Changes

The past few weeks have been wonderful -- busy, busy, and just a bit crazy. 

First, I'm going to be a grandmother!  Due at Christmas - I just wanted earrings, but no, my daughter and son-in-law insist - a baby before the New Year.  Our family is growing - how exciting!  Someone new to love.  Sigh.

Also, my son graduated from Texas A&M and we now have a second lieutenant in the family.  He's off on adventures of his own, much loved and thought of, and we are very proud of him. 

I've visited with many of my family and friends lately (still have a few on my list that I hope to see soon) - you are all loved.  Hope you are happy and doing well and, if any of you are coming to visit, please call an hour before you arrive so I can change the sheets and clean the bathroom...

In all the excitement I forgot to mail a package to Betty Lou at American Vintage Quilts so tomorrow I'm off to the post office to mail some fabric to her.  Fabric I promised her in June has been sitting here gathering dust while I've been out having fun.

I'm going to try to post on a more regular basis, it helps me get things done and lets my mother and my children know that I'm still here.

Mr. J&C and I have been harvesting okra and having all kinds of fun cleaning house and ---- o.k., we have harvested and eaten okra from our garden a few times.  We've also been to a few college football games, slept in a several hotels, eaten delicious food, and traveled a bunch (two oil changes in two months a bunch).  One of us may have to dust - soon - I hope it will be fun.

Well, I sat down to get you caught up on my adventures and I almost forgot to tell you about the big change here at the house...

 

I moved the hummingbird feeder to the front yard, next to the dining room window - now meals are livelier on both sides of the window.

Happy Monday!


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Visiting Blogs

August - 100F days, 80F nights... ugh. These are the days when I question why I live in Fort Worth, Texas... With this heat it makes sense to stay inside and read blogs,  drink glasses of iced tea, and pay a little more attention to my own blog.

This is one of my favorites - day lilies
from my mom's garden - thriving in the Texas heat.

I find myself dreaming of travel and I like to check out bloggers who are enjoying a summer with warm sunshine-y days and cool nights. Jane, at Marigold Jam, makes life in England sound so tempting. 

Jen, in Canada, captures beautiful pictures and weaves stories around them in her blog Muddy Boot Dreams.  Her post on Wednesday reminds me that while I may picture Canada as all hockey and snow, they have their own summer heat, drought, and beautiful flowers.

The heat seems to make the day lilies happy.

I'm here in Fort Worth, trying to find ways to beat the heat but thankful for my friends and neighbors. Besides, Mr. J&C loves Texas and I love him - so here I stay.

While I complain about the heat, I must admit I am proud of my adopted home state and follow several (many) Texas bloggers.

There's a Jane in Fort Worth, at New Dog Learns Old Tricks.  Her adventure in June with yarn was an example of friendship, recycling, and talent - love the way she put the old squares together with multicolored new yarn.

And Theresa, with her Run A Round Ranch Report, makes life in the heat of Texas look so cool. Love her pictures and stories - especially the dogs and ducks... and horses, turtles, wild birds, barns...


Thanks, Mom!

And then there's Jenny, at Two Tumbleweeds, exploring all things Dutch in the summer - she seems to have the best of both worlds - living in Holland in the summer and returning home to Fort Worth each winter. 

Thanks to all of you who entertain and inform and, even in this heat wave, make me smile.


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Ground Rules

There have been a few problems in my garden this year because I thought the rules didn't apply to me. My plan for an arbor with purple wisteria on one side and gorgeous, white clematis on the other side is not to be, at least not in the spot I planted them.

Wisteria healthy and green.

Wisteria grows like a weed and doesn't always bloom where it is planted, especially when it doesn't get enough sunlight (current location). I thought I could plant it where I wanted to plant it (counting on its 'weedyness'), not where it needed to be planted.

*SIGH*

Wisteria shading Clematis.

Last week I admitted defeat and trimmed it back, I also plan to move it in December to a location where IT will be happy (I'll try to adjust). 

It's a good thing I got pictures of last year's beautiful clematis blooms because I got nothing this year. Too much shade - because of a wildly, healthy, weedy, green wisteria blocking out the sun and giving me a green/yellow, pitiful clematis this spring. Turns out the old garden rule of "heads in the sun, feet in the shade" is one I need to remember and follow, so maybe next year I can have beautiful blooms on my clematis and beautiful blooming wisteria.

After I trimmed up (cut down) the wisteria I added a few pots
so this corner of the garden wouldn't look so bare. (Notice
the clematis is all greeny-yellow and sad looking.)
 

I left a few leaves on the wisteria, and noticed new growth on the plant in less than a week. Now to keep every thing trimmed, mulched, and watered.

Gardening (and baseball) - there's always next year.

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Loving My Neighbor

I love to grow things in pots.  The last few years my collection has grown and grown - pots all over the patio and pots on the front porch.  I had to set an alarm on my phone so I would remember to water all of them - every other day in the summer and at least once a week in the winter.  Several of them are tucked into the garage in the winter, they get a little shabby, but they survive and, when Spring returns, they thrive.

The trouble with containers is the little saucer that collects the excess water - it keeps the water from going all over the place but it can provide the mosquito with the perfect little incubator and nursery.   

Here in north Texas the West Nile Virus is a major concern.  It is transmitted by infected mosquitoes (not all mosquito's have the virus - most are just annoying) and even if you get bitten by an infected mosquito, you might not get the disease.  I say this so you won't call 911 the next time you get bitten.

I have no desire to be known as a Mosquito Rancher so I try to follow all the rules the City of Fort Worth gives for minimizing mosquito breeding.

