Playing in the Garden

Delightful Children’s Books

 

I’m very happy that our garden is alive at all right now. Our weather has roller-coastered between hard freezes and a high of 90 today. We also had a timer malfunction on the garden irrigation system, so the plants were really badly overwatered at one point before we figured out the problem and replaced the timer.

 

Now I THINK we’re finished with the hard freezes. Our temperatures are still roller-coaster-y, though. 90 today. 60 tomorrow. 80 the following day….

 

I need to take some sharp scissors to clean up the plants. Some have bad leaves. I did get out a few arrogant weeds today, though. :0)

 

Here you see red lettuce leaves and spinach.

 

As you can see in this, and the next, pictures, some of the celery is doing well. Some has croaked.

 

 

This is the south side of the garden. I’m growing Georgia Sweet Onions in the back, red lettuce and spinach in the middle, and broccoli, cauliflower, and celery in the box closest to you.

 

Romaine lettuce, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, radishes, and red lettuce in the planters in the north row.

 

Spinach sprouts on the window sill.

 

One celery plant and two spaghetti squash sprouts here.

Hopefully, things will settle down now and my plants can grow in peace.

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Filed under Arkansas, Gardening, Greenwood, Mother Nature, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds

“Waterfall”

“Waterfall” – Paul Militaru Photography

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Wicker Art – Take 1

Pith + Vigor

 

 

“Wicker Balls” by BySilent – ImageKind

 

 

Pinterest

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Carla’s Bowl is Finished!

I glued the felt on the bottom of the bowl this morning so it won’t scratch furniture.

 

I also did the final clean up of the glass.

 

Carla gave me the prettiest gift at Christmas. It’s a glass bowl, turned over on its top, in a base. You open it up, put some wonderful fragrance oil drops in it. and plug it in. The bowl itself is white on white, with white mosaic type shapes above the background. As it heats up, the whole bowl changes colors as you watch. The fragrance makes the whole room smell good. I put it on my buffet, so the wonderful smell spreads into the dining area, kitchen, hallway, pantry, and utility room. She said she ‘thought of me when she saw it.’

This one doesn’t change colors, or do any tricks, but it’s made with love and  I hope she likes it.

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Hello, Spring!

source unknown

I just LOVE this! Along with the sentiment, the whole idea of spelling it out with things from nature – with the delicate colors – is  perfect.

I’m not sure what today will bring, but we certainly have the weather for it here in Greenwood, Arkansas. In fact, today’s high will be a huge change, at 88 degrees F.  We might even have to turn on the air conditioner for a bit this afternoon!

My husband and I enjoyed the first cookout of the season last night, grilling steaks. It’s been a long time since we enjoyed one, so it’s hard to describe how DELICIOUS it was. AND, since we don’t eat potatoes as a rule anymore, the baked potatoes tasted especially good, as well.

There was a wonderful breeze as we cooked on the deck. The sun was going down. We had both doggies out with us, having one on the long deck leash and the other running free, then changing them. Both cats visited from time to time, then found something to pounce on in the taller grass along the edge of the ‘civilized’ part of our back yard.  My husband enjoyed some iced tea. I had a cup of coffee.

We were tired, but nicely so. We had changed our truck tires from the snow tires to the regular ones. This is getting to be a harder and harder job for us, but we’re still managing. My husband has decided that this is a matter of pride now, so we’ll probably be trying to do this ourselves for several years from now.

We discussed how wonderful it was that we discovered that Chuck Berry, 90, one of our teenage favorites, was married to the same woman for 68 years. We can hope for some time together yet. :0)

I hope your 1st day of spring is a happy one!

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New Focus

Pinterest

My husband and I are going to celebrate my decision by cooking out tonight, having grilled steaks and baked potatoes. What a load off to have changed my focus! :0)

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“Delicate White Beauty”

“Delicate White Beauty” – Paul Militaru Photography

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Garage Sale Riches

My husband went to get the mail yesterday while I was making pudding. I started to worry when he didn’t return after half an hour. He finally showed up with a wonderful vase in hand. He said he got it at a garage sale down the road from us. He wanted me to stop what I was doing and go back to the sale with him.

He bought a tool and die set, a power scraper we can add to our air tool collection, some clamps, and some other tool type stuff. He was very happy, encouraging me to get whatever I wanted.

The house was empty except for the sale stuff. The lady who has lived there since way before we moved here 30 years ago has gone to an assisted living center now and is very happy with her new life.

I have to show you my goodies!

