Things I have learned

Today I learned that when you mix hot chocolate and french vanilla cappuccino you create something comparable to...well nothing because it is pure perfection unlike anything else I have yet to drink. So as I sit here in ecstasy and sip my mug of perfection I decided to reflect on what I have learned today.

Today I learned that when you have two things that are pretty good on their own they are AMAZING when combined. Okay, except for jalapenos and ice cream, that would be just terrible.

Today I learned that you can indeed use a butter knife to cut a loaf of french bread when you are too lazy to wash either of your bread knives.

Today I learned that fresh warm french bread with butter goes with EVERYTHING.

Today I learned that the best sleep is the kind you get after your alarm wakes you up and you realize that you are not the one that has to get up so you get to half sleep and half bask in the sheer joy that you are not the one getting ready for work...at least not for another 30 minutes.

Today I learned that sometimes when Netflix suggests a movie to you and you think it will be lame but then it turns out to be perfect for you it's kind of the same as when someone gives you advise that is better for you than you thought it would be. But sometimes Netflix picks shitty movies for you that were made in like the seventies and the plot and characters and acting are all terrible. So basically sometimes other people have really good advise and sometimes it is stupid and irrelevant.

Today I learned that if you spend too much time thinking about the future you miss out on life.

(14 hours later)

Yesterday I learned that when you think that everything is going just grand and you are starting to figure everything out and things are finally going your way that some ass hole will come and take a big shit on your chest and ruin everything.

Yesterday I learned that when said shit happens the best thing to do is self medicate and then eat an obscene amount of fresh hot french bread because it makes everything better...oh yeah, and chocolate ice cream too.

Yesterday I learned that when you have a little nagging headache and then you have an emotional breakdown and sob like a small child for an hour it will turn into a raging migraine that can only be helped by the aforementioned actions.

This morning I learned that when someone takes a shit on your chest nobody can do anything about it and you just have to hope that it will go away on it's own. It kind of sucks to wait when you have a warm steaming pile of shit on your chest, take my word for it.

This morning I learned that everything does NOT happen for a reason. There is no silver lining in my cloud.

Ok, feeling better...

Just now I learned that it's not worth it to let a little scat ruin my day or week and definitely not my Thanksgiving, so for now I will just let it be since I really have no choice anyway.

This post was going to be so awesome and insightful, you were supposed to have a goddamn epiphany! It's ruined now, and this is all that's left. I could at least put up a few pictures though to make it better. Let me see what I've got.

Even though you got to see violas in the last post you get to see them again. The one on the left was done in manual mode and the one on the right was done on my special scene setting for foliage. What do you think? Or wait, maybe the one on the right was on my low light setting...now I don't know.

Okay, I figured it out. Picture on the left:                       Picture on the right:Foliage setting shutter speed 1/80
manual mode shutter speed 1/1600 Aperture 2.5.         aperture 3.5 (I didn't get to choose these)

The garden in poster effect shutter speed 1/800 aperture 2.5 (again I don't get to choose)

Ahah! I found one done with my low light setting. Not my favorite, but it will do.

Low light setting shutter speed 1/60 aperture 2.0 (this is the cropped version of the original)





Don't worry, that little piece of fluff is a seed that has floated over from the neighboring butterfly weed. You want some? They are all over, help yourself.

Here you go, another one cropped from a low light setting picture. Low light setting shutter speed 1/1250 aperture 8.0.

So now I am feeling a whole lot better not wallowing in my own self pity and looking at pretty pictures. Here's to an amazing afternoon!

Me and My Canon S95

Ok Tonya you were totally right, it has been two months. What can I say? I lost track of time. Partially because I lost my mind for awhile and partially because...well no, that's it: I just lost my mind for awhile. So now I am back to being myself again although not the same self as before. More like a new and improved self.

