Better Nests and Gardens

Better Nests and (Beaten) Gardens: May Edition

Last week while I was wandering the yard looking for my reading glasses- you know, the ones I put in a "safe place" so I wouldn't lose them- I spotted this beauty hanging from the shed.

Of course I had to bring it in to take its picture. Fortunately all the babies had flown the coop already.

It's a paper wasp nest and the "leaves" around the edges are truly like a very fine paper. Very delicate yet it held up nicely to being knocked down with a board (it was over my head, what can I say?) and brought inside. 

How can something that has a brain the size of a pinhead make this? Isn't nature amazing?

One nest got me thinking about another so I took some pics of this beauty, too.  Found it on a walk.
I think it is a hummingbird nest. Tiny and perfect.

Again, how does something with such a teeny tiny brain know how to makes something this exquisite?   A perfect little house.

And in the garden arena....well, it's not good.

Monday we woke AGAIN to snow/slush/hail. That fun was followed by a full day of rain. The cilantro and tomatoes on the back deck were swimming when I got home. Really. The back stroke, I think.  (The basil succumbed to the freeze. I have a basil stalk with no leaves. Does not bode well for pesto...)

I do have a few blooming flowers that survived the trauma. The potatoes have sent a couple of sprouts up.


The tulips....

...Which are blown but still lovely.  Hey! Is that a bee peeking out up above?

They are/were double tulips. So luscious. (And isn't "luscious" a perfect word? An ideophone. )

And this is about to do something? What is it?  I don't know. One of the bulbs from my WalMart 200 bulb pack.  Related to agapanthus or garlic?

Maybe someone can identify it and its friends next week when it blooms fully.

And no, I never found my glasses. They are somewhere in the 2 acres surrounding the cabin.
They will turn up. Eventually.


(For the edition of Better Hovels and Cabins, click here.)

Flowers in the House on a Monday

Flowers in the House....May Edition


Good Monday morning!

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.

I spent mine in Denver with my wonderful friend, Diana, who is back from China finally.
We ate at a great little Mexican food restaurant on Friday night (North County in Lowry) and she had a tiny dinner party on Saturday night.   I am loving home entertaining more and more...little dinners here and there. Not big production dinners but tiny dinners with a few friends. We watched the running of the Kentucky Derby while drinking Mojitos which are really Mint Juleps sans the bourbon and silver tumblers.

On the way back to the cabin on Sunday I stopped at a couple of the big box home stores and bought flowers. Hoping I got some deer resistant ones! We shall see.   Also picked up tomatoes and herbs. Between the tomatoes that are going on the deck and the potatoes in the garden, I should be able to satisfy the requirements of No. 39: Grow a Vegetable from Scratch.


So later this weekend I will have an outdoor garden update but for today, I snipped a few flowers and plopped them on the kitchen table. I'm linking up with Jane at Small but Charming for Flowers in the House, her first Monday of the month celebration of flowers, so you can visit her page and see all kinds of glorious flowers.

Enjoy:

That bunny is left over from Easter- I  figure he works just fine for Spring.

Hey look! There are flowers hanging outside the window, too!

Lantana, Grape Hyacinth, Mexican Heather and Daffs...

all from my garden.

(Or soon to be from my garden once they are planted.)

Check out the other Springtime flowers over at Small but Charming.

And check back with me later in the week for a garden update and a visit with my neighbors. 

Things...

Things I Am Thankful For 
and That Make Me Happy...


First off, Tuesday and Thursday postings seem to have shifted.  Now they are coming up on Wednesdays and Fridays more and more so you know what? We are just going to roll with that. Expect me on Wednesdays and Fridays now.  Flexibility is important, at any age.


Many things recently that I have been thankful for, grateful for or have just made me happy.
In no particular order:

Disney World:
Over Spring Break Bunny stayed with Belle and they drove to Disney World for a few days.

Love the Runaway Train.

Their second morning they were in a restaurant before heading to the parks. As they seated themselves, they realized someone had left a bag at the table. They told an employee, sat with the bag and waited to see if someone would return for it. Eventually the owner came for the bag.

The Disney restaurant employee then came to their table and asked if they had Fast Passes. They assured him they did and he said "Well, then you can use these." and handed them V.I.P. Fast Passes which allowed them into any ride without waiting, with no time restrictions and no rides excluded.   They were nice girls, did the right thing and were rewarded. So many times good deeds go unnoticed. It made their day and also made their day more fun. (Does that make sense? It made them happy and made them have even more fun than they would have in the first place. If that's possible at the Happiest Place on Earth!)

And a special bit of thankfulness goes to my brother who fronted us the airline points to get Miss Bunny off to Florida and me to visit with the parents.

Friends:
The girls had so much fun over Spring Break that Belle was worn out and finally got sick. Very sick.
Two Urgent Care visits, one regular doctor and one specialist sick. Ten days sick.  Belle is probably my hardiest child. She never runs a fever. She seldom gets sick at all.  And she was 2000 miles away.

