Tuesday Thoughts about...

...my garden. Hmmm, it's still not exactly the way I want it. I visit all of these gorgeous botanical gardens and want mine to look the same. Somehow, it always falls short. I don't really know why. I have ideas and plans for next year. Here's what's going on this year.

I love Japanese painted ferns. I've had this one for about 22 years now.

We went quite awhile without bees. They've been back for a few years now. Butch got this shot.

This bog fern makes me happy. Butch found it at the bottom of the pond at the beginning of the season. It just looked like a pot of mud. He put it back on the ledge and soon it sprouted. Now I love it!

I have a hydrangea bush called either "never-ending" or "everlasting"---I can't remember which. It blooms pink, lavender and blue on the same bush. What you see here is all the blooms I got this year. We had a late freeze that messed up a lot of my plants.

Margarita surprised me by cutting some flowers from the garden. Shasta daisies and purple coneflowers along with Annabelle hydrangeas. They bloom white (see photo above) and turn green when they are past their prime. They actually dry very easily at this stage.

A wider view of the pond.

This is a hibiscus---new this year. Lots of buds.

I also love the purple foliage.

The blooms are pink with hot pink centers---about the size of a dessert plate. I call them one day flowers because you only get the bloom for one day. Luckily there are so many buds---we'll see how long it blooms. I think it's supposed to go until fall.

I'm not gonna' lie. I'd love it if a beautiful bird landed on my shoulder while I'm out in the garden. This was at Bush Gardens in Williamsburg last week on vacation. There were the most beautiful and colorful birds I've ever seen in the aviary. This particular one was trying to get my necklace.

My pots on the front porch have continually been attacked by the chipmunks.

I just love these---what I call---happy little surprises. I knew it wouldn't last long. It sprouted up this spring, but didn't last but about a week before it fried here.

Even in the best tended gardens, you might find poison ivy. We have a lot of poison ivy around here.

I love the Virginia sweetspire beneath the magnolias. It blooms in the spring and doesn't last very long, but I do love the feathery tendrils of the flowers.

As for the hose nozzle embedded in the tree---I have no idea how that happened. I don't think I did it---perhaps a previous owner. I just noticed it a couple years ago. It'll stay there now. I'm sure it would do more damage to remove it at this point.

My shade garden is full of hosts, impatiens, assorted ferns, bloodwort, lily of the valley and various others.

Foxgloves only bloom every other year. This was the year. I have it in my white garden.

Entrance to the shade garden from the front of the house.

I've already forgotten what this is called. Another early bloomer.

About 20 years ago when I planned my roses, I read that clematis was a good paring. I'm so glad I added them. I have another on the back porch that is spectacular when it is in bloom.

Stella d' oro day lilies. They come back in these pots and bloom most of the summer.

I really like sunloving lantana---especially the multi color plants. The plant itself has a terrible odor, so it doesn't make a good cut flower.

Pink tea roses.

Here's the clematis that's on the patio.

When we first moved here, I had lots of cleome in different colors. I lost it during one of our drouts. Next year, I plan to add white.

I've forgotten the name of this one too.

This plant distresses me. I've had it for at least 15 years, but it has never bloomed. It definitely loves the location---it's a climbing white hydrangea on the corner of my white garden. I guess it's a male plant.

Lilies of the valley---the blooms are are so cute, but a bit hard to see. They only bloom in the spring.

 I love white hydrangeas--plus, I read years ago that the white varieties do better in Nashville. This is a tree hydrangea. It is so full of blooms that you almost can't see the trunk at all. This is the prettiest it's ever been---an blooms continuously!

 On the other hand the Annabelle hydrangea here hardly bloomed at all this year.

 You can see the other tree hydrangea on the far side.

 They crepe myrtles are just starting to bloom. They'll go until frost.

 I want the garden behind the pool to be full of flowers. I'll keep adding until it is always full of blooms.

 The ferns are gorgeous. They take over and are good for sun, shade and drought!

 The pots on the patio are doing really well this year. I always fertilize when we plant.

Even though the chipmunks did a number on these planters, they seem to have rebounded pretty well.

So there you have it---a virtual stroll through my garden along with my thoughts on Tuesday!

Monday Mystery

The mystery of time---at least my mystery of time. I don't know where it goes! It seems like it's gone before I even realize what happened.

This past week we were on our annual family vacation. It was a whirlwind week of activity. Probably the most fun thing we did this year was the "1920's style "Great Catsby" murder mystery." Everybody had fun with it and went all out for their costumes---keeping it all a surprise. Stephanie planned the whole thing without telling anyone until we received the invitations (which told us about our character) about a month ahead.

