“The Soothing Calm of the Water” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
“Granny” (commission) charcoal on Gessoed Board 24″ x 18″
Filed under Creativity, drawings
“Gravity Quilt” – custom machine quilting by Natalia Bonner -www.pieceandquilt.com
quiltsonbastings.blogspot.com
sampaquiltaquilts.blogpot.com
Filed under Creativity, Embroidery/Sewing Art
“Railing of the Bridge” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
I did two sessions of weeding in the trio of 8′ long brick planters that are between our front yard and our driveway today. I thought I would take advantage of the cooler temperature and overcast sky to do some good outside. Of course, the MINUTE I walked out there, the sun came out in full force…
I came in dripping twice, and then called it a day. I’ll try to do more tomorrow. I wanted to share some nice flowers that are blooming now, though. This is a burgundy lily. It’s all one bloom and knocks our socks off each year when it blooms.
This is impatiens on the front porch.
Pink phlox.
Deep pink phlox
My goldfish seem happier with the new filter. Even though the filter itself is smaller, the design of the pump with a tube basically sucking the water through the pump seems to be working well.
The fish didn’t actually SAY anything, but they’re swimming around with great enthusiasm. Can fish smile?
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family, Housekeeping - Maintenance
Jean Little – via email from Bill Lites
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
Guardians Of Time-Manfred Kielnhofer-www.lightart-biennale.com
Filed under Creativity, sculpture
“Flowers of Wild Chestnut 1” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
Iron Man Robot
Our wind and rain yesterday evening was impressive – hard rain and gusty winds. My husband waited out the storm in the shop. Our electricity flickered twice, but came on again quickly enough that our generator wasn’t triggered.
When the rain finally let up, my husband used the opportunity to burn all the trash that had been piling up in the shop, able to finally burn it safely.
When we drove down the driveway to go to town this morning, our robot beside the driveway (over 6 feet tall, weighing 250 pounds) was leaning into the trees. When this happened the last time, he went completely off the driveway and was head down halfway down the slope of the yard. We had to use a winch and my husband’s smarts to laboriously get him into position again. At that time, we arranged for a SECOND length of chain to be attached to his neck. The original went around his neck and was around the iron gateway post you see behind him. The second one is around his neck and goes around the tree down the driveway in front of him. The two together kept him mostly upright, just leaning into the trees. We were able to easily bring him to an upright position again. It’s an impressive wind, though, that blows him over!
No other consequences from the storm, thank goodness. Everything got a really good amount of water. All the plants are saying, “Ahhhh!” as we walk around the yard.
Since it’s still a bit cooler, I’m going to use the opportunity to try to get our trio of brick flower planters that run between our front yard and our driveway under better control. I’m hoping not to get bitten and/or stung, having sprayed everything with a good bug spray last week called, “EIGHT,” that’s supposed to kill the bugs, but not harm the plants, our animals, or us.
Have a fun day!
Filed under Arkansas, Greenwood, Mother Nature
I recently discovered Suzanne Starr’s fine work and wanted to share some of it with you. Her website is Suzanne Starr Art
“4H Champions” 48″ x 36″ Graphite on Clayboard – Winner Line/Shape Award 2018, The American Artists Professional League “Celebrating the Spirit of America” Recently Exhibited at Mystic Art Museum, Mystic CT
“Catch of the Day” – 18″ x 24″ – Graphite on Gessoed Board -CT Women Artists Members Show, New Britain Art League, New Britain CT
Filed under Creativity, drawings
“Two for Eternity” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
We order lots of things online, but we don’t usually get such an interesting combination in one delivery. Today the Fedex guy delivered 9mm ammunition and a replacement pump for our clothes washer. Amber greeted him in the driveway having just gotten out of her pool. She jumped into the truck with him, making him laugh, even though she was dripping copiously.
We got a really good deal on 1000 rounds of 9mm ammo.
