Filed under Embroidery/Sewing Art
Filed under paintings I love, Sonia Lera Preston
We live on top of a ridge line outside city limits. It’s a very wooded piece of land, and we had to really work to clear enough for our house, the driveway, and our shop when we built here. We constantly have to hack, saw, and dig up things in order for Mother Nature not to reclaim what we have considered “ours” for over 37 years now.
We share the land with several ‘critters’ and we try to live and let live within reason. I have our pest control people treat us for everything including elephants when they come to spray inside and out quarterly. Even though my husband points out that some snakes are good, I have to admit that I lump them all in the same category and do not want them anywhere around me.
We don’t have any choice about sharing our yard with moles, voles, and other ‘oles’ of all kinds. Yesterday I was trying to viciously cut back a bush that lives in a planter beside our front porch. I walked across the yard to dump a whole trash can full of stuff I had removed from the bush and found myself SINKING into the ground, my footsteps “squishing” as I moved each foot. This was due in large part to all the rain we’ve had. The ground is quite saturated and we’re still due for more.
The other reason is all the tunnels all the ‘oles’ have dug. We attempted to kill the grubs that all the oles eat, thinking that if we removed much of the food they want to eat, they would go elsewhere. We threw a lot of money at the problem, but it didn’t really make any difference. So now we try to co-exist.
Our dog, Amber, doesn’t like them, either. I find holes she has dug, trying to get to them, all over the yard. Filling in holes is on the list as a regular part of my working in the yard. I mainly do it to keep my husband from falling into one with the wheels of the mower.
The pictures I find of moles and voles are kind of cute, but what they do to our yard is NOT. CUTE.
Filed under Gardening, Pet Peeves
We got a lot of rain yesterday. It finally stopped enough for me to tackle the huge bush (“Japanese Yew” – thanks for the app, ML) that lives in a planter on one side of our front porch. I decided to try to basically cut it down by half. It had gotten totally out of hand and cut off the view down the sidewalk when we stood on the front porch.
I got most of the upper half cut off yesterday. I’ll work on it more today to try to make it look better – not just LOPPED OFF, as it looks now.
I have most of the planters in reasonable shape now. I have one to tweak, and then I’ll tackle the pots on the deck next.
I have some zinnia seeds to sprinkle here and there in various planters. I always do this, forget about it, and then have some nice surprises later in the season. :0)
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
I love Pinterest. I find all kinds of wonderful things there. I share a bunch of them with you. I’m frustrated, though, that so much appears there with no credit to the creators. I share whatever is there with you – the person’s name who pinned the image, credit for the artist if it’s there, etc., but so many times there is nothing. These are beautiful sculptures, and I hope that if the people who created them see them here somehow, they realize I shared the images to honor their work.
Filed under Stone/Pebble Art
Learning to savor is a skill that keeps on giving. If you can learn to slow down and really SAVOR what is right/good/enjoyable in your life, it somehow accumulates inside you, making the bad/sad/challenging stuff easier to deal with.
I’m lucky because there are many things in my life to savor –
Gathering things that bring you joy and savoring them is essential to your well-being.
Filed under taking care of yourself
As the rain comes down, the lightning flashes, and the thunder bangs and rolls outside, I feel good that I did the weed whacking yesterday. My body is telling me I overdid it, and that a more serious session of yoga stretches should be in my future this afternoon.
It’s quite impressive-looking outside right now. It looks like it is late in the evening. We’re supposed to have ‘heavy rain’ until around 9pm tonight. Since we live on top of a ridge line, we don’t have to worry about flooding (we’re under a flood watch) but we ARE vulnerable to lightning, hail, gusty winds, etc.
Now, since I was too tired to use the leaf blower on the front and back sidewalks after weed whacking yesterday, I’m hoping that it rains hard enough – at least for several minutes – to wash the debris off. :0) The forecasters are saying we could get 2 inches of rain today! I wish, on the other hand, the rain would be soft and soaky, since we’ve been under a burn ban for what seems like forever.
