My Blue Period…Resumed.

I’m getting more interested in doing things to the house, now that life alone is more comfortable to me. I doubted I ever would, but life has a way of working itself out that way, and I am glad to be feeling somewhat like my old self. A year and a half ago, I started collecting Blue & White Staffordshire Transferware to fill my Easthampton Cabinet. I had some creamware, some cobalt blue glassware but I wanted it to be a mix of all. eBay is a great source for transferware. I’ve collected quite a few new pieces lately with more to come. I don’t care about value, I buy what pleases my eye.

At left is Spode’s Blue Greek Key. This is one of my favorite pieces. I love the Greek Key border and the Greeks symbols over the field of the plate. Ina Garten mixes this pattern as a saucer with Spode’s Blue Geranium for her teacups. I have a complete service of Spode Blue Italian but I prefer to mix the patterns in the hutch. I started the Blue Italian set when we remodeled the kitchen in 1997. At first, George did not care for it at all, but I’d made my mind up. A friend’s Mother had these dishes when we were growing up and I never forgot them. When I rediscovered them in the 90s, decided I wanted them. This pattern has been continuously in production since 1815 by Spode. By and by, George came to love the pattern and added to it regularly and gifting me at Christmas or Birthdays with some of the really big, nice pieces, such as below right.
Pictured is the very large Soup Tureen to the Blue Italian. This is my favorite piece. I make a lot of soups and chowders, and I love to fill this baby with Sweet Corn Chowder, or Tomato Bisque or another favorite, Red Pepper Bisque. I didn’t like the soup ladle that came with this tureen, so I substituted my Mom’s clear glass punch bowl ladle, which is perfect.  It’s a good excuse to have friends over so I can cook for a crowd, which I love, and to make the good cream soups I love to make.  Once you learn to make a good Béchamel sauce, you are on your way to any cream soup. My Dad’s favorite is my Baked Potato Soup, which starts with baked potatoes cooked on the grill, Gruyere cheese, cream, chives or scallions, and a dollop of sour cream on top. I have white French double handle bowls and base plates with Bon Appétit in blue on the bowls that I use with this tureen and sometimes use the Bon Appétit bowls and the Blue Italian plates to mix them up. Just typing this is making me want to make a huge vat of Corn Chowder. It’s a twice a Year indulgence with bacon, potatoes, cream, smoky Gouda & Gruyere cheese. Unexpected touches are Nutmeg and White wine added at the last minute. Just a touch of nutmeg. A little goes a long way. The white wine adds a smoky taste.

This charming little plate is very detailed. The pattern is named  Ridgeway Dee-Side from Stoke-on-Trent, England. It has a in intricate border with foliage and a dragonfly. I collect dragonfly paintings and drawings, so I was drawn to it immediately. I am trying to find a couple of other, larger pieces in this pattern. Also pictured are my service plates, Butler’s Pantry fluted and beaded plates by Lenox China. My sister collected blue cobalt glassware like I do, and these are her pieces. The wineglasses are blue cobalt on clear glass stems, and also is one of the egg cups I inherited from her when she passed away unexpectedly in 2004. I have inherited all of her things that my Mom had passed on to her, as well as all my Grandmother’s American Brilliant Cut Glass collection, as well as my Mom’s and my aunt’s cut glass. I still have the wedding china from mine and my ex-wife’s wedding. I could start a shop. What worries me is that there are about four sets remaining at my Dad’s home that will someday come to me…. I need a butler’s pantry!
This beauty is the Martha Stewart Easthampton Stepped Back Cabinet in “Mourning Dove Grey” that I bought at my favorite furniture studio in Dallas, Gabberts, before they sadly went out of business. The interior is Oolong, a greenish yellow based on Oolong tea. I have used these two colors in other furniture and even the walls in the kitchen and hall. I never get tired of this color, which is the exact brownish gray of a Mourning Dove’s breast. As you can see, I’ve filled in with creamware and some family pieces. The antique plate very upper left is my Maternal Great Grandmother Laura Alice Clark’s original white ironstone which she started out housekeeping with in the 1890s.

