random stuff

Hurricane Michael has come in barreling through Port Saint Joe, where CC has done volunteer work for several summers. We sent and received almost simultaneous texts yesterday hoping "her kids" are okay. Those kids are almost entirely without resources, most of them tended by one grandparent who would most likely be unable to evacuate. The young and poor are very vulnerable. Hoping to hear something today.

That is a picture I snapped of our banana tree. We started out with one two gallon container holding not much more than a single stalk with a couple of raggedy leafs and a promise. Here, just a year after buying the plant, we have three separate containers of palms and a bit of overcrowding in the biggest pot, home to several vibrant stalks sporting leaves that reach up over my head for the sun. it's been practically tropical in our yard this summer because of the rain. The plants that were planted earlier this year look great. 

Because of the rain I have been working mostly inside the house. Here are pictures of where I'm at on the "landing pad". It looks a lot better. I decided to go with the matte/high gloss tone on tone stripes after all. My daughter, II, helped me realize that my favorite stencil, while perfect for me, is rather taste specific. Once the actually measuring and figuring for stripe placement began I was so glad that I didn't have to match the edges of a stencil especially in the corners! So - before and after, but not finished, painting complete, but I still have the lights and mirror yet to do.

 Here is "before". The door frame looking isn't really blue, that's lighting.

 It still sort of amazes me that the entire house, walls and ceilings, was painted this brown color - it was just so dark!

Already lighter but still needing another coat of white to cover that brown.

Taped off for the stripe pattern. I'm not keeping those light fixtures, they came with the house and are a bit glitzy for me.

These two show the finished stripe. The high gloss white looks grey. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I did think it would be whiter. I like it a lot. Still have the cabinet to paint and I'd love to replace the vanity top, but that is not at the top of my "fix-it" list right now. I'm shopping for a 36" round mirror for that back wall.

We are going to make something like this for the two lighting fixtures in that room. I'll put a picture of what we "put together" on this post once I get them done. 

This is the exact stencil I want. Our house has a weird little room which is entered from the bedroom and serves as an "entry hall" to either the bathroom on the left or the closet on the right.  There is a built in dressing table straight ahead, with two dangling Barbie's Dreamhouse chandelier-ettes and a huge framed mirror.  I call it the landing pad. Initially we were planning to incorporate that space into a master bath remodel, but now that we have almost decided to sell this home in a couple of years, we know we wouldn't get our money's worth out of remodeling a perfectly okay bathroom.  So that space is kinda the perfect place for me to try out "accent paint".  In our last home I really enjoyed the tone on tone (matte and high gloss) 24" wide stripes in out foyer and down a hall.  Like, I loved the effect. It was very subtle and felt very clean.  My walls here are too janky (the finish) to accept a truly straight line. I've been looking at stencils for a couple of weeks now and I just can't find one I like better.  This stencil costs 66.95 plus probably both shipping and handling. That's a lot. I've seen a couple that would probably be alright  for twenty some odd less, but they are just alright. I'm going to continue searching for now. Why isn't there a site for purchasing "used" stencils? I mean, once you finish your project it's unlikely to be used again.  I might use that high gloss and matte monotone again, but for the landing pad I'm leaning towards just a little lighter grey on white than is pictured (with the perfect stencil).

It's rained a good bit here. So much, in fact, that I have realized a water fall measuring device would be fun in the yard. I can't really believe I don't already have one. 

I wonder if most people cut the ends of along with the tops when they're working with vegetables.

122/1000 thankfuls

Thankful for crisp clean sheets (every Monday)!

FIRC completed

My quick reference for maneuvers

Two eight hour days in the classroom every other year is getting harder to do now that I have retired from flight instructing.  In a couple of months fresh plastic will show up in the mail, but I don't think part time flying is for me much less part time instructing.  I keep it current because there was so much work involved with earning it.

I do miss it.  But not so much that I need it back on a routine basis.

The guys in the class room were my same group from two years ago.  It was nice to see everyone well.  The 70 year old American Captain had had two stokes and said only thing he noticed was an arthritis type symptoms in one hand and his manifold pressure on the same side was a little low.  All the guys laughed but I naively stepped in "it" asking, "Huh, what do you mean by that?"