But that is not what this post is about at all. What it's really about is my awesome camera that I got for my 24th birthday last friday (yay! Happy Birthday to me!). I wanted something portable aka a point and shoot but with a little something extra to offer me. Tadah! Presenting the Canon S95. An amazing camera in a tiny little package. No details but it's awesome trust me. I decided not to keep most of the pictures I shot today, but that's usually how it ends up. If you learn only one thing about photography you have to learn to take A LOT of pictures. Since I am still learning about my camera I must have taken at least ten pictures of each subject with different settings or different angles. Basically I walked around in the freezing cold windy weather to get a few pictures that I really like.

So without further adieu:

Nothing better than an overcast day when everything just seems to pop out from the dark skies. 



Violas: a simple flower favorite.

Gourds...yeah, nothing else to say. Just Gourds.

Succulents are definitely one of my mom's favorites so there are a lot of good photo opportunities.



Funny story about this old barn door actually: for another time. Love you mom!

Definitely my favorite.

Remains of the rain. 

Tut tut it looks like rain...

And that's because it is raining! With the official first day of fall being in just three days, I would say that it is perfect timing. There are those that are saddened by the end of summer (you know who you are :), but as I get older I am learning how to appreciate that every season is important and plays a part in the big picture. There are special things that come with the cold weather that you only really get to enjoy at that time of year. The best one of all is of course the smell of rain. This morning for instance, I have my windows open because the first rain of fall is perhaps the best smell I could think of early on a Sunday morning. I dusted off my teapot (that's right it had dust on it, sad I know) and am enjoying my favorite cool weather drink: Tea.
Yes you can still enjoy tea, soup, crocheting, reading books, crafting and other such nonsense all year long, but really: do you? Not so much. Their is a silence that grows on things on rainy mornings, it's a peace that has a special time of year. Not the same as any other. I like to think of it as a cleansing period, mother natures way of refreshing everything and removing the dust and grime of summer. Similar in fact to my car, which has been accumulating an impressive collection of dirt for several weeks now. Now this morning, it has also been taken care of by the rain and is looking much better, although not necessarily clean.

Now as a gardener as well, fall is one of the most important seasons of the year. It's the time when most plants get tucked into their bed's for the upcoming Winter. It's the signal to them that they put in a lot of hard work, and it's almost time to rest. Now annuals are another story because they are what I like to call Kamikaze plants. They live fast and furiously, expending every ounce of energy to put on a grand show...but we all know how that ends up. Lets just say that they won't be coming back next year, but if we are lucky they will leave behind some little babies only to surprise us come Spring. We would never be able to have beautiful gardens in the Spring and Summer if we didn't allow everything to just relax for awhile and rejuvenate. That's it! Spring: the season of awakening. Summer: the season of excitement. Fall: the season of rejuvenation. And Winter: the season of rest. Now THAT was pretty philosophical don't you think? Moving on...

Without fall you would never have Thanksgiving, which would just be a crime. It's the one time when our family has a reason to justify our incredible food intake. And worst of all, without fall we would never have Winter, which always has a special place in my heart as well. No I don't like being cold, I just like the feeling that it brings. The spirit of the season. Maybe I'm crazy, but you can just feel it, something is different. So moral of the story, I am obviously feeling very inspired today. Not really inspired to be cleaning my house right now, but definitely inspired enough to post on my blog which is impressive. And since none of my pictures seemed to turn out quite right this morning, I will leave you with a picture that has nothing to do with anything in particular. This was my Calla Lily before it bit the dust of summer.

Wow

My blog really is a deserted wasteland isn't it. I guess life just gets away from you sometimes. Since the last post I have traveled to my Peony paradise, gave all of my seedlings good homes, worked, worked some more, went to Dallas for a week, and to New York for a week also, and I just started school also. Oh yeah, and we planted a lawn in the back yard. Lets just say that I have been really busy. :) Here is some random pictures just for fun, think of it as a slide show of my life for the last few months.