The plate is very crazed and aged. Someone put cloth medical tape on it and wrote “Grandma Langley’s original plate. Probably my Aunt.
At left below, is a Reticulated or “open ware” piece by Blue Heirloom. It was the very first piece I collected. I like pierced or openwork plates. In front of the plate are three of the four pieces I own of Belleek China from Ireland which my beloved Great Aunt Anne Gordon McKenna brought back to our family from her visits to Ireland. My Dad’s family came from Ennis Ireland, near Shannon Airport, to Ennis, Texas with the Railroad in 1871. One of the first families in our area, before the town of Ennis was incorporated a year later, my Great great great grandparents ran the section house and boarded railroad workers. Anne, my Dad’s aunt, was a fascinating woman who after a career in Advertising in Dallas, El Paso and New York, married into a very large, boisterous Brooklyn first generation Irish family, to husband Patrick McKenna and became a stay at home mother to her only child, my cousin, Rose Collette McKenna, who now lives on Long Island. My cousin Rose shares my  love of things from my family, and has shared treasured family pieces with me, including a floral china plate from my Paternal Great Grand Mother, Rose Kelly Gordon, so I have plates from both great grandmothers!
The latest addition to my collection is my favorite. It wasn’t a family piece and it is not worth much money, but to me, it’s priceless. It likely was from a tag sale. My late Mother in law, Norma Winn loved blue and white and cobalt pieces.  When the family recently sold the family home of 54  years, this was passed to me. To have one of her piece of blue and white is a treasure to me. I got my love of blue and white and cobalt from Norma.  Looking at this piece brings back memories of over 25 years of meals in this house. I have eaten fresh fried okra from her garden heaped on this very platter. One Saturday, as we dropped in, she went out to the garden and picked the okra and fresh green tomatoes, which she fried up for us, while telling us about war ration coupons and victory gardens during WWII.  Wonderful memories from a very dear woman I loved and miss very much. I am privileged to own this piece and remembrance of her. I think she’d like that I have it.

You need to pay attention if you are going to buy online. I ordered this piece, Petrus Castillo Pattern, from Holland from a very reputable dealer, and I did not check the description well enough and was startled to find a bowl, not a plate when  the package arrived. Well, some “mistakes” are serendipitous, so I was pleased to have it. i really like this pattern. There is a tiny chip on the beaded border, but I don’t mind. I think it gives it character. A good dealer or seller will always note any defects. This seller did and even offers free shipping. The tiny cup and saucer belonged to my Aunt who also gave me a blue willow coffee mug that once belonged to her neighbor. She originally gave it to my Mom and when I offered it back to her, she said no, to keep it, but to give it away to someone and keep it going some day. I will. I rather like that, because it has been given down the line for years.  Well, I am off to eBay or Ruby Lane or Craigslist in search of more. Have a great week!

By the way! I have finally found a blogging software I like! Livewriter! So now I look forward to blogging again!

Fall in Texas!

     Hi! It’s fall in Texas and I am enjoying the beautiful (read: not raining for 40 days) weather. We have had so very much rain this year that we are 8 inches over normal. This after a drought this Spring. This has made for some beautiful Fall foliage, something we are not always noted for. It takes a series of events for this to happen here, and the sap has fallen early so the Sycamore. Oaks, Maples and others have become beautiful. Right outside my office window I can see this grove of trees on the Brookhaven Golf Course and one of the trees is fiery red and it’s neighbor is so golden yellow, when the low, slanted gold rays of the Fall sun hit it, it’s almost ablaze. We’re very lucky this year. My Dad has two Maples in his front yard, a Scarlet Maple that is so beautiful and red and it’s supposed mate which turned out to be a Red Maple, but turns orange. The newspaper in our small town takes photos of it every few years, because no one else in town has a Scarlet Maple. It’s stunning.

At left is my Sophie, enjoying the cool weather. She loves romping in the fall leaves and nipping at them as they fall.

