A lost day.

Do you ever have one of those days when your well plotted out “to do” list for the day is sabotaged first thing in the morning?

Yep, that well describes my day.  I had great plans of getting a good portion of the office cleared out (catch all room for awhile now) and then I was to paint on some custom ordered signs I have waiting for me in my studio. I started these 3 weeks ago, too many things cropping up and eating up my time. Not one thing on that list got done.

On the up side, the electrician came today and fixed our flickering light and no outlets working in the entire living room and office problem.  It did not take long and,thankfully, cost much less than I ever thought it could.  Phew!  My budget is safe.  I was never so happy to wrap up extension cords and remove them to the garage, instead of them snaking around from one side of the house to the other. 

My hibiscus is valiantly trying to bloom, the lower leaves are already turning yellow from a couple of below 50 degree nights but it is as lovely as can be.



I thought for sure some hungry deer would make their way thru my garden and chomp it down to nothing but so far they have not nibbled on it or anything else in a few weeks. 



I had given up on getting any blooms from this cosmos.  I had tossed the seeds out rather late in the season and then when it was first ready to bloom I did have some deer browsing thru the garden one night, and the nipped off all the buds. But it is one determined plant, and I am so glad it is, I had not seen a double cosmos like this before.





The nights are definitely getting cooler, I actually had a fire going this morning to break the chill in the house, just a small one.  Then the day warmed up quite nicely to 82 degrees.  I made sure to go out and enjoy a bit of garden time, not many warm days left.

The morning glories out by the chicken pen are still greeting me with fresh unique blossoms each morning.  I sure hope to glean some seeds from these to have more next year, I just love them!



Some are purple and white then they fade into a rose color while the others are speckled and striped in blue with a rosy throat.



I  made up another batch of my oven roasted tomato sauce, I photographed it and will share that post tomorrow. At least I plan on posting it tomorrow but with the way things crop up to rob me of my time it may be a couple more days.  The point is I WILL get it done for you. 

Good night all…

Fall Potting Bench (no mantle)

Hi all, I wanted to be in on the Fall Mantle party but since I have no mantle I thought I would decorate my Potting Bench.  

At first I had only a few plants but since this is my bench and I look at it I figured I would go all out.  This potting bench really is center stage and is in full view of the living room so I want a lot of color!

I started out with my painted shovel on the middle area..



My Ronde de Nice squash take the place of pumpkins, but the sign I painted on the top shelf was enough orange along with the orange geraniums.



I decided I liked the shovel down lower but that left an empty place that I thought needed a bit of filling.  The metal bucket has a Tiger’s Eye black eyed susan in it, I like that they stay shorter and I have wanted one of these for awhile now, I found one just today!

I know this photo is a bit tilted, so sorry. 



I filled the empty spot with a purple succulent type plant that a friend gave me, I am still trying to find out what it is actually called.



Here is a close up so if anybody can tell me what it is called I would really appreciate the info!

Happy Fall!
(I really am trying to get into it)

Summer is not quite done here!

Despite my last post (yes, an entire week ago), all about my finally giving in to the inevitable arrival of Fall, the weather here has been disputing that fact, much to my delight!

After a brief week or two of some rain showers and cooler temps the heat has returned, pumping up my garden for one last hurrah before the truly crisp weather descends on us.  My roses have put out a fresh batch of blooms to enjoy.

Golden Celebration English Rose



This one is Mardi Gras, love. love the bright party colors!



So my garden agrees with me in wringing every last drop of enjoyment out of the warm summer like days. 

A Shropshire Lad English Rose.



My husband and I have not had a vacation in over a year.  This past weekend we decided to have a “Staycation”, where we stayed home but did whatever we chose to do.  For me it was playing in my garden, digging up over zealous perennials and replacing them with other flowers like my English Delphiniums I started this past spring from seed.  (go here for the post on that). 

Peppermint Splash climbing rose


My husband enjoyed splitting and stacking our firewood for the winter season.  To many that may not sound like a vacation but we both have things we find relaxing that others may consider work.  In the evenings I would read frivolous novels and he would watch his action/adventure movies on our humongous t.v. (my anniversary gift to him last year) with the surround sound blaring. 

Black eyed susans, many have faded and gone to seed for this season yet there are plenty late bloomers to enjoy.