We didn’t get a great deal on the replacement clothes washer pump, but we needed it. Our washer has been sending us terse messages for the past couple of weeks saying it was unhappy. We got an “F02” which meant we should check the drain hose to see if were kinked or clogged, and a “SUD” which indicated that there were still suds in the rinse water.
We made sure the hose was fine. I figured out how to go ahead and use the washer, bypassing the error messages until the new pump arrived. It was delivered this morning, so when we got home from Lunch Bunch, we tackled replacing the pump. My husband found a video online that showed him at least the idea of what was required and how to attack it. In half an hour, he had the old pump off and the new pump on.
The old pump had a long screw and a penny in there which my husband thinks caused the clog to form. We don’t know when that happened, but the washer and dryer combo are 13 years old. We really don’t know how the washer was able to function at ALL with as much ‘stuff’ as it had in it. The washer is running happily now, free of clogs. It’s GOOD to have a husband who is good at diagnosing and fixing things.
Now I won’t have to shoot him with my new ammo! :0)
Filed under Housekeeping - Maintenance, Lewis projects
Jaume Pleansaat Yorkshire Sculpture Park-guttae.blogspot.com
Filed under Creativity, sculpture
“Gingerbread Village Quilt”-www.pieceandquilt.com
Filed under Creativity, Embroidery/Sewing Art
Facebook.com/ForTheLoveoftheDog via email from Bill Lites
Filed under Amazing Animals, Favorite Quotes
I was hoping to be able to report wonderful progress to you, but to be honest, I’m a bit bummed out.
I’ve lost a bit over 11 pounds via Nutrisystem thus far. Since my lardiest – almost 24 lbs. I’ve been ‘good,’ so my explanation is that when you’re old, it takes longer to lose the lard. I’m encouraged by the fact that I’m still making progress, but the slowness is getting to me a bit. I wish the Nutrisystem website had a ‘search,’ so that I could find the article about plateaus again. If I can’t find it, I’ll go back onto chat to see if someone can guide me.
I have found that measuring yourself is an art. I’m following their guidelines and trying to be as careful as possible, but from one week to the next, you would think that the numbers would be close. My accuracy apparently needs some work. My best guess is that I’ve lost a bit over 13 inches via Nutrisystem – almost 30 inches from my lardiest.
Even though I couldn’t swear what my actual numbers ARE, the difference is nice. My clothes are looser, and I’ve gone down a size or two in some cases. I’m moving a lot each day – some days on the official exercises, other days working my heart out in the garden or hauling things around or cleaning. I’m drinking my 64 oz of water each day.
Even though I’m a bit disappointed, my husband and I are doing good things for ourselves. I’m feeling more energetic, needing fewer naps. Each day I feel I’m doing a bit better, and that’s a good feeling. I’m doing what I can to keep serious health issues from my door.
taolife.com
Filed under Challenges, DIET!, exercise, getting the lard off, taking care of yourself
“Colorful Umbrellas” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
This is Smoke, keeping my husband company while he works at the computer. She calmly jumps from the floor to my husband’s lap. If he’s accommodating, she settles down right there. If not, she then walks across the keyboard, creating some havoc, to find a comfortable spot to take a nap.
She certainly knows how to relax.
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
One of the many challenges we’ve had with our SWEET 15-month-old, 93-pound Yellow Labrador Retriever PUPPY, Amber, is that to say ‘she is a water dog’ is one of the biggest understatements out there. When I scrubbed out her kiddie pool a couple of days ago and was refilling it, she wouldn’t even wait for the water to start filling the pool before she was in and out, barking at the spray head on the hose and playing in the water.
This love of playing in the water translates INSIDE, as well, to our aggravation. We try to have water bowls readily available inside and outside for our dogs and cats. Everyone ELSE just goes over and quietly drinks from the large plastic bowl we had. Since Amber delights in putting a paw or two in the bowl and happily spreading the water all over the floor, we switched from the plastic bowl to a large untippable stainless steel bowl. She doesn’t dump it, but manages to splash the water everywhere on a regular basis.
