progress, and fireflies

Progress on the fire pit project has continued. I have been productive as the heat climbs by starting early in the day, working for short intervals, moving indoors during the high heat of the day, and taking advantage of the cool evenings at the end of the day. Last June: I found the pavers for […]

levelling out for abby

Today’s mini-project: Our senior cocker spaniel, Abby, has been blind for some time. Last year, I set a paver patio extension off of the lower landing of our back stairs, since the slope down to the fence was tripping her up often. As it goes with blind old dogs, she has taken to hugging the […]

bloomed-out bargains of the week

Sometimes, the wish-list only grows down because of clearance racks. It is a reality. We are starting from scratch, and hardscape materials can wreck the gardening budget. I have found functional and aesthetically pleasing hardscape items of moderate cost, considering the volume of our yard and what will be needed to finish the scope of […]

set in stone

Today started too wet, and continued too windy, to finish painting the awning. So I picked another item on the list: Mortaring the cast stones in the fire ring. We have big, beautiful plans moving out from the fire ring. Brilliant and one-of-a-kind sort of stuff that I am not going to tell you about […]

the dawning of the candy-striped awning

Two years ago, we (including my mom and sisters) painted the exterior of our house. To gain access to the eaves of the back awning, we were incredibly clever and removed the hardware, allowing the awning to drop down and let the ladder set against the house over top of it. That might be where […]

the garden – between storms

My vacation is moving by without much work happening in the house or garden, but the garden itself is rolling right along… Also: more not-red bee balm! LOL As blooms progress, the color intensifies. The purple is amazing. And likewise the lavender. It was just supposed to be red. Eh. It is rather well-established to […]

crazy little thing called bee balm

As it turns out, I understand exactly nothing about bee balm. Nothing. Last spring, I bought what I thought to be three four inch starts of red bee balm. When I planted them, I split two of them in half. So five mounds of what I thought to be red bee balm. Although the mounds grew […]

something for (next to) nothing

I am thrifty. I love the challenge of uncovering the treasure in the piles of thrift goods. I love restoring the sheen of cast-off things. I love the bargain price of something that was better made than anything manufactured now. As it goes, I also love saving cast-off plants in the garden. The lilies shown […]

bit by bit, moving toward perfection

“Don’t let perfect get in the way of better.” It’s a phrase used at work regarding lean manufacturing efforts and the process of continual improvement. I have mentioned it previously, and embrace it in my personal life as well. Personally, it allows me to find manageable steps to breakdown overwhelmingly massive projects. The lesson of […]

reclaiming my side… yard

Three years ago, our side yard was a slope of grass and weeds. I began developing it into a flower bed immediately. My first effort at terracing helped slow the erosion of our topsoil and gave us good space for the flowers we had to transplant. The learning curve was as steep as the side […]