My Peony Adonis

Bowl of Beauty

Bowl of Cream

Kildeer Nest

Dragonwing Begonia

Lawn

Purple Potato Vine

Well thanks for listening. I just had to do a little something to break the blogging silence. I'm going to have to ease back into this. I don't even remember how I had so much to write about before, because all I can think about now is how tired I am. Speaking of which, I think it's bedtime, my mind has been exhausted for the day.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

There has been so many new and exciting things happening in my life these days I can barely keep up with it all. Perhaps that is why you haven't been hearing much from me. I have just been too busy to post. Now I am kicking up my feet and will take a few minutes to fill you in. First, we got a new kitchen island. Which, if you are familiar with my kitchen, you would know that I desperately needed some extra counter space. Whoever thought that a kitchen only needed 42" of counter space was obviously a man who only ate T.V. dinners and was most definitely not married. Or it could just have been the village idiot...any who, I am now the proud owner of this small kitchen with no counter space. So to lessen my suffering we decided to invest in what I like to refer to as my new best friend. Meet Delilah, she is beautiful, spacious and everything I have ever wanted on wheels for my kitchen.

It is amazing how disgusting the floor looks next to a perfectly white new piece of furniture.

It didn't take me more than a couple of hours to fill all of the shelves and drawers. Perhaps I have become greedy, because now I want even more space.

Oh yeah, that is exactly what you think it is. A granite cutting board in the top of my island.

I could go on and on, but there is much to explore, so on we go.

I also managed to weed my planters and lay down bark to hopefully help with the weeds in the future. What you are about to see is disgusting. It is what my planter looked like right around the thick of winter at the beginning of this year.

This was before the weeds completely took over, but you can see the absolute state of neglect based on the dead leafless plants that were begging to be pruned and loved up. This is what I was able to turn it into after a couple hours of weeding.

It's amazing what a transformation a few weeks of sun can have. Then, just to top it all off I decided that I would try to prevent the weeds from invading so ravenously. I fell in love with bark when we began re-doing the parkway in front of our house. (That is the funky strip of lawn between he sidewalk and the street just in case you were wondering)

And this was the end result.

OK, so the picture doesn't do it justice. It is better in person. It makes me smile everyday when I walk up to the front door. Anyway, on to more bark adventures...oh wait, I forgot to introduce you to my new Spider Flower.

It is amazing to look at. I think I may need a few in my growing plant collection. It really nicer than it appears: I thought I took more pics of it but this was the only one I could find.

So, back to the bark adventures.

We finally finished shoveling out our parkway and filling it with bark...well except for the little square around the tree (which has almost been finished since I took these pictures).

And best of all, look what we discovered under all the weeds and the 3" of dirt.

Who knew we had a cute little path that lead right to our walkway? Actually I do vaguely remember finding it once in the past, but I had since forgotten all about it. It really was like discovering it all over again. I just got some amazing plants to put under the tree and can't wait for some nice weather so I can get the area prepared and planted. What else has happened...I can't come up with anything right now, but do I have a treat in store for you. I have been waiting for almost a year, and finally the time has come! This weekend, me and the fam will be going to the Peony farm in San Jose! You can be that I will be posting a short novel all about Peonies when I get back, along with many pictures and I will reveal my final decision on what Peonies I came home with. My list has been narrowed down to 9, which is good since they have over 200 to choose from. Well, until then I bid you adieu.

Super Sunday

I was apparently in super high gear this last super Sunday. I don't think I have gotten this much done in one day in a very very long time. So long in fact that I don't remember the last time. Where should I start...oh yeah, bottles. Lots and lots of bottles. Somehow between Thursday and Sunday I went from owning like 2 glass bottles to owning over twenty. And what do all old glass bottles have in common? They are usually always dirty. Who knew that the best cleaner for old bottles is denture tablets. Yep, that's right, I had to go to the store to buy denture tablets to clean some old glass bottles. They did look pretty amazing though all submerged in this green cleaning solution.

I can't wait to get them all set up. I will show you when I do.