Here is the vase my husband brought home – without, and then with, flowers.

 

 

I LOVE pitchers of any type, size, and color. I found these –

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was the most expensive thing I bought. It was $10. I spent $33, including the vase my husband got for me.

 

AND, I got these two adorable doggies to live on the front porch. I also have ceramic ducks on the porch, plus a frog, a gnome, and a hedgehog. I’ll take pics of the porch when I get it cleaned up and the flowers planted.

I just love garage sales! You don’t spend a lot of time figuring out if you want something or not. When you do find something, the price is marked clearly, so you don’t have to wonder if you can afford it, and you don’t have to bother someone to find out. You don’t have to wait around all day, as you do at an auction, for what you’re interested in to come up for bid, only to lose to someone who is willing to pay more for it than it costs new.

I feel rich!

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Mosaic Bowl is Almost Finished!

Yesterday morning I grouted the bowl. It’s a bit like making mud pies, in that you put a huge glop of grout on the side, then try to mash it in-between the tiles. Then you add another glop. There’s some water involved, vinyl gloves, sponges, cloths, etc. You cover the bowl generously, then start using the sponge to remove the excess. You want to end up with the space covered as evenly as possible with none left on the actual tiles.

 

I did this as much as possible yesterday. I’ll do a bit more clean up today, then paint on the sealer, and see if I can add just a bit of glitter. I’ll also cut a round piece of felt to glue on the bottom so that it won’t scratch furniture.  I’ll take pics again when it’s finished.

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Wisteria Bloom

We’re having a really nice display this year. My husband has been trying to get the wisteria to go all the way across over the woodpile, and then climb the tree on the other side. I was standing close to the wisteria yesterday so I could breathe deeply and enjoy its glorious smell, when I realized I was seeing some wisteria in the tree on the far side of the main part of the plant! I brought my husband over so that he could see that his efforts are bearing fruit. He was really happy. He doesn’t grin ear to ear often, but he did this time. :0)

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Filed under Arkansas, Gardening, Greenwood

Busy Saturday!

I didn’t even get time to write anything on the blog yesterday we were so busy!

The first thing we did was put the shutter back up that blew down during the storm before last. Yesterday was the first day we’ve had where it wasn’t too windy to be up balancing a 2 foot long shutter on a 2-story ladder. I HATE it when my husband has to do this. I am height challenged in two ways: personally in being too short for a lot of things I want to do; and secondly, I’m afraid to go up a ladder, be on the roof, etc.  I CAN get up there, but I freeze after I do, making me useless.

The holes for the shutters in the brick are wallowed out. I suggested we put the screws in the shutter, hold them on with mollies, then use liquid nails in the holes. We could then screw the screws in as far as they would go and hopefully the liquid nails will harden and hold them in. Amazingly, my husband thought my idea was a good one! We got it finished. No one broke any appendages. We didn’t yell at each other. All is good.

The next big thing we tackled was getting the irrigation system going. We THOUGHT the one to the garden was working, but discovered that the timer for the system died suddenly, and our veggies were being watered continuously. ARRRRRRGH! We got the water shut off, went to Yeager’s and got another time. We programmed it, installed it, and tested it. All is good there, too.

Then we started with the irrigation system that handles watering all the flowers in the planters around the house. We spent at least a couple of hours finding and repairing breaks in the front yard. We had trouble reprogramming the brains of it, which live in the well house, but we THINK we finally got it right. We tested the system in the front, found and fixed more problems, and called it a day.

Another good thing about working in the yard yesterday was that I logged over 7400 steps! That’s amazing for me!!! WOO HOOOO!

We will probably tackle the irrigation system for the back yard today. We’re thinking about changing the tires on the truck this afternoon, from the snow tires to our regular ones. We’ll see how we fare after other have-to’s have been accomplished….

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Hope You Had a Happy St. Pat’s Day

Vitamin-Ha

 

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“What is Friend?”

SayingImages.com

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“Dillon Reservoir Wildlife Area 2”

“Dillon Reservoir Wildlife Area 2” – Sergio Dardon

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“Hyacinth”

“Hyacinth” – Paul Militaru Photography

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Birthday Celebration Redux

Happy Birthday – Pinterest

 

LAST Friday my husband took me to dinner at one of our favorite local restaurants. We had a glorious NON-low-carb, decadent dinner PLUS I had a big delicious piece of chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. I received birthday cards and lots of well wishes from my friends. I even bought several necklaces to enjoy. It was a very happy celebration.