     Lots going on with me right now. I am getting ready for “Friends Thanksgiving” at my house on next Saturday, the 14th. I have never been able to spend Thanksgiving with ALL my core friends of over 25 years. We all have families or in-laws where we congregate on that Day. This year will be my first in about ten years not to have Thanksgiving here at the house. We had my Dad and some of the friends, neighbors, orphans, etc. I accepted the invitation from my sister in law to have Thanksgiving and bring my Dad and George’s Dad to their North Texas ranch. His family is my family, and I am so looking forward to be able to spend some time with all of them. I decided since this is my first Thanksgiving without George, that I wanted to do the Friends Thanksgiving, because at first, I didn’t think I’d ever want to entertain again, but as time has gone on, and I have begun to “thaw out” from my grief, I find that I do, indeed want to entertain. This gathering is not a fancy dinner. I am purposely downplaying the usual all-out china, crystal and lace tablecloth. This is just us, being together. A lot of loss this year.  Of course, as I said, this is my first Thanksgiving without George. Donna lost her 18 year old son and then two weeks ago, her 90 year old father. Craig a brother, and Jim,  his Dad, and my friend Rusty is adjusting to life with Multiple Sclerosis. Still, those of us remain have much to be grateful for. I still have my friends and my Dad and nieces and nephews and in-laws, all of whom I love.  Both my friend Ami and my friend and former neighbor Karen have bought new homes that we are celebrating. So there are many things to celebrate. For once,  I will lead the grace and ask for the memories of those we have lost to always remain in our hearts and for those of us who are still here, to be grateful for the things and people in our lives that matter. I’m very excited. If I had a large house instead of a cottage, I’d have the biggest Thanksgiving with extended family and friends. As it is, we will be 15 people. I have a lot of Thanksgiving photos from last year’s celebration.

For my friend Ryan Henley Johnson
August 16, 1991 - August 21, 2009

"Though you have lost your way, you have not lost us".

To An Athlete Dying Young

by A. E. Housman

The time you won your town the race
We chaired you through the market-place;
Man and boy stood cheering by,
And home we brought you shoulder-high.

To-day, the road all runners come,
Shoulder-high we bring you home,
And set you at your threshold down,
Townsman of a stiller town.

Smart lad, to slip betimes away
From fields where glory does not stay
And early though the laurel grows
It withers quicker than the rose.

Eyes the shady night has shut
Cannot see the record cut,
And silence sounds no worse than cheers
After earth has stopped the ears:

Now you will not swell the rout
Of lads that wore their honours out,
Runners whom renown outran
And the name died before the man.

So set, before its echoes fade,
The fleet foot on the sill of shade,
And hold to the low lintel up
The still-defended challenge-cup.

And round that early-laurelled head
Will flock to gaze the strengthless dead,
And find unwithered on its curls
The garland briefer than a girl's.

A gift to myself

When I was fifteen years old, I sat in one of these beautiful cars while my Dad was having his Ford Wagon serviced. As I ran my fingers over the rocker switches and burled Walnut, I vowed one day I would own one. And so I do. This is not a daily driver. I keep it under a cover, and drive it on the weekends or perhaps on Friday to work. It's just as special as I perceived it at fifteen.

Indigo Blue Metallic Jaguar XK8 Vanden Plas Extended wheelbase

And you realize that I could not wear ordinary clothes to drive this English car made in Coventry,
by appointment to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
So I had some new duds made just for riding in the Jaguar. Below is a photo of myself and my friend Phillip taking a ride in the Jaguar.

WE are amused.

*Hey, I'm an artist and Photoshop expert. I do it to my friends all the time, so I couldn't resist taking a swipe at myself.

-- Betty Windsor

What a gift!

