Well, have you done anything else?

So, we are taking an exercise class using ZOOM. From an instructor that we had been taking classes from through parks and rec here. Each time, at the end of class, our instructor askes ‘what have we been doing?’ “what are our plans for the weekend?’ Anything, to get us to chat. I had already mailed it off, so I could not have a ‘show and tell’. But I had made an Exploding BOX!

My cousin’s son and his wife had a baby boy. The child was named after his grandfather and also after his great, great grandfather. The great, great grandfather was my grandfather. You know, the one that I write about every March 1….The one who immigrated from Italy. Well, of course I had to mark this child’s birth.

Now, I love younger folk. You know, folk who keep all their pictures on their phones. But I am old school, I like printed pictures. You know, pieces of paper that you can stick in a frame and hang on a wall. I have a lot of those hanging on my walls. I walk by them and they make me smile and remember that person or time or whatever. So I made the child an Exploding Box of photos.

In February I had taken a class at the library about making exploding boxes. I had to think about it for a while. And have a major scratch around in my archives. I had to take pictures of the many pictures that I have hanging and then have those printed. I managed to get the papers I needed before stores closed. I picked an assortment, a travel theme and an ocean theme. I knew I could decide later. Always best to have options.

The box ended up having his photos of his great, great grandparents, his great grandfather, his grand parents and his parents and sister. I did not expect the thumbnails that the photo printing service provided but I think they worked well inside the box lid. I am really tickled with how it turned out.

The Prisoner

Here he is…..

THE PRISONER OF CAMERON VILLAGE!!!!!!!

We have a friend, who is always very good about speaking TO Ben, AND NOT ALLOWING ME TO ANSWER!!!!!!!! Anyway, we had a ZOOM chat with this friend, who asked Ben if he felt he was being held prisoner in Cameron Village? “BLINK TWICE!!!”

Yeah, Ben is suffering so. First off, he doesn’t have to leave the house which truly, he could care less. He pretty much is doing whatever he wants to do. And then the poor man, forced to eat my cooking……

This week it was lasagna.

This is a real one. With Bolognese…..Bechamel. No, no, no I do not make my own pasta sheets. Come on, this takes hours!!!!! And for two people? Fortunately it is one of those things I planned for. Small, aluminum take out pans to pack up left overs. Smart friends will answer the call and meet us for a frozen transfer…..

Spring Planting 2020, Part 2

I feel like planting has taken me longer this year than in years past. Partly because we are still, even in the second week of May, having some chilly night temps. Had those in April too, so the plant nursery that I go to didn’t have everything I wanted to buy. Took two trips. And then there were all those elephant ears to be planted. Finally, this week everything is planted. The big deck planter would look a little sparse if the holly fern hadn’t decided to take over.

There are elephant ears planted in there also. I am hoping that this weekend’s warm weather will push them along so they will be peeking over the planter edge soon.

I am excited about the new plant that I am trying this year, cosmos. The little yellow/gold flowers. I am trying them in several places. The plants get tall so they just might not work in my tiny boxes. We’ll see….

Guppy’s winter bird restaurant closed at Easter. Much to the display of many! And has become tropical. Invaded by flamingos! Those elephant ears will eventually grow up and cover the ugly communications pole. And this is the location of one of the hummingbird feeders. Saw our first hummingbird on May 14. My friend near Jordan Lake has been seeing them much longer.

Planting, having flowers, a few tomatoes and feeding birds gives me a huge amount of joy. It is one of the things I really look forward to every year. I will enjoy these flowers until October. I am very aware that this is a position of privilege. This year, I made sure that the plants and soil I needed for gardening came from local businesses. I admit that I bought a new hose online from Target. Ohhh, it is so light weight….

I will further justify myself by pointing out that all my plantings are in common areas where many folks walk by and enjoy them too. So, while I do this selfishly for myself, the byproduct is that others enjoy it too. Happy Spring while it lasts.

Spring Planting 2020 (Part 1)

Warmer temperatures in April had me pushing the planting season. I set up the pop-up dirt bar in the back of our vehicle in the parking lot.

Easier to scrape from each bag into my tote, then mix and fill pots than picking up the heavy bags and hauling them around.

The front looked really good. The iris were outsatnding.

Now the summer spirea are showing off.

The darker color is almost scarlet. Camera dosen’t do it justice

The crepe myrtle, in the back is doing well too.

I was worried about the black and blue salvia for a while. The flowers were not opening and were very droopy. I guess we just needed some warmer weather to make them snap to attention.

A different variety of salvia in the front is pretty showy too.

Tomatoes on the front porch are doing well too.

This plant has 4 tomatoes.

This year I am trying these cool blue spirals instead of bamboo supports. They are not really designed to be used in pots. I sunk them in beer cans weighted with rocks to help them be more stable.

You can just see the beer can in the pot on the far right.

And the pots in the front are mix of color this year.

The little gold/yellow flowers are cosmos. I am trying these in several places this year. We’ll see how they do. Look for another post about the back.