I have two ‘should’s’ on my list today –
On the ‘maybe’ list –
I hope that you can enjoy a really nice Sunday.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
It just started raining suddenly as if someone had turned on a faucet full blast. I think it’s stopping now, but it was really impressive.
I managed to get outside this afternoon and weed whack. I did three sessions and finished the whole yard. If the rain stops and things clear up a bit, I’ll take my husband out for an ‘oooh’ and ‘aaaah’ session later. :0)
There are still lots of things to do outside, but I feel better that I trimmed things up where my husband can’t go with the mower. I’ll spray some KillzAll when things dry out to keep it all from just resprouting seemingly overnight.
I hope you’ve had a happy day.
I’m feeling devoid of any energy right now. Just drinking a cup of coffee and trying not to fall asleep, hitting my head on the monitor on the way to La La Land…
Filed under Harry Huizing - @hh_painting on X, paintings I love
Filed under Andrii Frolov Art, Oil Paintings I Love
Yesterday I got lazy, but I’ve been trying to do something in our yard each day. Things are starting to shape up now, but I’m having more and more trouble finding time between rain showers to do much.
I SHOULD have weed whacked yesterday. My husband mowed the yard a couple of days ago, so he’s done his part, but I just couldn’t get motivated. I’ll try to get it done today, though scattered showers are forecast and we are under a flood watch. Adding insult to injury, the forecast is for scattered showers and thunderstorms for the NEXT SIX DAYS!
I’m in the frustrating position of feeling guilty no matter what I’m doing. If I’m outside working in the yard, I feel guilty that I haven’t vacuumed the tiled areas on our first floor. I actually saw a clump of Amber hair floating around yesterday… If I’m inside cleaning or paying bills, I feel guilty because if it’s not raining, I should be outside weeding, pruning, planting things…. THE RESULT – yesterday I read the rest of a book. (I know. I’m a slob.) :0)
SO – when I finish my blog posts for today, I’ll get outside and at least get STARTED weed whacking. I’ll try for two sessions today, plus my yoga stretching this afternoon. I’m also planning to finish off enjoyment of a rotisserie chicken by making chicken salad as part of our dinner tonight.
I hope that your Saturday has both productivity and fun.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Filed under Bead Embroidery, Embroidery/Sewing Art
Here’s a picture of last year’s crop before we had the truly horrible winter that killed off the bulbs –
This is a planter on one side of our front porch. I had planted some iris in it. They bloomed, but the planter looked ‘unfinished’ or ‘unplanned,’ to me, so I decided to dig up the iris and relocate it. There is room for growth on either side of this planter. (Besides no one comes in our front door anyway. Everyone comes in through the garage.) I’m hoping the third bulb is happy here, growing its heart out.
Here’s where I relocated the iris. (As you can see, Amber – including her feet – was helping me.) There is a Rio Samba rose plant in the center, which has bloomed once this spring. I pruned it so I hope it will bloom again soon. My SIL told me about two phone apps that may help me identify what the perennial is with the little spikes of purple flowers. It’s on my list to see how the apps work and see if one of them will help me. Fingers crossed.
I spent a total of 2 hours working in the yard yesterday. I re-weeded the trio of planters that run between the top of the driveway and our front yard, and pruned things more harshly –
If the rain holds off, I plan to spend quite a bit of time outside today, too. I want to weed whack where my husband couldn’t get with the mower, spray KillsAll to help me have to weed whack less and make it easier for my husband to mow, and then tackle another planter –
I hope your weather is such that you can enjoy being outside, too.
Filed under Gardening
I fertilized everything. Looking good so far. We’re really enjoying the spinach and lettuce in salads. I also have a couple of HEADS of lettuce doing well. :0)
Filed under Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
I felt this way earlier. We had to get up early to go get lab work done first thing this morning at our doctor’s office for a routine appointment next week. I had to get up twice during the night to talk sternly to Amber, who was barking at ghost gophers. She was finally quiet. My husband gets up before I do much of the time, but he was sleeping soundly when I awoke. Murphy’s Law that since we were both finally sleeping well, we had to get up.