What a gift!
I am on a run of beautiful gifts from my friends. First the Barbara Barry watercolor from Randall Koll, and now this beautiful piece of furniture from my friend Liz Churchill. Liz had a beautiful Victorian home in Opelousas, Louisiana, and one of the pieces in this home was a very fine example of a late 19th to early 20th century walnut Secretary desk in Mahogany stain. This piece was her Grandfather's. He was a prominent Society attorney in Atlanta Georgia during the early 20th century. This fine piece was in his office and has passed it's way down to Liz and now, through her unbelievable generosity, it has passed to me. I will treasure it and baby it.

I commented on her picture page, as I had seen it in her home in photos, and mentioned to her that I was actively looking for one similar to it to store my laptop in. Imagine my surprise when she offered to give it to me if I would go to  Baton Rouge where it was stored and get it. I hesitated the better part of the day. I mean, it was a family piece, and it should be inherited. She assured me she had no room for it in her smaller home she presently lives in, and that her sons weren't enamored of this period of furniture. I finally agreed (there's an understatement) when I said if her sons wanted in the future, I would see they got it.

I quickly made plans to borrow my Father in Law's truck and my friends Kim and  Andy agreed to make the trip with me. I bought every protective padding quilt and plastic wrap, bungee cord and come-along to cinch the piece for the 7 hour trip.

I am pleased to say that we made the trip and it is now has pride of place in my home and made it with nary a smudge. The original glass is slightly convex in every piece. A break would be almost impossible to repair. it would have to be commissioned by a glass office.

Without further ado, this is the wonderful, classic secretary in my home. I plan to flank it with two Audubon lithographs or Paris maps on either side, along with two sconces.

This is the piece in Liz's lovely living room. This secretary is unique in that it does not have a slant top. The top drawer looks exactly like a drawer when the desk is pushed in. It  pulls out, and the drawer drops, revealing a beautiful tobacco brown leather top with gold embossing. Six pigeonholes, a door and four small and two large drawers will hold my modern conveniences such as my memory sticks, camera, iPod dock remote, and more. The laptop fits in one of the smaller drawers beneath the main drawer.

I am combing through all my books for my favorites to go into this bookcase. I am sure I will have a small bust on the piece as a homage to Liz and her family.

I love that the top has a simple dentil mold and not the Chippendale pediment and urn that is the norm for these pieces.

The detail work on this secretary is amazing. Beaded edges on each drawer. and door. The grill work is not applique. Each piece of hand blown glass is separate.


While I have not yet got art on the walls flanking this beauty, I am taking my time for just the right pieces. Perhaps my Audubon lithographs, or some Hunting Prints I have my eye on at a Dallas Antique store. I'm also going to have my electrician install these great Robert Easton sconces in weathered brass with red leather shades, from Robert Abbey.

I've been looking for a place to add these for a year or more.

I think you will agree with me that I have been blessed by friends, and I can't imagine anything better than a gift of art or a piece passed down through generations.  I can tell you this secretary will be both used and treasured. It WILL be used.
I keep the laptop in the drawer below. The mouse pad is thinnest stamped aluminum and rolls up. The wireless mouse stores in one of the drawers.

This beauty will also hold my bills and my stationery and note cards. Writing at a desk this beautiful could bring back writing notes and letters by hand!

Finally, this is the chair my beloved George bought for me before Christmas last year. I remember saying I'd have to find a finer desk. Doesn't this chair look made to go with this desk?

A Dear Friend Visits

My longtime friend Casey Ellis made time to visit me during a family visit week before last. I picked her up at DFW and we laughed all the way to the Restaurant, laughed all the time there, and then at her request she came to see my humble little cottage AND she met my Dad, George Graves, with whom she has had a mail correspondence until now. My Dad made her a handmade card a few years back the first time I met her in person. Until then, Casey and I had been online pals only.

We had the best time, spending about six hours together. She and my Dad hit it off in person just like we did. My Dad is MOST impressed.

Casey is co author of the book The Organized Home: Design Solutions For Clutter-Free Living
along with her friend and my friend, Randall Koll, as mentioned in the previous post. She also writes for the San Francisco Chronicle and Chronicle Home Magaizine. She has her own food blog, Margin Notes

These pictures aren't good, my camera wasn't set for night shots, but I cannot miss the chance to post them, even though I look like Jabba the Hut.

