Life...

03-23-18

Today the sun was out and although the extraordinary breezes of our high desert climate are always with us and against us, I was able to work outside... and thus, I spray painted some of the patio furniture, as well as many of my plants supports, trellises, obelisks and whatnots.  These are the ones that I already have supporting some of the ‘soon to grow’ roses and climbers.  Then, it will be all the flowerpots next.

I also worked on organizing the back porch. Nothing looks perfect there yet, and still, everything is looking as perfect as it had never been since we moved back.  I’m excited. 

The small tiled table and newly done pink chairs are sitting under the Virginia Creeper over on the side gardens on the gravel garden path.  The old full-length mirror sits across from it; leaning against the wall by where the climbing Don Juan rose is.  Rain, heat, snow and the pass of time have made a wrecked of that old mirror frame, and thus a new one must be built soon.  If only the Fisherman would find some free time out of his busy schedule to help me with this project!  But he won’t.  Not as soon as I’d like anyways.  

How I wish sometimes that Miss Mary Poppins would bring with her one day a special kind of a handyman for me—one that would be willing to put up with all my nonsenses, of course!  No fancy work here, just little things, little odd jobs here and there as I see the need, and projects that always pop up in my mind on a moment’s inspiration on inconvenient times... projects and odd jobs that no real handyman would ever wanted to do.  Silly, unimportant things I’ve been told! 

I am a strong woman in my strength, stronger than I look, and I can usually do all sorts of heavy work all on my own, but there are things that I just don’t know how to do.  I wish I’d be an electrician, a pond maker, a wood worker a trellis maker a rock lifter and a concrete expert.  What I won’t do in my garden then!  In the meantime, I'll sit and wait for the Fisherman to help, whenever he'll find the time! ;)

03-24-18

Today, I finished working on the little dried creek.  Three bags of smaller river rocks were enough to use as filler and cover the center.  

The big guardian angel statue that was sitting by the pond at the little white cottage, now sits at the head of little dried-creek.  That’s his place now.  I like him there.  This angel makes me think of the Ark of the Covenant of Exodus in the Bible, and of the Tabernacle, and of God living among us.  Yes, I like that thought.  I truly want to believe that God, dwells here. 

I should had planted all the irises only about and around the stones, but some of them I placed in the center where the river rocks are… I thought that would add some interest to the creek, like a more natural look perhaps, but maybe I might have to take them out later?  We just have to wait and see.

03-25-18

And it snowed again… it snowed practically all day today, with some sunshine in the late afternoon, around four.  

I sat by my computer and wrote.  From my bay-windows I could see all the neighborhood rooftops, and I watched, enchanted, at how the smoke drifted away from chimneys like some livid ghosts from beyond… like the souls of the houses leaving themselves, or the soul of the people who live in them…   

Today, I too noticed that birds have returned to the land.  It was almost a soiree of sorts, a great festivity, a joyful revelry in the aviary world.  I sat outside after the snow was gone just to listen.  And what a symphony I heard!  The first, true aviary symphony since we moved back here. 

3-26-18

Today I planted my first two roses. 

It must be spring, because the birds have woken up all at once.  So many songs the air carries in its wings, so many melodies to enchant my soul! 

Cane-back chairs...

03-19-18

We’re painting the exterior of our house soon, and Gary, the guy who worked on our interior painting of the house this past fall is doing the job again.  Perhaps, I should had chosen someone else this time, but Gary gave me a 13% preferred customer discount, which means over $500 cutback in price.   He’s a complicated type of a guy indeed, but he did a good job—a very hard job done well, it definitely deserves a second chance, and thus I’m choosing him again. 

Deciding on the colors is the real difficult part here.  I know I want gray with super white trims and white columns, but choosing the right gray isn’t easy.  So many shades of gray to choose from!  And this time, there’s no ‘returning’ possible here!  So, I better make the right decision the first time! 

