long day, little rainbows, winter/spring, and food

I was gone basically all day Thursday, leaving in the morning to get to SHARE by 9 AM, returned home by 1:15 with just enough time to scarf down a sandwich and head to my appointment for my annual physical at 3 PM. I really like my primary care doc which is why when the Memorial Hermann clinic closed offices here and moved to Sugar Land, I followed her there. In the past it has taken 40 – 45 minutes to get to the office because of highway construction and traffic and then maybe another 10 minutes or so to troll around the parking lot until I find a parking spot, usually the furthest away possible, walk to the building to arrive 30 minutes ahead of the appointment which they request. So I left at 1:30 for my 3 o'clock appointment. All the road construction has been completed and traffic was light and I made it there in half an hour and as soon as I pulled into the parking lot, a car pulled out of the first row right in front of the entrance and I slid right in. Great, now I'm an hour early for my appointment. So I sat in the car and read for half an hour before going in. Had already had my blood work done and everything was good, cholesterol a little high but not so much that she recommended medication, which I wouldn't take anyway. Too many problems associated with statins to suit me. I do have to schedule a boob squishing and a bone density test to keep an eye on the osteoporosis which I also refuse to take the medication for. Got home about 4:15 and then left again a little before 5 for yoga class and back home by 6:30.

The wind blew in another cold front Thursday giving us low humidity and a clear blue sky yesterday and today. This is the time of year when the rising sun isn't hidden by the leaves on the tree out my window and shines through the crystal faceted ball hanging there and throws prisms on the ceiling and walls.

Dipped down to 35˚ last night and then gets warm again. The next two weeks will be highs in the 60s and 70s. If it weren't for the arctic freeze before christmas we really wouldn't be having much of a winter. I finally got out there yesterday and cut the banana trees to the ground, the ones here at the house. Cut them up into manageable sized sections, used the garden cart to tote the mess to the edge of the wild space and tossed it all in as far as I could throw it, at least six cart loads and I'm glad to have that chore done.

Coming back across the yard I happened to look down and six 10 petal anemone flowers had opened up. These little wildflowers, about an inch in diameter, are always the first to bloom besides dandelions but they still surprised me. It seems early even for them.

Earlier yesterday I heard a loud thump and assumed a bird hit the glass in the door but I didn't get up to investigate. When I did finally look up I couldn't see the bird feeder and turns out the pole on which it sits had keeled over and all the bird seed had spilled out. This pole doesn't have a prong at the bottom for stability, just a pointed end you pound into the ground. Granted it was a little wobbly so I'm not really surprised it fell over. I have seen no squirrels so I don't know what caused it to keel over. Maybe the white wings doves that kept landing on the top. Anyway, I pounded the bottom section into the ground deeper and it seems pretty stable now. It was mobbed all day with cardinals, chickadees, sparrows, goldfinches, doves, et al and they did not let the spilled seed on the ground go to waste either.

Once again, my turn to fix dinner last night. I had a sort of meat pie/pastie planned. They're always a little different. This one had shredded leftover roast, onion, a leftover leek, celery, garlic, and potato.

Another trip in the Way Back machine, this one from 2010 about insects.  It's a little different as it turns out most my January posts around this time of the month are about how cold it is and how I'm over winter or what full size drawings I'm trying to get done for whatever carved glass job or molds I was filling.

 

good news, a surprise purchase, and it's cold out baby

the toad lilies are blooming

I woke this morning, Sunday, to the news that the democrats held the Senate (50/49) with the Georgia seat still to be determined by a runoff so it's possible/probable (surely Warnock will keep his seat) democrats will have a 51/49 majority but even if he loses democrats will still retain the status quo. With 20 races still pending for the House, it's possible democrats can retain the majority but right now it's 204/211 favoring republicans. Either party needs 218 for control. If republicans do get control of the House, hopefully it will be a very slim margin, one that can possibly be overcome by bipartisanship with a few moderate republicans (if there are any of those). At worst, or best, if they do get a majority and start all those ridiculous investigations and impeachments they boasted about, they'll show the nation that they not only have no intention of governing but don't even know how to govern. If they shut down the J6 committee, the justice department should already have enough evidence and will continue their own investigations and indictments will still be forthcoming.