Magnolia Silos

@ MAGNOLIA in Waco

I'm remembering my first visit to their original location.  
You could feel the personal touch and ease in that little shop the same way you smell the delicious White Tea fragrance everywhere in the Westin Hotels.  
The newer place is just hectic.  
Maybe, it might be a good place to be, for the person who has the keys to the building.  The person who walks ... strolls casually around the place ... for me it has become more frenzied with every visit.  I go only to accommodate friends visiting from out of state who want to experience all things Magnolia. The guy across the street (from my home) said they stopped doing the show because those houses they  "fix" for folks ending each episode with something like we hope y'all will live here happily ever after ... people don't keep them.  A number of them are available for booking on VRBO. Everybody making hay while the sun shines. I don't enjoy the frenzy, but I am happy for their successes.  
And I'm happy to drive friends and family North on 35 for a visit. The cousins wanted to dine at Magnolia Table.  For the four of us there would be a three hour wait.  Three hours. Three whole hours!  I was so glad when they thought "nope". The hostess there did let us know that we could leave a cell number and get a text several minutes before the table came available thus extending the wait tether for sight seeing around WACO ... still so glad when they demurred.  We went out to my favorite place in the Waco area, www.cafehomestead.com . I had roasted poblano soup  (a treat)  and sweet potato fries.  Yum.

Here's a link to the Homestead Craft Village. In my opinion, the Craft Village is lots of fun. The cafe is supported by their gardens and livestock so it is truly locally sourced, but several different crafts are also represented.  I don't have a favorite.  Check out their site for what it looks like there!
And ... if you like Fixer Upper, note that the blacksmith shop sometimes featured s at Heritage Village.

Max - couldn't wipe the grin off his mug -

V was home this past weekend.

Max was delighted!

(I don't allow him on the furniture, but she does!)

Nothing much - feels like enough!

lady bug

I'm liking empty nest.  In fact, the nest doesn't feel empty at all. It is actually sorta great.  I feel good about having helped five different people start their own good lives. They are great at keeping me looped in.

My dog wanders around the house wondering where V is and when she'll be home.
It would help him to sniff out her dorm room, but that's probably not allowed.

Her room feels so empty with a lot of her stuff gone - 

I put a quilt on the headboard in an attempt to "warm it up" in there a bit.

She has wanted that wall painted black with blackboard paint  

and I can see it would have provided a nice accent.

We, husband and I, have tentatively planned a week or so away camping out.  The weather is currently forecast to put a damper on that, but maybe not. Weather forecast a week out is as unreliable as tea leaves. I'd like a stretch of clear skies.  If not, we will put our kayaks in the local lake and hunt for dinosaur tracks.  People say when the water is low, as it is all over Texas right now, that the tracks are easy to see. There are caverns practically within walking distance of my home which I've yet to explore. Plenty to do.

I planted a variety of caladiums in this past Spring. They are underperforming in the bed they're in and I'm trying to decide about auditioning them in a different bed or tucking them in to a pot for the winter.  I wonder if the tubers have rotted ... this is my first time with caladiums and I know just enough about them to know that they are really cool looking when they are "happy".  Mine are sad.

We have a banana tree that has done so well. Later I will take a few pictures of the leaf design - very elegant water capturing system. The stalks are like straws that fill up with water and deliver it straight to the roots.  We had bananas growing in the yard at my childhood home.

So - still tweaking the plantings.  I'm enjoying the yard work.

Inside I'm starting a "scrap quilt" from these pieces.  We have a quilting retreat planned for next year and I am such a slow worker that I need a headstart!

Cousin's weekend

Sitting out here on the back patio waiting to see if it will rain in Texas today. That tropical depression is posting a few promising pictures via Facebook friends. The weather apps are predicting rain here in  the North Austin area for the best part of the week staring early this morning right here in my backyard even as the overhead sun is burning my feet, also where my hair has fallen into a part. Later today I plan to wash it, wrap it up in a towel and take a nap with it still wet. The rest of my cousins left right after breakfast ... dishes still sitting in the sink ... sitting here on the back porch waiting to see if it will rain seems like the most important use of my time.

They'll been forecasting rain for two days now and my plants are feeling the neglect. We remain hopeful.

