Saturday, April 28, 2012

Saturday Evening...

We really didn't get a whole lot accomplished today. Good intentions, just a little blah....
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Sweet Cyrus has napped on the couch on and off all day...
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"What?? You lookin' at me?"
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Woo still looks a little pitiful, doesn't she?
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She's been making the most of her convalescense...still in the middle of my bed for most of the day... However, I just looked down and there is Woo at my feet, here at my computer desk...I guess she's ready to rejoin society!

Have a wonderful Sunday, everyone!

♥ ♥ ♥
Anne

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Rose Gardens & Tallulah...

First of all, Tallulah ~ Woo ~ and I want to thank everyone for all their well-wishes...she is feeling better today, purring in the middle of my bed with her favorite wet food just a few inches away. Major surgery just seems so much more major when the patient is only 5 pounds! When I pet her, she stretches and curls her little toes, then rolls over as if to say "See my boo-boo? I don't even remember how I got it!"...;^) ~ Woo is definitely on the mend... Leo and Cyrus (both neutered as kittens) are rejoicing at the quiet!

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An Eden Rose...also known as the Pierre de Ronsard Rose (photo from the German garden site Baumschule Horstmann)...
I want one!...Doubt if I find any in this neck of the woods, though, so I will be looking online for growers...
SO beautiful...big cabbagey blooms that start with a little green...I think they are just magnificent! makes me want to do a BIG luscious watercolor of one! (Or many!)

♥    ♥    ♥    ♥    ♥    ♥    ♥

My post today isn't really about roses, though.

A sweet commenter mentioned my attention to detail in the work on my little gourd "Fairy House", and it got me to thinking...

I started my blog back to inspire myself, really.

To be able to look and see things I have accomplished, when I don't feel I have accomplished much at all. That, and as a place to tell stories that I think my (grown) children might enjoy, that I've just neglected to mention ~ forgotten in the whole busy-ness of life when they were small ~ or perhaps told one, if something reminded me, and not the others. So many things come to mind, I've found, when one gets a little older...
just saying...;^)
I wanted a place that could be about art, animals, gardening, life ~ a little about family but not enough to encroach on their privacy. A "Happy Place" if you will. I choose the subject matter; drama free.

(I do check Facebook almost daily,  but I've found it is so easy to get caught up in the drama of others...though not usually in my closest circle of friends, it's still there.) So, I will usually only post about life's "ups" instead of "downs"...we all have them. This once, though, I wanted to tell about myself and maybe inspire, or encourage someone else.

I used to be SO picky ~ OCD-picky ~ about my artwork (and other things) that if it wasn't perfect...perfect...if one little thing went awry...I would either give up on it; start over (with often the same thing happening again) or just throw it away in disgust.

I never got much art done, needless to say.

Remember that song "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden"...?

In 1999, I got breast cancer. It was bad. Invasive ductal carcinoma; double mastectomies, (a reconstruction disaster), 6 months of agressive chemotherapy.

I wasn't afraid, but I was disappointed...Shoot...I'll never get to open that little shop... (the next year my oldest daughter Mandy opened her own retail shop, and I occasionally helped her ~ that got "shop owner" out of my system really fast!)

Then, to my amazement, I didn't die. God is great, and chemo ~ in this case ~ really did its job.

And you know what else?

I wasn't so picky anymore.

I could create something...paint something, and it didn't have to be perfect...

I found that things ~ anything, not just art ~ didn't have to be perfect to be excellent...

and that with many things (like housework), "good enough" is plenty good enough.

I wish I had learned this lesson a long time ago (without the cancer).

I still need motivation, though, and I'm finding that in blogging. If I say I'm going to do something on here, I will do it. (Maybe not the next day or three, but I will...)

Thank you for "listening" to all that.

I'm going to go (carefully) snuggle Woo.

Happy Friday!


♥ ♥ ♥

Anne

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Woozy Woo...

Today was Tallulah's spay day...she did fine; however, we've never brought a little kitty-girl home from the vet's this soon ~ in the past they've spent the night. Now they've changed it to where they go home late in the afternoon of the surgery day. Same-Day/Outpatient Surgery is now the norm for furbabies, too, I guess...

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I should be ashamed for taking her picture in this undignified state, but it was just so darned cute...she came out from her "leave me alone" place under the bed and went to get a bite to eat, but just fell back asleep, practically in the bowl...

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Here she is in her "spot" between us in bed...I'm a little concerned about her jumping down in the night...

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"Woozy Woo"...do you do this? ...Put all this thought into the perfect name for a furbaby, then turn it into something silly? "Tallulah" became "Lula", and before I knew it, "Lula" became "Woo-wah", and finally just "Woo"...