Friday was in the 80s and then a storm and front came through. When I woke up Saturday morning, it was in the mid 40s. At 1 PM it was 58 and windy but sunny. If you could be in the sun and out of the wind it was rather nice out. Hard to get out of the wind though. Friday night was supposed to get down to the mid 30s (it did). I have not moved a single plumeria or other tropical plant inside. This coming week lows will be in the 30s and 40s and then it will warm up some. So they may just have to sink or swim this week. I'm a little concerned about the nights in the 30s but I'm totally not prepared to bring everything in. (Haven't been out yet but looking out the windows on Sunday morning everything looks OK.)

I did something Friday that I never thought I would do as someone who thinks physical labor is a healthy activity. I always rake and sweep leaves out of the garage, the barn, and the concrete apron in front of the garage. Rake them into piles and then spread them out in areas of the yard where grass doesn't grow and then we had the deck built. Somehow when we did that it never occurred to me that I just added one more thing I would have to sweep leaves off of, being under a yew tree with an oak tree, small fringe flower tree and a crepe myrtle nearby. So Friday I bought a lightweight battery powered leaf blower suitable for those areas. 

It came Saturday, not powerful enough for the yard but I never rake leaves out of the yard anyway. They provide cover for insects to winter over and eventually get mulched down when Marc mows. If it wasn't for the rain yesterday afternoon and the wind I'd have been out there trying it out as soon as the batteries charged.

I have given up on the squirrel foiling hood, not so much because at least one squirrel overcame it but because I don't seem to be attracting any birds. No cardinals, chickadees, titmice of which there should be a steady stream this time of year hoarding nuts and seeds for the winter. No sparrows or wrens in evidence nor the little warblers that usually winter over here. Blue jays which I have never seen at a feeder and white wing doves are the only birds I'm seeing. So since it's been a hard year for the squirrels especially this fall with no pecans and no acorns I guess from the long very hot summer and no rain, I might as well let the squirrels have the sunflower seeds in my bird feeder so I put it back on the shepherd's crook. 

This is the third year in a row I haven't gotten a single pecan and no one else in my neighborhood is getting any this year either, perhaps even the whole area, not even the big native down the road that always always gives a profuse crop.

It's been a full week since I last worked on the old garden spot clearing out the vines. Today would be a good day except that I have plans to spend it with grandgirl Robin so I guess I'll get back out there tomorrow.

 

lost days are over, time to get back at it

I've been very lazy about my daily routine for the last two weeks (probably closer to 3 if I'm being completely honest). So easy to dilly dally reading blogs or writing or surfing the 'net until I've run out of time. I do have a schedule, loose as it is. Yoga at 8:30 or 8:40, coffee at 9, breakfast at 10. Have to do my yoga routine before I eat and too often I look up and it's 9 o'clock. Oh well, too late now (yes I know there's a whole hour between 9 and 10 but that's devoted to coffee). So tonight was the first yoga class since the Monday before Christmas. O. M. G. Even the easy stuff was hard. Well maybe not hard but required more effort than usual. I fully expect to be sore tomorrow (surprisingly I wasn't).

It's so easy to fall into the lost days (basically the last two weeks of the year), doing nothing, being lazy. Takes a little effort to extract myself, start tending to things that need tending, get my butt off the couch, out from under the blanket because now winter is finally upon us...cold, warm, cold, warm, cold, warm...that's how it goes for the next two months. Monday it was in the 40˚s, today, Wednesday, it got up to 76˚. I had yet to make it over to the shop. Stretched out the holiday weekend thru Monday because it was cold. Tuesday it warmed up and was actually really nice out. Still didn't make it over to the shop but I did do my yoga (yay me!) and finally put the shower caddy up in the bathroom and did the weekly grocery shopping and took the dog for a long walk and sorted the accumulated recycling into the boxes in the garage and dumped the kitchen waste on the compost pile and cut back the freeze damaged pink and white butterfly ginger and fixed dinner. Speaking of freeze damaged plants, the big angel trumpet lost all its foliage and developing flowers but the branches still seem firm but I probably lost the porterweed as I forgot to cover it again for the third night. I had uncovered it to see how it was doing after the night in the 20˚s.

I did get over to the shop today and started doing the finish work on the luna moth. I'm not that happy with it but Marc will tell you I say that about every piece and he's probably mostly right. I tend to be very critical of my own work. Besides the major flaw, it didn't cast that well. The edges of everything are choppy and uneven. I'm not sure why. And I needed more color in the moth and maybe less in the background. Good news is it fits perfectly in the stand.

So end of day routine, close up the shop, walk the dog, get ready for yoga. We had eight people show up tonight which is unusual for a Wednesday. Monday usually has a bigger turnout but it is January and new year's resolutions and all to get in shape and work off that holiday food. By March that will have all fallen by the wayside.