After our tests we rewarded ourselves with a nice breakfast at The Dari, our favorite restaurant in Greenwood. My husband is pretty picky about how he wants his eggs, and he’s gotten spoiled here because they ALWAYS get it right.
We are now home, I’ve just made a pot of coffee and MAY be able to function rather than essentially sleep-walking through the morning. (My husband is taking a nap.)
The weather people are trying their darnedest to look like they know what they’re doing, but I think they’ve thrown their arms up in the air about whether it will rain or not. I’m still reading forecasts, but then just look out the door and decide.
I did some work outside yesterday that I’ll show you in another post. I plan to spend more time out there today (weather permitting) and weed whack if it dries enough or weed and prune more planters if it doesn’t.
Enjoy today and the coming weekend.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________, weather
Filed under Embroidery/Sewing Art
Filed under When Wood Comes Alive, Wooden Faces
We are home again, NOT having drowned getting groceries and other supplies, plus our mail. It started sprinkling as we started home, but we could unload the truck in the dry garage, so it was all good. Now it’s quite overcast and sprinkling more heavily, with harder rain starting about 3 this afternoon, according to the latest forecasts.
Does anyone know why the humidity is listed only as 78% when it’s raining?
Since it IS raining, the iris will have to wait until the weather is cooperating to be relocated.
One thing on my wish list these days is that grocery prices will come down reasonably soon. I realize that no one can simply wave a magic wand and bring prices down, but we didn’t even buy much today and had the highest bill in my memory. Depressing and scary.
May you stay safe from the weather and the grocery store. :0)
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
We’re supposed to have storms starting later today. We’re going to go shopping in a few minutes to get our mail and get some groceries in for what looks to be a rainy few days ahead.
I planted my elephant ear bulbs in three different brick planters around the front yard yesterday. Clearing out one of the planters was quite laborious, with having to lop off a LOT of heavy branches from two trees behind and around the planter. I may have to do more down the line, but it’s enough for now.
The bulbs are huge and look like small bowling balls without finger holes. I couldn’t tell from looking at them which was ‘up’ and ‘down.’ I researched, and it said the end that is more rough, with what might look like gouges or holes is the end where the roots will come out and should go DOWN in the hole. I’m now anxiously awaiting a spurt of greenery to show.
If the rain holds off for a while after we return this morning, I’ll see if I can get the iris I dug out of one of the planters bracketing the front porch relocated in planters around the yard.
My only plans other than the above are to clean up my area around my computer, pay bills, file, bookkeeping, cooking, etc. Exciting, huh! :0)
I hope that your Thursday is a happy one.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
I have ONE of THREE elephant ear bulbs planted now. I’m trying to cut stuff off OVER and around the planter, and then dig up stuff IN the second planter for the second bulb. There is a tree or trees behind this planter, and I’m having to reach way up and lop off branches, then catch them before they fall on me, and then throw them in a pile to haul off when I’m finished.
If I didn’t like the idea of changing the focus of these three planters so much, spreading the elephant ears around the front yard, I would just declare this a dumb project and regroup. I can SEE how the elephant ear plant might look in the 2nd planter, so I’m taking a break, drinking a bunch of water, resting, and then will go out for another session.
One of the problems of living in woods is that the vegetation would like to go back to where it was, not only encroaching on what we laughingly call the ‘civilized’ part of our yard, but totally engulfing it so that it looks like we were never here -even after 37 years. Half or more of what I do every year is hack stuff down.
I need to remove enough stuff that the elephant ears have the room they need to grow. I can continue hacking at stuff around this planter, but I want to clear enough area that I don’t have to come back right away.
Happily enough, if I can finish with this second planter, the third one won’t be as much work.
Filed under Gardening
I’m excited. The elephant ear bulbs I ordered a while back were delivered this morning. They are HUGE and GORGEOUS!
