"Tennis (Ball), Anyone?"

A couple weeks ago I got a kick out of watching my hubby trim trees. Not that such a thing is normally entertaining, but just seeing how our dog, Reilly, took advantage of every sit-down break The Man took, cracked me up. To know the dog means to be acquainted with OCD, Tennis Ball Version. I perched inconspicuously from inside an open window above, shooting and grinning. The dog: perpetual optimist, ever hopeful that someone wants to throw the ball as often as he wants to retrieve it. No matter they got work to do. Could anything be more important than playing?

To the dog's great joy, The Man did throw a ball when he was sitting down. The rest of the time he carried that big stick around and reached up into trees. Are there tennis balls up there? Is that what he's looking for? How about that long stick that he uses to scrape at the leaves. He is trying to find tennis balls, right?

Purple in my Garden

As long as I live and have a garden,
there will be purple in it . -Me

Purple salvia in my mailbox garden. Guess I should've tidied it up a bit before taking pictures, but I decided it was either/or.

"Either" won.










My neighbor, Cindy, came over and offered
three of these hydrangea bushes to me last
summer. At the time, they had no blooms. She thought they bloomed purple,but wasn't sure. How delighted I was when they did!

They wouldn't bloom at all for her, but
I suspected it was that her garden is shadier,
and most perennials need full sun.

I adore the dianthus (Sweet Williams) around
the feet. Reminds me of a children's choir:
happy, wonderful to look at, but not exactly
orderly in their cluster.













Deep purple clematis. It is so heavy now, it's
hard to keep the trellis standing straight, legs buried.
But I love the bright star-shaped petals.
I really need to deal with the vines soon.
They need a good pruning. So do I.

My garden, as a matter of fact, is a fairly good
indicator of my emotional state at any given
time. 'Nuff said.












These pale purple pretties appeared
just after the crocuses. I'm not
sure their name. Can someone help?

Putzing, Planting, and Painting

My favorite outdoor tools are a shovel and a can of spray paint. I got to use both today in some gorgeous spring weather. I was only going to edit my garden which the dianthus (Sweet William) had cluttered. Too much of a good thing, as it were.

But then...
If you give a gardener a shovel, she'll dig up flowers, and realize she likes them better in the big metal round tub she spray painted a galvanized steel color. She will remember how much fun she had painting her various flowerpots that way.

If you give her a can of spray paint, she will use it like a gun in the hands of a drive-by shooter,
except with a heart that wants to transform ugly to pretty, not the other way around.

She sees that the wicker furniture is quite shabby and decides to repaint the center design on the midback of each chair in the pair. When she is finished with that, she remembers that it's a lot of fun to change dark to light in other ways, so she paints a green magazine/coffee table white.

The change looks like something she should photograph and toot her horn about--er , inspire others about. She is saving that post for another day.

Simple Woman's Daybook 1.18.10

Stuck for a single theme, but with much on my mind, I revert again to
The Simple Woman's Daybook.


Outside my window...
is a sky the color of a blue topaz ring that Paul gave me for Christmas. That's quite romantic, wouldn't you say? There is also a pile of dirty kitchen rags hanging stiffly over a mop bucket on the deck, waiting to be washed.

I am thinking...
1) about teaching ESL (English as a Second Language) to Burmese refugees in Baltimore with Bonnie.
2) I need to see a chiropractor for compression of my spine.
3) My spine might not be compressed were it not for the computer chair I sit in. Too long. Too often.
4) I need to interview someone who has successfully homeschooled a young "only" child, preferably a male child.
5) how much fun our "Cows on Parade" art project will probably be today as I link it with our study of India.


I am thankful for...
Icy Hot, Oxy Clean, toilet paper, and cute note pads.

From the kitchen...
Fiber One Banana Nut "bread". They were supposed to be muffins, but I don't like all the "paper" work of muffins, nor the clean-up. I am so happy about having organized my kitchen pantry, Lazy Susan, fridge, freezer, chest freezer, and garage pantry on Saturday and came up with two weeks' worth of meals. Also feeling mega-blessed and humbled by God's provision.

