in our shop, refurbishing 4 “emu” planters this past week. I need to paint their legs, and then they can go back outside when they are dry.
I’m feeling very motivated on my weight loss and exercising goals. I’ll do two sessions with weights today – one with 5-pound weights, and a second with 3-pound weights, where I follow a short video online. Then I’ll do my regular session of yoga stretching and abdominal exercises later today. I’m trying to drink FOUR bottles of water daily (trying to ignore the fact that my eyeballs are floating as I get more movement in) – running to the bathroom. I’m eating some raw veggies and a bit of dip mid afternoon as a snack. Keepin’ on keepin’ on. (So far. 30.2 pounds down and 26.2 inches off).
I’m finding lots of wonderfully creative people on the net who have created artwork that makes my mouth water. I’m so grateful I live on the same planet and can enjoy their work and share it with you.
Have a wonderful Monday.
Expressions of Love
Filed under love
More Art by James Doran Webb
Filed under Driftwood Art
Wood and Bone Art
Wood and Bone Figures – Andrey Sagalov – designyoutrust.com
Filed under Wood & Bone - Andrey Sagalov
Quite a Storm!
Amber is not afraid of storms. This is what she looked like, though, last night when we were having lots of thunder, lightning, rain, and gusty winds, plus our power going off and on repeatedly for very short periods.
When I reached out to pet her and talk to her, she climbed right up into my recliner with me, circled behind me, and settled in. Since she weighs 95 lbs, that left ME with only the front edge of the chair to balance on while I petted her and talked to her. We stayed like that for about half an hour, til things had tamed down. She jumped down and happily went back to choosing a toy from her toy basket.
This shows you a bit of what our yard looks like this morning. We have leaves EVERYWHERE. We haven’t found any damage, though, and that’s wonderful. We only have a chance for afternoon thunderstorms today, so we’re relieved.
The elephant ears came through without damage. Hooray!
The poor phlox is pretty battered. Hopefully, they’ll pull back up.
I hope that wherever you are, things are quiet.
Enjoy your Sunday.
Filed under Mother Nature
News of the World
We just watched “News of the World” starring Tom Hanks and Helena Zengel. It was one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long, long time.
My husband loves movies with lots of action, lots of CGI effects, lots of things blowing up, violence, etc. I’m not sure how this one got on his list, but I’m really glad.
It has a plot, real actors, people you care about, and more.
“Five years after the end of the Civil War, Capt. Jefferson Kyle Kidd crosses paths with a 10-year-old girl taken by the Kiowa people. Forced to return to her aunt and uncle, Kidd agrees to escort the child across the harsh and unforgiving plains of Texas. However, the long journey soon turns into a fight for survival as the traveling companions encounter danger at every turn — both human and natural.”
This is a movie well worth your time.
Filed under Book - Movie - TV Reviews
Good/Bad News in the Garden
The grocery store was selling lettuce plants yesterday! I bought two, having little hope that they would do anything this time of year, since they are a cool-weather plant. One of them has already croaked :0( – but this one is still alive as of this minute. I’ll probably have to go ahead and clear out the garden for the season, since my yellow crookneck squash plants are producing lots of huge leaves by very little else. I’ll go ahead and pull everything out, unless this sweet plant is still alive. I’ll pull the onions and start drying them out. We have possibly severe storms coming in this evening-into-tomorrow, so this will wait until next week. It was a fun thing to try, though.
Meanwhile, though my tomato plants don’t look pretty, they are producing. This is what I brought in this morning. There are more to come tomorrow. This is the time of year we feel super rich. We have lots of ripe tomatoes to each for both lunch and dinner. :0)
I’ll take pics of the onions when I get them onto the trailer screen to start drying.
