Tuesday, August 10, 2021

starting the finish work, a garden disappointment, and a garden surprise


Yesterday I started the finish work on the drowned feather piece. My intention was to use the upright grinder to even out and smooth the edges first but after I got the water hooked up and turned on the valve  between the hose and the wire mesh hose that attaches to the hood over the diamond grinding wheel and squirts water on the grinding wheel to keep the glass from overheating and the glass dust out of the air, water started spewing out from the valve. Upon inspection, the hose bib/valve has a big split in it, apparently another casualty of the deep freeze. Well, that's just great. Unhooked everything and so far Marc hasn't been able to get the damn thing off. 

the valve is the hose bib in the picture, the outside hose attaches to the hose bib with a converter piece that's already been removed

So instead of doing that, I started on the surface with the medium polishing point using the Foredom. 



I've made the first pass over all the rocks. And now I need to go to the plumbing supply and get all new parts so I can hook the water up to my grinder.

Sunday I worked on the drawing some and I'm starting to get it down on paper, made a little mockup of the size and shape of the glass out of foam core and slid it into the stand to see how the shape and proportion worked and I was happy enough with that.


Then I vacuumed the bedroom and swept the in house work room.

And I worked on the drawing more yesterday afternoon, one more element to add in.

This has been a weird year in the garden...a very early heat wave, the deep freeze, and then rain, rain, rain. You might remember I planted 6 morning glory seeds early spring and they grew very sluggishly for months. Well, about a month ago they really took off and here's what the vines looks like now and I have not gotten one single flower. Not one! And here it is August.



And really, nothing is doing well. The orange cosmos aren't even blooming except for a scarce few. Also, I've noticed several shrubs that have dying branches on them. One good surprise though. I had reported the few things that didn't come back after the deep freeze one of them being the star of india gardenia tree/shrub. It had been in a big pot which I didn't empty til May and all the roots inside were mush. Well, apparently it had sent roots into the ground through the bottom of the pot which I did not realize and I noticed a few days ago that it had come back in the same place the pot had been. It's about a foot tall now.



 

13 comments:

  1. Progress, progress, one step at a time. Lovely that the gardenia stuck roots down as it did and has come back. Sweet!!

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  2. Ah the resilience of plants and flowers. A good reminder.
    Love that artwork you're working on. It really is so beautiful.

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  3. I love that when we are fussing and fretting, nature is going on about its business of life. Hurray for your star of India!
    I feel quite invested in your feather piece. It grows ever more beautiful.

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  4. The black, white and grey and everything about your drowned feather piece are so beautiful. Maybe I will make a black, white and grey mandala sometime.

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  5. It's odd -- some of our neighborhood oleanders are just coming back now, but they're coming back with a vengeance. They probably won't bloom this year, but at least they're thick and growing. On the other hand, I've already spotted some autumn liatris and seaside goldenrod in bloom, and the beautyberries have nicely formed fruit. It's hotter than you know what, but botanical autumn is on the way.

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  6. Your feather/stone project is just beautiful!

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  7. Your drowned feather is coming along just fine. It's been a while.

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  8. Oh very cool about the gardenia! I'm sorry you haven't had any morning glory blooms. Hopefully they'll show up later (or next year).

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  9. What a delightful foray through your art and garden.

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  10. I really like your artwork with the stones and feather, that's awesome!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Lon. Welcome to my blog. sometimes it's about my art, sometimes about my garden, sometimes I rant about stuff.

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  11. Well, that's a drag about the hose, but how cool that the gardenia survived! Plants are born survivors, really. It's ingenious how they manage to hang in there.

    The feather piece is looking good!

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  12. Morning glories are finally off to a good flowering start, took ages, but the orange cosmos is equally miserable here.

    I hope you get your hose issues fixed. I want to see how you use that gadget.

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