Another prism of light cast by the morning sun.

first freeze and year end stuff

You can see from my last post Friday, the last day of the year, we were wearing t-shirts and shorts; same Saturday, first day of the new year. I know it hit 80˚, maybe even a little warmer. This was happening in the yard...bluebonnets, 10 petal anemones, and woodland lilies already starting to bloom way too early.

And then 12 hours later it had dropped at least 50˚ because when I got up at 8:30 Sunday morning it was 32˚. I managed to get everything in the house or garage except for a pot of bromeliads which I overlooked and the big yellow angel trumpet in the pot which has two open flowers on it. It didn't seem damaged after it warmed up. We did get the big heavy pot with the cereus in the garage. We managed to lift it the 6” or so off the cinder blocks it was sitting on and onto the garden cart and then again slide it onto cinder blocks with a 3” thick concrete block on top. You can see how monsterous it is.

I cut back the porter weed and covered it. Cut the long blooming stalks off the begonia 

and brought it and the pink angel trumpet in. Got the last plumeria out of the ground and moved both it and the bird of paradise into the garage, brought in the two staghorn ferns.

All this after our usual New Year's Day brunch with mimosas on Saturday and then a nap to sleep off the champagne.

Sunday the sky cleared up and it wouldn't have been so bad out there in the low 40˚s except for the constant 30 mph wind with gusts up to 38 mph. The cardinals were all puffed up to keep warm and they and the chickadees and titmice were busy emptying the bird feeder. I did manage to get the giant tarp up and around the plants in the garage but that's about all. Spent the lion's share of the day on the couch reading after I made crepes for breakfast. I had plans to go over to my daughter's house to see the baby now that the kids are back from Arkansas but I just didn't want to go out in the weather. My feet had finally gotten warm. Or numb. Hard to tell which.

Last night though, it got even colder for longer, a crust of ice on the birdbath when I got up. The big yellow angel trumpet is looking pretty droopy today but I won't know how damaged it is until tomorrow probably.

Now that all the holidays are done, the lost days behind us, the deck built, I'll get back over to the shop this week and do the finish work on the luna moth piece and make another try at photographing the angel trumpet pieces. I also got more of the flex seal paste, only this time in a tube for use in a caulk gun, to make another stab at stopping the roof from leaking in that one spot in the studio.

I've been seeing a lot of good riddance to 2021 posts, that it wasn't a great year but as I mentioned before it was far better than the previous four. Biden has managed to get several important pieces of legislation passed with obstruction not only from the Republicans, even though a majority of the republican electorate is in favor of Biden's policies, but from a few in his own party. He has made headway in undoing so much of the damage that Trump did. The economy is doing well with a high growth rate and lowest unemployment in decades even if poverty wage employers are having a hard time getting workers. The January 6^th commission was established and is making headway, participants have been arrested and are being tried and convicted, maybe not the big dogs yet but evidence is piling up. We got vaccines for covid and just recently, for the first time, an actual treatment for covid. And even though two new variants popped up, it's looking like maybe covid is transitioning from pandemic to endemic, like the flu, which may not be preferable but manageable. It wasn't all good of course. The Republican party or rather now the Party of Trump has passed all sorts of voter suppression laws, worse gerrymandering in states they control, even getting rid of republicans who won't subvert an election they lose. They have not stopped trying to undermine our democracy or the rule of law in order to take over this country and it's essential that they don't get control of even one house of congress after the midterm elections.

For me, it was a pretty good year. I finally got back in the studio after a year and a half, finished a piece that had been lingering and started new work. There's a new baby in the family and a college graduate, and a new deck to enjoy when the weather warms up again. I'm healthy and active, I'm not homeless or in fear of losing my home or hungry, everyone in my immediate family is well and I'm grateful for those things.

So here we go, onward through another year.

the state of preparations, the state of the yard, the state of the union

Plodding along with the preparations, what gets done, gets done. What doesn't, doesn't. As long as the heron box is finished and the feathers mounted in their frames, everything else is extra. I do wish I had been a little more focused on getting the planned lizard with lichen (on the log I posted about making the reproduction mold for earlier here) with the lichen made from the modeling glass and the lizard and log cast but I wasn't so, a project for next year. This has probably been one of my least productive years. The last two days I've been making more snowflake ornaments but I ran out of the liquid medium (more on the way) and now am trying to fill the rest of the kiln shelf with stuff I can make from what I already have mixed up and still I have no idea what to do with any of it once it's all fired, like the pansies. Saturday I made 3 pansy leaves but one I squished back up. Maybe I'll do a butterfly or make another pansy.

