Lavender, Sage and...Liriope

Those are what I picked up this morning...and a few other things...of course...I only went to Lowe's to look at their replacement cabinet doors (Big Doin's in the Kitchen ReDo area!)

But, force of habit, I park so I walk through the garden department...

And I had just been thinkin' to myself...and going ahead and sharing my thoughts with Mr G (early justification foundation) that I need something in the veggie patch to draw pollinators...truly, the courtyard garden has loads of bees...

and yet the poor Veggie Patch hardly has any! and the veggies suffer for it...right now, my little cantaloupe vines are bloomin'...and I have yet to see a bee anywhere near them...so I'm afraid it'll be a repeat of last year when I finally got cantaloupes but so late in the season that they didn't mature before the first hard frost came...

anyhoo...the Spanish Lavenders were 50% off and, yes, I morphed into a Spanish Lavender hog...I got all 5 that remained...the dwarf Santa Barbara Mexican Bush Sages were 50%, too (I only took 2 of those:)...well, crud...after finding a link for ya'll for the sages, now I really wish I had gotten more than 2! the card in them portrays the flowers as more of a fuchsia-violet-pink colour...well...we are going back this evening with a cabinet door in hand...

the New Blue Liriope was regularly priced, but the courtyard has some major Bare Spots...and I'm trying to eliminate most of the colour in there except for foliage...it seems calmer & cooler to have only foliage when the summer gets here...sorry for yet another crummy pix...

I hope to have an arbor of some type built to cover the courtyard area one of these days...one of these days wayyyy down the road :)

I also finally got around to pickin' up a new coconut mat liner for a huge iron hanging basket my MIL gave to me months and months ago...the remains of a 3/4s dead Boston fern lived in the basket...and I finally felt shamed enough by its lingering presence to do something about it...

for the basket, I chose white petunias, variegated ivy, blue daze and I plopped a Christmas Cactus I had about the place into the basket as well...just for some height & fun texture...

now I just have to remember to water the thing...and hope Mama Wren doesn't come along & decide to have some babies in there...

I decided to make up two of these easy planters for atop two of the courtyard columns...little off on the scale, but oh well...the grasses will make it easier for these not to roast in our Georgia summers...

and we got a bit more painted in the courtyard area...we're just about through in that area except for right along the top of one wall (you can see that in the right photo below) and the columns...

the scale on the fountain is off...but I plan to remedy that will adding trellis work around it one of these days...probably not until next winter...

do not look at the bare spots on the ground! I'm trying to slowly fill in with different plants that provide not just texture, but unusual colours...like the creeping jenny you can just see in the very back of the garden...

Additional Cottage Charm Give Away Items

Sorry, but I take such rotten photographs...the colours are all washed out

this is: 2 king-sized wedding ring quilted pillow shams in soft pinks/blues/greens

2 matching standard-sized pillowcases with purple lilacs (?) stitched on

1 standard-sized mended pillocase with stitched urn & flowers (you can barely see this off to the top right of the photo)

1 little stitched piece

1 Marisa Christina sweater that is a size Small, but would fit a medium pretty easily...still has the hang tag...this is a soft pink with pearl beads and is tunic length...wait...I may have a better photo of it...

No...I don't...and I'm far too lazy to get up to take another photo :)

**Thanks to Manuela for pointing out that I titled this post all wrong...Sorry :)

***There is a link in my first cottage charm give away post to this post so it can all be easily accessed...

Library Sale!

Today our library holds their yearly Book Sale!

no worries that my bedside table looks like this...and this scene is repeated throughout our home :) (don't panic...these are just the unread books)...

I've only held 2 Book Purges in my life...and I deeply-oh-so-deeply regret both ...(I still want all of my yellow-spined Nancy Drews back!)

once in a blue moon, I'll send a book off to Goodwill...one that I deeply dislike...or I'll pass a copy of an okay book along to a friend who wants to give it a go...

but mostly, I hold onto my Books :) ...

have you ever just had that random line of dialogue or stray character bit pop into your mind...from a book you read years and years ago...and you can't recall something about it? but it is going to absolutely drive you up the wall until you clarify what was done, said or whatever?

well, me too!...and what a major pain to track down a book that has gone OOP just to verify how a line is worded...or to recall the particulars of a singularly intricate storyline...or even to check something really really minor...like a house address...

anyhoo...most of our books now come from the thrift shops e-bay...(I think you can see the stickers on the spines in some of the photos)...I'm always elated and yet a little sad when I come across a cache of really great books at the thrift shop...

it means someone else is doing her/his own Book Purge...and I know it will be regretted...

not by me because I'll be doing the Happy Book Dance (trust me, you don't want to see this...it ranks up there on the Scary Scale right alongside the Happy Food Dance)...

