Flower Month Day #22 / My Own Book?

More little cuties from the garden on this 22nd day of the month – again, new to me this year. It’s called “Brachycome” (brak-kee-KOH-mee.) You can’t get a perspective from this photo, but the blooms are about the size of a dime. I love daisies and daisy-looking flowers, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one this tiny! They are just presh.

On the creativity front, without any pre-planning, I’m onto a new project today.

You’ve frequently heard me mention Kelly Rae Roberts, an artist that I have followed for some time now. On her blog today she mentioned that she’d had her blog posts made into books. What a GREAT idea! I look at my blog posts as documentation of my creative life, but I’ve often wondered if they would always be available, and thinking what a shame it would be to lose them all.

So, I pulled up the site today, constructed, and ordered a book for my 2011 posts. The learning curve wasn’t too bad, and when I ran into trouble the customer service was great. I’m going to wait to do a full on post about it until I have the book in hand and see if it is as good as I think it will be, but I wanted to let you know what I’m up to. If I love it, I’ll be doing one for each years posts!

Flower Month Day #21 / More New Beginnings

Let’s start with new beginnings…

Yesterday I signed up for an e-course that began today. I know. I said it was going to be a long time before I signed up for another course for a long time knowing how I rarely follow through with actually DOING them. But this one seems different. It came about at JUST the right time, just as I was getting back into the groove and moving forward. And it’s called “Radical Wellness.” What could be more perfect for me right now?

The course was developed by Tamara Laporte, the same gal that does “Lifebook,” the class I seem to sign up for every year and not do. Oy. I just love her energy. Anyway, she’s going through many of the same things I am in terms of wanting to get on track to a healthy life. So she developed the course and now is doing the work right along with us.

AND, I downloaded the pdf, and actually completed the work for the 1st day. Yay, me!

If you are interested in the course, you can find out about it at http://www.willowing.com. Registration is closed for this class, but she’ll be offering again later in the year.

Getting work done, starting a wellness program…will wonders never cease?

Meanwhile, back in the garden…

…Cosmos is the star right now. I think hot pink is becoming my go-to color in the garden. I swear red is still my favorite, but if I want variety, I’ve gotta go with what nature provides!

Day #20 Flower Month / Old and Decrepit or Strong and Productive?

I inadvertently stumbled on something this morning, thanks to the encouragement of my friend Connie.

She commented on yesterdays post about working out in the garden by saying “way to go!” Now I read and reply to every comment made on my blog, and as I was thinking about what to say besides “thank you!” it dawned on me that without even realizing it, I had come to a crossroad.

You long-time readers know that I have had some challenging physical issues the last year that have had a profound effect on me. I have been gentle with myself, allowing myself time to heal (or so I told myself.) And to some extent it was true. I needed to let time pass and give my back and knee the opportunity to heal.

But, I think I overdid that, and allowed myself to become sedentary, something I have never been. There was a time not too awful long ago, I could run circles around women half my age. And I do know that with age I should expect to slow down a little, but this has gotten ridiculous, and it’s largely because mentally, I gave up. It hurt to do much, so I sat. And with each day I sat, it got that much harder to move. This is not me being hard on myself. It’s me being real. This is not who I want to be.

I think I finally scared myself, and from that fear forced myself to move in spite of the pain. Now in just a few days I seem to have my mojo back. I am not pain free, but I’m up and doing things in spite of it. When I feel like sitting down, I make myself do just one more thing, which has led to one more thing, and then another, until, at the end of the day I’m able to look back and see a lot of completed tasks. And it feels good. Really. Good.

So, I was traveling toward Old and Decrepit, but I caught myself, and now I’m headed down Strong and Productive. THAT feels even better.

Before signing off for today, I’d like you meet another flower in the garden:

This is Lavender – English Lavender. Last year I had Spanish Lavender in this spot, and I never really liked it. So, last fall I yanked it out and replaced it and I’m very glad I did. This is the traditional Lavender that you see tied with pretty ribbons and put in your under lovely drawer to make them smell nice. Oooooh…another project!

Flower Month Day #19 / Marathon Gardening!

So happy to see you on day #19 of Flower Month!

I spent most of the day out in the garden. In addition to the normal planting and watering, today I got into pruning mode, something I rarely do. One corner of the garden is primarily perennial bushes. They are such prolific bloomers that I really hate cutting them back and have let them get way outta control. I hadn’t intended to do so much. The plan was to cut back some of the cottage roses and perhaps a bit of the Lavatera. But, after doing them, the lilac bush looked particularly shabby. You know how when you get a new couch all of a sudden the carpet and window treatments look bad?