TODAY my good, long-time friends, Kay and Linda of Lunch Bunch, celebrated my birthday. I received some really pretty birthday cards, nice presents, and they bought lunch for my husband and me!

This afternoon I get a massage. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

After I made sure I didn’t have to add ANOTHER year to my already-impressive age, I totally relaxed and enjoyed feeling special.

I’ve had quite a bit of love, attention, and nice gifts in the past several days. I could get USED to a celebration every Friday….

ClipArtKid

 

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

St. Pat’s – Pinterest

May the Irish hills caress you.
May her lakes and rivers bless you.
May the luck of the Irish enfold you.
May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.
~Irish Blessing

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Blooms

I love spring, with all the plants coming to life again. As I walk around our yard, the combinations of color really lift my spirits.

This color combination of the forsythia and the wisteria really caught my eye this morning. The daffodils are almost gone now, but so much is happening, it’s hard to be sad about that.

 

Here is one group of our twice-blooming deep purple iris. We’re trying to get these planted all the way down at least one side of the driveway. Since our driveway is about 650 feet, it’ll take us awhile.

 

My husband saw these at the store the other day and picked them up. I planted them in a brick planter right outside the garage so he’ll see them each time we come and go. They are happy looking flowers, aren’t they?

 

There’s a pretty sharp contrast between things that are greening up and the leftovers from the winter.

 

 

 

I’m trying to gather the energy to gather up some of the hundreds of small weed trees our wonderful helper, Shane, cut down for us last fall. I’m thinking I’ll try to gather stuff a little bit each day and see if I can make things look a bit neater…

Happy Spring!

 

 

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How Does Your Garden Grow?

Ashevillage

 

Here is one row of our garden. You can see three ‘boxes’ from front to back tied together by the irrigation system, which is on a timer we can control. Most of the garden is in now.

 

This is the second row of the garden with another three boxes.

I just went over and hugged my husband again, thanking him (1) for the idea of our building a raised garden (when he saw how very hot, tired, and achy I got getting up and down, planting, weeding, and harvesting the garden on the ground), (2) for all the time and energy he spent building and installing the boxes, cutting and welding the support tables that hold up the wooden boxes, designing the irrigation system, (3) for encouraging me to spend what I needed to get – and keep – things going in the garden.

 

I visit the garden at least once a day – covering or uncovering the plants in protecting them from freezes, pulling the weeds that install themselves even up in the air, pulling off dead leaves on the plants, taking pics, and – the best part – when I can actually start harvesting what we’ve grown!

 

I’ve planted Georgia Sweet Onions, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Red Lettuce, Romaine Lettuce, Spinach, Radishes, celery, and spaghetti squash. Probably next month, when the stores have a good selection, I’ll get three tomato plants. In another three weeks, I’ll get three more, making a total of six. We have two brick planters on the east side of the house converted to square foot gardens, filled with Mel’s Mix, ready to receive the plants.

 

We’re off to a good start!

Do you like to grow veggies? I would love to hear from you, comparing notes on how you do it.  I would love to hear about tips you have on getting a healthy crop, suggestions you have so that I can do a better job. I’m a real novice and appreciate all the help I can get. :0)

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Filed under Arkansas, DIET!, Gardening, Greenwood, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds

String Art – Take 14

The String Art Studio – Pinterest

Deceptively simple in appearance. Colorful and lovely.

 

Wood Strings, Whimsical Things – Pinterest

I love the idea of doing monograms with string art. The circular arrow makes a nice frame, doesn’t it?

 

 

Zelf Gemaakt – Pinterest

I have no words for this one. It simply glows and the design is amazing. At least three different shades of gold…

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“Dillon Reservoir Wildlife Area 1”

“Dillon Reservoir Wildlife Area 1” – Sergio Dardon

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“Yellow Tulips 1”

“Yellow Tulips 1” – Paul Militaru Photography

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Bright Idea!

good idea – pinterest

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Winter Poem

Pugs and Kisses via Cindy Bassnett Thurman

 

Sending warmth (and power!) to my good friends in the Northeast United States.  I hope this is, indeed, the last gasp of winter and that you’ll be enjoying the spring in all its glory soon.

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String Art – Take 13

I’m Hanging It Up – Pinterest

The ‘steam’ coming up from the coffee makes this piece, I think.

 

Poop Emoji String Art – Pinterest

I love the pose of the cat, plus the density of the string work brings out the various parts of the body. Amazing.