Wish me Happy Book Rescuing today :)

*******************************************************************************

If you have me on bloglines or a service like that where you get a heads-up that I've published a new post...and you get a million notices for 1 entry...it is me trying to get these dadgummed huge spaces out of my entries! sorry about that...maybe I'll figure out what is going on one of these days...probably not...but maybe...

Frugal Heads Up

I found these sheet sets @ amazon.com...spring for 2 sets, pick the super saver shipping option and you simply can't beat the price...well, free is good, but unless you like to ask for sheets for your birthday :) and you can even just mail them a check (I'd love it if they were set up for paypal :) instead of using your credit or debit card...

Anyhoo...I've ordered 3 sets...our sheet selection around here is, um, "varied" would be a nice word...and sliding into a fresh set of white sheets after a long hot summer day is one of life's wonderful pleasures :)

Pinzon 300-TC Sheet Set $16.99


300-thread count is probably my favourite count for bedding...300 TC is high enough to not be like sleeping on a jute floor mat, but low enough to not be excessively delicate...


early in our marriage, Mr G's mom thoughtfully went out & bought us a beautiful set of high-thread count sheets...

long story short, since the FBDs (Furry Baby Dogs) are allowed on our bed, someone's sharp little toenails ripped the livin' blankety right out of that bottom sheet the first time I dressed the bed with it...

Nuthin' Like Waiting Until...

the Last Minute, is there? :)

I'm signing up for Kim's (of One Woman's Cottage Life) Cottage Charm Give Away Day! My first ever Blog-Related give away :)

I'll try to post the cute little icon thingie from Kim's site...but I may not Get 'Er Done...

Anyhoo...in my previous post, I stated I tried aligning myself with the Light Side of the Cottage Decorating Force...and failed so miserably....

So, here are a few things left over from my attempt that I'm now happy to pass along...along with a few other things...




You see: A vintage Needlepoint Pillow (the background is a minty aqua and the fringe is true pink), a tin with butterflies and flowers, a little chintz sugar pot (the lid has been mended and the gilt is shabby, but it is still great), 3 little molds, an unopened stamped cross stitch kit (that I've had for simply years and years), a jar of Braswell's Apple Pie Jam (made in the area & the only new thing in the lot :) ...thought ya'll might want some reassurances in that area...I was going to put my jar of Braswell's Fig and Ginger Preserves in the lot...but I'm such a Jam Freak that I couldn't bring myself to do that...but the Apple Pie Jam is wonderful...that was the first Braswell's I tried after stumbling across it at Byrd's Cookie Company) and Raffaella Barker's Hens Dancing...


(this pix is just here because I think it shows the colours of the pillow much better than the first photo)

I may stumble across something else that needs a new home & if I do, I'll post a pix :)

So, if you're interested in winning this motley lot, just leave a comment & I'll draw a name on May 26th...please have a valid e-mail addy so I can get a mailing address for the winner :)

*my e-mail addy is under my profile here on Life at Number 17


***I've unearthed a few more things I'll be post a pix of later this evening or in the morning...DS borrowed my DC so I'm DC-less :)

***link to additional items http://lifeatnumber17.blogspot.com/2007/05/additional-cottage-swap-items.html

***link to additional drawing :) http://lifeatnumber17.blogspot.com/2007/05/good-news.html

Project Cottage...

presses onward :)

Number 17 is our Compromise House...the house I fell in love with during our extensive search, well, Mr G seemed to dislike it beyond reason...

And the house Mr G loved, well, it was way too small...I mean, I do love the man, but...

Anyhoo, Number 17 was a Third Round Draft Pick...a last resort, so to speak...

When our Realtor Lady said "I don't think you'll like this house", she was so right...I think I spent maybe 5 minutes here...but the more I thought about this house...and the more I realized there really were no houses left to see in this market that had even a few of our Required Features...the more I realized this house had serious Make-Over Potential...

So, I included Number 17 on the list for Mr G and I to visit together...havin' already retired that list twice with no luck...