I hope I'm not the only one...:^)

Have a great Thursday!

♥ ♥ ♥
Anne

Monday, April 23, 2012

Monday, Monday...

Still tired from the weekend, though we really had a good time...:^) ...Lots and lots of little faces...a few big ones...matching face-paint colors to outfits, working around hovering mothers and having some very interesting conversations (the face-painter must be the equivalent of the hairdresser for little ones)! ...Some waited in line for hours at the busiest times, which is really an extreme compliment ~ I also had many repeat customers from years past (who reminded me exactly how I'd painted their faces last year..."Remember?"...) ~ ♥

At the end of the day I was tired and paint-spattered and covered head-to-toe in glitter...but it was a good feeling!

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I've been playing again this evening! I am so messy ~ glad this is outside, though it was a little cool. Not too many more pinecone scales to glue on...the most difficult part is finding the "right" one each time (I shouldn't be so picky)...
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I just gave this antique gate a fresh coat of black satin spray paint (it used to be at the house Mr.B grew up in) ~ I plan to use it as a sort of "backdrop" for the kettle/fairy garden, and plant pink and white cypress vine on it.
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I couldn't resist placing the little house in its spot in the fairy garden...(I have always been (playfully) fussed at for doing things like this...bringing accessories into an area in the house that's still being worked on, etc. ~  I can't help it...I'm impatient and I just want to see what it's going to look like...;^) ~ I was amazed at how much all the little plants have settled in (and grown...the little "petunias", anyway)!

See the little green bench? A little Dept. 56 Village accessory...I never used the few I had very often, as the scale isn't right for the houses, really...it's perfect for this, though!
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I placed a chunk of amethyst (from my friend Elaine) near this rock (that I think looks like a little cave) sheltered by Winter Savory on the garden path...
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Beautiful sea glass from my friend Wendy looks so pretty near the Blue Star Creeper!
 
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 One more thing...

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Wednesday is Miss Tallulah's "Spay Day"...I think I speak for everyone else in this household ~ human and "fur" ~ in saying that we will be SO glad!

Have a great Tuesday, everyone!

♥ ♥ ♥
Anne

This new Blogger interface ~ and photo spacing ~ is maddening! If you don't have type of some sort separating the photos, they jam right up against each other (at least with the old interface I had learned just how far apart to space them...and they stayed!) ~ Has anyone else figured this out?

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Dogwood Azalea Festival 2012

Photobucket Busy day! Painted little faces (and a few big ones) practically non-stop (fueled on gulps of Diet Coke between patrons) from 1 until 7...it was kind of quiet this morning, however, until after the parade. Back for more fun tomorrow; you can never judge how a festival will go!

 
Have a wonderful Sunday!

♥ ♥ ♥
Anne (a.k.a. "Carnie Mom")

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Busy Weekend...

Here we are at the end (almost) of another week...does time fly by for you especially fast now? I think it is speeding up more and more, the older I get!



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I've just been all over the place with projects this week, but haven't really completed a single one ~ (the pinecone-scale roofing job on the fairy house is going a little slower than I'd planned!)...now, tomorrow and the weekend will be spent at the Charleston, Missouri, Dogwood Azalea Festival, hopefully painting lots of little faces...:^) ~ Here (above) is our booth set-up; we invested in airbrush "tattoo" supplies because the fellows that usually accompany me (namely Jonathan and Mr.B) would get so bored sitting there all day watching me paint... That went well for a little while, but now Jonathan is too busy to really want to do it ~ so it is left to Mr. B and me.


♥ ♥ ♥


At least I can use the airbrush for other art projects...

(My older children said they knew I was a Carnie at heart!)


♥ ♥ ♥


I would not want to do this full -time, that's for sure. But, for the occasional local festival, it is a lot of fun. Children are so funny in their reactions to the face painting...some are really shy about it, but you can tell they're pleased...for others, you know the whole business is Mom's or Dad's idea...most are happy with whatever I've done, though.

But then, I get the occasional one who just absolutely lights up ~ magically transformed, you would think ~ when they see their face...(come to think of it, this is pretty often) ~ and that makes it really worthwhile ~ their joy is absolutely contagious!


More from the Carnie-front tomorrow...
Happy Friday!