I learned something about myself this long weekend while my cousins were here. I learned that I sometimes think I mean what I say when I really don't.
Like when I say, "I don't care."
I really thought I meant that every time I said it, even when it was said only silently.
Turns out, the truth is is, sometimes I may really mean "I care so very much that I can't afford the emotional cost that caring may need to collect from me". Last night I remembered that I told myself right here in this very journal that I have "liked to keep my relationships spacious, and by that I meant "distant", "detached". I'm realizing that these people are my people and I don't even know how many children they have much less what their childhoods were like.  I didn't know that Momma sent them my out grown clothes or that one of my favorite dresses was also one of my cousin's favorites.  I didn't even remember I remembered that dress until I finished her description of it before we broke out in laughter.

I asked everyone to write a story about their momma and ran out of time to write mine, instead making sure every detail in the guest rooms was in order. I thought they might measure me as my momma did, by how my cleaning compared to theirs.  I didn't want to fall too far short ... just short enough to "let them win" if they needed to (dust bunnies nesting inside the lampshades stand ready to attest to that). They didn't need to. They didn't come all this way to criticize.

The first two, sisters, arrived as it began to get dark on Friday. I could tell that the cousin who self deprecatingly identifies as "the bully" of her family (number two of five in her birth family) was really the one who accepted the burden of steering their "team kid". I think even as adults they still look to her (or hide from her) when something in their lives is shaking. I've heard her momma say "She is just like Meg (my momma)" and it was never intended as a compliment. I can see my own strengths when I look straight in to her eyes. I can also see tired, from the road or from life ... I'll know pretty soon I thought as we took each other's measure. So she could see me too I noticed as we embraced. I very rarely experience being seen when someone looks at me so that was note worthy. Our life journeys and choices have made us more alike then I would have been able to believe if I hadn't seen it for myself this weekend. Maybe we started out that way too. Maybe God was interested to see how two vessels from the same puddle of mud dried to clay would would bear up under different heat loads. My soul nods at hers in recognition, we came out of the furnace and we don't let everyone close enough to smell our smoke.

(Now the rain is turning in to bubbles that form on the surface of the pool then immediately pop. Drop pop drop pop. It's falling fast as a string of firecrackers and I can't see the radiating rings).

The younger sister has the razor sharp brain of a person who has optimally managed their ADD combined with a sweetly sarcastic sense of humor. She has dialed sarcasm back so far that it's as delightfully refined as a piece of candy found in a purse. I immediately felt the kinship. Later in the weekend we discovered that we count, count as in counting 1, 2, 3 ... when some of the subroutines in our brains noticeably stills when we focus. Okay like when we climb stairs or walk from here to within reading distance over there. She said counting is control and I'm thinking about that.  I'm not sure what that meant. I'm wondering if it might be my way slowing my self down enough to stay "in the moment". I'm wondering if we fell on the stairs a lot as children. I know my moments are measured in breathes and I have learned to be more mindful. I don't like it when I notice myself counting. Doing that seems to happen when I am "getting through" something unpleasant. I seem to do it as a way of measuring "here" when I'd rather be somewhere else.

The oldest sister, a retired professional photographer and still in such excellent shape to look good in her daughter's swimsuit, was to be picked up later that day which turned to night as we stood in my foyer becoming family.

(Oh now it is raining hard enough to blow the fern on the outdoor coffee table where I'm still typing away. The rings, clearing defined on the pool are now making me wonder if Van Gogh was inspired by rain. The bubble are jumping themselves in to splashes. And back to gentle as quickly as I could type those two, no three sentences. I do love rain and a pool makes it even more fun.)

After they left to go pick up their sister at the airport, I realized (probably right after the first turn off of my street) that I should have gone with them.  They didn't invite me, and I thought it might be a preplanned interlude to discuss their impressions. Spaciousness at work - I might have gracefully offered. It would have been as considerate as I'd really like to be if I were courageous enough to not consider the potential costs. Or if I'd been thinking more about their comfort than mine.  That's one of my airports, I could have made the drive over and the pickup easier.

(Now the rain is falling silently and silver in the puddle that's not 'posed to be on the patio.)

the wings beat that fast, faster if they want to

#121/1000 That I don't have to mow yards in the rain like the men working in the backdoor  neighbor's back yard are doing.

I had a great weekend with them. They pick up rocks found along the way, like Tommy did, and like Momma did (but I don't think she keep them). The other's have/had actual rock gardens. Tommy had rocks from all over the SW which he began picking up as early as our child hood. I doubt that he ever went anywhere without being mindful of a rock he might want to pick up. When he moved, his rocks moved. Sometimes I wonder where they are now. 

Those cousins were fun to hang with.