And here we are...

But one of my stipulations for signing on the dotted line was that we would paint the outside...the brick outside...without any haggling or any major Hissy Fits...on either of our parts...

And we've started!

Now, before you look at the photographs, realize that while I love soft pastel colours and lots of frills and miles of white yardage...that ain't my take on Cottage Style...I'm afraid even tho' I tried to force myself to visit the Light Side of the Force, I'm all about Autumn Colours...and, to be perfectly frank, darker colours that hide the multitude of sins daily inflected upon the home by our Zoo...well, except for Blue & White ceramics...

(Am I the only one who thinks that light fixture is too high?...and, well, not very Cottage Like?)

Can I tell ya'll how much I love our new screen door? Almost exactly like the one that was on my Granma's front door...

Here is a photo of the brick that still covers the rest of the house (Can you say "Summer Project Purgatory"? Painting a brick house in Georgia...in June...and July)

The trim above the door hasn't been painted yet..."Woodrow Wilson White"...or something like that...is the colour going up there...

And I'm going to paint the concrete porch floor...I'm thinkin' a checkerboard of some type...I'm thinkin' Mr G is going to pack his bags and move away...far far away...

Okay, enough of that...plant pix time:

Baby Tomatoes that sit by the front door...the one place where I can see them enough to remind myself to water them...

and I actually remembered to fertilize them...

What's Not To Love...

about a heart-shaped Chic-Fil-A sandwich?...especially after a long long time on a Die-t

OR

about a weather forecast that promises:

Monday Night, May 14*
"A starlit sky"?

Makes me feel as if I should be planning something special for tonight...even if it is a Monday...or should that read "especially since it is a Monday"?

OR

about a Mama Cat taking beautiful care of her farm kittens?

OR

a book where you don't have to worry about all of the Ten Commandments being broken before page 5?

*weather forecast courtesy of accuweather.com...a site that now has completely won my loyalty with its poetic forecast :)

Kind of Sad...

Our little town's only free-standing fabric store is shutting its doors come May 26th...true, it wasn't much a store...sort of dimly lit and nothing too exciting in the way of fabrics...or was I just not looking hard enough?


Because I went in today for some tea-dyed muslin (at 69 cents a yard) and came out with $71.62 worth of fabric and bias tape and a new marking pen...and some heavy duty needles...I don't know why but the sales lady seemed to want me to buy them so...

and now I'm regretting not getting more of the plain muslin...and the rest of that copper-coloured tulle (top of the stack)


I'm sure the decision to close the store was all about dollars and cents...this was a Hancock's Fabric but somehow became a Fabric World and now will become a nurse's uniform shop...


That leaves Wally World fabrics...and the scuttlebutt is W/M (or H/M as I like to call it) is closing down their fabric departments...I've read that all of the fabric departments will be shut and I've read that only some will be...


And 1 local quilting store...otherwise, saddle up and ride, boldly ride to find a fabric store...


What a shame...I think with some effort made to attract a wider clientele by including hobby & craft items (there is no hobby store here or craft store except for stitching and scrapbooking...and Wally World, of course, has a limited amount) along with some of the new hip fabric lines and offering classes (we are a university town) this store could have really shone...


okay, moving on from Maudlin Slightly Reproving Tone Directed Towards Corporate Office Who Will Never Read This Anyway...


so what, you ask, am I planning to do with this Big Beautiful Pile of Fabrics and whatnots?


I'm glad you asked...because I need to bolster my courage by repeating this over and over to myself...plus if I write it, I'll feel honour-bound to do it...because I've got an over-active Guilt Myself Mechanism, that's why...


I'm going to 1) make several cute summer skirts and 2) make dolls


I know! I'm a Wild and Crazy Woman :)


I've wanted to make dolls for years...and have bought some loverly doll making books...and have yet to work up the nerve to begin the first one...but I've determined this will be the Summer of the Doll...not "dolls" because, well, I'll probably have a nervous breakdown just getting through one...but I figure the First One has to the be the Worst One...right?


And the skirt thing? well (I know...I say "well" a lot), I love fabrics and it just seems strange to stockpile all this stuff...so I'm going to try to make some skirts...simple, slightly A-line...elastic waist...