♥ ♥ ♥
Anne

P.S ~ I was going to whine about change (and how I always resist it), concerning Blogger, Photobucket, Picnik (sniff), but that won't do me or you any good (though I fail to see a reason for the Blogger changes...is it better? Or just "different"?) ~ So, I'll just ask ~ what photo-editing site are you using for your blog (for those that have them) now? I have checked out so many, it's made my head spin! And trying to remember which ones had which features....yikes! Tonight I used PicMonkey, as it seems to be really user-friendly, and they've added a font I really like (the one I used above). I've also used Befunky (I like this one, too, but I can't seem to get it to re-size my photos, even though it says it has)...LunaPic has too much of a delay between editing features (I want instantaneous results, darn it!) ~ Photobucket has changed their editing tool from Foto-Flexer to Pixlr Express, so if you liked the features they had, you now have to go directly to Foto-Flexer. (But then you still have to go back to Photobucket for hosting...). Eeek!

Then there's that little Sumo-Paint guy...

However, I do like the fact that the regular Pixlr Editor (not Express) lets you use any font you've downloaded on your computer...it's just not quite as easy ~ more like Photoshop ~ than the others I've mentioned. (I'm just an "old dog", I guess!)

Oh, dear, I guess I've whined anyway...but I really would like to know what everyone else has discovered in the way of editing sites!

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

A Couple of Updates...

I have so many projects going ~ in so many different stages of completion (just the way I must like it, as that's the way I've always done things)...that I thought I'd take a few photos this evening to remind myself that it really does feel good to actually finish something! (Still just "nudging" myself, none of these are actually done...yet ~ ;^) ~ ♥


I'm getting there, though!


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Here are my tuberose bulbs from last year...I emptied the pot they were in ~ in the garage all winter ~ and I think the bulbs are fine...(fingers crossed) ~ they have quadrupled in size, though, from the little ones I bought last year...I could probably divide them, but I think I will leave them "as is" this year.



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Here, I'm finally working on the little house for my fairy garden... I had Mr. B cut the top off a second gourd as I wanted a "roof" that was a little taller, and also wider, giving a bit of an over-hang. I also had him cut off the top of the first gourd so I could fill it with sand (partially) for stability.


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Here I am, playing again! (My favorite thing to do! I've decided to let my Inner Child take over at least 90% of the time, now...I should have done this sooner)...really, though, this was so much messy fun! I worked outside, the weather was perfect, and the petunias near me smelled SOOO good!

I've had these BIG pinecones for some time, and decided that the individual scales (I wanted to call them "petals", but I looked it up...) would make good shingles. I used some old scissors to trim the length a little, and then started hot-glueing, fitting them together somewhat like they were on the pinecone.

I had to stop, though, as it was beginning to get dark and damp ~ I could have continued in the house, but thought better of yet another mess inside...

To be continued tomorrow evening!

Happy Thursday, everyone!

♥ ♥ ♥
Anne

Monday, April 16, 2012

Grandma's Tuberoses...

When I was little, my Grandma Launius ~ my Daddy's Mom ~ grew the most amazing, exotic (I thought, and I guess they really are) flowers...tuberoses.

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 About this time of year I always try to get some bulbs (tubers, actually) in memory of Grandma...(they are planted in May and bloom in late August). Tuberoses are a tender bulb and must be brought inside in the fall, but somehow, after the cool autumn days begin along with preparations for the string of fall and winter holidays, I forget... :^( ...and they freeze. (Maybe not this year, though, as I did bring the pot inside the garage, but I didn't "lift" the tubers and over-winter them like you are supposed to do...I guess we'll see).


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You know how scent is supposed to evoke the most vivid memories? I truly believe that; one whiff of this intoxicating flower on a hot August night (the fragrance is barely there in the daytime; in the evening, however ~ wow!) ~ ♥

Here are my memories of Grandma's tuberoses...

We didn't have air-condtioning when I was small...in fact, I didn't know anyone who did (these were the days when stores and restaurants would entice people in with signs on their doors with penguins announcing, "Come on in...it's COOL inside") ~ except my Grandpa and Grandma Launius.

I'm not talking whole-house central air, here ~ it was a window air conditioner ~ but when you've been used to sleeping hot and sticky at night with just a little oscillating fan (1950s turquoise ~ I wish I still had it) to try to keep cool~ it was amazing!  That's what I thought, anyway, when I spent the night at their house in the summer; I would get out of the bathtub ~ still a little damp ~

Oh ~

They also had one of THESE things...

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...a portable Jacuzzi (for Grandpa's arthritis), which sat in the tub and was plugged in....(amazing it didn't electrocute us)...but you could make the most GINORMOUS tub of bubbles with it and a bar of Dove soap! (photo from the Jacuzzi History site) ~

I digress...

So, I would still be damp, in my little summer night gown (and probably a little bubbly still, too) and I would RUN into the living room, where the little air conditioner was chugging away...and the room was perfumed with the now (it's evening) super-fragranced tuberoses, which Grandma would place in a vase on the little lamp table right in front of that air conditioner....Heaven, I tell you!