Sandy wasn't happy that Mitchell didn't have a costume---so we made him take the pictures! He was "Catsby"who thinks he's all cool and debonair---exactly Mitchell anyway!

More to come---if I ever figure out where my time has gone!

Friday Frustrations----OR

#poolsarethebiggestmoneypits!Ugh!WTF!!

(I need to insert here that I wrote this post a few weeks ago before I had my computer issues.)

This all happened Saturday afternoon. We had been enjoying the day in the pool with the family. When everyone got out—about 4, Butch said the water level looked really low. Then we noticed the noise that means the water level is below the skimmers—which means it could burn up the pump—or so we’ve been warned. 

We thought our pool pump had blown up (or at least I did) when we saw it. Water was shooting up like Old Faithful! We were not happy with our pool guy as we could not reach him via phone, text or email. You wouldn’t believe all the switches, levers and valves there are—and none seemed to shut the pool off. I was a nervous wreck that Butch was standing ankle deep in water with wires running everywhere! Butch finally cut off the power and the geyser stopped, but water still kept pouring out. Think of your tap fully open—that’s how much water was still pouring out. We lost almost a third of the pool water in 18 hours. Butch had tried everything to get it to stop. Finally, on Sunday afternoon, he got down to see if he could figure out where exactly the water was coming from. That’s when he noticed one more lever—underneath. He turned that and voila’ it stopped running. Happy Father’s Day! Exactly how you want to spend your one day!

Can you see all those levers and handles? AND all those electrical wires? Now you know why I was freaked out when Butch was standing in 5 inches of water---barefooted too (not that rubber soled shoes would have helped anyway). Still, you hear about freak accidents all the time. Well, this was tempting fate in my book!

 When he couldn't get the water to stop pouring out, he tried duct tape. It didn't work.

Our pool guy didn’t call until Monday morning and said he’d get by in the next couple of days. DAYS! OMGosh! Of course we weren’t happy about that. This guy is new and I really liked him. Over the course of 23 years, we’ve had 9 different pool companies. They are all pretty good until they aren’t! This guy is a small business with only one worker. He only takes 40 pools so he can keep his service top notch. Well, we weren’t happy. But I’ve already had the experience of trying to find a pool company in the middle of summer— impossible as they have their summer schedules set.

Mike our pool guy, finally came out Tuesday afternoon. Butch went out to talk to him. I was so afraid that he would tick the guy off and then we’d really be up a creek (or swimming pool). When he came in, he was calmed down. Our pool guy said that all the numbers we called were his business numbers. He said that he’s so busy that he would go crazy if he answered calls all weekend, so he doesn’t. He offered to give Butch his personal phone number, but Butch declined. We get it. After all, the guy does have a family and we’re just talking “first world problems.” At least now we know how to turn off the pool.

Turns out, our pool blew a gasket. Yeah, that simple. Or maybe not. We haven’t gotten the bill yet—or for the water for that matter! I called the water company and the gal said we still have to pay for the water. As if our water bills weren’t already outrageous. You cannot even guess!

It has taken nearly 3 weeks to get the part. We were still able to use the pool, but it wasn't as clean as we like. We're back in business now, so we'll keep our fingers crossed. This money pit is not done with us yet!

Steph calls these "boojey" problems. You know---as in the French term "bourgeosie" meaning a sociologically defined class, especially in contemporary times, referring to people with a certain cultural and financial capital belonging to the middle or upper stratum of the middle class.

Is that a bad thing?

It's All in the Details

A friend was once talking about the beauty of Greece. My first thought---"yes, in the broader. view, it's beautiful. But close up---let's say it could use some help." In Greece, as I was looking out over the ocean and marveling at the beauty, I happened to look down and see a broken lawn chair laying in the weeds. This was a popular tourist place, yet trash was in clear view. Same for Santorini---such beauty in the colors of the houses built in to the cliff. Then I look down and there's an old ratty mop and bucket that hadn't been used in ages---just tossed over the wall. That's what I mean---beauty in the broader view, but not so much in the close up. It's the close up that concerns me.

I think a lot of places are beautiful, but that's not always what pops in to my mind right away. It's the details that really impress me.

While in San Francisco a few weeks ago, we went to the botanical gardens. It was gorgeous. But it's the close-up details that do it for me.

 This was my favorite. I don't know what it is, but it's awesome!

See what I mean? Close up is best!

What I Buy Wednesdays

Well, I'm a bit behind on these posts, so I'll just start with this past week. I was in St. Louis to meet  some of Aunt Marie's doctors. She's just grand, so I'll get to what I bought.