So I am grateful for the friends who emailed me every morning while I was totally fretting about my baby. "How's she doing this morning?" "Is there anything I can  do?" "What did the doctor say?"

I am grateful for the friend who called and said "I checked flights for you in case you need to go there."  

I am very grateful for the friend (the former airline employee who can fly discounted standby) who sent me these messages:

Seriously. She was volunteering to fly to Florida (from Texas) to check on my Belle or fly to Colorado and stay with Bunny so I could go to Florida. Right before Easter.  Amazing.

Strangers:
Bunny works as a waitress. She's the only waitress at her restaurant which usually isn't a problem, but sometimes it is. The place is big and can get busy, although usually it doesn't on the weeknights that she is there.

Last Thursday, it got busy. She seated six large tables and then one lonely couple came in.  Bunny knew that the big tables wouldn't notice if the couple's food came out first, but the couple might really get tired of waiting for six other tables to be served before they got their food.  So she moved the couple's ticket up front to be served first.

She was busy but said she managed. Finally she got a break and sat down to sort her tickets.
She noticed the couple talking to her boss and went over, concerned there was a problem. Instead she was handed this:

A $100 tip on a $19.40 tab. And the nicest note ever. She said she cried. The couple cried. The money was great but truly I think she was overwhelmed by the note.  So a very big thank you to kind strangers.

Spring:
I've hated to say it before now, but I think Spring is really here. Things are greening up although not quite blooming yet. But the tulips and daffodils are sending up shoots.

Bunny went to school in shorts today.
When I go out this afternoon, I will be wearing flip flops. Because I can!

Carlos is grateful, too. He's been spending a lot of time on the decks, basking in the sun. I've been out there with him quite a bit, myself. It's lovely.

Watching for squirrels in the sun.

And with Spring comes flowers, although as I said, not in my yard yet.
But these are on my table:

The entire house smells divine because of these beauties.

Delivered by this nice young man:

Bunny's friend brought flowers for me and a bunny for Bunny when he showed up, spiffily dressed I might add, on Easter morning for breakfast.
Let me throw in that I am also very grateful for well raised young men, period.

Work:
Work is dignity and freedom and (a tiny bit of) money. It's also mind blowingly entertaining!
I love my regulars. They light up my life. Honest.
I love the weirdos who were out in full force yesterday. "Yea, I'm 53. Just sold my old Chevy truck for this Ford Fusion. Want to see the engine?"  Seriously? Do I LOOK like I want to see the engine of your car? Then he told me about all of the isolated places he used to live, off the grid, in the back country. (Probably the same places that the bodies of the unsuspecting souls who DID look at his engine are buried.)
I love reporting to my daughters, who both work for tips, exactly how much I make each day. Fortunately I am paid a decent wage and am NOT working for tips.
Yesterday I got $1.56 in tips.
It gives them a good laugh.


So there you have it.
What has been making your day recently?

No. 33: Send flowers to a friend that needs them

No. 33: Send flowers to a friend that needs them....


Well, this seemed like an easy one.

But then I realized, EVERYONE needs flowers. Seriously.

Flowers get sent for funerals and births and ailments and weddings.

They get sent for birthdays and new houses and anniversaries.

So those are the expected reasons to send flowers.

The unexpected?

For a divorce.  Because it's been a bad day. Someone is feeling overwhelmed?

Lots of reasons to send flowers so to figure out who to send flowers to just because they "needed" them. Well, that wasn't so clear cut.

But last week I was in Texas and I made the most of it.

I started off with dinner at a friend's new apartment.  Recently separated, new high rise apartment and she was fixing me dinner.   Sounds to me like she deserved flowers if not needed them.

So a quick stop at Whole Foods Market and an orchid accompanied me to my dinner.

A little orchid.

The perfect flower. 

No care required. 

My mom had a heart valve replacement which was the reason for my Texas trip.  Amazing what doctors can do now through laparoscopy. Surgery was on Monday, she came home on Thursday. Seriously she did not look or act like she had been operated on in the last month, much less the last week. 

Did she need flowers?  Probably not.  But she certainly deserved them.  And I know she and my dad both love having flowers in the house.   So I picked up some flowers for my dad to give her.

Grocery store flowers.

Beautiful.

And finally on Wednesday night I went to my Bunko group.

The hostess definitely needed flowers. And deserved them.

So I sent them.

Proflowers arrangement. 

Looked a bit better online 

than in person, unfortunately.

But they were still nice.

And I think they were really appreciated. 

Which was the whole point. 

No. 33 is done. 

Follow Up Friday

Follow Up Friday:  odds and ends

Well, goodness.
Thursday just slipped my mind. Obviously there was no post yesterday.

No excuses beyond my allergies have been horrendous and too many antihistamines will make anyone loopy.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Soooo.

It's been lovely and cool here in Colorado.

Lots of rain.

My Twin Sisters after the rain-

hiding their heads in the clouds.

My garden is happy with volunteer sunflowers. Only two plants survived out of all of the ones I planted last October. Lesson learned. One week of scorching weather with no one here to water and it doesn't matter what you plant.  And inches of rain after a week of dry makes no difference. Those dead plants will not come back to life.