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Here is a site that I'm getting ready to check out and probably order from...Tennessee Tuberoses ~

Here's what their site says about the Tuberose's history...


The tuberose is a tuberous-rooted herbaceous perennial which was domesticated by the pre-Columbian Indians of Mexico (Aztecs), and, like corn, the tuberose origin is lost in antiquity. The Aztecs called it Omixochit (oh me" zu che'tl) or bone flower. The tuberose is a plant growing 3 to 4 feet tall with bright-green foliage and upon the stem that springs up from the center of the plant, will be the pure white blooms in pairs that spiral towards the top. The unopened buds may have a pinkish tint on the tops sometimes esp. if it is of the "Pearl" double tuberose plant family. The tuberose is most familiar as a fresh cut flower from your local florists and is very popular as a wedding flower. The tuberose (Latin tuberosa) is named for the shape of its rootstock and belongs to the Agave plant family Agavaceae. Extracts of this most fragrant flower are used as a top note in perfumery. The tuberose is also used traditionally in Hawaii for leis and was considered a funeral flower in Victorian times. Its scent is described as complex, exotic, sweet and floral.

 

I'd even like to visit there in August ~ it's in middle Tennessee...not too far for a little road-trip...(I wonder if they give evening tours...or allow camping near their tuberose fields?) :^)

♥ ♥ ♥
Anne

Have a happy Tuesday, all! I hope to get past my lazy spell and work on the Fairy house tomorrow ~ and, those watercolor paintings....

And, thank you to Pixie of View from Harmony Hills for giving me the idea for my post tonight; she is planting pansies in memory of her Grandma.

I'm adding this post to Brambleberry Cottage's Time Travel Thursday ~ ♥

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Saturday Evening...

Construction is still underway on the little gourd Fairy-abode (if I build it, they will come, right?...), so I will share a couple of other things tonight ~

First, my sweet friend Wendy from Victorian Chocolate Molds sent me the nicest gift...she knows how much I love antique chocolate molds, and she created this tile for me with illustrations from a vintage Anton Reiche mold catalog (I wish I could go back about 80 years and order one of each! There were literally thousands of exquisitely detailed molds back then...) ~ ♥

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Isn't it beautiful? (The little Wanderer Bunny mold was an earlier gift from Wendy, as well...my favorite mold!) ~ Check out her Zazzle store here! (Thank you, dear Wendy, again!) ~

♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥

In my previous older homes, shade was practically all I had! So, I learned to love hosta, ferns, astilbe, etc....now, shade is at a premium ~ I have one little shade-garden on the east side of the house...

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Here is my little corner of shade! (It does get some morning sun)...the hydrangeas have all come out and are loaded with buds...

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This is King Solomon's Seal, a variegated variety  ~ I really love this plant! This one has moved with me from the "old neighborhood". It has such graceful, arching stems... Here is what I found online about it...


In England Solomon's Seal is sometimes known as David's Harp, after medieval religious art which portrayed David with an instrument hung with metal bells (similar to the plant's dangling blossoms) struck with hammers.


The reason for its more common name is not entirely certain, as it was assigned to the plant a long while ago. The predominant theory regards the starchy rhizome which grows each year another branching segment, with a "scar" left between each segment.

This root-scar is thought to be the reason for the name "Solomon's Seal," the plant sealing itself at each juncture leaving a mark some have likened to a Star of David. Additionally, it was once believed that juice from Solomon Seal roots possessed this same capacity to seal wounds of battle, just as it sealed its own wounds.

 
Interesting!


 
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Isn't this little hosta leaf pretty? I don't remember the name of this one, but the leaf looks like it's been painted in all those shades of green!

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My favorite fern; Japanese Painted Fern...love the purple stems and veining!



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The edge of the garden is planted in Knock-Out roses; it actually does get some sun...just enough...the house shades the rest of the plants from the hot afternoon sun.


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My St. Fiacre statue...Patron Saint of Gardeners (and cab drivers...who knew?) ~ :^)

Have a wonderful Sunday, all!

♥ ♥ ♥
Anne

Friday, April 13, 2012

Friday Fun...(With my "Fairy Garden")...

Well, my little angel is still "on hold", but I have been truly playing this evening...(this is exactly what the six-year-old-me would have done...if I had had the means!)...

♥ ♥ ♥
I've started my little "fairy garden" in one of the kettles (I have two) that have been in my family for generations...(originally used for...soap-making? Rendering lard?...I don't really know, except they are OLD...patched with pieces of metal (how frugal folks were...had to be...) the bottoms have rusted out, but they are still fine (even better) for planters, which is what my Mom had been using them for all of my life ~ and now I have them.