Next thing I knew, I had cut way more than would fit in the “green” receptacle and had to start a pile that will be around for almost 2 weeks. Yuck.

By the time I pruned and cleaned up the debris in the yard I was beat, but, I hadn’t even touched the plants I had intended to get planted, so pushed myself to keep going. These days that is no easy feat. I felt like a marathon runner hitting the wall and willing myself to push through it (cue up the Rocky music! – I can get a little dramatic sometimes!) Several hours later I had extended the annual bed a few more feet, fed the birds (again!) and finished my watering. Yay me!

Today I’d like you to meet my Verbena. It’s a gorgeous hot pink.

This is one of my newer plantings, and I’m anxious to see how far it spreads during the season.

Tomorrow, I’m back out to the garden again. I love how it’s shaping up, but it was such a mess there is still so much to do! I’m feeling the pull to get other parts of my life shaped up, but I’m having so much fun that I’m obsessing a bit (who me?)

Hope you’re enjoying your favorite obsession this beautiful weekend!

Gotta Love a Productive Day /Flower Month Day #18

I don’t know what got into me today. I actually had a productive day from the get go, and it continued nearly the whole day!

In addition to big things like grocery shopping, I did a ton of little things – dishes, laundry (washed, dried AND folded and put away!) feeding and watering the birds, several large handfuls of small weeds pulled, pasta salad made, trash emptied, soap dispensers refilled, plants purchased to be planted this weekend – and all that before 11am! I was like my old self, and it was amazing!

I’m tempted to say “I’m back!” But, one day does not a pattern make, so I’ll wait and see if there are more days like this to be seen.

For Flower Day #18, I’d like to introduce you to yet another flower in my garden -

Okay, so she’s not REALLY a flower, she’s a succulent, but she looks like a flower, doesn’t she?

I cannot believe it has taken so long for me to get on the succulent bandwagon. I just LOVE them, and I love adding them to my garden in little nooks and crannies.

As soon as flower month is over, I plan to take you on a total tour of the garden, along with the finished succulent fountain, and then you can see all this gal’s buddies!

Flower Month Day #17

Welcome to the 17th offering from my garden!

Today’s pick is a lovely little annual called Torenia. I have two different colors, pink and purple, and both have the most darling little blooms.

These were new for me this year, and I’ll need to remember them for next year. They are just the sweetest little things. AND, I get so bored having the same flowers every year. It’s nice when I find something different.

Would love to stay and visit, but I’m in the midst of a yucky cold, and I’m tired and coughing and all I can think about right now is going to sleep. So, see ya tomorrow! Hope you have a lovely day full of beautiful flowers…

Flower Month Day #16

 

Last year my hollyhocks barely made it in time for May Flower Month. This year they are ahead of schedule! The hot pinks have always been my favorites, but the reds have grown on me over the years. And this year they are particularly impressive.

 

I wish I could have dozens of these beauties. What am I talkin’ about? I can! I just have to find the colors I want and plant them!  Problem is they are kinda hard to find, at least the giant ones! The place I got them originally has gone out of business, and no one locally carries them. So, I’m going on a quest – international if necessary. Surely SOMEONE has them and is willing to ship!

I’ve gotta tell you, I am almost obsessing on the garden these past few days. The weather has been gorgeous and  ideas for projects are coming so fast I can hardly keep track of them! After neglecting the poor thing for a year it feels really good to be taking care of it again. And even better to be spending every spare minute of the day creatively!

Woohoo!

Flower Month Day #15

Well, sad news in the garden…

You know the beautiful Lithodora that I transplanted? Here’s what it looked like before the transplant…

But now -

I can’t even believe a plant could go from beautiful to DEAD in one day. I’m guessing it didn’t appreciate being yanked out by the roots even though it was done carefully, re-planted in great soil and well watered. I thought that at the worst it die a slow death. So, note to self – buy another one.

Elsewhere in the garden, this hot pink veronica is yet another of my favorites.

Hope you are enjoying Flower Month, and that maybe it’s inspiring YOU to get out in the garden!

Flower Month Day #14 / Breakin’ it down

I have had a really hard time lately getting anything at all done unless I have huge chunks of time available. I’ve been trying to figure out how I went from doing so much, to so little.

Turns out I’ve developed a little of a lazy streak. Just a little. And it has to do with not wanting to change clothes so much! Ha! What an excuse!

