Thursday, November 15, 2018

a litany of three days


Monday I hung the giant tarp enclosing the plumerias and other tropicals in the garage to help protect them from the coming two nights of below freezing temps (it will come down after it warms up a little more today), 


covered the ponytail palm and the pink angel trumpet (the one I had just planted in the ground the week before), opted not to cover the yellow angel trumpets because they always freeze to the ground anyway, took another bucket of pecans to be cracked, and started on the finish work on the two recent finished castings while Marc made the molds for the leaf and flower, went to yoga, and shelled pecans.

Tuesday my only accomplishment was completing the finish work on the two castings while bundled up in four shirts, long underwear, and my polartek pants 

6" x 5" x 1 3/4"

5 1/4" x 5 1/4" x 3/4" excluding frame

and then spent the rest of the day trying to convince the dog and the cat that I have no control over the weather. And shelled pecans

Yesterday I replaced the catches on two lower cabinet doors in the kitchen because the old ones no longer functioned which involved laying on my back and struggling to get the damn things screwed into the underside of the shelf because, of curse course, the new catches didn't use the same holes. Then I drove out to Glen Flora where Chuck the metal artist lives to pick up the stands for the tiles, 


took the dog for a long walk because even though it was still cold the sky looked like this


and filled the leaf mold. And shelled pecans. I now have 13 pounds of shelled pecans and one more box to go.

On the national scene I am heartened by the election and while we may not get the Florida senatorship or governorship or the Georgia governorship, we have picked up a few more Democratic wins and the Republicans are freaking out to the point that they are furious that the law has required recounts in Georgia and Florida and that all the ballots, including the ones they tried to ignore and the ones they are trying to disqualify, are being counted. I tweet at them 'All votes count and all votes should be counted. Don't like democracy? Move to Russia. Problem solved.'

And Trump is in a tailspin of despondency (not sure if this is good or bad) and lashing out like the spoiled toddler he is by our wins and control of the House, accusing Dems of voting and then changing clothes and going in and voting again, really, the man has no idea how voting works, and the coming scrutinizing and the looming report from Mueller and his ostracization by other world leaders (except Putin of course and did you see the picture of that shit eating grin Trump gave Putin in France?) and being called out by Macron and social media for his refusal to honor our WWI dead in France because, as a WH insider tells us, there would be no tent for him to stand under and he didn't want to get his hair wet (all the other reasons given were spin) and his refusal to travel even the mile and a half on Monday to Arlington National Cemetery to honor our war dead on Veteran's Day while leaving over 5,000 of our troops on the border with nothing to do, missing the holidays with their families, and eating MREs.

And now McConnell, the poster boy for putting party over country and obstruction and hypocrisy pens an op-ed piece wondering if Dems will work for bipartisanship or put party over country and then two days later refuses to bring a bill protecting Mueller and his investigation to the floor for a vote. Apparently he doesn't understand that compromise take two willing sides.

So all in all, I'm feeling pretty optimistic. It's nice to be back in that place. And today I plan to get the last mold filled, the flower, in preparation for the open house.




15 comments:

  1. I have decided that Trump probably never voted in his life until he voted for himself for president. Remember that picture of him looking over at Melania's ballot? I think he was making sure that he was doing it correctly.
    Oh, Mueller. Where ARE you? Come on, boy!
    I love the lizard piece best but the others are fantastic too. That feather!
    Getting cold here. I have done nothing about the plants. Nothing except to think, "Oh, I should do something about these plants."
    We'll see how that works out.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've been hearing for almost a week that the you-know-what is about to hit the fan. I'm hoping that means tomorrow is Indictment Friday, especially since it's day 666 of this presidency, and that makes it so fitting. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sort of pleased it was not a great blue wave. This torture, slow drop by slow drop is fine, too.
    I', with Mary. I love the lizard! I did not expect the feather to be blue. I'm too used to to grey Canada geese feathers.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Those tiles are gorgeous in their stands! I love how committed you are to your plants. If Mike didn't haul ours around I'm not sure I would bother (don't let Ms. Pinky hear me say that!).

    ReplyDelete
  5. I had to laugh out loud reading the bit about him wanting a tent. What a pompous brat.

    The tiles look amazing now.

    ReplyDelete
  6. My thought is that trump has never voted in person or he would know how it is done.

    I am super happy with all the women voted into Congress and taking back the House. That march two years ago made a difference and empowered so many. I now believe that we are going to get out of this mess somehow.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The glass tiles look amazing in their stands. I hope the plants weather the cold OK! They certainly look like they'll be cozy.

    I bet Trump DOES look pretty appalling with wet hair.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank goodness I don't have to sift through all the news - I'll just read your blog posts! Much more succinct. Your work is absolutely beautiful. And I do love those metal stands. I had to haul out the dog hoodies here, as temps dropped into the low teens and we got the first shovelable snow. Pfft. Even though I know it's coming, I am always shocked.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Lovely finished pieces, I always enjoy your art. 53 here yesterday but snow tonight

    ReplyDelete
  10. Only the little people vote, the rest bribe their Congresspersons. Am I much of a cynic? And yes, I did vote. I love your art, I am a big fan of nature as you know.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Let's hope you can use your 13 pounds (plus more to come) of shelled pecans to make some pies to celebrate more good things in the socio-political front. I'm feeling optimistic, too. But goodness knows we could use more.

    ReplyDelete
  12. such good care for your plants! I usually have the attitude that if you freeze and die well then, you were not meant to live up here in the frigid dark damp..."Don't like Democracy..." comment made me HOORAHHH loudly!
    Your work always astonishes me, absolutely gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. there's quite a few outside that they must survive or not but I do take care not to lose the tropicals.

      Delete
  13. I was just thinking about plumeria in general and our ongoing struggles in particular, looking at your tarp.
    Do you keep it covered all winter?
    What happens here is that it sort of thrives indoors for a while (sunny spot, not too warm), then drops all leaves at around midwinter and vigurously grows new ones by mid Feb only to drop these new ones completely once we move it out again at about mid March. I wonder if keeping it covered while indoors would cut out that unneccesary and probably stressful indoor leafing cycle.

    Sorry to barge in as if this is Gardener's World, just wondering. Just ignore it if I am out of order.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. half my blog is about gardening it seems so no you aren't out of order. no I don't keep the tarp up all the time, it was just for those two nights of below freezing temps since I don't heat the garage. if we have days of below freezing weather I'll put a little electric heater on low out there with the tarp, not under it but at an opening. plumerias are tropical and even down here, they go dormant in the winter, even when they were small enough to bring in the house, from lack of light and heat. I have a few I plant in the ground because they are too big and heavy to move around in pots and I just dig them up, knock the dirt off the roots, and bring them in. a friend of mine plants all hers in the ground and then digs them up for the winter, no pots. they lose all their foliage but come out again in the spring when I move them back outdoors. I'm surprised yours grow new leaves in the house after they have dropped the old ones. mine don't/didn't, but then I don't water them either, just let them go dormant.

      Delete

I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.