Then Monday it was back to work.  I went and cleaned some vacation condos and homes in Bear Valley.  I really like doing that, I consider it my workout, a long hard workout for the entire body.  I do feel it at the end of the day but I am one of those crazy people who enjoy cleaning and seeing the results when done.  Getting a paycheck to do it is a bonus.  With all that being said you would think I have the cleanest house in the neighborhood and yet I must confess that I do not.

Petal Pusher roses.  I love how these little powerhouses just bloom and bloom. 



I sold my little Honda Civic over the weekend.  Though I hated giving it up, it was such a good little car, we really had no practical use for it.  It was just another thing to maintain and with trying to keep our budget tight we felt it was more of a drain than an asset.  We don’t really need 3 cars.  We were happy to sell it to a nice family whose little Honda was totaled in an accident and they were thrilled to get it at a good price.  Their delight in finding a car so swiftly to replace theirs took a bit of the sting out of selling it. 

Canterbury Bells, this one flower has been flowering non-stop since early summer and there are plenty of seedlings at it’s feet that I shall dig up and place elsewhere in my garden.  I do love plants that self seed (unless they become an invasive pest). 


The rest of the week was a blur, mostly me trying to get caught up on bookwork for our businesses which I have sadly neglected this summer and the end of the year will be here before we know it.  And also I have been painting on some special order signs.

Asters, new to me and I love them!



A morning glory surprise, I did not think any of my Heavenly Blue morning glories were going to bloom.  I was wrong.





This is one of the signs I worked on this week.  The gentleman did not like it this way but was gracious enough to say he would take it anyways.  

 I was not happy that he was not thrilled so I redid it.

  I like happy customers and I really did not mind, I should’ve clarified how he wanted the wording before painting it.  So, my bad.



Here is the revised sign, I just flipped the board over and re-painted it on the back.  No use in a perfectly good board going to waste.



One last sign I painted on this week, a Secret Garden sign for my website, it seems a popular one and I was all sold out so another needed to be created. Voila!



Now that you see how my garden agrees with me in making the most out of the dying days of summer (despite the calendar saying it is really now FALL) I hope you enjoy it's display as much as I am.

Carnivale morning glories.


until next time…

PS: I will post about my oven roasted sauce soon, I promise.  I had a few requests for the recipe.  I need to whip up another batch so shall post how when I do.

Relinquishing my hold on Summer!

I know many relish the thought of Fall and all it’s burnished colors arriving and you celebrate the crisp air and cooler weather.

But I am a summer girl, I love wearing sleeveless tops and shorts, my Birks and I flourish in the heat.  I am only conceding to Fall as I can no longer ignore the signs of it officially starting next week.

My Dogwood tree in front of my home:



Yes, it is now beginning to change into it’s Autumn wardrobe, I must admit the red is very pretty and though it is a leaf here and there right now I know the rest will turn in the wink of an eye.  The seed pods are just as eye-catching.



My oak tree has not even a hint of fall colors on it but soon it will, the nights are a bit cooler with a nip that is telling. We desperately need to get our winter firewood.  We have the roof fixed so hopefully no leaks this winter. 

I have been busy making oven roasted tomato sauce. My tomatoes are not ripe yet and with the change in the weather I don’t hold my breath that I will get many from my vines but a friend that lives about half an hour down the hill from me has a bounty.  She hands them over to me to process and we split the results.  Here is one big pan of tomatoes, I cook them down with onions and garlic for several hours.



The sauce makes a great base for many recipes like marinara for chicken parmesan,  pizza sauce as well as for my own version of Chili Colorado. 

When I am not cooking, gardening or doing paperwork for the bank (trying to refinance our house) I have been working on painting signs.  I need to restock my website as well as produce special order signs.



See… I am getting into the swing of Fall..

I also added a bit to my Cherries sign…it just needed something. So it went from this…



To this..



And here is the colorful and bright special order sign that is going to the US Virgin Islands when it is complete..



I had a pleasant surprise this morning as I watered my Cecile Brunner climbing rose, I noticed a Tye Dye or it may be a Shibori Flaked Morning Glory blossom..



I had planted the seeds at the base of the rose as it only blooms once, maybe twice a year and I thought some morning glory climbing it would add interest.  I loved seeing this peeking out from under the broad leaves to greet me. 

I ran into the house and grabbed my camera, much to my disgust the battery was dead so I snapped up my iPhone and took the photo with it.  I need to get better at using it anyways, this was good practice.

That all for now…

ta ta..