After seeing how large they are, I’m planning to put one in the regular 8 foot brick planter in the rock bed in front of the house where I’ve been planting them for several years. I’m going to plant the second bulb across the yard in the middle of another brick planter that is beside the well house, and the third in the middle of a planter that runs in front of the other end of the house, spreading the wealth all across the front yard. :0)
I may need to move some things, and maybe prune some others, but I think it’s time for a shake-up, changing the focus of a couple of our planters. I love spring because it’s full of possibilities.
I’ll tackle this after lunch. There won’t be anything to SEE until the plants sprout, but we’re due for rain tomorrow, so it would be good to get the bulbs in today.
Filed under Gardening
Filed under Phillipe Faraut Sculpture, sculpture
Happy May Day! I just dated myself because I had a bad time trying to find the image above. To ME, May Day means children around a May pole winding long, colorful ribbons around it. I never actually DID that, or even WATCHED others do it. I guess it was just conveyed in pictures, coloring books, and more. Anyhow, it’s an image that is fading away.
So we’ll just wish each other well and hope it’s a nice day. It was rainy here when I first got up, but the sun seems to be coming out. I was planning to work in the yard, weed whacking to neaten up after my husband mowed the yard a couple of days ago. Hopefully, things will continue to improve so I can get outside.
The cheerful mail lady just drove up to deliver the three elephant ear bulbs I ordered recently. They’re HUGE and beautiful balls of promise. I’ll get them planted as soon as the weather permits.
Quotesgram
Since it’s the first of another month, it’s time for accountability check on my efforts to lose the lard.
WEIGHT: down 23 pounds since my heaviest. (I gained 2 from eating at the Mexican restaurant locally, enjoying every bite as I gained the weight. I’ll get it off again ASAP and then go for more.)
GIRTH: I’m down a total of 3 inches overall this month, with bits down a bit here and there. The biggest good difference was on my abdomen – down an inch from a month ago.
I’m hoping that ‘slow and steady’ ultimately wins the race.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
I had a nice harvest from our little garden this morning. I just finished washing it and putting it in gallon bags for the fridge. We’ll have some of it tonight in a chef salad for dinner.
I’m going to look online for cooking fresh leaf spinach because I’ve never done that before (even though I’m older than dirt, there are lots of things I haven’t done yet :0) )
I still have some pruning, supporting, and weeding to do out there. I’ll do another session soon.
Filed under Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
Filed under When Wood Comes Alive
I was doing okay until I caught myself this morning, starting to open the door to the garage to go out and feed Abby. I guess different things will cause me to lose it over the next period of time. I’m happy we got to share 13 years. When I left a message for our son, he answered, “I’m sorry. She was an exceptionally good cat.” And that sums it up.
Since we’re having a nice morning, I’m planning on harvesting some lettuce and spinach this morning, plus seeing what is needed, otherwise, in our small garden. I probably need to prune tomato plants, do some weeding, some added supports for the tomatoes, etc. It’s nice to have a quiet day where I can do several sessions in the yard, resting in-between.
My husband asked me to go out to dinner last night, to one of the local Mexican restaurants. I was excited about going, but started worrying about what I could eat, being on my low-carb eating plan. I researched, finally deciding that I could order fajitas, take my own zero-net-carb tortillas, and ask them to leave off the rice, beans, and tortillas, and not bring chips and salsa to the table.
As the day wore on, I kept fighting with myself. I had actually put two small tortillas in a sandwich bag in my purse, and then decided, NO. Last night we had a wonderful time at the restaurant. It had been over a year since we had gone out to dinner. I had chips and salsa. I ate a beef taco salad. It was all delicious. I enjoyed every. single. bite. I gained 2 lbs. I don’t care. It may be another year before we do it again, and life is short. When you’re invited out to eat, or eat at someone else’s home, all bets are off as far as a ‘diet’ is concerned, in my HUMBLE opinion. Eat everything. Enjoy the experience. The next day is soon enough to get back on the more healthful eating plan.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
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