I am wearing...
mismatched pj's. The top is missing two buttons and has been for an embarrassingly long time. Strategically placed pins do the job.

I am creating...
a poster-sized cow template.

I am going...
to clean house in preparation for singles' care group here tonight, and maybe some homemade lemonade.

I am reading...
Lies Women Believe and the Truth that Sets Them Free and Amazing Grace in the Life of William Wilberforce.

I am hoping...
that my son, Stephen, changes his mind about snowboarding tomorrow. He is supposed to start a new job on Wednesday and a new semester next Monday. He and extreme sports haven't been a happy combo in the past. He has a long scar on his leg to prove it.

I am hearing...
the shower running and the dog breathing.

Around the house...
are myriad projects calling out to me.

One of my favorite things...
is getting my eyebrows waxed.

A few plans for the rest of the week...
to find new carpet for the family room (per Paul's request--how cool is that?!) on Wednesday, a day I have off this week.

A picture thought I am sharing...

This is how I, a truly Impatient Gardener, grow cherry tomaters. I go to the store, buy some, and plunk one alongside each teeny weeny tomato plant, then snap a photo, and wish it were that easy.

Want to be Named Among My Marigolds?

Today I planted our vegetable garden. We have tomatoes called Big Zac and Goliath (which, ironically, is the smallest guy in the lot). We have a pablano pepper I've named Pablo (because my Paul chose him) and we have some straightneck squash and cucumbers in as well, but they're unnamed. I will put the lettuce in a deck planter and do the same with limas for extra TLC. They are too tender to trust to the ground just yet.

Once all my toms and pablos and their amigos were firmly palnted, I surrounded the garden with marigolds, an old tried-and-true natural insect repellant. The variety I chose have brick red and orange flat petals and is called Durango Flame.

When I saw all those Catholic-Jewish flowers (Mary Gold), I knew I had been blogging too long: I thought of naming each of them after blogging friends. I secretly started naming them, beginnign alphabetically in the southwest corner of my 36 foot square produce patch.

If you would like to be named among my Mary Golds, leave me a comment. At the end of next Saturday, I'll try to post a picture of my veggies surrounded by marigolds, and if you want one named after you, I'll show everyone where their namesake is in my little piece of God's great earth.

By the way, the Mary Golds with a middle name (ie Mary Amy, Mary Betty, Mary Laurie Lynn) will get more attention than the nameless ones, so have a heart. :)

Birdwatching and Garden Dreams

Yesterday I introduced Joel officially to birdwatching. Not that I'm an expert. Hardly. I just love songbirds! We read about robins and ravens, nests and pests,
food and feathers. He used his new freebie kid binoculars to check out an abandoned nest way, way up in a tree aoross the street, and said, "That is COOL!"

Today I decided to subscribe to a magazine that my friend, Sharon M, loves. It's called "Birds & Blooms." It combines two of my favorite things in one magazine, and I think will inspire me way more than "Better Homes & Gardens." (Every time I read that title, I think, "Better than whose?" and it rubs me a little the wrong way. Someone's house is always gonna be better than mine, and so is their garden. Or vice versa, so the dual sins of jealousy and pride lurk at my door and garden gate. Ergh!)

Anyway, back to the birds. I'm excited to get out this afternoon with Sarah and Joel to the pet store. We got an unexpected gift check yesterday, addressed to me, yay!, so I've decided to put it toward birding and a bird garden.
On my list:
-birdwatching mag subscription (did that)
-birdfeeder (replace old one)
-bird seed
-garden journal

I told Joel he could pick a favorite bird and so would I, then we'll design our next little garden to attract those birds. I chose the hummingbird. He chose a raven. Um...not sure they'll co-exist well, honey. Maybe we need to rethink our choices or do some research first.