 

 

Shamrock – Pinterest

This seems simple, but if you look carefully, there are four different shades of green string used. I also love the gold brad type nail heads to outline the shamrock.

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Getting the Lard Off – Progress Report 3/15/2017

Funnyblogs – Funnywebsite – Funnypictures

Awhile back I fell off the wagon. Even though I’m eating good, low-carb food most of the day, ‘something happens’ once dinner is over. I feel I’m starving (you can see from the pic above how I’m wasting away) and I keep eating. I’ve been talking to myself, trying to change my ways, but it’s not working yet.

So – I’m at a weight loss of 35 lbs and 20 inches and I can’t seem to get on a downward path.

I have all kinds of excuses, but none that holds any water. I’m giving in to my weakness and stuffing my face. I AM trying to reread the books that got me motivated in the first place, and I’m hoping I’ll find the way to NOT get up and get something to eat after dinner!

YourEllipticals.com

 

BoredPanda

 

I was happily doing my elliptical trainer and yoga until my back started acting up, to the point I’ve been on a heating pad in my chair and in bed, plus taking Ibuprofen and wearing a pain patch. I am almost back to normal now, so I’m promising myself I’ll get back on track with my exercising, too.

Promises, Promises…  Though THIS I will definitely try to do –

taolife.com

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Recognizing a Friend

Anita Opper – Zen to Zany

 

I don’t make friends easily. When I say, “friend,” I mean a REAL friend. Not just people you enjoy being with because of location, a shared interest, etc. Those acquaintances are fun, too, and necessary for quality of life. But these acquaintances are free-flowing. When the shared activity goes, or you don’t share the same location anymore, they tend to fade, however much you might like them to last forever.

I think you ‘recognize’ a friend. You first meet and you feel you’ve known each other forever. You recognize it in her eyes. Most of the time I discover later it’s a depth caused by pains or losses, of down-to-the-ground living, and living through hard things, survival to find things in life to enjoy again.  Recognition of a soulmate without more than a, “It’s nice to meet you.”

I have two friends in Tulsa. They know who they are. We may not talk every day, but when we DO get together again, we don’t even really need to catch up. We’re still on the same page. We talk as if we haven’t been apart. We still share and love. Our hearts reach out whether we can hug each other’s neck or have to rely on Facebook, blogs, emails, cards, phones, or email. The closeness and caring are forever.

I have another friend in Charlotte. We email every day. We “talk” about things we might never say aloud to others. We help each other through things. We laugh together. We share big things and little things. We don’t agree on everything, but don’t feel the need to win each other over to our way of thinking. We love and respect each other. I never feel my day is complete until I’ve heard from her. I feel extremely lucky to know her.

A relative in Thibodaux is also a good friend. If I were her neighbor, she would probably put tape on my mouth before I talked her arm off. We never run out of things/feelings/hopes to share. Even though we’re across the country from each other, I think of her every day.

I hope you’ve recognized a friend.

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String Art – Take 12

etsy – 1000+ images about string art on pinterest

You call a painting in three parts a triptych. I guess this would be a quadratych? Anyway, I love the fact that this was broken up into 4 parts, then mounted on a shared background.

 

I love the color and action in this one.

 

 

filografi Art – pinterest

I find this one fascinating. I looked up the word, ‘filography’ and found out it means ‘thread sculpture.’ I guess this is a subgroup in the string art medium. The patterns here are mind-boggling. I love this.

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St Patrick’s Day Mailbox Decoration

We put this up this morning to be ready for St. Patrick’s Day. We used to have just a bare shamrock piece cut out, but I like this one better This is the back of the piece. You can see where I tried to blend in the mounting bar into the painting.

 

And this is the front of the piece.

“St. Patrick’s Day is an enchanted time – a day to begin transforming winter’s dreams into summer’s magic.”  ~Adrienne Cook

 

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“Birds Flying”

“Birds Flying” – Paul Militaru Photography

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Birthday Festival Continues

I only had one birthday recently, but the celebrating continues!  Each year I give myself a birthday present – something I love that I don’t need.  This year I found a new website called, VIPME.COM. I splurged and ordered FOUR necklaces!

 

I love statement necklaces. I particularly love costume jewelry because I don’t have to worry about someone mugging me to get my ‘jewels,’ or agonizing if the jewelry doesn’t last forever. I would rather have a lot of different pieces to wear than one more expensive piece. I love all four of these.

 

 

 

 

 

The very best part was that I paid $20 for ALL of these together!  Happy Birthday to me….. :0)

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