Momma was the oldest of eight, four girls and four boys. I wondered what stories our time together would tell.  And I wondered if we might be able to help each other sort out the hardness of stories half told or even told just half true.  It's turning out to be a good thing - getting together.  We are already thinking ahead to doing it again next year.  

Yesterday morning I surprised myself by feeling a little teary.  I'm not much of a crier.  Wait - that may not be true.  I tear up at unexpected times, times when my soul is engaged and my brain is on autopilot. I cried when I was making pesto this weekend.  A stranger was in the hospital dying. The pesto was an ingredient in a dish I was making to send over for visiting family.  Also strangers ... a mutual friend made the request and I was happy to help out.  1/4 cup of walnuts ... olive oil ... parmesan cheese ... a silent tear sliding down a cheek.  Usually those little tears are happy ones.

I would expect there might be tears associated with a child leaving for college. In my case this was the last of five to take that step and I hadn't shed a tear at any of those other transitions.  Maybe it's because this is the last one. She was unexpected at 42.  I didn't cry then  I laughed when a friend gave me a maternity t-shirt which read "OVER THE HILL AND OFF THE PILL" even though I wasn't off the pill at all. My career plans changed and I felt blessed to have one more chance to help build a foundation and I thought I'd be pretty good at it being an old hand.  I continued to work "part-time" and enjoyed the sweetness that a baby brings to a family. She flew with me a good bit before she was old enough to begin preschool.

The time flew by as it tends to do.

Maybe it was coming around the corner and seeing her room empty of those things that made it hers. A few favorite snapshots were hanging forlornly in an otherwise mostly vacant room.  Taking the cute little kitty cat bank out of a storage box in her closet and setting it out on an almost empty bookshelf in her room didn't make me feel much better. I remembered my own mother saying, "If I'd known you would never live at home again when you left for college, I wouldn't have let you go".  I thought that was such a weird thing for her to say.  That was years later.  I expect them to build their life in a nest of their own.  It's great when they come home, but it's different.  My Dad sent a hallmark card to me late in that first semester away.  It had 20 bucks in it and a note in his own writing which said pizza money ... money was tight in the home I grew up in, I knew he had converted it from his beer money.  The card was a perfect reflection of my dad's sense of humor.  On the outside it read "Since you've been gone we decided to convert the room where you spent all your time..." and on the inside "... we are using it as a house bath again."

My girl cousins on my mother's side are coming in for Labor Day weekend.  I don't know any of them at all.  I've maybe seen them twice at the most over my life but they are Facebook friends.  Weird, huh?  It was my idea and quite frankly, I vacillate between hoping it will be fun or at least helpful, to just cautious preparation.  My mom and her sister shared the most contentious dynamic that I've ever seen outside of political circles. I don't know why ... or how.  On of the cousins was asking about my mother trajectory once she began to decline physically.  In visiting with her via FB messenger I realized she was as adrift as I felt back when Momma was first diagnosed. Two of the cousin sisters have already opted out with pretty sound excuses (which I do not take personally, they may be even completely legit).  They all have slightly closer ties to each other than I have had with any of them.  There are some mean words between the different sets of cousins that seem to be generating plausible excuses for opting out.  We're planning on driving up to see all things "MAGNOLIA" for one of the days. I've asked every one to bring an already written description of a fun/funny event featuring their momma which will be read to the group and we can guess which of the four sisters that was.  I also asked everyone to bring a little token wrapped gift to be exchanged fire drill style. Company coming in, strangers to me basically.  That's why I'm fussing around in V's room. Making ready.

After that my husband and I plan on spending a couple weeks at the coast camping out (just us and the dog).  Then I have to get to class for a couple of days to do a FIRC - flight instruction recertification process.

I have a few things planned other than those delightful little trips.  I am relearning conversational Spanish.  It's tricky because I haven't found a "Tex-Mex" app and we don't really speak Español here in Texas. The app I'm using is set up sorta like a game.  It's fun.  I'm also relearning how to dive from the side into a pool.  I don't really like that - it hurts my face a  bit - but I think it will amuse grandkids one of these days. I had a really fun grandmother. I need time to work on that!  She baked a beautifully decorated cake to welcome Daddy's twin home (he lived overseas).  I'd forgotten the story, but was recently reminded by Daddy's cousin.  When my Uncle's bride (star of the visit) cut in to the cake, while everyone circled around, the cake exploded sending sticky bits everywhere and filling the room with (mostly) laughter.  Grandmomma had secretly hollowed out the cake and planted a blown up balloon inside.  I would never ever in a million years think of doing that! It was funny (mostly) ... I laughed to think of my super prankster G laughing her little 4'6" self silly, but I have a lot of work do to get anywhere near that level.