I get up and have my coffee in my jammies. If Josh doesn’t have school, I leave the jammies on to go over his house. If he does, I change into some kinds street clothes – nothing fancy. But then if I’m going to work in the yard, I need to change into trashy stuff that I can wreck with no regrets. Then I’m hot and stinky, so if I don’t have time for a full on shower, I need at least a bird bath (love that term) before getting dressed again. Then, when day is done, if I’m going to paint, I need to get my painting jammies on, cuz those are the ones I can wipe my hands off onto – no harm, no foul.

I spend so much time changing, it sorta gives me a very short time to actually accomplish anything.

Well today I decided to force myself to just do stuff, whether or not I felt like I had time. And guess what? I can still accomplish a fair amount, even with just a little time, if I just put my mind to it. So, I changed into my gardening clothes, even though I only had an hour, and was able to spread another bag of soil, do the watering, and plant nearly a dozen plants, transplant 2 more, go in, take a quick bird bath, change clothes and get out the door! All in under and hour. Yay me!

This is how I used to spend my days, breaking things into little jobs that could be done quickly. It’s only been the last year or so I’ve mentally needed the whole day clear to do anything. I’m going to be concentrating a lot of effort on going back to my old ways. I love looking back at the end of the day and seeing clearly how much I’ve accomplished!

And with that, I’d like you to meet another of my garden flowers -

This is Lithodora, a perennial who is a super star in rock gardens. The deep green creeping, low-lying shrub sports shocking blue flowers that are astoundingly beautiful!

I just transplanted 2 of them to different locations in the garden and I’m hoping they will survive. They just weren’t getting enough attention in their prior placement – they need to be front and center!

Flower Month Day 13/Reflections on Mother’s Day.

First of all, I want to acknowledge that there are many people who find no joy in Mother’s Day – those who have lost their mothers, or wanted desperately to have children and couldn’t, or lost a child to illness or tragedy, or whose children have run away from home, or disappeared, or distanced themselves from their families. My heart goes out to them, and I’ve spent time today sending them love through my prayers.

But for most it is a fun celebration of motherhood. A day to think about the happy times.

Being a mother has not always been easy. My children were, at times, difficult, as are most, I suppose. And of course, I floundered through motherhood knowing what I didn’t want to be, and making the rest up as I went. I made way too many mistakes, but somehow we all survived, and have mostly happy memories of those growing up years.

We used to have a poster up in the hallway of the Simpsons with a caption that read “As far as anyone knows, we’re a perfectly normal family,” and I guess that pretty much summed it up. I still have that poster inside a garage cabinet and still laugh every time I see it.

Somehow they both grew up to be responsible, contributing adults, married other responsible, contributing adults, and presented us with the best rewards parents could ever ask for – grandchildren. I feel very blessed that both my kids have chosen to live close to us as adults. I figure I must have done something right.

Now grandchildren have turned out to be amazing creatures. I heard once that the reason grandchildren and grandparents get along so well is that they have a common enemy (heeheehee!) I don’t know that THAT is true, but for some reason, they seems to think of grandparents as allies. It may be that by the time they come along, we’ve mellowed, or else learned from our mistakes. Maybe we have a better sense of what is important and what isn’t. All I know for sure is that even with as much contact as we have with our grandkids (since we care for them while their parents work) it is easier. And we’re not the typical spoil ‘em and send ‘em home grandparents. Because we have them so much, we HAVE to enforce the rules, or we’d have to spend a lot of time with the little monsters we were creating. So whatever it is that makes this particular bond so much fun, it’s NOT because we don’t have to discipline or counsel.

So, today we had our celebration at my daughter’s house. The guys got take out at our favorite Mexican Restaurant.

Here’s the moms along with the babies that make them moms -

Me and my babies, Andra and Alex

Andra and her babies, Hannah and Bea

Meegan and her baby, Joshua

Sandy and her baby, Kerry

Andra didn’t want to get her picture taken because she got pink eye from Bea and has a swollen eye, so Mr. Tattered came up with the idea to get patches for all of us. She loved it almost as much as the kids did!

Mr. Tattered made strawberry shortcake for dessert! The perfect end to the day!

Since it’s also day #13 of Flower Month, let me introduce you to another of my flower friends…

This is a tray of alyssum, my go-to filler flower. I tuck it in all over the garden. Like the calibrachoa, it is supposed to be an annual, but I find that it often comes back. Even so, I still seem to plant more every year!