03-22-18 

It’s been raining on and off for the last three days this weeks.  A good downpour of life-giving, precious rain favored us today… rain that has softened and nourished the garden with new growth and new life.  And all those roses I just fertilized last week and supplied them with a high-quality compost-soil are loving it so much!  I can already see new shoots sprouting from scrawny branches, and the ground looks healthy and shiny, and thus, the garden is about to be waken real soon!     

Today, I finally bought the paint I needed to redo my $1.00 French cane-back chair.  

The options were endless.  There are so many possibilities when redoing chairs… colors, fabrics, materials!  However, the minute I saw this chair I knew exactly how I wanted her to look!  

With the help of some gold spray paint and some Pinterest inspiration, it looks like this now.  

For the sit, I used some upholstery fabric I already had. This thick, black fabric brings so many memories to mind.  Of the south, and of our life there.  I can still see in my mind that quaint little fabric store where I bought it from, the southern belle owner with all her fine jewelry and dark hair, and the black and white accent pillows I bought along with it that day.  This fabric was originally meant for our dining room chairs, but then I changed my mind and decided to go for something else, and thus, I never got to use it… until now.

Trying out different pillows!

I think I like this stripe one better!

I love the style of cane-back chairs. Open a copy of Country French magazine and you will most certainly find a dining set with this kind of chairs.  I only wish I should had gotten some more chairs.  There were all 6 of them all in perfect condition and each for only $1.00.  But I didn’t have a place to put them! So I didn't.

The mourning doves are surfing the air above the garden all day long.  A fluffy, extra white couple of them have moved in and soon will be making their nests on climbing roses.  I love to hear them cooing all day long. 

 I hope you are well, and ready for spring!

Love!

  

Life inside and outside...

03-14-18

Today I got the new carpet installed.  Another disappointment!  And a bad idea to make a rushed decision when you must wait!  Never never make a haste decision…

Because ordering another carpet was going to take me two weeks of exposed nails and bare floors, I decided to pick whatever carpet Home Depot had in stock.  Which wasn’t a good idea at all!  But, as it is with everything in life, I’ve learned my lesson.

In the store, and probably on my photographs the carpet looks gray, but in the real light in my house it’s blue, it looks terribly outdated and it wasn’t a good match at all. 

Why?  What I have learned through this experience is that the hardwood floors adjacent to the room where you are adding carpet, play a huge role when deciding what color to choose.  Our kitchen cabinets, backsplash and island are all gray, or have gray undertones, and the same applies to the stones on our fireplace.  Consequently, I thought that grey was the perfect choice for my carpet.  But it wasn’t so.  It actually clashes with our blond hardwood floors, and it changed the whole atmosphere of the living room.  What before used to be an elegant, contemporary room, it instantly became a space proper of the 80’s.  Lesson learned:  When choosing a carpet, you really have to pay attention to the rest of your floors more than anything else.  Especially on an open layout – or open concept kitchen-living spaces with flow, like ours. 

So what now?  The blue carpet has to go!  It just has to!  And this time I will wait the two-week period it takes to order a new carpet! 

03-16-18

Cold cold extra cold!  And the wind is an aggressor of the soul.  Yes, around here, the month of March is a teaser—a spoiler of all enthusiasm and all good feelings.  One day you could wake up already tasting the flavor of spring on the tip of our tongue, and then the next is back again to ground zero with freezing temperatures and atrociously cold winds.  I had forgotten all about it.  Had forgotten how the wind howls and laugh at you here, and how the earth sits and waits… it waits for Cupid's arrow, and it dreams of marble statues lining ancient castle gardens, and crimson rose petals scattered across a wildflower meadow.  It waits, and it dreams of the faint sounds of a cello carried softly across a summer's breeze, lemon Maranta, green ivy lotus and a full moon under a June sky.  Is it really the earth who dreams?  Or is it more my heart?

03-19-18

I worked again in the garden.  The wheelbarrow got broken in the move, and thus the full 10 bags of soil had to be carried by hand and distributed around the roses, which had already gotten their first fertilizing after years of surviving on their own.  What a pathetic bunch they are thus far.  But I have big hopes. 

