Our 31st Non-Anniversary!

And how better to celebrate our 31st non-anniversary than with me contracting a cold and a phone call from our driveway-sharing neighbors to say that there is yet another (!!!!) tree down, blocking passage? We've lost track of how many times the driveway has been impassable...
I was contemplating returning to bed as my throat was scratchy and my nose was stuffy and I just felt generally tired and run down when Bob provided the above intelligence. The tree decided to fall down late; we were in New Haven and didn't arrive home until a bit past 11:00. Our neighbor got home at around 1:00 to discover that she couldn't drive up the driveway. We were lucky!

(This shot is from the other side, by our neighbor's stranded car.) I rallied energy to assure Bob that I'd help drag limbs away, after he'd chainsawed the downed tree into draggable pieces. Fortunately, we have great neighbors and everyone pitched in. Bob sawed the side branches and when enough weight had been removed, we all formed a line and grabbed a rope that had been affixed to the biggest limb and we pulled. The third of the tree that was damaged gave way and no one got hurt and we quickly piled the truck high with debris to cart off into the woods.

You can barely see the truck for all the tree! It took an hour and a half or so but I think everyone secretly enjoyed the helping out and the cleaning up in the mildly chilly morning.
Which, of course, leads back to Bob and I celebrating our 31st anniversary! Yes, the basil was struck dead and blackened and tonight we're having a small occasion. (We'll wait until I feel 100% before we really congratulate each other on attaining a bit over three decades of unmarried bliss.) But I actually feel pretty okay after a low key day of laying around in the sun and getting picture books from the library. Sorry to see the garden go, but I guess it means less work!

What We Do For Fun, Part 102

This is Maggie the Mexican Pony's field. At first glance, this may seem pretty- all those dainty white flowers. And they are pretty: millions of tiny stiff asters... which Maggie won't eat. I proposed to Bob that I would mow the field and eliminate the flowers, before they set seed.

No, we don't have a huge brush hog or a tractor or even a riding lawn mower. We have a simple push mower and Bob has a weed whacker. Together, we decided to conquer the "Back Forty". For scale, here's the lawn mower in context:

That's the lawn mower, and by the time I had taken this picture, we'd mowed and whacked nearly half the field. Not an easy task but the day was pleasantly cool/warm and the bugs weren't bad. It's sort of like that classic Barbara Kruger piece, "It's a small world until you have to clean it". Things get bigger as you push equipment through it.

Right in the middle of the field, there is a mysterious area with dead grass in it. It's about the size of a large dining table and appears to have been burned. Weird. Maybe the aliens have landed here in their miniature space ship in attempt to create our very own Area 51. We may never know!
Anyway, we did about 2/3 of the pasture in two rounds this afternoon, before and after coffee. Bob weed whacked the edge of the field so that the electric fence would once more work. Here he is, again, with a helpful pink arrow pointing at him in the distance:

 You can see the area (dimly) to the right where we haven't mowed yet. Maybe tomorrow? Can't do everything in one afternoon!

That's a zoomed in version of Bob weed whacking, with a pile of fire wood waiting to be rescued. That was one of the several reasons we had for clearing the field. This pile of wood has been there since last last spring, before the tornado. We've had so many other stacks, heaps, piles and mounds of wood that this was not a big priority. But we needed to clear so that we could drive the truck down into the pasture and move the wood. I'm waiting until cooler weather so as not to disturb hornets, snakes and other varmints who may be hiding out!

Fall is Coming

Boy, I hope that shows up- quite the awe-inspring spider web on a Japanese Maple in the garden! I'm not sure if the blog allows you to zoom in, but the detail was spectacular and it was one of those oh-so-elaborate and incredibly delicate works of perfection that only spiders can do. I can feel fall coming to the garden.
Things are getting squishy and damp and rotting and imploding. I'm not ready for that yet! I've been spending less time gardening and more time just enjoying the end of season mess. I actively like the garden when it starts to implode. I can't do anything to stop it and I might as well enjoy it.
That is, despite the fact that I feel like I just planted the containers and didn't I only finalize planting out those zinnias I started from seed like yesterday?!? While I appreciate the asters blooming, they too signal the approach of fall.
I am looking forward to planting bulbs (more white daffodils for the Lilac area) but I am NOT anticipating cold weather with anything even vaguely resembling glee. The summer never feels long enough.
On the other hand, the fall gets me double time back into my studio and that's a good thing. I'm hard at work on several new pieces and erupting into mass production of my WTF line of work. The annual "open studios" event happens a month from now, but I was offered the opportunity to present my "merch" at a pop-up marketplace. This means I need to do what I thought I had a month to do in a week and a half. Hahahaha! But I'll do it! I'll get it done. I guess it is fortuitous that the weather cooling and I'm in the mood to sew not dig.

Spontaneous Renovations!

