decisions and home improvement and Home spaces and hope and Spring arrives 1:12 pm
When I moved in, the area around the tree was bare. I’ve added hosta and wave petunias.
I’m happy with this little plot in my backyard: hosta, columbine (an old one from my Aunt Ellen), lavender, roses, decorative grass, chives, lily of valley, hen and chicks, plus a lovely, clear-sounding wind chime. In the background, you can see the border garden I’m working on.
More photos on my flickr site.
decisions and Flowers and home improvement and Home spaces and hope and Spring arrives and Uncategorized 1:29 pm
Planting flowers, in this case wave petunias, always seems to epitomize hope to me. These are relatively fragile plants, roots all jammed together, brought up in a hothouse, transplanted to the outside. My hope is they will thrive and fill up the spaces in my garden. I can see myself moving toward gardens with hosta and wave petunias, with maybe a few others in-between. I planted 36 pink wave petunias this morning.
home improvement and Trimming shrubs 10:56 am
What I mean is “extreme pruning” at home. This shrub was mightily overgrown. WAS is the key word. If it survives my cutting back, it will be very nice; if it doesn’t, I’ll do something else here.
This is the first shrub to experience the extreme pruning. The little green clump coming up is a bleeding heart.
home improvement and Home spaces and library and sewing room 9:02 pm
Without buying anything new, I now have a library and a sewing room. (My library used to be my dining room; my sewing room was my study.) This is one picture of one corner of my library. I lugged lots of books to make this change!! Now they’re arranged in sets: children’s, reference, fiction, auto/biography, inspirational. Made a mess before I finished.
After removing three of the bookshelves from this room, plus moving my dad’s desk and chair to another space, I now have a comfy chair, a small table (on which is my current placemat quilting project), plus I can leave my ironing board set up in a corner.
The only thing I need/want to get at this point is an adjustable cutting table. I told one of my friends I put my cutting mat on the ironing board to cut pieces; she didn’t think that sounded very stable. :-)
Someday a simple sewing machine may be added, but not now. I’m thoroughly enjoying quilting by hand. And just last night I learned to load three quilting stitches onto my needle!! What I’m doing now looks like quilting. Quite amazing.
More pictures are on my flickr site of all the room changes, but they all resulted from my desire to have a sewing space I could leave set up. This resulted in my rearranging practically my whole house!
Aging and home improvement and red door 7:03 pm
A friend of mine who lives in Florida asked if I’d take some pictures from outside of my new red door. Of course, I’m happy to cooperate!! I’ve posted many more on my Flickr website if anyone else wants to see more.
When I wrote to her today, I said as my hair is greying and “fading,” I seem to prefer red and other bright colors around me. She’s noticed the same about herself and suggested I post that idea on my blog. So here it is.
After much thought…and reading a book, “Going Gray”…I decided I was no longer going to color my hair. To quote the author, Anne Kreamer, she said the book is about “What I learned about beauty, sex, work, motherhood, authenticity and everything else that really matters.” Quite a mouthful!
My hairdresser is not a happy camper. He still cuts it, but after I went in today for another cut, he disparagingly talked about how my hair doesn’t have body now, because the coloring helped give it volume. I didn’t say anything in response. I know he’d like me to continue to pay him the big bucks to keep it colored and highlighted, while I decided I am currently more interested in authenticity. No criticism intended against anyone else, but for me, that’s my decision.
(My “big thing” today was finishing edging my sidewalk, doing some more raking, and taking three bags to the city refuse…and getting my greying hair cut. Thus, the two pictures as requested by Gail.)
home improvement 9:07 pm
This could be said to be the sum of my accomplishments today (although that would not be completely true). However, it is the most significant thing I did since I don’t count getting groceries or picking up my car after a new muffler was installed.
In my older house, there is a built-in pantry at the top of the stairs leading to the basement. The knob came off in my hand not long after I bought the house and I could see it was not the first time, as it had been patched with glue (which obviously didn’t hold). I’ve lived with the hole in the door…until today.
Today I decided to cover it with a hook that sticks to the wood, something I haven’t always trusted. I bought a knob to install a little bit above the hook. The door is too thick for the bolt that came with the knob, so I went to a local hardware store that has everything. Everyone knows if you need some obscure item, this is the store to visit.
The young man suggested a 1 1/4″ bolt or a 1 3/4″ bolt, charging me 15 cents for the two (and keeping my 1″ bolt)! I needed the longer one; in fact, I could have used a 1 1/2″ bolt, but until this one falls off, I won’t replace it.
I think it looks pretty cool. 🙂
cat and home improvement and Painting and red door 9:32 am
Now that my furnace is running more, Petra has found her favorite napping place.
My red door is finished, except for cleaning the paint that got on the handle and lock. I learned a lot about sanding and painting in the doing of this project.
fall colors and home improvement and Painting and red door 1:39 pm
Although raking and bagging leaves become a chore, I’m trying to also enjoy their color. I’ve finished the front section; after lunch I’ll continue raking/bagging some more then I’ll take the bagged leaves to the city department.
Will my red door saga ever end? After much trepidation I began the sanding (three times: 80 grit, 220 grit, and 600 grit). My DeWalt sander works really well and it went much better than I expected.
Today I used a roller and put on another coat of heritage red. I think when this dries and I add one more coat it might be finished. I’m happy with it.
home improvement and Meditation or Scripture and Painting and quiet day 7:12 pm
Spent the day bringing order to the chaos that surrounded me while I was painting. Recycled some newspaper and cardboard.
My next big job will be sanding my newly painted red front door. I’ll sand first with an 80 grit, then 220, then 600. After the sanding is finished, I’ll use a roller to paint my last, I hope, coat of Heritage Red.
Found these on the Taize website:
http://www.taize.fr/en_article1854.html
Tue, 30 October
Praised be God who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
2 Co 1:3-7
Tuesday, 30 October
God understands our words and our silences, too. So often silence is all there is to prayer.
From the book:
Peace of Heart in All Things
by Brother Roger of Taizé
published by GIA Publications
cat and home improvement and Painting 8:11 pm
This was a muscle day. First I painted the second coat of muslin on the top border and the fireplace mantle. That’s finished.
Then…I rearranged furniture…several times…with several heavy pieces. I think it’s the way I like it.
Petra thought I was entertaining her, I’m sure. She climbed on the sofa, crawled under the sofa, looked at me askance when I shoved things around and around.
I’ve ordered a new slipcover for my love seat sofa, taupe. After it comes, I want to replace my area rugs with bright red in them. I’ve been tied to the dark green so everything went with that. Now I’m not, so I want to add red and white accents.
Some sad news: a friend of mine learned her father has lung cancer.
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