New Glass!

My Aunt Carol has been on a clean and purge streak and boy, did I win.  Do I want the cactus glasses that were my Great-Uncle Tom's?  Yep.  Do I want the cocktail glasses that were my grandmother's?  Yes ma'am.

Uncle Tom's cactus glasses. There were 12, but I've learned that they don't stack well, so now there are 10.

Grandma's cocktail glasses, which would be even more amazing if I had put them against something white, so you could see the fabulous color.

They have these pretty roses etched on them.

And this is fabulous.  It has a glass stir stick and I love the shape.  Plus, the cups stack.

And now I must purchase something to contain all this glassware.

The most wonderful time of the year.

There's a Christmas song that purports that Christmas time is the most wonderful time of the year.  I enjoy Christmas, but that holiday is a lot of work.  MY favorite time of the year is when my tax return comes.

I ignore all the financial advice in books and have the government withhold more than they should to ensure I get a good refund.  I know that I could do a savings program of my own, but quite frankly, interest rates are pretty much non-existent so it's not like I'm losing much interest.  And it's just more fun to get a huge chunk of cash at once.  I use it to put aside money for Christmas and the meat purchase and I buy big-ticket things I've been needing which usually means a pair of shoes.  And then I buy big-ticket things I've been wanting.  This year: Knife sharpening kit.
 

Also:  potato ricer.  In this case I riced the last of the potatoes I grew into mashed potatoes for Easter dinner.  The cookies were the Easter Bunny treats for everyone.
 

New plan for old comforter

Readers with long memories and ample room in the brains for the smallest detail of my exciting life will recall that I bought the blue duvet cover to put on the much loved, though wearing out Holly Hobbie comforter from my childhood. Well, as time went on, it became more apparent that the full-sized duvet cover was too much duvet cover for my not-really-full-sized Holly Hobbie comforter. But I had paid all this money--actually spent a gift card, so not really-- and I didn't want the blue duvet cover to go to waste, so what to do?

Eventually, the solution came to me. For years I've had a full-sized duvet that I never got around to buying a cover for. In fact, said naked duvet has been on my bed all along. Eventually, I had the "Eurika!" moment wherein I realized I could put the blue, full-sized duvet cover on the naked full-sized duvet! Then, I would be free to buy a (much cheaper) twin sized duvet cover for Holly Hobbie and continue on with my placid life.

All of this came to pass, as you can see: naked duvet, covered, Holly Hobbie ensconced in a new solid square print twin-sized duvet cover, which fits much better.

Phew!

Bedding

I prefer a cold bedroom and many covers rather than a warm bedroom and few covers. I prefer either of the above rather than a cold bedroom and few covers. Washing my sheets today, I liked how the different colors of my many covers lay together on the bed.

Fabulous!

I've been watching this work in progress for about six months now and I just have to remark about how very cool it is. First of all, growing things in the front yard is super cool. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
Secondly, though I myself have decided that raised beds are not for me, I love how contained this front yard garden is. I think that is the key to success with front yard gardens: make them very aesthetically pleasing. Either that or have a full-on permaculture garden, but avoid that midpoint where things are kind of weedy and unkempt.
Hiding behind that cloche is a lot of kale and collards. I'm a bit jealous.
And look! Soon an espalier fruit tree will grow along the front of the house. I want to espalier fruit trees in my backyard.
And here is that empty lot around the corner from me. It's still waiting for me to plant a huge garden there. If only the generous owners would realize what a better owner I would be and give me the deed...

Garden Bed

I was intrigued by these planters, which are outside the Portland Village School. I was wondering if I could do something like this for the herb bed I was planning to build out front.

Nice joining.
But this is the cool part. They seem to have been fastened with a metal rod of some sort.
The rod goes all the way to the bottom.
Very nicely done, but I concluded that they were beyond my carpenter capabilities at this point.

The only time I like flowering plum trees...

...is right now in the spring when they are blooming. The rest of the time I find them to be an "eh" tree. Sadly, there is one right in front of the house. I think it clashes with the paint job and dream of it taking sick and having to be removed. I could then replace it with a more color appropriate choice. I'm so superficial.

Porch conundrum.

We have this great front porch that we have yet to embrace. One problem is that there is so much to do in every other region of the house, there hasn't been time to find a way to embrace the porch area. But also, it's so public. It's really close to the sidewalk, which is a moderately traveled sidewalk. Kelly and I ate dinner out there, and one guy stopped to talk to us. Which is nice, but also kind of weird, if you don't really want to chat. Plus, with it bare like it is right now, it isn't really marked as ours either. The other night, Matt looked outside and people were sitting on our porch. When he stuck his head out the door, their excuse was, "Oh, sorry, we thought this was a business." He asked them to sit somewhere else.



A few weeks ago, I had a vision of what would help. My idea is to install a 12-inch planter across the whole front of the porch on the inside where those potted plants sit now. Then, attach a fairly open, yet tall lattice to the back. Runner peas and beans could be planted in the planter box and grow up to form a bit of a shield between the public and the private.


When I was on a walk, I saw that someone had already created something like I wanted.

I'm thinking less box and more lattice, and longer, of course, but this is exactly what I have in mind. Perhaps a winter project this will be. :-)