I tried...several years ago...to make a 1 hour skirt pattern...12 hours later, I was in tears and the skirt never got entirely finished...but I did wear it to work...once... with the elastic held together with a safety pin (hidden beneath my t-shirt) because I was bound and determined to wear that stupid skirt...


I may end up with a lot of pretty dust rags...

Boxes & Bottles

These 1

are making these 2 look attractive

1 boxes of NutriSystem food

2 bottles of wine

Some Big Trees

So while I expected to be amazed by the sheer size of the Coastal Redwoods of Muir Woods, I did not expect to be moved to tears...

And I also didn't expect the young man behind me to lean over and plant a big sloppy one on one of the trees, but [shrug] whatever...

An Obsession

has taken over my viewpoint here lately.

I love Blue & White...as in dishes...as in linens...as in just about anything...and I do not think this deep and abiding fondness for Blue & White is doing anything but getting worse!

But I've never really had a lot of Blue & White going on in my decorating...I think I always thought Blue & White belonged with the crisp & cleaner jewel tones or soft spring colours...

That is about to Change....I've discovered that I love Blue & White with all of my Autumn Decorating Colours...

Blue & White with Deep Oranges...fabulous

Blue & White with Yellow-Tans...lovely

Blue & White with Olive Greens...that's right...Dynamite

But I not only am beginning to gather more Blue & White for the House, I'ma gathering it for Decking Myself, too...

Weekend before last, one of my SILs and I visited the local university's plant sale...and one of the ladies checking us and our ridiculously large plant purchases out was dressed all in Blue & White! and sported several gorgeous Blue & White ceramic bead bracelets piled on one wrist...

Yes, I drooled...and no, she didn't share where those wonderful beads came from...

I looked on e-bay, surfed the net ,finding only 1 bracelet that seemed sorta close to hers...but I didn't love it enough to shell out $10 plus shipping...'cause I'm cheap like that...and because I wanted at least 3 of them...

So I took myself to the local Big Box store & bought these

(there are lots of more of them, but these are the ones I dumped out of their little packets...'cause I get impatient like that)

and made myself a bracelet...with lots more beads leftover to make more bracelets...

I'd appreciate it greatly if ya'll ignore the pasty dry skin in my photograph...let's just say I'm not religious about moisturizing my skin...

I'm pretty sure I didn't do the end pieces like a bead-savvy person would do them (that would be why there is no photograph of pasty skin with bracelet clasp), but they work...but I think when I get back from San Francisco, I'll check a bead book out of the library and learn the proper way to put one's clasps onto the bracelet..

The Fat Lady Has Sung...

and my own semi-private Pity Party is over and done with




thanks for the words of understanding & not askin' me to bend over so I could receive some swift Kicks in the Rear...it must have been a Chocolate Moment and I didn't realize it in time to stuff something nice and fattening in my mouth to staunch the hormonal storm front passin' through Mrs G-Ville...


Anyhoo...I shall not only embrace my All Too Outward Renaissance Woman ('cause that is what ya'll were callin' me, ri-ght?...well...we'll leave that alone because Renaissance Woman sounds better than ScatterBrained), but I shall celebrate her...

Maybe she needs a name of her own...


I'll have to think on that one*...

(but I'm gettin' a good vibe from "Myrtle")

Identity Crisis

I know the blogs I enjoy reading...and I know that the majority of them have an "identity"...

Under My Favorites, I separated the blogs I pop in to read into 10 categories so I can Read by Theme :)

I have Religious, Writing, Gardening & Nature, Cooking, Travel, Arts & Crafts, Christmas, House, Life in General and Political...

Naturally, almost all of the blogs move back and forth across the category lines because their contents are plucked from the everyday lives of their writers

ME at those northern skies is in the Art category because, well, her photographs are Art...but she also easily moves into Religion with thoughts that are stunningly simple and yet amazingly cut right to the heart of an issue...

Loretta (did I spell that correctly or is it Lorretta?) at Pomegranates and Paper is in Life in General although Art is a big part of her life...I don't know why it worked out that way...I guess because I love hearing about all the things her children do (since our son is 22 and I'm not so much in the Little Kid world any more) and about work and their family vacations...

Clarice over at Storybook Woods lives in my Life in General category, too, but lives a life filled with art and beauty, too...as does Deb at Homespun Living...

There's a fellow Southern Chic over at Southern Somedays who is in Life in General...

