Foolish Frugality

Hi, Cocoa here. I know this is telling on my mom, but I just can't resist. She had a cracked egg that she was too frugal to throw away, so she planned to cook it for me yesterday. Well, she put it in the still warm frying pan after fixing her own breakfast, and I was so excited! But then she went into the office and sat at the computer ("Just for a minute, she said.") Of course she forgot all about the egg cooking on low for me. When she suddenly remembered and rushed into the kitchen, she found the egg VERY well done. It doesn't look too bad in the picture, but looks are deceiving.  The egg is petrified!  Guilt made her quickly cook another for me, so I really did not lose out. Thanks, Mom.   She is making a journal page with it amid lots of laughter.  She has even saved the egg. Humans are really strange.

Art Night

A blessedly unscheduled evening gave us the opportunity to devote some time to our new pursuit, watercolor journaling. We watched a DVD on journaling while we were at Barkwell's on Spring Break, and decided to give it a try. I bought watercolor pads, and pocket field sketch boxes of watercolors. With supplies in hand, we each set forth on our first attempt. How differently we work! I do lots of practice sketches on scratch paper, arranging and rearranging the elements until I am ready to transfer the the work to "real" paper. I do make it very laborious, as I do in all things. Shirley, on the other hand, is a free sketcher, with no practice pages, never knowing how her page will turn out. The lake and cypress scene is from her weekend visit to Melrose, Fla. The daylily is from her garden. She has not done her lettering yet.
Allowable Treats is my lament over all the foods I can no longer have. It's not a hot fudge sundae, but those days are gone forever.

Lesson From the Lilies

I never know what I'll find when I take my morning garden walk. It's kind of like an Easter egg hunt because I am always surprised by a serendipitous bloom that has appeared overnight. This morning, I found two new little jewels in the daylily bed. Because I am an abstract random individual, I have not kept track of the kinds of daylilies I have planted over the years. And so, when they burst forth, it is a wonderfully new adventure each time. 
I have walked the daylily journey over many years. Some of my plants came from the yard of my dear Aunt Minnie who lived to nearly 100 years and influenced me greatly. Others of my plants came from my father's garden, nurtured lovingly by his capable hands. I brought several plants from my own garden in Brandon and some, I just bought because I liked the color and variety. This year, I have a particularly prolific crop because we have had so much rain in the past three weeks. Daylilies are a metaphor for me of the importance of each individual day. Each flower opens in the morning and lasts for only one day. And so, it becomes very important to embrace the moment and be present for what is in the here and now. 

She Who Hesitates Is ....

When we bought our sage green rug for the living room, we planned to add another just like it to fill the entire room.  Well, time, poor memory, and the economy caused us to delay the second purchase.  When we did remember to order, we thought we had a duplicate rug on the way, but were dismayed upon its delivery to find it in no way matched and was too ugly to contemplate. Back it goes to LL Bean, and we move to plan B. Realizing that we have no pattern at all in that room, we decided to move the green rug to the center of the space and find something with a pattern to put at either end. Now, the major purpose of the rug(s) is to provide safe footing for the dog on our tile floors, but as dogs sometimes forget their training, the rug(s) must be washable.  That complicated the search a bit. But we got lucky and found some smaller rugs that fit the bill. Cocoa can safely extend her play area, and we can lower our anxiety level when she takes a notion to run through the house.  (Because of several torn ACLs on previous dogs, we are exceptionally skittish about possible leg injuries.)  And we really like the look!

Another Work in Progress

After five days of rain the sun has finally reappeared, welcome, but a mixed blessing given my difficulty with heat and humidity. My task of cleaning and repairing hurricane damage to the soffits has  been on hold, but it looks like today will be amenable to getting out the scaffolding and moving on with the seemingly glacial process. I am trying to secure the damaged sections first as hurricane season is upon us, but that means hopping around from one part of the house to another, none too efficient. However, efficiency must take a back seat to security in this case. Each step, washing the thin aluminum panels without doing more damage, waiting for it to dry, securing the channels to the house with epoxy, and then caulking each panel, is painstaking. Trying to level scaffold on sloping  (and now soggy) ground is the first challenge.  Then reaching and working overhead yields its own set of challenges. Fortunately, Shirley is at the ready to hand me sponges, brushes, glue, clamps, or anything else I need, so I do not have to climb up and down constantly. But her work schedule means we can work only on weekends or the occasional free evening. Then again, nearing seventy, I am grateful I am able to climb on a scaffold and do the work. It will take months to do the entire house and garage, but it is satisfying work. One can certainly see the fruits of ones labor, clean white soffits neatly in place. All this effort may serve to ward of storms for several years!

An Unconventional Nesting Box

Yesterday morning, as I tried to leave for work, I found myself competing with a pair of Carolina wrens who have decided to build a nest in the watering can on the front porch. Watering cans are very popular as nesting sites at our house. Perhaps it is because we have quite a collection of them; or perhaps because they make such a weather-proof, safe nesting place.

Our front porch is the flyway for many of our birds, especially the wrens and cardinals who come frequently to drink from a large saucer we keep in the entry garden. Wrens construct several nests before the female decides upon the nest in which she will lay her eggs. I think that's a pretty good deal; get your man to build you several houses and then pick the one you like best.

We are hoping that the happy couple selects this nesting place so that we can keep close tabs on the bird activity.

Jack and the Giant Beanstalk

We think we may see Jack (of the Beanstalk) anyday now. This morning, we switched cages on the garden beds to accomodate the height of the bean plants. We should begin to have a harvest in another three weeks or so but it's exciting to watch their progress.
Speaking of harvest, yesterday we picked our first lettuce and it made a very tasty salad. It's wonderful to know where our salad greens come from, knowing that no chemicals or harmful agents were used in their production. I plan to cut more lettuce tonight before dinner. I can't believe we're actually growing vegetables successfully. It is a testament to square foot gardening, the soil mix, and the concentrated watering. We recommend it highly.