Ah-ah-ah

Choooooo!

Happy season of sneezes.  Before I took my allergy pill yesterday, I told Rob I thought I'd come down with something, but about a half hour after the pill, I was fine again.  Not quite sure what I'm allergic to right now, but whatever it is, it's got me good.  

While Rob was gone, I did some grout repair and it went so well, I'm going to do some more.  I'm doing an extra special job of sealing this time.  I've always sealed it, but not enough apparently because of the way it stains, so this time, I'm doing more and I am pretty sure it's going to be more effective.  And, if it's not, then I'm going to start looking into new countertops.  I love the 4" white tiles, but they are a pain.  

I also did this spot, which is almost finished.  This is the space between the house and my greenhouse.  It was a mess.  So, I pulled everything out and weeded, then put down weed barrier fabric and then did a string line and marked the center of the pavers and lined them up, giving myself more cement at the end where the hoses are.  I put in that little flowerbed along the foundation.  I also went around the greenhouse base with a galvanized steel edging.  The problem we're trying to solve is that our lawn slopes down to the greenhouse, so soil washes down the hill and gets to the greenhouse and builds up around the base.  That caused the board at the base of the greenhouse (you know, the main one that the whole greenhouse is built upon) to rot and Rob had to replace it in the greenhouse re-do (we got lucky that there was still enough he could do that.  In addition to the edging, I want to put a narrow flowerbed in front of it to also catch some of that water and soil rushing down the hill.  

I'd have liked to take a pic while the hoses are rolled up, but if we wait for that, you may never see this space.  

Yesterday, we took out two crabapple trees, one that was dead and one dying.  My dad gave them to me soon after we moved into this house.  They were old and had lived out their full lifespan.  The arborist said they wouldn't ever do anything because our soil was not acidic enough.  And, he was right.  They never did anything, just stood there and grew and made leaves and crabapples.  They never sang or danced or played the fiddle.  Disappointing trees.  There was a lot of acidic fertilizer put down around them.  

The yellow and orange daylilies are done.  They were beautiful.  But, now a whole different set of daylilies is getting started.  

Okay, this one isn't new, but it was the last one and was the largest and most perfect flower I've seen on this plant.  It was huge!

There is so much going on in the garden.  I just wander around, stopping every so often to look at something.   Some effect I've created by putting a certain group of plants together by chance, because there's certainly no plan, except bring a pretty plant home and find a place for it.  A couple weeks ago, there were yellow daylillies all around the yard to tie it all together.  Now, the phlox have started and they're doing the same thing.  No plan.  I just had a ton of phlox, so I put them here and there...and there, and there, and there.  In the sunny spots where it's too hot for phlox, the echinacea does the same thing.  

Labor Day weekend, I put the wedding ring quilt together and put it on the bed to see how it looked.  It's supposed to be one row larger than the other quilt...except I seem to have struggled with the maths and made a quilt that's the exact same size as the other one.  Dagnabbit! (yeah, let's pretend that's what I said).  Anyway, I've started another row.  And, am hoping I can make a row that doesn't stand out as different.  I pulled fabric over last week and started the arcs (7 blocks = 15 wedges = 30 arcs).  I had 20 usable templates left, so I'm making 20 arcs.  Fortunately, the last time I was in JoAnn's, I bought the last couple yards off the last bolt they had of the background fabric (I don't know why, but am glad I did), so I have plenty of that.  I was very disappointed, but am so glad I decided to make the extra row.  There was considerable discussion about how maybe we didn't need it...but I'd always know that I "cheaped out" and didn't make the quilt I wanted to make.  

Yesterday, I made blackberry jam.  We can pretend it was from the blackberries I grew, but my $70 blackberries ended up being just over a cup of fruit.  We will not be calculating that into the cost of the jam.  It went very well.  I guess jam takes a little practice, and having practiced a little, it went very smoothly.  We were in goodwill the other day and I bought a practically new water batch canner for $7.  It's much smaller than my old one, which was designed for quart jars.  I donated it a couple years ago because I don't can quarts of anything.  On Saturday, they had two, a small one that would have done half pint jars and a larger one that was great for these half pints and is deep enough that if I wanted to do some quart jars, I could.  

So, I feel like I'm all set for jam for a while.  Let's hope I don't have to go back to baking my own bread to eat it on.  

I really don't have much to say about politics right now.  I can share that I'm enjoying watching truth and lies collide.  Pretense and reality, crashing into one another, and I think this is just the beginning of that trend.  I'm still preparing for hard times, but I'm feeling less certain that they're impending.  I'm more focused on keeping my life moving forward and doctors appointments and home repairs and the garden.  What can I do something about vs feeling like I can't do anything about anything.  What's the most important thing I can do today?  What will help me or someone else today?  What keeps life moving forward today?  And, how much time can I steal to sew arcs or play the ukulele today?  And, just remember, TACO.  TACO, TACO, TACO.  

How about tacos for lunch?  

Lane