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Here's one of the kettles filled with potting soil; I've positioned a gourd in the spot that I am going to have a little "house" made from the gourd. (Note the iced Earl Grey...a requirement) ~ :^)

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Here are all my little plants I've been collecting for the past couple of weeks...I've been looking for herbs with especially tiny leaves (I've found a couple of different varieties of thyme "Silver Queen" and "Pinky") ~ I'm using regular rosemary and lavender for the backdrop (I will have to keep the growth in check) ~ and as "landscaping", I've found Blue Star Creeper (Laurentia); a really interesting little perennial called "Black Brass Buttons" (Leptinella "Platt's Black") which looks like tiny fern fronds; and Calibrachoa (Kal-i-brake-i-a), which looks like tiny little petunias...I just love it! (I had some last year, so I know they are hardy!)  I always have to go back and look for the name, though...I seem to have a mental block  remembering it!)...:^)

 
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 Here is the "Pinky" thyme...


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Calibrachoa ~ dime-sized "petunias"!


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Leptinella...


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The planted "Fairy Garden"!...Now I have to remove the gourd so I can work on turning it into a little house... The plants are actually way too close together if this was going to be a permanent herb garden, but in this case, I just wanted a really interesting little scene that will last for just this season...depending on how much each has grown, I will divide and transplant the perennials to my main herb garden in the fall...then maybe I can use them again to "play" next Spring!

Hopefully by the time I finish the "house", the plants will have settled in.

Stay tuned!


Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

♥ ♥ ♥

Anne

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Thursday Evening...

Lots of projects in the works!
First, my little angel...I call her my little Oxford Angel because I bought her in the neatest little florist/gift shop in Oxford, Mississippi when we were visiting friends at Ole Miss, in 1983...I don't remember the name, but they had all these snow-white doves that they used for weddings (I guess they released them and then they all returned...) ~ I was impressed!


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Anyway, I thought she was long over-due for a "face lift"!
As you can see in this photo from last winter, she was still in her original early 80s "peachy-terra cotta" mode...


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I really didn't know what I wanted to do with her...I finally decided I was going to use my "default finish"; white spray paint... I used Valspar Satin White, and then a sanding sponge to distress her a little.
I liked this look, but she still seemed a little "stark", even with the sanding...so, I found some Plaid Mushroom/Champagne Glaze in my paint stash ... it was old, so I doubt if it's still available, but it's just a very cool, light brown...probably less concentrated than regular acrylic craft paint, but I watered it down considerably, anyway.


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My youngest daughter, Katie, never did really care for the angel. For a while I used her indoors; she sat on a deep windowsill in the kitchen ~ and, I have to admit, when viewed from outside behind the translucent blinds, she did sort of look like this...
At least Katie thought so...


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I can see it....;^)...

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It was so pleasant out this evening; nice that I could just plop her down in the grass and not have to worry about the mess I was making with the glaze! At first I was just going to dab it on (and wipe it off) with a damp paper towel, but since she's really kind of a rough casting, I finally decided to use an old brush.

The consensus from "the boys" (who were working on the fish pond near me) was that I was painting her the same color again ~ (they didn't see the difference between peachy-terra cotta and mushroom)...after I had wiped her down I was told that "now she looks like she's just been dug out of the mud"...was that the look I was going for? "Yes", I told them... "Yes, it is...that's exactly the look I was after!"...whether it was or not, I was commited, now (and I still had half a can of satin white, just in case)...


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Here she is so far...(the "freshly excavated look") ~ I'll let her dry over night and finish her transformation tomorrow...

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While I played, the fish pond was being leveled and filled for the first time...

And, one last picture...(from the Wildflower/Weed Woman) ~ a clump of vetch that was pulled from around the rocks in the new flower garden...it seemed such a shame; it was putting on a pretty nice flower "show" of its own...so I had to get a photo before it sadly wilted...

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More to come!
TGIF!
♥ ♥ ♥
Anne

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

The Checkered Path...


Sounds kind of dicey, huh?...Like a "checkered past"...;^)

But, it's my new flower/herb garden walkway; the "boys" finished it this evening.

I'm really happy with it, but then I like checks in almost any form...

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As a surprise, they started working on the little fish pond, as well...

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Birds are so smart, really. This robin couldn't wait for Mr. B and Jonathan to move OUT OF HIS WAY...not sure which he was more determined to get ~ worms in the tilled soil, or water in the fish pond...(that part didn't happen yet) ~

Probably worms.

(To be continued...)

♥ ♥ ♥
Anne