I've cleaned up my act - well, my patio actually, and put away most of the saucers.  I've scattered the containers around my garden, tucked them in the mulch - no need for a saucer.  A bonus - I took the time to check where the water goes when the sprinkler is on and almost everything gets watered even when I'm not here to do it.



These seem to be adjusting to their new home.

I still have a few pots on the patio and by the front door but I'm very careful not to over water.  I figure it's worth it to help myself and others in my community stay healthy.  I am helping people I don't know and may never meet, still, it gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling to realize we are all in this world together and little things we do (or don't do) can have a big impact.

Admit it, you are probably doing something to make the world a better place.   I would love to hear about some of your adventures - comments are always welcome.  I'm off to read blogs and drink tea on this hot, hot summer day.

Garden

These days we start early - our (please notice I'm sharing the ownership) garden gets better every day. 

This Spring, I have had another sweet reminder of one of my friends.  I was afraid the red lily that my friend, Paula, gave me two or three Easters ago had been lost with all the pulling of weeds and cleaning out the flower beds - I was happily surprised to see Paula's Lily had survived.

It just popped up one day, tucked in behind the grapevine.
 

Sometimes Mr. J&C's weeding is reminiscent of bush hogging. Somehow we missed this and I got to watch it grow and bloom another year.

It had blooms for about two weeks - thanks, Paula!

Thanks to my garden companion, I'm becoming a better gardener. I have always tried to keep up with the rainfall and water accordingly, but I've been slow to weed. Now I'm checking on the garden once a week for weeds - bonus! Mr. J&C weeds!

I have even (GASP!) thrown out plants that haven't "performed" well in my garden. My thinking being weeds and useless plants are drinking precious water.

Planted in November 2009, this purple crepe myrtle has
 gotten smaller every year. It easily came up out of the ground -
the root ball was almost nothing.

I'm also compromising with Mr. J&C - he wants the plants not so close together so it will be easier to weed. The work we've done so far looks good and it has been easier to weed. 


Update:  I got reimbursed the money taken from my checking account back in April.  This is a good thing for me, but we all will pay for this with higher prices.


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Here on Gilligan's Isle

We still have a few things to work out - being together all the time is something new for me and Mr. J&C.  Yes, we love each other but, each other all the time is...well...  different.  The first few months life was great.  We traveled, we worked in the garden - then we both got a cold. 

"Cheers!"

Just a common, every day, nothing special cold.  We don't do 'under the weather' very well.

This is not something I planned on and now I'm behind.  I've still got gardening to do, several packages to mail, and I haven't even been in the mood to talk - that is sick!

As the month comes to an end, I looked at my poor, neglected blog and decided to reach out and say "Hello!"  Miss you all, hope you are well. 

For a little more than a week we locked ourselves up in the house afraid if we ventured out we might give someone our cold.  It's like we were marooned on Gilligan's Island.

So being bored and not wanting to really do anything, I googled Gilligan's Island and I found, among other things, a drink.  Here's the one from the Mixologist App on my phone:

Gilligan's Island:  Pour 1 ounce vodka, 1 ounce peach schnapps, 3 ounces orange juice and 3 ounces cranberry juice into a cocktail shaker.  Mix well and pour into an ice filled glass.

At the time I was taking heavy duty cold medicines and all of them warned me not to have alcohol.   So I didn't try the drink.

As if to pile on, a friend (thanks, Dawn!) posted to Facebook a recipe for slushies.

Vodka Slushies:
1 1/2 quarts cranberry juice cocktail
1 (6-ounce) can frozen orange juice concentrate, defrosted
2 cups vodka

Directions:  Combine all of the ingredients in a large plastic container. Freeze for several hours. It will not freeze solid, but rather achieve the consistency of a slushy.   Scoop into punch cups or wine glasses and serve.

Due to the meds I was taking I could only think about drinks and drinking.  Now that I'm feeling a bit better (and off the medication) I thought I should put my own spin on an adult frozen beverage. 

Frozen Castaways:
3 1/2 cups of cranberry juice cocktail
1 (6-ounce) can frozen orange juice concentrate, defrosted
3/4 cup of vodka
1/2 cup of peach schnapps

Stir and sample.

Directions:  Combine all the ingredients in a large plastic container.  Freeze for a few hours.  Stir every now and then so you can have a quick taste.  Scoop into pretty glasses, enjoy.

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Orange Surprise

I flipped my orange bucket over to catch some rain water (rain was in the forecast, nothing happened) instead of water, I caught Rodney.

This makes the second animal I've caught in my
bucket, I've got to stop doing this.

Poor baby.  He (or she) was happy to be free and I am thankful I discovered my prisoner before our record setting cold front arrived in North Texas.

I now have a couple of lizards living in my little birdhouse.  I'm hoping they will keep the bugs away this summer. 

Take a closer look - Rodney's about to
pop inside the birdhouse.

I'm afraid my adventure (the one I hinted at last week) is not a tale of world travel but a sad lesson in 21st century money management.  I got a call from my bank fraud hotline a couple of Saturdays ago and was told someone in southeast Texas was using my debit card at the same time I was using it in north Texas.  I won't go into details because I have very few and I'm still waiting to hear the outcome of my appeal for the charges (just under $900) made on a counterfeit card with my information on it.   This is one of those "What am I supposed to be learning from all this?" life lessons. 

I am still learning. I encourage everyone (no matter where you are in life) to keep learning, be open to new experiences... learn from the mistakes of others, and pay with cash.

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