Today, I'm repotting my Meyer's lemon tree and working around the house for the cousin's visit. Mostly though, I'm sitting here listening to the pool fountain, chewing up perfectly melted ice cubes and attempting to get back in the habit of noting stuff here.

As far as "home improvement" goes, I have sheer drapes up next for this room. Next up tweaking the masterbath - haven't done a thing in there yet.

Recently flew Delta to ATL where TWO would be having a minor surgery.  It felt good that she wanted me there.

 I hadn't seen this technology in the seats. Pretty cool. They were getting a ground speed of 595mph with that 82mph tailwind.
I was a bit "creeped out" by the flight. It was delayed for over an hour and an equipment change was made and broadcast by the gate agent as she implored us to use the new seat assignments on a boarding pass that she swiped in from our original ones one person at a time.  She was really frazzled I thought. Why are the seating assignments changing I asked and she said it was because of an equipment down grade ... was to be an A321 per my ticket confirmation email and from where I stood near the window at her counter I glanced out and saw what looked to me to be an A321.  "Oh, what are we boarding?" I asked casually as she worked the angle of my phone to get the scan.  An Airbus 321 she said.  Hmmmm.
The Captain was greeting everyone as we boarded.  I may have been the last to board. "Did y'all get her all fired up?" or something like that I asked in passing and he weirdly responded that they had been dancing in the aisle before the passengers started arriving.  Weird right?  I smiled faintly in response and kept on moving to my seat.  The very same seat that I would be sharing with the lady beside me as part of her squeezed under the armrest and into my seat.  She flew the entire way, most of the way, with her eyes shut.  I was concerned that she might be a queasy flier, but later I thought maybe she just doesn't have great experiences in a sardine can. Because of the flight crews choice of words about weather at the destination I wanted to, and was unable to in flight, look at radar weather graphics. Honestly, the entire bumpy flight was smoother than a smooth day in a Cessna 172.  The landing was note worthy as we sat down rather firmly on the right mains and shimmied just a smidge before the left set made contact.  I've never experienced an actually carrier landing, but I have been accused of making them and it's never been a compliment ... hmmm, carrier landing, I thought followed by nice to be safely down.
I wasn't the last one off the plane and I thought it was really neat that the folks further back waited to let people more towards the front out.  People flying to ATL are probably well schooled in the Southern graces.  "Thanks for the safe flight." I said, head down, as I passed the crew members standing in the front galley.
My smile started as soon as I stepped off the plane when thoughts turned fully to my girl.  She said she'd meet me at the escalator.  I don't fly into ATL often enough to know what that meant exactly, but she seemed perfectly certain that I would automatically find my way there.  It didn't occur to me to think otherwise. I dodged into the ladies room to check my lipstick, wash my hands, and bring up an airport map.  Phone in hand I reemerged and starting walking briskly with the flow ... seemed like a plan.  Next thing I know the captain of that flight was at my side making small talk. He told me he used to be a hornet driver.  That may be perfectly normal talk in piloting circles - idk - I just really don't like people walking up bragging on themselves.  I like to decide if someone is impressive without the shortcuts.  "So, lots of carrier landings?" I asked and he said he was an instructor pilot and taught carrier landings even ... . (Oh gee whiz). I asked him what the delay was coming out of AUS to which he responded the cabin crew was late having worked a flight the night before and getting only six hours of downtime.  Pretty rough glamor job.  I kept on walking when we got to the proper turn and had to double back after some time had gone by - quick pit stop to shed my new friend.
Once on the airport train I started looking at my map but by then I was headed to the International Terminal and my daughter was texting somewhat frantically.  This is exactly how it feels when they think you're too old to navigate (life) I thought. I remembered fetching my mother-in-law from ATL over the years.  Eventually we worked out a way to meet her at the gate - you have to set that up in advance, but it can be done, at least it used to be.

end of the line on the ATL terminal train

The AUO ball cap was on her coffee table and she let me borrow it because it rained in Atlanta the whole three days I was there.  It felt so good to have time with just her.  Time. Time to focus on one person is rare in my family.  I loved it.  We had two days before her surgery and spent time exploring indoor places that she wanted to see.  My favorite treat was a glass of whiskey with a very large solid ice cube in it.  I love those ice cubes that are clear as glass. She's fine.  I hope to go back for a few days in October. I got in a hour later than expected (that may be a Delta thing because it seems to happen often) and was very glad to see my husband roll up to the curb.