Carolyn of Tumbleweeds and Thyme hangs out in Garden & Nature...and makes me motivated enough by pixs of her lovely garden to get my Rear in Gear and move outside to do more than just think about gardening...

and also hanging out in Garden & Nature is Farmgirl Fare....the photographs are wonderful, making me smile every time I click in...

These are just drops in the bucket...but I guess I'm getting at each of these bloggers has a certain "air" about their places that speaks to something I like, or love...and how they fit into my little categories doesn't really matter...the positioning just comes about from something that came out of my laptop screen and into my heart...

and I feel my blog is not happily defined...first, I thought Just Gardening...then realized 1) I don't do enough gardening for that to be a blast...and then I thought Gardening and Cooking...did I tell you I hate to cook? I love to bake, but cooking...blahhhhh...okay, how about thrifing? thrifting and gardening...well...maybe....but who wants to just look at someone else's junk? Politics? plez...I'd bore myself to death...

Anyhoo...my blog needs some focus*...and it needs more attention that it has gotten since 2007 began...


*I am seriously hoping my blog's lack of focus is not a reflection of my life in general...man....

Cats and Flowers

Not cats in the flowers, thank goodness :)

The two orange kitties are Clara & Christina...they're two of the loves of my life :) who came to live with us (along with their two brothers and 1 other sister) from our son's apartment complex...

The conversation started like this:

Son: "Guess what?"

Me: [thinking to self "oh Lord"] "What?"

Son: "Guess who looked out of the bushes outside the apartment door this morning?"

Me: "a squirrel with a bad attitude?" [DS & myself really seem to run into a lot of BA Squirrels]

Son: "No...a little black furry face"

Me: "That's nice, son...it isn't coming here"

Son: "I was just calling to tell you"

Me: "Okay...well, love you, bye"

Son: "Love you, bye"

Over the next couple of days, the Faces Peering From the Bushes increased until there were 5 of them...and then DS tossed his Ace in the Hole onto the table...

Son: "Mom, they're sick"

Me: "Crap"

Bluff called, fold...

anyhoo...3 months of ringworm treatment later [our beloved vet declares she never has had to treat ringworm 3 times] and 3 months of isolation from our cats...ringworm is highly contagious...and 3 months of hand-bathing all 5 and bottle feeding...and, well, I made the call that Mr G knew was coming from the time I opened up that box and saw 5 little pairs of shining (but goopycrusty) eyes staring up at me...

ah well...

on the garden front, Mr G and I have been slogging through the back-breaking stuff that comes in later winter and early spring...

we decided that we'd try and re-do this eyesore that we don't see often but the neighbors get to see every Happy Morning...last year (our first year here), there just wasn't enough time in the cooler weather to get to this...and once Summer comes on, I don't fool around with putting in new beds and trying to establish tons of new plants...well, last year I sorta did go that route, but only because there were so many problems to be addressed here...but not this year...if it ain't done by May, it will wait until late Fall or next Spring...

I need to get that dirt pulled off the brick some time this week...and we're going to aerate the soil (look how compacted & cruddy it is!) and encourage the bits of centipede that are still hangin' about the place to spread...I'm not a big one for massive lawns (I'm a huge Water Miser), but there are places where a bit of sod helps...

and some flowers that are about the place...I took this photo several days ago...now there is even more blooming going on around here...the dogwood is in flower, my first daylily has opened up (so soon!) and the azaleas have ramped up...

and here is the Atlantic Cedar that has since been planted in the backyard...I love this tree! I can't wait to see it in a few years :) ...and that little bushy thing sitting to the left of the cedar is another pomegranate waiting to go in (it is in)...

and here is a little bed I just started on a whim with leftovers from the bigger beds on the other side of the house...

you see white petunias, purple sage, white night-blooming stock and pineapple sage...and that rosemary went in last year....

I'm going through a "white stage"...the azaleas that went into the beds on the other side of the house are white...and I'm continuing them around the front of the house, taking out the pink azalea and the pink-ish crape myrtle...the bed is seriously compacted, unlevel and in dire straits...that's my story and Ima stickin' to it :)

and last, but not least, the little sprig of variegated artemsia that I planted last year has happily spread...so now I'm taking bits out of here to plant in the countless other gaping holes in the garden...

***Footnote: we tried to trap Mama Cat with a humane trap, but were not successful...but there is some hope...one of the local rescue groups has a feral cat program and that apartment complex is on the waiting list for help with their feral cat population...