Casey Ellis & George Graves

Casey Ellis with Sophie & Kevin Graves

We laughed again, all the way to her son and daughter in law's home and all were waiting to meet her, even little Haley, who was beside herself with excitement to see her Gigi....
Until next time, Casey, make it soon!

A Beautiful Gift

A Beautiful Gift    

I am lucky to have many talented interior designers, decor and garden bloggers, and generous friends in general. Some of my favorite art are drawings, sketches and watercolor renderings of rooms or furniture. I used to draw houses constantly and the furniture inside it, as the frustrated architect I was intended to be. Some of my favorites are of course, Mark Hampton, legendary late interior designer and illustrator. Also Edward Lehman who did paintings and sketches of the rooms First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy restored in the White House. Lehman's watercolors were also used for the 62 and 63 Christmas Card fronts.

Another favorite designer is Barbara Barry. Barbara has her design finger in every pie...furniture, fabric, fragrance, bathroom suites for Kohler and tile for Ann Sacks.
Barbara's clean lines with touches of romantic deco have always appealed to me. These days not every designer does his or her own renderings, but the best still do.Her X-Back chair is a coveted favorite of mine....one day....one day, I hope to have one of these beautiful chairs. Her work is so precise and elegant.

So imagine my surprise when I come home one day to find a package from my friend, San Francisco Interior Designer and Lifestyle guru, Randall Koll. I always get excited when I get a package from Randall. I opened it and I found this beautiful, signed original watercolor by Barbara Barry herself. I nearly got the vapors. Please take a look at this beautiful rendering. I temporarily put it in this frame to enjoy, but it's at the framer now.

This photo does not do it justice. The greys and violet wash are so perfect! Thank you once again, Randall, I will treasure it!

Still Here!

Hi, it's me. I am still here, and though I haven't solved my blogging platform issue, I recently attended a fellow employee's retirement party and I was threatened with bodily harm if I did not pick it up again, (Hi Ruthe!) So under pain of death, here I go again. I don't like blogger software, had been using Google Docs, which I like, but it does not preserve my font sizes like I would like it. This blog has been so long asleep, I probably have no readers anymore, and for that I apologize. If anyone IS out there, please let me know if you have a blogging software you like better than blogger.
Since I last posted, I have discovered a love for gardening that I had never known I had. All Spring and in early Summer I was outside working in the front garden and on my front porch, and in George's Garden in the back, which is my memory garden.. It grew so lush and dense, and then came July. Being the inexperienced gardener I am, I let one weekend go by without enough water and it really damaged the memory garden. I lost several of the ferns. I hired a landscaper to help clean up and area of the back and also to mow and trim the alley grass and shrubs which were out of control. I like the way they do business, so this winter when everything is dormant, they will be putting in a drip and mister irrigation system for me in the back garden.
The Boston ferns that George always had such good luck with on our porch went crispy and that's one experiment I won't repeat. They are just too finicky. I will try to find a hardier fern, such as my friend Donna Whittenburg's Foxtail Ferns. Hers grow in the hot Texas sun.

The memory garden still looks good, but it isn't blooming like it should (impatiens).
Here's the best photos I have of it before July set it's heavy foot on the garden.

This is where I went to read my Kindle from March till June. The Coleus, impatiens and ferns were lush and green clumped around my Bird Girl statue.

The Hostas and ferns were at their largest. The Coleus has no problem with the heat and are the largest things in the garden. Next year with misting and drip irrigation, the ferns will be as beautiful as they are here. It's hard to lose a plant when you are a new gardener, but you learn valuable lessons. My Winter will be spent poring over seed and plant catalogs!

The Caladiums poke their colorful heads out of the ferns and self-planted wandering Jew.