Lets see, what did I do next...that's right I replanted all of my pots on the front porch. They were looking more than a little haggard after this cold winter so it was time for a little re-vamping. On Saturday, among many places, we went to the plant barn. Oh how I love the Plant Barn. I got so many beautiful plants, but I had to have some restraint or I would have come home with everything.

This is an amazing little plant called Artemisia schmidtiana. Uh yeah, I just call it the silver plant so feel free to do the same. And yes it is as soft as it looks, just don't rub it on your face because the foliage does smell and I am not sure if it is a good smell or a bad one, I'm still on the fence about this one. But any who, it is an adorable little guy, plus it is a perennial so what more could you ask for. Everyone should have a silver mound to pet on their way out the door in the morning, it would make you smile. Unfortunately I didn't realize until after I planted this doozy that it gets up to two feet tall...all well, I will just have to work with it.

Here he is with all his little friend in one of my newly planted pots. Yes that is one of my little Coleus babies on the left, cute isn't it? And those pretty pink flowers in the front are a new discovery for me: Diascia. It is related to Snapdragons, which you can see in the flower form.

I like to think that they look like they are smiling and laughing.

I also got some absolutely out of this world hydrangeas.

Bigger is always better when it comes to Hydrangeas. Blue is good too...I can't wait to get more.

Oh yes, I am getting at least two or three more of these babies, there are some amazing varieties. These are just the beginning.

Oops, I forgot about my other planters. Actually I was just so excited about the hydrangeas that I just couldn't wait any longer. So here is my small pot, boring you might say, but I have a big weakness for ornamental grasses. They are usually evergreen and always look so fun and carefree to me. They don't need any supporting actors, they are perfect all on their own.

Now, I want you to have an open mind about my third pot. I know it looks a little scarce and wimpy, but I promise that in eight weeks you won't even be able to recognize it. The Heuchera in the back dwarfs my seedlings that are much younger. The Heuchera will only have those tall bloom spikes for a short while, then it won't make everything else look so small.

As a matter of fact, these plants shouldn't theoretically even all fit together in one pot, so we will just have to see how they duke it out for space.

And here they are all together on the porch...before I hosed it off as you can tell by all the dirt.

Months ago I got a wicker hanging basket that I had big plans for. So instead of letting it sit around forever unused and uncrafted, I finally turned it into a planter. All I needed was a kitchen trash bag with some holes cut in the bottom. Once the plants grow in a little bit you won't even notice the trash bag, and it cost me nothing since I have oodles of bags under the sink.

Then after I replanted all of my pots, I transplanted all of my Agastache. Which means I only have Alyssum left and then I am all done transplanting. Almost there.

And despite the fact that Agastache aren't supposed to bloom until their second year, one of the types that I have growing seems to be growing what looks suspiciously like the beginnings of flower spikes. You tell me, but I guess the next few weeks will tell.

I couldn't possibly forget to show you my Columbine. They just came out of the fridge on Easter and they got a little bit of a slow start, so they are much smaller than everything else.

You may be wondering why such small seedlings have been placed in such large containers. Well these guys definitely won't bloom until next year, so in the meantime this will be their home until next spring. This way I don't have to transplant them again.

Just so you get an idea of how many plants I have currently under my care, here is a picture showing two out of five shelves that are full of plants.

Not only does my shed glow in the dark, but my garage does too. If you pass my house, you can't miss it.

Have no fear, I am not done yet. I told you I got a lot done. Just thank your lucky stars that I am actually leaving some stuff out. I have been wanting a backyard for a very long time, and I have decided that this is the summer that the journey is going to begin. I have acquired a kennel for my *$#@^% dog Riley who loves to personally see to the destruction of anything that falls within the fence line of our backyard. I attacked one of the many bamboozled planters with avengence. It took an hour to remove rocks, shrapnel and dozens of nails and screws (?) and to fill in the massive holes. I topped it off by leveling and smoothing the dirt before standing back to appreciate my hard work.