Stone Art – Stefano Furlani
Stone Art by Stefano Furlani – designyoutrust.com
Filed under Stone/Pebble Art
Small Victory
I FINALLY got back to the 30-pounds-off-since-my-heaviest mark this morning! HOORAY!! Thanks again to Maria, who suggested in her blog – FlowingWatersArt.wordpress.com that big goals should be broken down into more doable chunks. I haven’t met my “doable chunk” goals for the three weeks I’ve been trying, but my motivation is high, and that’s the more important thing right now.
I’m building good habits – watching my portions, eating healthy snacks, drinking THREE to FOUR 17.9 oz bottles of water each day (my eyeballs are floating as I run to the bathroom), exercising, etc.
I’m doing yoga stretches and abdominal exercises every day.
This week I started exercising with 5-pound weights- Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I do a pretty short session – enough so my arms are definitely feeling it, but I’m not incapacitated on doing my normal activities. Monday and Wednesday I did two short sessions with the weights during the day plus my yoga.
Yesterday I found a 3-minute video on the net. The lady was using 3-pound weights, so I switched to those and exercised along with her. She was doing different things than I was doing with the 5-pound weights. My arms felt pretty ‘used’ when I finished, but this is a good addition to what I’ve started to do. I plan to do a session with the 5-pound weights and another with the 3-pound weights with the nice lady MWF next week.
I feel good that I’m taking one day at a time, making short-term goals that seem more achievable, am moving and exercising more.
Short term goals are –
- Work to try to lose 2 lbs in the coming week
- Check off my exercises each day (giving myself gold stars :o) )
- Drink 3 to 4 bottles of water daily
- Work toward the idea of earning “Bear with ’40’ on his chest” in the near future.
- Realize that I’m working to lose the lard and get stronger – that ANY progress toward that goal is a victory and should be celebrated.
Filed under Attitude, Cause for Celebration, Challenges, Changes, DIET!, exercise
I’ll Have Some Sass with my Aging, Please
I acknowledge that I am getting older. It’s much better than not.
The thing I am hostile about – feeling a definite emotional slap in the face – is that when the talking heads on TV are talking about ‘The Elderly,’ they are talking about ME. I want to bite them in the leg, and I haven’t had a rabies shot.
We are described as ‘vulnerable.’ They are mainly referring to us that way in regard to Covid-19 and getting the vaccine protection. I acknowledge that my husband and I are more at risk from dying from this awful virus, and we have both received the two shots. The thing I resent is that we are being discussed as if we are all one person, one block of sheep, a group that only matters tangentially to the more important matters we’re facing in the world.
Well, THIS OLD BROAD has a lot of fight left in her. My husband and I have long realized that we have never – and probably WILL never – think like other people of any age. We have never been representative of people of our age on almost any subject you can name. And I think that’s probably true of the rest of the ‘elderly.’
We are individuals, as are the people of any labeled group. We have different goals, different needs, and react differently to the same set of circumstances.
I guess what I’m saying is that being called ‘elderly’ and treated as if that MEANS someone can assume anything about me is my new PET PEEVE. I’m not normally a hostile person (although my husband has always described me as, “mean as a snake.”)
I’m not aging ‘gracefully.’ I’m aging, trying to wring out every drop of joy possible from each and every day, finding wonderful, creative people whose work amazes me, new things to learn and try, a new motivation to get and stay as healthy as I can be for as long as I can, enjoying the people who make my life a joy and the beauty around me.
Filed under aging, Pet Peeves, sass
I Love Acorn Art
I love this art not only because of the wonderful creativity of the artists creating the acorn “people,” but also the situations created, and the wonderful photography associated with it. I’m in awe of people who take a fun, creative idea and make it an art form. Don’t we live on a wonderful planet?
Filed under acorn art
Celebrating Children
Filed under sculpture
Art from Wood
Filed under When Wood Comes Alive
Found Things Creations
Filed under Art From Found Things
Dog Advice
“Be content with what you have.”
“Don’t be afraid to question the rules.”
“But accept blame when you’ve done something wrong.”
“Spend time with your friends.”
“It’s important to help when you can.”
Thanks to Buzzfeed.com for the quotes.
creativeartworksblog 