Next morning and a long time planned "girl's weekend" with some of my oldest friends was on tap. I drove down to San Antonio for a weekend of silliness which included seeing Mamma Mia (cute), mani/pedis (Mani only for me, I dropped something on my foot and broke my big toe nail in half.  The proprietor really wanted to build a new toenail with filler but I declined), some shopping, and a Chinese foot massage.

AND a Chinese foot massage!  

Let me tell you about that.

I drove us there taking direction from the backseat.  You know how you're carefully following someone's directions but at the same time thinking "this couldn't be right"?  That's what was happening.  San Antonio has the feeling of hap-hazard urban design, and the streets seem narrow, pot holed, sorta dirty really. "Pull in here" my friend directed and we were in the Big Lots parking lot.  The Chinese Foot Massage place was a few doors down.  Pictured is the sign in their window extolling the many benefits of foot massage.  Re-live stress jumped out at me ..."Uh, how much is this gonna run?" I asked.  

We stepped inside and found a very dark room.  Ok, the room was completely dark like the forbidden pool hall in the town we all grew up in was dark, darker though because there were no pool table lights illuminating the space. There was a tiny spot light at the register and as my eyes adjusted I could read "One hour foot massage/$35.00 CASH ONLY".  I was in for 35 bucks worth of foot tinkering. I have a kind of a foot thing anyway so that seemed okay.  I wasn't even bothered by my lack of nail polish or complete nails for that matter.  This just didn't feel like the sort of place where one might be judged. I was glad it didn't smell like stale beer and cigarette smoke.

Behind a partition wall of cubbies, which were full of crisp clean white towels, was a row of oversized ottoman type beds with a moveable foot stool which if it was pushed along size the larger ottoman would combine to be the size of a narrow twin bed.  I took off my overshirt, revealing a cammy, and pulled my yoga pants up above my knees.  A woman brought a big vessel of hot epsom salted water in and indicated that I should sit down put my feet in and lay back.  My friends were on either side of me and I could see that they already had their eyes closed.  I should say all of them had been here on previous visits, I was the only novice in our group ... and closing my eyes seemed unlikely. The lady draped a nice smelling hot wash cloth over my eyes and told me to relax now.  From under the cloth I watched her squeeze something from a bottle and rub it on my feet.  I decided that closing my eyes would be more in the spirit of this adventure.  She moved from my feet leaving the soak tub in place and moved up to my head.  I could feel her trying to figure out how to take my hair down and I reached up to help.  Let me say now, as much of a sucker as I am for a foot massage, I am really all in on a scalp massage. Keeping my eyes closed became very easy.  She massaged my neck, face, shoulders, arms, legs and tapped me on the shoulder.  I was thinking, too bad this is over - money well spent - but I was actually instructed to turn over and at that time I noticed the lady had moved over to one of my friends and this was a tiny man helping me.  He moved the pillow and below it was a hole for my face to fit in just like the regular massage tables.  Then he massaged my back, my shoulders and arms and hands and my legs again. The whole thing was pretty much bliss.

I liked it.  It was fantastic.

I think there's a Chinese foot massage place between the Ramen place I like and the Korean grocery store where I shop in Austin.  I am absolutely certain that from my family, only one of my sons would be willing to go there with me.  I'd feel weird going in alone.  But ... it was really good. Not sure if my "flexibition" was improved or not, but I do know the massage was a bargain value and deserved the generous tip.

A few pictures from National Seashore campout -

I'll be back soon to write some notes - 

Just really busy!

Pictures from recent Colorado trip

Train tracks in the center of a four lane city street
never seen that before (and no guard bars, yet it works perfectly well)

next three photos - drive from Ft. Collins to Estes Park - I saw lots of mountain goats

These two are of potted flowers decorating the Pearl St. area of Boulder. Plants like it there.

Three at the botanical gardens in Denver.

My dad's main hobby during my growing up years was organic gardening.  He would love that this kid is a professional gardener.  