Garden Angel On Duty

Without a doubt the benefit of being an outgoing person is that I am blessed beyond measure with friends. Casual friends, strong and deep friendships I made on the Internet, my core group of friends and old friends which went from my life and returned after God had filled me with enough grace to determine that they never get away again. One of those friends is Angela Eshelman. Angie went to school with me, worked for my Mom, lived across the street from us. We were both friends in common with Nola Anthony, one of my oldest friends. When I reconnected with Nola, I reconnected with Angie. Angie and Nonie came to dinner here last year and met George and we all got along like gangbusters. They were there for me when he passed away and have been there ever since. Angie sent by way of her mother, a piece for my garden. It took a while for Nola and I to meet to get it, as we are both busy people. Today I had occasion to be home and I called Nonie, and she came over and brought this beautiful little piece for "George's Garden" and it will serve double duty. Of course, he is the Garden Angel on Duty, but I will think of Angie every time I see it, and think about how George asked me where I had been keeping these wonderful friends.

Isn't this a thoughtful gift? I had to call Angie at work and thank her for her love and friendship.

 

Early Saturday

    I'm up particularly early this morning as I have contractors coming early. I found I was out of creamer so I had to make a flying dash to Starbucks! I kind of like it when I am out of creamer!  Today I am having the underneath side of the attic roof sprayed with aluminum radiant heat barrier, and 18 inches of insulation blown on to the attic floor. As we remodeled the house, we put in insulation in the outside walls, but there has never been insulation in the attic. It's a no-brainer. It's costing around $2500. I get a $1500 tax credit, a $325 rebate from my Electricity provider, TXU Energy, as I am using their sponsored contractor, Efficient Attic Systems.  This means I am actually paying $325 in the end. TXU and EAS estimate my yearly savings at 30%. So they should be here within the hour. For my friends in the Dallas area, check them out.   

I'm also having my sidewalks and asphalt driveway demoed and new concrete sidewalks and driveway poured. I'm really excited about that. We have a lot of walkers in this area and two places in my parkway sidewalk are literally dangerous. Having the approach widened by a foot is an added bonus.

 

    As I sit and type this, and enjoy my coffee, I wish you could hear the cacophony of Spring sounds and the sight of all my flowers about to burst. The Robins, Cardinals, Mourning Doves and Mockingbirds are having a field day. The Mockingbirds, of course are mimicking every bird imaginable, and what a sweet composition it is. Two years ago, George and I sort of got into birding casually. The Internet is a great place to listen to the calls of various birds. For example... this is what I am hearing right now, the Mockingbirds.
are going mad!

    My Hydrangeas are bursting open this morning as are my Magenta Peonies. Photos soon!

Here are a few photos of my friends Kim & Andy's back garden. We had dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant. Chan Thai last night in the Bishop Art's District section of Dallas' Oak Cliff neighborhood. I had to see all that was blooming and growing (fauna and flora) in their terraced back garden. This is their Koi Pond, and the fountain in it.

 

The back garden is about four terraced levels, as they are on a hill. It is as lush and green back here as in New Orleans, which it reminds me of. Kim built the pond edging out of bricks.

One of these fish is named "Tammy Wynette" and she is HUGE!

Here she is! She's singing!

Japanese Jasmine, green all year here, covers the trunk of a Native Pecan tree here. The smell was indescribable! Also the fence is covered with Honeysuckle, so this visit was very pleasant.

 

My good friend, Andy Pacheco, probably pondering what he can cover with lattice next! He's very seriously planning something.

 

And finally, I close with these two HUGE Hydrangeas in a bed of ground cover. These two flowers were bigger than heads of cabbage!

    My insulation people are here and there's a big generator grinding away in my front yard. So much for bird calls!