It's a gorgeous day yesterday as was the day before and today is shaping up to be as well. The gingko trees finally turned yellow but not before already losing many of their leaves and in just two days (seems like although the trees have been steadily raining down leaves for weeks), the tallows and the pecans have become bare.

     

The picture of the gingko on the left was taken at 3 PM, the picture on the right two hours later with the lowering sun illuminating it.

My pecans trees are still holding onto some of their leaves but they've dropped enough to carpet the ground making picking up the nuts impossible, impossible to see them. No worries though as I think 99.9% of them have already fallen and I am weary of picking them up anyway. I'm going to take one more small bucket to be cracked even though I'm sure I have more than enough shelled and then Tuesday, I'm selling the rest.

Wandering out in the yard I've noticed the early spring bloomers are already starting to sprout...the woodland petal pinks are shooting up like giant blades of grass; the baby blue eyes, the rocket larkspur, the love-in-a-mist all sprouted and starting to put out their first true leaves; the bluebonnets spreading out, the sweet little yellow oxalis is blooming.

Later (yesterday)...I just closed up the shop for the day getting less accomplished than I wanted or think I can. As usual. May be done with the cold work on the heron box, just have to wash it and check a couple of things before I start putting it all together. The shadowbox frames are painted but I'm still indecisive on the color for the backboards for the feathers so today I'm going to the frame shop and pick my friend Margaret's brain since she has a good eye for that sort of thing. Made zero progress today with the modeling glass but I did get out the dragonfly and bee reproduction molds. Supposedly you can press this stuff into silicone molds and it pops right out after it dries. These aren't silicone but RTV (room temperature vulcanization) rubber but I thought I'd try anyway.

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The public hearings of the impeachment investigation are over. Now they review all the testimonies given and decide if there is enough evidence to write articles of impeachment though they are still getting materials turned over to them and an important court ruling on whether or not the White House must comply with subpoenas is supposed to come down today. It's plain Trump is guilty of trying to extort Ukraine, just one of his many corrupt acts since he has been in office, even though the Republicans keep trying to deflect to the debunked conspiracy theory against the Bidens, mostly they just ranted and raved during the public hearings, and refuse to accept Trump's guilt, demeaning and accusing dedicated state department employees and a decorated veteran whose loyalty is to America and the Constitution of lying. If the House votes for impeachment it goes to the Senate for trial. It's so disheartening to know that none of this will cause the Republicans to do the right thing and protect our democracy. McConnell has already said that the Senate won't impeach even before the public hearings and many of the Republican senators have indicated that they don't care what Trump does so long as they stay in power and they are prepared to do Putin's bidding. Never forget that 8 Republican senators including Devin Nunes, Rand Paul, and John Kennedy, 3 of Trump's most vociferous supporters, spent last Fourth of July in Russia and these men are touting Putin's party line and advancing Russian propaganda. As one tweeter wrote: REPUBLICANS ARE DEFENDING RUSSIA. LET THAT SINK IN.

As bad as the last three years have been, this coming year is going to be ten times worse, 100 times worse. The Trump cult is already circulating a fake image of Schiff with Epstein and last night Rick Perry, the Energy Secretary, said on TV that Trump is the chosen one and sent by god to do great things though as I recall god destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for being filled with people like Trump.

As hopeless and discouraging as it may seem, people are still coming forward with information and remember, Republicans were adamantly behind Nixon until the very end when suddenly they weren't. There are some Republicans that are willing to go down with the ship, maybe because they refuse to see the rising water but I hope there are plenty more who will run for the lifeboats.

If all else fails, vote blue no matter who for every office up for election in 2020.

winter does not give way gracefully

I woke up yesterday morning to discover that the sidebar on my blog had mysteriously migrated to the bottom of my post. WTF Blogger? When I looked at my layout on the Dashboard, everything was in its proper place so I have no idea what was happening. Back to the blog I clicked on the 'edit' pencil, changed nothing, refreshed the page and voila, everything is back in its place.

I also woke up yesterday morning to winter, again...cold, overcast, and due to be wet with drizzle all day. Another delay in getting my raised beds ready for the spring garden. I got the small white one finished Monday and all the surface weeds and a little more than half of digging out the johnson grass in the small metal one, which is already falling apart, the 2x4s that the metal walls are nailed to having rotted away.