Little did I know that when Riley went out to go to the bathroom just a couple of hours later all my hard work was ruined in less than five minutes. I have since restored it to this state, but now Mr. Riley is on strict lock down, only supervised visits to the backyard to go to the bathroom until the kennel is in working order.

OMG! I think I am finally done...

Wait I forgot to tell you one more thing...

Hahaha, just kidding, I really am done. I have to tuck my seedlings in for the night and am running out of time.

The Cat and the Fiddle...or was it a Pickle?

So it's official, my cat really is crazy. I awoke to a ruckus in the middle of the night (this is the way almost all cat stories start I believe), only to realize that my cat was up to something. This happens often so I paid it no attention. That is until today. I could not find the top to my coffee mug this morning in the dish jenga, and although this perplexed me since I remembered washing it, I just grabbed another cup and went on my way. Then it happened. I was minding my own business tending to some laundry when I happened upon what looked to be a coffee cup lid. But alas, why would my coffee cup lid be squished between the washer and dryer with missing socks and dust bunnies? Then it dawns on me...this is the doing of my cat, I just know it. I know this because she has an obsession with many strange items along with the predictable hair or twisty tie. She has been known to steal your straw right out of your cup then making a mad dash for some hiding spot where she can enjoy her spoils. She also really likes stuffed animals, even if they are larger than her entire body. I have seen her running down the hall (actually more like hobbling since the stuffed animal is usually between her legs and dragging out her back legs) with a certain favorite stuffed animal of hers more times than I can count. I cannot help that Bella was raised in the scary trailer park across the street from Piggs Liquor and was covered in dirt and reeked of cigarettes when I rescued her at the tender age of five weeks old. Her first day home in our little apartment consisted of a bath (we all know how much cats love this) and several taming sessions since she was more than a little wild. I will never forget when David first came home and I told him I had gotten a kitten and it was in the bathroom settling in. He went into the bathroom and was more than a little surprised to find a fully fluffed attack kitten waiting on the other side of the bathroom door. I believe the first time he actually tried to pet her, she hissed at him and ran and hid in her kitty hideaway. You can see it in her crazy eyes, can't you. This is one of her favorites, his name is Bernard. She may be crazy, but she is pretty sweet sometimes too. At least with me and David. You will probably never have the pleasure of meating this elusive wild animal, but she never misses a snuggling session that involves a blanket, hot chocolate, and a little reading or crocheting. She really does look evil in this picture though. She probably felt violated since I made her lay on my bed and pose with Bernard for the sake of my blog.

Can you imagine if our dogs behaved the way our cats do? Man, that would be a disaster. Having an eighty pound unruly cat running around is what happens in the zoo, not in homes. I could not imagine what it would be like if Riley climbed on my stomache in the middle of night and proceeded to dig his claws into my flesh. He does this enough to my feet, and I can only imagine the pain it would cause in my soft unprotected abdomen. What if your dog jumped on the coffee table and stole the straw right out of your drink before running away frantically down the hall? Or what if your dog decided to hang from your sheer living room curtains like an olympic gymnast? Oh, this one is the best: What if your dog decided to tear ass down your hallway, sideways, burning out on your hardwood floors for no apparent reason at ungodly times of the night such as 2 o'clock in the morning? This seems to be a universally known time for cats to run spasmodically around your house breaking things and running into walls like the devil is chasing them. And why is it that if you get up to see what the hell is happening in your house in the middle of the night the cat is always inexplicably scared shitless and therefore must jump two feet straight in the air before tearing off to some dark closet somewhere.

I have so many funny Bella stories, if only I had the dedication and time to record them all in some sort of Crazy Cat Memoir. Maybe one day.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to tell you all about my other discovery today. I was doing the dishes this afternoon when I came across a most unusual discovery in my sink. A pickle. That's right, a pickle. Not a pickle slice, or pickle tail, an entirely whole pickle. I have to say that I have found some strange things in the sink before, but this by far tops the list. This matter is still under investigation. I have a few leads, and some very promising suspects.

I think this is all I have in me for the night, big day ahead tomorrow.