UPDATE: I now have no power in the Den....It was working when they came, and now it's not. They said they checked it back to the circuit breaker and everything was connected. I talked to the supervisor and they said to get my electrician out, and if there was any damage, they will make it right. So then I find the base for my cordless phone system is in the den and now no phones can ring because there is no power to feed the base. My wireless router also has no power so my laptop won't work. So I get under the desk and pull the telephone cord a little to untangle it. All of a sudden JESUS COMES....flashing lights and sirens......WHAT THE HELL is happening. The cat screams, the dog wails and screams, I run to the living room, can't remember my new code (this is a new alarm system installed last week) I finally remember the key fob that can turn it off. I disarm the system....I keep waiting for the monitoring station to call... I cuss them because they don't. "I could have a knife in my ribs for all they know....then I remember....the phones won't ring. There's no power to the base station. I swear to myself that as soon as this is rectified that I will install hard-wired black bakelite 1940s era phones with rotary dials on them.... I think to myself, "well, it did go off when you pulled on the phone line. Maybe it's supposed to do that. I get my cell phone and my Dad calls. he said the central station has called me on both phones and I don't answer. They tell him it was the secret ambush code that I sent and something may be wrong. I have visions of my poor little Daddy racing over here mowing down pedestrians to get to his son. I say I will call them. He said "I was trying to shave". I think "I'm sorry I inconvenienced you...go back to shaving".  By this time I am getting rattled. I have not eaten and I have been WAY over-served on caffeine and my hands are shaking. About that time, I stand up from the phone line, extricate myself from the mess that is this den right now and I back into something that feels roughly like a human body. I spin, and scream like a woman. The cop that is standing in my den screams like a woman. We both scream like women again.  "You alright sir? you sent an ambush code" AM I ALRIGHT? "HOW the hell did you get in here?" "Sir, I knocked twice and the door WAS ajar. The dog is raising all manner of hell, I'm shaking like a leaf and I sit down. He says he is just checking on me. We both calm down. He takes my name on a tiny spiral notebook, date of birth and phone number....

He leaves. I call the alarm company, they tell me they have put a 24 hour testing status on the panic alarm, so the police won't come back. They have me do a panic alarm. Dear God. It's going to set the alarm off again and the neighbors will kill me, and Sophie and Sammy are about to look for other situations.

 

I do all that. I move the DSL and Wireless router to the dining room. I am able to connect. Good. I'd be on suicide watch if I had no wireless tonight. I eat, I calm down. The dog is pissed. My Saturday started so well. I think there will be 2 glasses of wine with my name on it later. Yessir, I really do.

 

At Last, Spring

Here's some of the things keeping me occupied these days. I am addicted to working in George's Garden and also in and on my front porch. I've made the porch quite cozy!

 

Coleus and Impatiens left over from George's Garden.

 

Petunias in a hanging basket and a Hibiscus planted in my new pleated galvanized planters.

Well, you KNEW I would buy them. I told you about them in my last post. Ok, I can't ever go into Smith and Hawken again. But I love them. Very Fronch.

 

 Those are hydrangeas sticking up in front of the porch, in a month they will be blooming like mad. Also my peony is about to bloom as well as my red and pink amaryllis. Ferns as always and a couple of tree hibiscus in the metal planters. Two spiky Red Star Dracenas from Australia. There's another photo of the porch and the bistro table with their new livery: the cushions that mach the back deck cushions. I was having so much fun getting this porch cozy that I decided to spend more time out here. I bought a laptop and a bistro table & chairs, and I have lived out here this week, as I have been on vacation. Very nice.

 

Love this new rug. It's washable. Pattern is Garden Gate from Lowes. The plant stands we already had, but I replaced the warped wood tops with some granite tiles left over from the bathroom floor. On the floor are caladiums and coleus I later planted in the big pot next to the steps. I found all matching cushions for the bistro table and the Adirondack chair and settee and Kennedy rocker. The only reason I am going to repaint this front porch the same sea green is for protection. Personally I like the weathered look, but the natural wood is showing through, so it must be protected. The cottage next door is my friend and neighbor Karen, and my late sister owned the house prior to that.

 

 

I love this table and chairs and I really like this new Dell. It's powerful and fast and bright red outside. Beside it are other gadgets I can't be without, iPod and Crackberry. I've breakfasted and computed every day this week on vacation. It's interesting how busy the foot traffic on my street is. I hear calls of hello and call back.