BTW - we stayed one night at the Best Western in Raton (NM) where they had an absolutely fantastic breakfast buffet - even the coffee was outstanding. It's the only hotel I've seen with two exits from ones room - there's a door to outside and another door on the opposite wall that opens to a large atrium type space with an indoor pool.  Seemed really smart where the weather is less hospitable.

Some of the back yard landscape work -

Yesterday, while working on removing a white plastic pipe and the little dirty white rocks that encased it underground, a huge butterfly flew over head.  I wouldn't have noticed it had I not been looking up in to the trees.  I was trying to spot a fussing mockingbird. And I was thinking about hanging the individual crystals from the chandelier that came with this house ... hanging them from fishing line and letting them fall like raindrops from the branches that shade the yard over where there's still a lot of work to be done.  

This yard came with significant drainage problems and "layers" of failed attempts to solve those problems.  One of the solutions was to ring the entire house with a ditch, I'm guessing its about a foot deep and two feet wide, filled with walnut sized rocks.  I don't know when that was done, but long enough ago that the rock ditch is know filled with dirt that has compressed around the rocks like Karo syrup around peanuts ... it's brittle. And when we strike the rocks, the dirt breaks up in to pea sized "nuggets".  I am using the fire pit screen as a sieve.  My husband says he will reuse the rock we are culling out of some areas as the underlay for a drainage path/ walking path/  patio.  I know that doesn't make much sense without picture!  I'll go snap one in a few ... the only reason I have time to write now while I should be watering plants is because there's a cloud layer blocking the morning sun. 77% humidity with a 30% chance of rain ... which in Central Texas usually means there is one small cloud that will unleash a downpour over one quarter acre lot somewhere ... not here.

Today I will mix up a portion of Miracle Grow for every plant in our yard.  

Our daughter, C ... aka Four, is here staying with us for I hope all of July before she starts her teaching career.  She doesn't think we have made much progress, but then, she's not picking rocks out of where planting beds should be!

Plus, we pack up and go on little trips pretty often.  Next one scheduled this month - a camp out at the National Seashore where I hope to see some spectacular night skies.

I am really happy with the way our work is looking.  There's still a lot to do.  

rocks to repurpose as underlay 

This is that area where we are focusing our efforts right now.  The PVC pipe was a water sprinkler project (we think - no heads so not sure yet what the plan was) begun by a former homeowner. There is TV cable cord which cuts through our yard, goes under the fence and I'm guessing services the backyard neighbor (weird). We have cable guys scheduled to come out in October to upgrade that ... apparently it's supposed to be inside a conduit of some kind. I am postponing planting anything along the line where that is to be installed. My husbands idea is to provide a channel for drainage through the sidewalk pictured here but to expand it to pick up another "branch" under an expansion of the grid patterned sidewalk that we have already laid.  Those aggregate stepping stones were buried under thirty years worth of Asian jasmine ground cover. You can see where dirt and vegetation were piled against the fence and the casita causing wood rot.  As we replace fence boards, I am going to build a trellis which will attach to the back fence supporting the three vines my husband planted out there - two star jasmine (small fragrant white flower bursts) and one evergreen wisteria (Vibrant vermilion flowers which cascade like grape clusters reminiscent of wisteria).  I am very excited about the vines.

The sidewalk will fan out providing a junction for a gravel path coming from behind the casita.  That is the area set aside for garden "utility" such as our compost piles, a potting bench, a raised bed, etc.. we get good sun back there and it's hidden from view by the little building.  Where I drew on the picture in red - that's the area for our fire pit and a couple of Adirondack chairs.  We are planning on building a little table height rock ledge near the fence to sort of hug that seating area.

This area was covered by the Asian jasmine ground cover - it had really gotten out of hand and was a big part of the drainage issue in that area.  I really loved laying sod ... it's like instant gratification after hours and hours of root removal and dirt repositioning.  I planted caladiums there this year. Next year I;; plant begonias with them.  That's elephant ear in the blue pot.

Here's looking back the other way.  We plan on veneering the casita in the same rock as our house (eventually - husband will pour the ledge for that as part of the drainage job) and where that red is drawn on - a privacy fence and gate to hid my work area.  The drainage fix is really driving this project right now - the slab of the casita is about a foot below grade right now. It's going to look really nice and be functional as well.

This is one of my favorite parts about the yard work - cooling off in the pool!