Lots of sunflowers that I didn't plant. 

And not much else.

So hopefully my head will clear and I will be back to my regular schedule next week.

This weekend is the Wine Festival. (If I can't clear my head I might as well enjoy it being fuzzy, no?)

Next weekend is my FORTIETH (how can that be?) High School reunion.
I confess. I graduated when I was only 8 years old.
Again. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Forty years ago.

What you can't see is the white plaster cast running from my toes to the top of my thigh-

well hidden under that gold gown.

Tuesday Meanderings

Tuesday Meanderings….
a.k.a. No projects this week, just some odds and ends.


No real post today because…
Lots of reasons.


Belle was sick last week.
She hasn't been to a doctor here in Colorado so last minute efforts to get her in to see a doctor locally were futile. I was directed to the ER or Urgent Care.
I knew she had a bad infection and didn't want to wait, so I checked for the closest Urgent Care office with my insurance company. Turns out that would be TWO HOURS away in the Springs. Good thing we weren't feeling that urgent.
The ER seemed like over-kill, and Belle is always up for a trip to the Springs for Chick-Fil-A, so off we went. Left the house at 11:30am and were back home with meds by 6:00pm.

The next evening was one of those that starts with a phone call and ends with a nice police officer and   the exchange of insurance information. Bunny learned that throwing water balloons at people with short tempers does not end well. Even if it was an accident. (The water balloon was meant for another car.) She was followed and then hit. A new bumper for her car is in order. Thankfully no one was hurt and she was not at fault.

Pobre coche.

There was prom for  Belle which required another trip to the Springs for hair and make-up. And more Chick-Fil-A.   I spent an inordinate amount of time sewing in underpinnings, adjusting hooks and eyes and re-attaching beads and sequins to her dress before she could get out the door.
I think everyone would agree that the results were worth the effort.

Belle-Senior Prom 2014

Then today, the sun was shining, the flowers were blooming, the deer were leaping about ….
and then it started to snow.  Really???
It snowed off and on but never really stuck.
Still.
It's almost May.

And…I got in my car this afternoon and the tire pressure light was glowing red.   Closer inspection revealed a very large nail in my back tire.
Can't I please just have all cars working at once with NO problems?? Please?
(Click here, here, and here to read about some of my other car problems. It will make you feel better about your life, I promise.)

So in the morning I will be bonding again with AAA.  O joy.

And since this really isn't a post-more like a list of my catastrophe of a life- I will leave you with this.
Carlos.
Watching a video of puppies.
Can we say ADORABLE????

                              

As always, if you can't see the video, click here.

Isn't he cute???


O! And a reminder that if you want to enter to win a blanket
from my new venture- Cherry Creek Co.-
click here.

A Tuesday afternoon update. 

In the midst of waiting almost 4 hours for AAA to show up, I get a call from Belle. She pulled into the school parking lot and the Hummer died. In the middle of the parking lot. Not in a space. Probably blocking other people. She sounded almost in tears although I give her credit for hitting that OnStar button even before she called me. Boys from her class came out and pushed the car into a space and out of the way. OnStar sent a tow truck. We are waiting for a diagnosis. 

And this is what came out of my tire:

The staple, not the dime, was pulled out of my tire. 

I'm thinking of moving to Mackinac Island. No cars allowed there. 

Follow Up Friday

Follow Up Friday:  A Couple of Things


First, yesterday was the launch of No.10: Start a Business.  Yay!

Every blanket gets this little card attached.

To celebrate the launch of the new blanket and quilt business, Cherry Creek Co., there will be not one but TWO give-aways. Two  of my nieces (they're twins!) are each having give-aways on their blogs starting today.

Go visit Amanda at Meet The Joiners  and Allison at The Blogivers  for a chance to win your choice of blanket.

And to get a look at the blankets, visit the Etsy store:

www.Etsy.com/shop/CherryCreekCo

A selection of blankets blowing in the breeze.

And second, a garden update.  Things are blooming! 

Just barely, but I thought I would share.

First up are the daffodils. I took this Thursday morning and by Thursday night

there were three daffs open. I love their little faces. 

 There are some volunteer grape hyacinths.

This is the first of the tulips to open. 

But there are LOTS more to come.

And I'm not sure what this little flower is. Is it part of that vine? 

I wasn't aware that vine would bloom.

But I also have never been at the cabin in April or May, so who knows!?

 These are three little Sugar Pea plants.  

I got the feeling that my indoor seeds (No. 39:Grow a vegetable) just weren't going 

to do much. In fact, they look exactly like they did last month…

So I hedged my bets and planted some peas outside.

So far so good. At least they have sprouted.

 And this has me scratching my head. It's a hole, slightly caved in.

I have a feeling it connects to...

 ...this hole. Entrance? Exit? 

I'm just not familiar with things that dig holes in gardens.

We have had some beautiful 60º weather with lots of sunshine. Could Spring be here for real?

Crossing my fingers.

Happy weekend!