Today we got a new set up we ordered, hoping to solve the problem. This is a food and water bowls combo. The bowls fit into the table-like top, and the top fits onto legs. The table and legs are made of heavy-duty plastic. Since we know our dog well, we found a stud in the wall and screwed the whole thing into the stud. This is a super-sturdy set-up.
We tested it with Molly, our 25-pound, elderly Cocker Spaniel/Schnauzer cross, to make sure she can reach the water. She doesn’t like it much yet, but she is able to reach the water and drink.
Amber looked at it, wagged her tail, and went to do other dogly things.
I just checked, and there was water on the floor. So Amber went back sneakily – when we were otherwise occupied – and managed to splash water out. There is still some water for thirsty dogs and cats to drink, however, and the assembly is still in one piece, still firmly anchored. So we’ve made the problem a bit better, but now need to look for something to go under this to catch as much of the water as possible…
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
“Archie” -Labrador Bronze Sculpture-www.adentino.co.uk
Filed under Creativity, sculpture
Klyker
My husband and I bought two kinds of salvia, 3 six-packs of impatiens, 2 mandevilla, and 15 small pots of wave petunias at the nursery yesterday. Since our weather has been wonky – with a cooler than normal spring followed by hotter than normal summer temperatures – it’s been all I could do to try to keep up with our vegetable garden, our flower planters, and the yard.
I was afraid we wouldn’t be able to get ANY of our normal choices, but we did pretty well. Then there was the prospect of getting everything planted. Yesterday I planted the two mandevilla and some of the petunias on the deck. This morning it was already in the high 80s when I started planting. I finished the deck, saving one wave petunia to go in the planter at the entrance to our shop. My husband keeps a jug of water out there so that he can water ‘his’ flowers…. :0)
Then I cleaned out Amber’s kiddie pool. I scrubbed it with the car broom, drained it a bit more than halfway, scrubbed it again, and then dumped out the rest of the water. My husband suggested that we put it on the east side of the house where it gets a bit more shade so the water would stay cooler. I got it into a reasonable spot, sprayed it out again, and then started to fill it. Amber came running around the side of the house, jumped into the filling pool, laid down in it, drank some of the water, then jumped out into the dirt, now made into mud by her dripping body. She loved it. She ran all around like a mad thing, started digging in the dirt, and then, of course, jumped into the pool with the muddy paws. She laid down again, smiled at me, bit at the sprayer hose, jumped out…. You get the picture. The water isn’t pristine, but it’s much better than it was, the pool has been moved to a better spot now, and the dog is ecstatic. Mission accomplished.
I then used another hose to clean up the deck where I had made a mess planting. I used the “less is more” philosophy this time, emptying 4 big pots I usually fill with flowers. We have really nice, bright burgundy wave petunias and mandevillas on the deck now – making a nice spot to sit outside – assuming this abnormally hot weather tames down for a bit before we officially get into the too-hot-to-sit-outside part of the summer.
I took time while the pool was filling to move the nice Joseph’s Coat climbing rose-bush my friend Kay gave me for my birthday in March to a sunnier spot where I think it will be happier.
That’s it for the day on working outside, until this evening before the sun goes down, when I plan to mix up batches of ‘ant-to-elephant’ bug spray that I can use on my veggie garden. I plan to hose everything down, use a stronger spray for the ant hill I discovered, wait a day or so, and then see how things are out there. I still have pink areas up and down my arms from the angry ants that bit/stung me for disrupting their ‘homes’ as I pulled up cool weather plants, but the swelling and itching are finally mostly contained, thank goodness. I’ve just come down from taking a long shower and putting on clean clothes. Ahhhh!
I hope that you have fun playing in the dirt at your house, too.
Filed under Arkansas, exercise, Gardening, Greenwood, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
John Dennis
You can’t choose your family, but if we could, we would have chosen John Dennis in a minute. John was my husband’s cousin, but he was much, much more than that. He was our good FRIEND. He and my husband exchanged letters – yes – real letters that came in the mailbox. We would see his return address on an envelope, drop everything, sit down, and I would read it aloud, always laughing at some point, if not more. My husband would then sit down at the computer and compose a letter in reply. He asked me to check it for grammar, paragraphs and spelling, because John was a history professor and my husband didn’t want to make any more mistakes than necessary. We would print the letter and send it off, already anticipating when we would hear from him again.