It was so dreary out there the dog didn't even want to go out. Me either. I had several options for indoor activity...sit on the couch under a blanket and read, sew the patch pockets on my skirt, play around with the modeling glass. I could fill the big drowned feather mold that's been sitting here since December but to do that I would have to clear off the folding table the sewing machine is set up on.

I opted for sewing on the pockets, which is now accomplished and the sewing machine and paraphernalia is put away, and then snuggled on the couch with a blanket, the dog, and book the rest of the day.

This morning was my follow-up appointment with the cardiac RNP. Episodes are down by half or more, no side effects from the meds so far, feeling good but then I never really felt bad. She didn't increase the beta blocker dose, fearing it would lower my pulse rate which was at 62. So, stick with the status quo, let my body continue to acclimate to the drugs and come back in a month, call if I get concerned. And thanks to everyone who commented about dealing with, living with afib. It helped.

It cleared up outside during my appointment and it turned into an unexpected pretty day. Coldish in the shade and wind. I got out there and worked on the raised beds, once again my last opportunity before the next three days which are supposed to be overcast and wet though not quite so cold. I got the small metal bed finished except for one corner where the fire ants moved in so  I gave them the 'treatment' and started getting the surface weeds out of the big metal bed and then it was time to walk the dog and get ready for yoga. 

I do like to dig. I like to smell the dirt, I like to crumble it through my fingers. I like the satisfaction of seeing a bed devoid of weeds ready to plant (though these aren't quite there yet).

Still being mobbed by goldfinches which I thought would have migrated through long ago. I'm having to fill the teacup and the bird feeder every other day or so. Lots of little volunteer sunflowers underneath.

I'll just close here with some spring porn...

a few warm busy days

When we bought this place, the Big Backyard had a beautiful lawn, thick healthy grass. Today, it looks more like a meadow. About three years ago the grass started dying and we made no effort to stop it, some bug or other brought back by the lawn mower from other yards or just an invader or fungus except the lawns on either side of us are fine.

It's been sunny and warm the last couple of days and the early spring wildflowers and weeds think it's spring.

   

10 petal anemone and henbit

  

yellow and pink oxylis

  

woodland violet (and the bee is why these early spring wildflowers are so important)

  

don't know what these are and I'm too lazy to look them up but the little blue flowers are tiny, about 1/8”

  

chickweed and dandelions

There's more, like the noxious sow thistle and stickyweed and plantain, fleabane which blooms later. The flood brought us a flood of wildflower and weed seeds as well as hay grass like bluestem.

And today a cardinal is singing his love song and temps are in the mid-70s and someone at yoga last night said she saw a peach tree blooming. Hold up there, Hoss, it's barely January! It will get cold again.

I finally got the peas planted Sunday 

and picked up a cart load of branches from the Big Backyard. There's a pile in the Little Backyard and the side yard has yet to be gone over. Marc went over and fired up the burn pile last week and already the back of the truck is full of fallen branches.

I drove into the city yesterday to spend the day with the twins who are both back at their parent's house. Now in their second year of college, they no longer consider it home. We went to the art supply store to get Autumn her holiday gift (she wanted art supplies instead of money, being a working girl and all...a kit with 24 acrylic paints, a canvas, and a small easel), went to lunch at a vegetarian restaurant where they had vegan cheese (the one they had available yesterday was made from coconut milk and resembled mozzarella, I wasn't impressed), 

Jade took two pictures of Autumn and I and both times I had food in my mouth. When I gave her a hard time after the first pic, she took this one.

tried to go to the Menil (a museum that houses the Menil's private art collection and yes, a museum full) but they were closed, took them to the Rothko Chapel because they had never been and everyone should go at least once (I'm still not impressed by Rothko), and then I hit the road at 3 to get through the gauntlet of Fort Bend County road construction before traffic got bad and because yoga last night.

I got more samples made and added the powder to the feather form I had made weeks ago 

before firing...

and they came out of the kiln yesterday. 

after firing...

These samples and the feather came out too shiny so we'll have to tweak the firing schedule. I'm happy enough with my first attempt at the feather but next time I'll make some changes in my color choices and application. I also determined how much this stuff shrinks (17%) which will be helpful when I'm working on a real piece. Next I'm going to mix up some of the transparent fine frit and see how that fires. I'm sort of working on a composition in my head, a real piece to see how I like this modeling glass, how it is to work with it and how I like the end result. It has a completely different look than what I'm used to getting with the pate de verre.