Please Spay & Neuter Your Pets!

Little Rays of Sunshine

taken with my new Finger Over the Flash trick...still a little blurry, but oh well...



(although sometimes you do get a weird red light that makes it feel as if you're hanging out in some dive on a waterfront somewhere...not that I would know about that :)




It was a Bad Ponytail Palm...

Two Wonderful Tips

Hey, I just learned a new trick....well, 2 new tricks...



Trick Number 1: Use a dolly to move the Big Blue Jar & staggering about the garden clutching one's back might not be a Required Thing...the BBJ previously resided on the other side of the courtyard and for some reason I decided It Simply Had to Move This Morning...I'm hopin' Mr G doesn't notice that I've done this thing or else I'll get a Lecture...


The other tip I have to share is (and I'm VERY EXCITED about this one) for photo-taking challenged souls like myself who hate using a flash, but cannot manage a non-blurry photograph without one...or a tripod...or both...

Drumroll, please...


Try putting your finger over the flash! hah hah! take that, Blurry Photography...


I have gotten better about the whole LSD Experience photography thing* since ME over at Those Northern Skies told me she had to practice and practice to be able to hold still enough to get a stable shot while not using a flash...but this tip is for when I hold my breath, try not to even have a pulse, and still get a crummy blurry photograph...

*Disclaimer: Have never done (proper verb "used"?) LSD, but have often experienced LSD "effects" done by TV producers...lots of blurry, moving, colourful swirlies, right?

Temptation, Thy Name is Seed Packet

So, how many have you already bought? I cannot resist these Little Envelopes of Hope :)

Can you see that I'm planning to ramp up the Thyme Presence in the garden this year?

and that I have a Love of Sunflowers? Peach Passion Sunflowers? There simply was nothin' this Georgia Girl could do to resist :) ....

and these?

a couple more...

and this year I solemnly promise to open...and plant...all of these packets...and any more that have yet to make their way to Number 17...

Usually most of the seed packets I purchase wind up languishing for a couple of years on the fridge door's topmost shelf (did I say for for a couple of years?) until I toss them into the compost heap hoping for a miracle...The whole teeny seed thing intimidates me...and starting seeds indoors? sheer terror...well, the terror has lost a little of its edge, but I feel safe going with "extreme reluctance"...

One year, I ventured into the whole indoor seed starting with 2 trays of lavender seeds...I babied those things, obsessed over them...and then killed them the first time I dragged them outside to "harden off"...weeks and weeks of coddling and watching right down the drain...thus ended my brief foray into indoor seed starting operations...

If I shake a seed packet and instead of hearing a sturdy little rattle of seeds hear a little soft "whooshing", then right back onto the rack goes that packet...fool me once...

But, I am about to give it another go...Our son has decided that he would like to grow his own peppers and tomatoes...and I, wanting to encourage this baby step towards gardening, wanly smiled and said "Great" while thinking more along the lines of "of all the seeds in all the seed racks in the world, why'd he have to pick peppers and tomatoes?"...I think the only think that might have made my face turner a shade paler would have been a dastardly lavender seed packet*...

I did try an end run around the Ps & Ts...shoving a packet of squash seeds into his face, "Hey, you like squash!"...and "Look! Beans...these are E-A-S-Y"...but he wasn't buyin' it...

So...there is a now one of those plastic seed greenhouse contraptions sittin' on the front porch, waiting...watching and waiting...waiting and watching...for me to gather up my courage and forge ahead...

*Disclaimer: I do not hate lavender...in fact, right now I have 8 fat little lavender plants riding in the back of the mega-mega mini-van waiting for this cold snap to abate so I can plant them out...I just hate starting itty bitty die-deader-than-a-doornail seeds...and wasting all those weeks

February Gardening

This is the veggie garden in winter ...a p-i-t-i-f-u-l sight, isn't it? the fencing went in last spring in a hurried attempt to cordon the area off from the FBDs...bassets don't go around plants...they go through plants...it is, I believe, one of the greatest pleasures they have...anyhoo, I had visions of a lovely white picket fence with squared columns with flat tops where I would artistically perch beautiful terracotta pots overflowing with big blowzy blooms...

This is why in February most of my garden attention is centered around my ever-expanding collection of garden books...