I specifically wanted to go to Charming Charlie's because I needed some pink costume jewelry. Hard to believe I'm about out of pink since that is my favorite color to wear. Alas, I found some bargains, but no pink! Another trip, another time.

Here's what I did get:

Two scarves that were on sale for $5.00 each, 3 bracelets, 2 pairs of earrings and a coin purse (not show because it's a Christmas gift)---all for 42 bucks! Can't beat Charming Charleys for fun cheap jewelry and accessories. Janet bought a cute purse.

And then my Stitch Fix box came in. Oh My Gosh! I loved everything! I've been really choosy lately because I have enough of certain things. The shoes are so cute---Toms. This is my second pair of Toms from Stitch Fix. The thing I like about Toms is that for every pair you buy, they donate a pair. I requested the white linen blouse---it's really cute. I love the navy and turquoise blouse. The jeans have cut off edges--super cute. The black pants have a really fun zipper detail. The only problem with them is that they are leggings. That's not really a good look with my chubby thighs, but when you keep the entire box, you get a 25% discount. That makes those leggings FREE! I'll keep them for around the house. They really are cute. I'll just wear a long top with them.

Okay, so that's it for this week. We head out for vacation on Friday. We're going to Williamsburg this year. I don't plan to buy anything. We'll see....

Tuesday Thoughts About...

iCloud. So, you have everything backed up on the "cloud." You think you're covered. You feel confident that the "cloud" is doing its job. Well, so did I. The "cloud" is really not all that!

My recent computer problems has taught me a valuable lesson. SOME things are on the cloud---but not everything. One of the things that the Mac "genius" tried was wiping my hard drive. He asked if I had everything backed up. I confidently told him that I had it all backed up to iCloud. He acted like that was good. He failed to tell me that it's not foolproof.

I lost a lot. A LOT! All my pictures are there. My internet reading list is there. Actually, most things are there. What's missing are some documents---random documents. Important stuff. Not all the documents, but ones I need! Emails and the folders I created to keep them in are missing. That's really a problem. All beach business---gone. ALL travel reservations and information---gone!

No telling what else is missing. I'll find out as I go along. Bummer.

It's Been Awhile!

Nearly three weeks! I took my computer in for a diagnostic. The third time, I agreed to send it off for a new processor. It was going to be expensive. I had to decide between a nearly $600 repair or a new computer. Since the $600 would make it "new" again, I decided to go with that. Apple kept my computer. I was told 3-5 days. After a week, I called and was told that they were waiting for the part. What? It's the service center. Don't they have every part possible?

Well in to week two, I was sent an email. Did I want to continue to wait for the part---no time estimate---OR, would I rather take a refurbished computer for the same cost. What?? No! I don't want someone else's germy computer! I told them to just send it back without repair.

Now, let me say, my computer wasn't defunct---just not acting right---freezing and overheating. Still, it's usable. I decided to just keep it until it dies and then decide what to do. I'm glad I did.

The real question---do I really need my computer? I was going crazy at first. I rely on my computer. It keeps me organized and I conduct all my beach business on it. Right off, here were the things I missed without it:

*I couldn't send out beach rental contracts.
*I couldn't send out the condo information to renters.
*I had all the details of the "littles" visit---itinerary, grocery list, favorite colors, and photos of last year's Camp Aunt Barb.
*I couldn't pay my bills.
*I couldn't access my trip information.
*I couldn't manage my books. I had 4 books pour in on me.
*I couldn't download my books.
*I couldn't update my book list.
*I couldn't update my movie list.
*I couldn't see my large calendar view.
*I couldn't read the blogs I follow.
*I couldn't look at Facebook.
*I couldn't post to Facebook.
*I couldn't do Instagram.
*****I could not update my Blog!

That's a lot of "couldn't's!"

The girls didn't understand my panic and constant feeling of unease. Stephanie asked me why I just don't use my phone. They don't get it. I only use my phone for a phone---and maybe--a couple games!
Once Butch said, "imagine if you didn't have your phone! Now you know how your mom feels without her computer." Yeah, they got it then!!

Stephanie brought me her iPad the next day. I was just about able to do everything. But typing is a big deal to me, and doing it on an iPad is a pain. It's not typing, it's tapping one finger at a time and it takes forever! Which is why I don't particularly like texting! Stephanie said that this is ME! That's the truth!

So now with the iPad, I was somewhat back in business. I did discover that I liked playing games on that better than my tiny phone.

I found that I could get along without my computer except for one thing! Do I want to give up my blog? I don't think I'm ready for that. Sooo, I'll go lightly with my computer and use the iPad as much as possible to save the wear and tear. Hopefully I can eek out another year or so with this puter. At least I hope so.