More of the same

Here's a pail of garden pickings (currant & sweet pea tomatoes, green beans and a few potatoes). I went back indoors to list more arts and crafts for sale and thought it was an interesting comment on how quickly the summer was passing to shoot that Christmas Stocking up against the grapes. Somehow it made the task less tedious and put a spring in my step as I headed back to work.

Can you believe the size of this thing?

...And No, I don't mean this gardener. What you're seeing next to me is ONE tomato plant surrounded by some beans. (Yes, the plant with the red flowers are the beans) I never got around to buying tomato cages so I propped some of it up with that white garden edging but other than that I'm not sure what's holding the whole thing up-I guess the tomato and the beans are just hanging on to each other but the whole garden has gotten away from me and is beginning to look like something out of a sci fi movie. Don't you think so? Oh well, it's wild but then so am I but that of course is another story...stay tuned...

Try not to look at all the weeds running around the garden. I'm ignoring them for now and tending to other things but the whole situation and these photos made me laugh and I thought it might entertain you too.

A dull but pleasant day

I spent more time outdoors working on the yard and garden, then indoors for excitement like laundry, dishes and sweeping floors so you can imagine what a treat it was to go down to the lake for live music and the farmers market (one of the vendors even had egg rolls and that's the first time I noticed that-as usual I was looking for the pizza ; )
Now, I'm relaxing at home with a nice cup of hot chocolate with waaay too much whipped cream and thinking life (except for my diet) is good.

Not tonight, Julia

Well, by the time I got to the restaurant they'd already bought the pieces they needed and my paintings sat at home "all dressesed up and no place to go". These things happen (Especially to gals like me) but I did make some interesting discoveries, the best of which is that I am making progress. In the last 7 years I've managed to get rid of HALF of the paintings I arrived with(In case you're wondering about numbes I've got 44 left in various stages of completion). I've sold a few, donated some for auction, given lots away, painted over a few and destroyed enough to vent a bit of frustration now and then so I'm managing to get out of my own way and starting to feel like creating some new things so I'm feeling pretty good about it anyway. In our own ways we all "make the best of things" and these days I get a kick out of the fact that it's in style again-don't you?

Back in the yard

Took some time away from working on the garden as I had the opportunity to place some paintings with a local restaurant. It was nice to be able to work outdoors as I cleaned and got things ready to go, you might say I was getting a little pruning done on the size of the art collection instead of the plants. Either way I'm making things ready for new growth because
I may feel more like painting more pictures with some of the old ones out of the way...and I've been thinking about painting favorite bits of my garden. It might get interesting...at least I hope so.

My yard this morning

A bit of sewing and a few flowers picked from my gardens. I'm sewing some old fashioned fabric yo,yos with a fun spin because one of the fabrics has beat nick poetry written on it and since it reminded me of graffiti it made me laugh to think Yo! like the young kids say it. All the sudden my little scarf was cool...at least I thought so and it made it more fun.

Rainy days and Tuesdays

Sounds a bit like an old song, doesn't it? I wouldn't say that they always get me down but it was sad to see the live music cancelled at arts in the park and to find our favorite bench by the lake surrounded in goose poo. This is a park that doesn't allow dogs who of course have owners that clean up after them. Somehow I don't think tap dancing in goose droppings is an improvement but I will say that the irony of the situation amused me.

The Glass Garden

Over the last few years I've managed to collect a number of garden stakes made from stained glass and copper in the shapes of my favorite flowers,butterflies etc. and they've been scattered everywhere.
This week I brought them all together to brighten a shady and forgotten corner of my backyard and was pleased to see the way the sunlight filters through the trees and creates a lightshow of sorts as it dances through the various bits of colored glass.
To really enjoy the experience of it all I've added a nice , sturdy bench and a bright little end table so I can bring my coffee and a book along when I want to take a little break from working on the garden.
It's a special little place that's all my own with a great view of all the wildlife and the rest of the gardens here.
I'll be painting a few leaves & vines to brighten the bench and I've repurposed some bits of metal fencing that I'm painting in a riot of colors to place near one of the trees and mark the path to my latest happy place. Even when I can't get there I can see it from my window and sometimes even that is enough to make me smile. I hope something in your day makes you happy too.

Berry fine day

Good morning,
It's overcast and a little cool out this morning so it will be a good time to get some work done in the garden but I'm feeling a bit lazy so all I've done so far was pick a few strawberries and raspberries to toss on my cereal for breakfast.
Well, I'll grab a cup of coffee and get back to this later.
Have a great day.

Ta da dump,dump,dump

An odd title for this post but a bit more fun because it sounded to me like old time theme music for movie serial or television show and a lot less like the boring reality of hauling a trailer load of trash and recycling from all our building & clean up projects around here to the processing center.
The great thing about having done that is that we can get back to work on the old garage that we're converting into an art studio and workshop.
Which of course goes back to the garden because my inspiration for everything comes from all the plants and flowers here...and of course you have to create a great garden to work with when your favorite things to paint & draw are florals.
We're also planning to use some of the scrap lumber we've set aside to build garden arbors that I will also paint...probably with vines & flowers which of course brings us back to the garden again...which brings us back to the art, which brings us back to gardening etc.,etc.,etc.

A little vacation

A friend came to pull me out of the garden over the weekend and we went to see a play that one of the gals she works with was appearing in. It was great to see a local production do so well with sets and costumes for 60. I was simply amazed to see that many people on stage. What a great change of pace from all the weeding and translplanting, I can't remember the last time I got cleaned up and went anywhere without a bit of dirt under my fingernails and an urge to get right back to work. Live music and a bit of entertainment made all nthe difference for me this week.
It was the little vacation to refrsh me and take the boredom out of unloading those last 6 bags of ceadar chips in that back corner of the yard.

July, already. Summer's moving fast...

So many projects plants and flowers have gone by since my last post that I'm not sure which of them to tell you about first except that we've had some interesting visitors in our little city yard this week. The most noteable was a turtle who was apparently headed to the lake a few blocks from here. Traffic of course being what it is we decided to give it a lift over there in my garden pail. This worked out really well because the section of shoreline on the end of our street had just been restored with native plants etc. and our little friend was very excited to find himself/itself/herself? there. How do you tell what a turtle is? I must have cut science class that day...Anyway, I spent today trying to cut the grapevines out of the big rosebush and of course I've got NO idea how they managed to get tangled up in the first place. I hate it when plants get taller than I am, don't you? That definately needed to be cut down to size...as do many things in the garden and elsewhere. Guess that's all for now. Hope y0u're enjoying your day too.