This is a darling gardening book by Celestine Sibley...Celestine was a writer for the AJC and the author of many books...I recall she passed away a while back...at that point, I didn't really know much about her writings...but now that I've become better acquainted with Miss Celestine and her garden, I wish I had caught her columns and, better yet, been her neighbor so we could talk "garden"...

Where we live now, having been here a year, I have yet to find someone with whom to Talk Garden...in our last home, I had a lovely neighbor who has become a dear friend with whom to speak in the Garden Lingo...we would stop whatever we were doing when called to come *see this plant*...and both of us would wander through the other's garden just to enjoy the pleasures of a garden that we didn't have to sweat blood over...a Garden Talk buddy is someone who can point out the beauty of something within your own garden that you cannot see clearly for all the hard work that has gone into producing what is far and away not what you had pictured in your mind's eye...

but Mr G seems to be comin' on as someone with whom I can Talk Garden...so all is not lost...

Anyhoo...when I read a book of garden essays...and don't believe the author is an out-and-out liar...I only say that because an envious vein runs wide and deep through my heart...I can see past the haggard looking mess that empty vegetable garden is and see what it has the potential to become...with lots of hard work, some serendipitous intervention from Mother Nature and a willingness to see one's garden plans as only the starting point for the actual garden that is to come...

A Bit of Spring

Come early to Number 17...a friend suggested I find myself some potted bulbs to help eliminate some of these Winter Blues that have been hangin' about the place...and since I am quick to embrace any suggestion that involves buying Plants (and/or plant-related stuff), here are the loverly white hyacinths...well....actually, one of the loverly white hyacinths...that now reside in our bedroom...where the cats can't reach them without a great deal of 1) effort and 2) effort that requrires lots of racketing about...

Liberty Finds Her Home

Ya'll remember Liberty? (see several posts down if you don't)...well, congratulations are in order :)

This was posted on BHRG's web site:

"Congratulations! Rattigan, Whiner, Mookie, & Liberty found their forever homes this week!"

We're so happy Liberty found a New Home and in such a short amount of time!

Good Luck, Liberty...

Love & Chocolate

I'm a Stamp Freak...I don't officially collect, but let a beautiful stamp cross the threshold on the daily mail and I'm all over it...I happily rip off the corner of the envelope and then add it to the little jars & boxes of stamps I have sittin' about...even the most mundane stamps are little pieces of art...and the most affordable art I've ever run across...one day I hope to find something spectacular to do with all my stamps...but if I don't, that is cool...I just take them out once in a while and shuffle through the pile...

This is the Valentine's stamp you can get at the post office...I'm not sure that it'll make writing that utility or credit card bill any less painful...well, maybe if you write while eating chocolate and planning something special for a loved one it will...well, probably not...but if you send a nice little note along to an old friend Just Because and top the envelope off with this stamp, then I expect it'll at least brighten 1 person's day :)

Proof Positive That Someone Knew I was Good in 2006

That's Right...after years and years of telling *people* when they asked that Most Hated Question of the Holiday Season "So....what do you want for Christmas?" that I do really truly honestly want a Chia Pet...preferably the Elephant...and being sorely disappointed year after year (well, all I can say is I can show my bee-hind once in a great while...it became a Principle of the Thing point...I was determined not to part with my own cash for a Chia)...I found a sweet Chia Pet at the thrift shop a few weeks back! No, not the beloved Elephant, but I love rabbits, too...in a decorative sort of way...and this one has the seeds!

I do go through spells where I run across scores of Homeless Chias who have, evidently, been sent packing once their owners' supplies of seeds run out...

But wait! You can order seeds from the Chia Pet People (click on the Chia Pet link above)...I don't see the actual "click to buy" button for them, but on my little informational sheet in the box the seeds are offered...3 packs for $5...and if you click on the About Chia Seeds link on the their site, you get the ordering information...and you thought reading this post was going to be a Complete Waste of Your Time...

I can see this Chia Pet things spiralling out of control...I may have to collect them all...well...not Chia Guy...he reminds me of a cross between Shaggy on Scooby Doo and Screech on Saved by the Bell...

In the Pink

Even tho' spring is theoretically a long way down the calendar road, bits of pink bloom here in there in what is turning out to be, not by planning, a Pink Border...nothing on the grand scale of a Jekyll idea of a Border...more of a Little "B" Border...

*that "stuff" you see on the leaves is pollen...yep, the pollen is flyin' in January...