With the new cushions and the rug. Very comfortable. The electrician is adding a ceiling fan to the porch tomorrow. That will really allow me to be out here until late June at least, and will help blow the mosquitoes away as well. I love to rock in that rocker with my iPod on.

 

As I mentioned, I took up where George left off last year, when he made the memory garden for me to honor my Mom, Sister, his Mom and our dear friend Paula who died way too young. So it''s George's Garden now, and I have added many more plants and flowers.

The cushions of the memory garden wicker match the front porch cushions. All from Lowes. All the plants are now in, and they have really perked up in a couple of days.

 

I didn't see I left the shovel when I took this photo! This is where I read. I take a book or my Kindle e-book and read in the garden. it's very pleasant. From this spot I watch the blackbirds feed their brood in a hollow branch. Also fat red Cardinals, George's favorite bird, and who I think of when I see them, come and cheep cheep at me when their feeder is empty. cheeky devils. Another favorite of both of ours are the huge, fat mourning doves who have grown very plump on the feeders.

 

The mulch and the drip system has not been put in, nor have the low voltage lanterns on staffs. I'll do that perhaps next week. I still have one more bed to weed. I think I am going to spread gravel in this bed, and just have potted plants and flowers. Coleus, Hostas and Caladiums in this photo, with pink and white impatiens.

 

 

The yard man weed-ate the hostas when they first came through! I nearly had to be restrained. Oh well, they came back. George had planted the hostas and the different ferns last fall. This fern is a Japanese Lady Fern, along with pink and green spotted white caladiums, White and pink impatiens.

 

And finally, my wonderful Dad, enjoying the garden with me.

 

Happy Spring!

 

 

Garden Things

Garden Things



Yesterday after work, I stopped by Smith and Hawken for a kneeling pad so I can work in the garden. My memory garden has been taken over by what my friend Nola calls Velcro Weed. I called it Winter weed. In reality it is commonly called Cleaver Weed here in North Texas or common names such as Cleavers, Clivers, Goosegrass, Stickywilly, Stickyweed, Catchweed, Robin-run-the-hedge and Coachweed.  It is a Rubiaceae which places it in the Gardenia and Coffee family.

In and of itself, it's not a bad looking plant, however these grow very long reaching and vining runners by the mechanism you see on the leaves below. They are a nuisance!

I need to get these things out before they go bloom and go to seed, so I stopped by to get the kneeling pad which is a good 1.75 inches thick.

While I was there, I browsed and I found this very nice weeder with a long enough handle that I can get to most, if not all of the weeds with. The Japanese have a way with tools. I have a Japanese wood saw that cuts on the pull stroke and not the push stroke and I like it a lot. This is a very handy shape and can be used to cut or rake weeds from a kneeling position.

While I was there, I found something I have been looking for. I love Zinc and weathered galvanized metal and the washed gray tone they take on over time when exposed to weather. I had seen these in the S&H catalog, but didn't dream they were as large as they are. These planters are 18 inches high and 16 inches  around in the middle and are made of pleated galvanized metal. They would look just great with some Lavender or Rosemary or just about any other herb or bushy plant. The detail is amazing. They are made not to be watertight, so too much water will escape from the bottom. I know a little trick of aging galvanized metal in Pool PH plus or Acid..., but these are just fine, really, the way they are. Next week I am going back for two of these to sit on my front steps and also a taproot tool that goes with the Japanese Weeder.
Check out these wonderful very French looking planters. S&H has a deal on them right now. $99 for one, $175 for two, and I would keep these until Jesus honks.

Aren't they great?


**** Sending Kim at Dear Daisy Cottage Blog all my prayers and strength for she and her family. Her Mother's husband, Dan has suffered a massive stroke and all my thoughts and comfort go to her at this difficult time. Kim, I have two relatives who recovered completely from massive strokes. I pray this is the case for your Step-Dad.  Love, Kevin****