Then it was time to tackle the Virginia Creeper vine that had busted its support and it had to be cut down to the ground and the wire support fixed and put back into place.  The flowerbeds had to be cleaned off of unwanted grasses and fragments again, and the Oriental spruce got a significant pruning too, so more branches and debris had to be collected again and put into the trash bins.  But what amazing difference I can already see in this leafless-plant-less garden thus far!     

The Virginia Creeper’s thick branches had been resting against this tree long before we moved here… Now everything is in its place again.  

This used to be a lovely tree, but something must had happened to it while we were away.  Somehow, it got broken when the renters were living here and it looked terrible as you can see on this picture.  Oh can you see the weeds?  

It had to be removed, but I like the trunk so much, I decided to keep at least part of it, and embellish it with birds (real and not so real) and birdhouses… you can see the branches of the Virginia Creeper on the back, before I pruned it to the ground.

All eyes are watching… to see how everything unfurls!  Yes, these trees have eyes!... the first time I discovered them among all the leaves, I almost fainted ;)  I was sure the tree was watching me!

Today, I also worked on mom’s little dried creek garden; the one she and I started many years ago, and now I’m dedicating it to her memory.  

I added more stones on one side and will be adding smaller stones and pebbles in the center, to make it look more like a little dry creek, and around it I have planted many of the Iris bulbs I dugout from another parts of the garden.  I’m also planting there an assortment of shade bulbs that I’m hoping will thrive under the pine tree. 

Trees are putting forth buds, tulips are growing by the day, daylilies and phlox are popping out little heads and the red-thumb-like heads of the peonies are showing everywhere.  The purple iris flowers are always the first to welcome me to the spring garden! I love them... for their faithfulness!

A posy of iris for you my friend!

This week

3-11-18

Today I started painting the patio furniture.  This time, they will be all in black.  

Black paint offers a better coverage, and to me, it always speaks of elegance.  New cushions will add the color they need. 

The fence got a new staining too.  
I worked on the chairs while the Fisherman worked on the fence!

A little bit darker than what we originally had there, 

...and I like it so much better!
Can't hardly wait to see those trees covered in green!

03-12-18

We were supposed to have our new carpet installed in our living room today, but it didn’t happen.  We got all the way to the padding part and when the carpet was finally unrolled, what a total disappointment it was.  This carpet was supposed to be one of the finest, but the Home Depot guys never told me how thin it was, or that because of the way it is weaved, how the seams were going to be shown, no matter where they cut it.  All in all, it wasn’t what I’d expected it to be, and thus it had to be returned. 

Walter was such a nice guy... very polite and such a professional.  He's been installing carpet for 42 years.  Can you imagine!  

Now my floors are bare and fill with exposed nails.  Until I can order a new carpet.

03-13-18

The wind—that awful wind of the North. And it was so despicably windy today that I wasn’t able to go outside for much, even when the temperatures were in the high 40s. What I did was work on my other garden chairs… those same ones which sits I covered using a pretty summer dress. Remember them?

The idea of covering those chair with an old summer dress sounded fantastic at that time.  And they looked so pretty too, but what a total failure that was… because the fabric was so thin and because the chairs were exposed to outside environment and temperatures fluctuation, it just didn’t work.  The fabric faded pretty quickly, and by the end of that summer, they were looking pretty bad. 

So, this time I decided to try something else… to begin with, I chose a magenta paint color instead of black.  I wanted something livelier, and happier for these smaller chairs, so this hot pink is looking pretty cool to me!

For the sits I wanted to use something I already had at home, plus I didn’t want to buy expensive fabric for this project anyways.  So, I decided to use an old patio tablecloth this time and see what happens! 😉 Made for outside, and easy-to-clean fabric.  I’ll give it a month or two! Oh, but it looks so pretty!

It was such a cold mid March day today.  Tomorrow we are bound for more snow again, and all those delphinium seeds and shade bulbs I bought will have to wait some more before they can be planted.  I'm seeing some bare root roses being sold at some stores already, and that makes me so very happy!