A refresher for those of you who don't recall: the living room was formerly my studio. This cabinet in the corner (yes... MY little cabinet of horrors!) was blocking the "front" door. The door had been graciously nailed shut by our house's previous owner. We will also fondly recall some of the other "improvements" that he made such as attractive ceiling holes, visible in the above picture. Or here in vivid close up:

But wait! I'm getting side tracked as is easy to do while contemplating household projects! That's for another day...
Where was I? Okay, so I painted the "front" door green and that sparked a slew of projects and the shifting of multiple tectonic plates. Like Bob has been saying for ages, "I'd love to get that front door opened up" and I know that the painting of the door roused us to action because on Monday, we moved the cabinet, Bob prised the door open and Hey Presto! The living room became a new space.

In all fairness to (mostly) Bob and myself, there was a lot of work between here and there. Not only had the door been nailed shut, the door frame itself had been partially removed and there were odd gaps and openings to fill. Poor Bob had to secure a new 2 x 8 for framing and then discovered that the door itself had warped. He set about shimming and planing and generally refitting the whole mess together. But now it opens! And closes!
He also replaced the knob- for which we had no key- with a nifty handle. Much easier to use and better looking. (Ahem: please ignore that weird exposed cluster of taped up wires. Future project!)

So we've been happily spackling and painting and enjoying going in and out of our new front door. Bob even dragged the lawn furniture over to that side of the house for us to take in the new view:

Now I have to find a home for all the studio stuff that was stacked up beside the cabinet. (Hahaha! Not an easy job as my studio annex is still packed with Mommy's furniture! Yet another project! Onwards and upwards!!)

1... 2... 3... Green Door!

I did it! I painted the "front" door green! Bob had gotten the paint a while ago and inspiration seized me yesterday after lunch. It changed the mood of that whole side of the house.
So now we have:
One door, two door.
Red door:

Blues door!

Festive, silly, cheerful and helpful seeing as how we have no real "front" door; they're all on sides of the house and we're not clear which is properly to be considered the front.
But watch my next blog posting to see what the simple act of painting the door green caused. Sort of a snowballing of events, opening up all sorts of new possibilities!

Wrong Color!

(Gee, it looks better here! Oh well...)
Bob and I bought paint to redo the upstairs bathroom three months ago.After months of pinning paint samples to the walls and considering and re-considering we arrived at a consensus and purchased the paint. I am sure we all know how tough it is to determine the best pigment based on a tiny paint sample... But I was optimistic and awaited the perfect day to apply it. Lord knows it's been hot and humid and not great painting weather this summer.
So last week, Bob held his finger to the wind and declared that TODAY was the day: nice and breezy and dry so that you could air out the upstairs and the paint would dry quickly and thoroughly. I set to work.
And there is always waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more prepartion needed than you remember. You have to get the actually applicators and stirrers and pans and you need a screw driver to prise the lid off the can. Not to mention moving everything off the sink and the racks and out of the room. And then you need a step ladder; yes, it takes a while to prepare!
Finally, I began painting. I felt less and less sure as I went because it just looks so light.

See? Here it looks almost white! It's not a bad color, but I wanted one room in the house to have a saturated hue. The whole house is white!! I think I wanted a more "Wedgewood Blue": that is, a blue that has more grey to it... we'll live with the color as is for a while. At least it's clean!
                                                      
 In the meantime, Bob has become inspired to make us lovely and functional towel racks. We have had a stupid plastic one that was never correctly anchored to studs in the wall- that's what those holes are above. (Bob is spackling the holes with a unique way of securing the spackle when there is no stud behind. He has a small metal disk, to which he has affixed a string that holds the disk flat when the spackle is applied... neat!) Besides, we never had hooks or a rack on the door so we were limited as to where to hang towels or clothes. I can't wait.
So again, at least progress has been made. Maybe the color will grow on me; I think Bob is more sanguine about it than I am. It's a big step in the right direction!


                                                         


                                                             

New (Garden) Rules!!

Echoing the phrase "My House (or Barn or Studio or What Have You) My Rules", I am hereby asserting "My Garden, My Rules". There are only a few- and they are simple- but from here on in, these are the Rules:

1.) Please do not visit my garden and point to my Tithonia, (or Brugmansia or Cimicifuga et al) and say, "Gee I have that but it's three times bigger!" It's like penis size; make no comparisons. Maybe my insects are bigger than yours.

2.) If you spot a weed, please don't tell me. Chances are I know it's there and simply haven't removed it yet. Or, feel free to pull it up and compost it yourself. I appreciate the help.

3.) If some poor plant looks parched and in need of water, again, please don't moan to me about it. I  am probably tired of tripping over and dragging that hose (it weighs more than I do!) around the yard. Or I have become thirsty myself and put my needs before the plants. There are plenty of watering cans available and a deep well. Water that thing yourself.

4.) If there are holes in the leaves of my plants, please (again ad nauseum) keep it to yourself. Yes, I probably have some bugs and slugs but I refuse to spray and I hand pick as much as I care to- which may not be as often as you and your higher standards demand. Holes can be a decorative addition (or subtraction) from a leaf and just think of it as filigree.

5.) And finally, ENJOY my garden as just that- MY garden. I think it's super and while I may not do things the way you do, you needn't worry about it. You can admire mine for what it is (or isn't) and then go home to your garden and admire that, too. It's great that we all do things differently and have different standards; it's what make me me and you you.