He was smart in other ways, too, marrying his wife, Murray – our cousin-in-law (I think), but again, much more importantly, our dear FRIEND. When we could arrange it for our house sitter to take care of our house and animals, we would drive to Thibodaux, Louisiana, 9-1/2 hours one way, to visit. We wanted to stay there forever. The Dennises make you feel SO special, SO welcome. We just loved to go talk to them. We didn’t want to be ‘entertained,’ we just wanted to be able to catch up on all the little things that were happening, and be able to hug their necks. John was quite a cook and would feed us as if we were royalty, yet seemingly without effort. I never understood how he did that. And Murray topped off MY visits there by making cheese grits. I’ve never liked grits. My husband has told me for years that I didn’t add all the things to them that made them wonderful. Each time I tried, adding bacon and whatever else I could think of, they still tasted awful. When I tasted Murray’s cheese grits, I immediately LOVED them, eating like a pig. (If we DID live there, I wouldn’t be able to get through the door now from stuffing my face.)
John and Murray have been such a part of Thibodaux that I imagine it will be hard for everyone to pay respects. Both John and Murray volunteer their time and effort to countless community events, charities, sitting on boards to help make Thibodaux an even better town. They have had small gatherings when we’ve been there, put together again seemingly without effort, but missing no detail. Their ‘small gathering’ included more people than my husband and I KNOW! And the friendship and laughter flowed around the room, people visiting and then moving around to visit with someone else. A truly beautiful experience.
I wish I could have sat in one of John’s history classes, kind of like a fly on the wall. You could tell from his general conversation that history was alive for him, and that he would radiate that to his students, making THEM see history in a different, interesting light. He and my husband shared an interest in genealogy – a more personal history.
He had a beautiful attitude even at the end, saying, “I’m ready for the next adventure.”
We are so lucky to have known John. Our lives have been richer for sharing a small bit of his.
Filed under Family, Friendship, Tribute
I worked with the bug crime artist yesterday to come up with this drawing of one of my assailants yesterday. I’m still swelled up in big, pink, itchy welts all over my forearms from trying to clean up our square foot garden yesterday. I’ve taken Benedryl and am slathered with anti-inch stuff that is supposed to be soothing. The welts aren’t quite as puffy as they were yesterday, so I think I’m getting better.
I’ve never had this problem before. It’s one of the many reasons I love my raised bed (chest level) square foot gardening boxes. Today we’ll talk to the people in town at the co-op, seeing if we can find something that will ‘kill the ants without hurting the plants.’ (Hey! That could be a good slogan for the ant spray people! :0) )
I looked up ants to see what good they do for us – and mostly found stuff to kill them. Supposedly, though, they “clean up dead bugs and organic waste in your landscape.” I’m not sure that this makes taking residence in my veggies acceptable. I have pulled out the plants (that’s why I got all these bites/stings), but I’ll treat the Mel’s Mix in the boxes before I do much more out there.
Most home remedies I’ve tried are ineffective, but I really don’t want to cause harm to my plants (or us – eating the plants after washing carefully.)
If I find something that the experts at the co-op suggest, I’ll let you know.
UPDATE: I found an insect killer that I can use in the garden – on the veggies and in the Mel’s Mix. It’s called Eight Insect Control by Bonide. The expert at Farmer’s Co-Op said it kills everything he could think of (the bottle says it kills over 100 named insect pests) and can be used on vegetables, fruits, flowers, lawns, tree, etc. It keeps working for up to 4 weeks. HOORAY! He said I could spray in the morning and eat the veggies in the evening – after washing them well, of course.
Filed under Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
“In Trouble Again” – Terry Doughty – http://www.greatbigcanvas.com
Filed under animal paintings, Creativity
creativeartworksblog 