Wow...I almost forgot about my blog!

The best intentions sometimes fall by the wayside once spring and summer get here. And what with addictive games and contacts on Facebook, my blog has suffered severe neglect in the past 4 months. Sorry blog buds and faithful readers.

Been really busy preparing artwork for the fairs. I'm exhibiting now at the R.I. County Fair and I'm hoping to do a couple more before the summer is over.

I did pretty well...out of 16 entries in art and photography, I got 6 blues and a mess more. I'll try to remember to post pix when I get them back.

It's hotHotHOT out there ...temps over 100° for the past two days and that has broken a long-standing record. Heat index has also been staggering...between 110° and 120°. Then we have to deal with 80% humidity too...just too much!! I found out that our humidity is partially caused by the corn that's growing all around...I guess corn plants give off moisture on hot days and account of a sizable percentage of our humidity. Speaking of plants...I need to go water mine...Later!

Welcome Spring!

Is Spring here already? Sure is!! The time when a young man's fancy turns to thoughts of love.

I celebrated this auspicious occasion by buying some petunia seeds from an online seed place. I've tried growing them before from seeds and had bad luck due to damping off. I think I have a good remedy for that now so I'm going to try these pretty Italian petunias once again. Can't wait until they get here!

I've got some other seeds growing right now and so far so good! I read about damping off on many websites and the consensus seems to be to sprinkle a layer of cinnamon on the soil before the seeds come up! So far I have nasturtiums, cilantro, dill, lavender, basil and marigolds growing and so far, no sign of damping off. We'll see. But it's just nice to have some seedlings growing on the first day of Spring!!

Happy Spring Everyone!

New Month and a Great Easy Cake Recipe!

Wow, it's March already!! I can't believe it! Why does it seem like time goes entirely too fast? Is it that way for the rest of the world or is it just me?

However, I'm happily saying goodbye to February tho...it's historically been, in my life anyway, a very cold, dreary month. Oh there have been a few good things that have happened in Februarys along the way, but in general, it's a blaaaaa month! This particular Feb. has been one of record. We had a record setting warm day, record snowfall, and a record setting cold day! So this year it left a mark in more ways than one!

The other day I had lunch with my sister Marsha before we went bird watching. She fixed some awesome tostadas, fruit with some wonderful fruit dip and for dessert a great fruity angel food cake. She told me the recipe and I didn't believe it until I tried making it for myself. Here's the recipe...

Fruity Angel Food Cake

Preheat oven to 350° or 325° if you're using a dark, non-stick pan

1 angel food cake box mix (the easy kind that calls for just water)

1 can of light fruit pie filling (any flavor and it doesn't have to be light)

In a big bowl, add the cake mix and then the pie filling. Ignore the box directions. Mix the two ingredients together well and pour into a lightly sprayed 9X13 pan. Bake about 30 minutes or until light golden brown on top and when a toothpick comes out clean. This is great with light cool whip!

Give it a try...you won't be sorry. I made one with cherry pie filling and next will be lemon!

P.S. The bird watching was a success too...we saw a new bird (to us) it was a Golden Eye Duck. So far (knocking on wood) we have yet to go bird watching without seeing something new to us.

This weather is amazing!

As a child I can remember temps being high in Feb. because I can remember wearing shorts on Valentine's Day one year. But this is too good to be true. Yesterday in our area the temp set a new record. The old record was 62° and it got up to 63° in the afternoon. Not a block busting record breaker, but a record breaker nonetheless! We'll take it...shoot we'll even take the 50° it is today. Because every day gets us one day closer to spring being here and snow, cold, blizzards, icy winds, slippery roads, snow piles higher than the cars, ice on the sidewalks all being gone until next winter!

Before long we'll be thinking about roses, planting those annuals, sunshine that brings real warmth, sitting on the deck in the morning enjoying the early day, sun-up happening before we get up, a huge glass of iced tea with some muddled mint from the garden, frosty cold root beer floats, hummingbirds coming back from Mexico, salads fresh from the garden...not that life isn't great now, but it will be just a little better in the spring!

Ahhhh spring!

Spring?

'nuff said!

I love being retired on a cold day!

Today I've been thinking about being retired because it's so darned cold out there. It's a beautiful sunny day but it's only 8°! I'm here snug and cozy, not having to go out unless I want to. The poor birds look all fluffed up and are eating like crazy just trying to keep their bodies fueled up good and staying warm. One good thing about these frigid temps is that it usually doesn't snow when it's so cold!

The authorities is such matters, seem to think we're going to have an early spring because THE groundhog, P. Diddy Phil, didn't see his shadow on G'hogs Day. Although I don't have much faith in this sort of predicting, I sure hope they're right. It's not that I don't think animals know, it's just questionable to me whether they tell us humans or not!

I've been looking at rose catalogs and not buying! It's a miracle. Usually by this time of the year, I've spent hundreds of dollars on catalog roses. One reason for not making catalog purchases is that I think if I get roses this year, it will be locally so I can help support our economy, instead of the economy of a remote place. Another reason is that I am going to replace some of my missing roses, the ones that succumbed to rose rosette disease or other things, with more user-friendly flowers and plants...the kind that more disease resistant and way less work. It will be plants like perennial hostas, iris, hydrangeas, lilies, daylilies, and lots of annuals in pots. That's not to say I won't get any roses, I know I will but I think we should all support our local economies...after all, that's where our loyalties should lie. I can usually find roses I want here in our local nurseries and stores.

The bird feeders are full, our supper is planned...baked chicken, roasted broccoli, roasted corn and acorn squash...all things I'll do in the oven. There's method to my madness.

I'm going to go snuggle up with a new book called, "The Audubon Backyard Birdwatcher" by Robert Burton and Stephen W. Kress. Its a nice fat, hefty, reference-type, hard-bound book (I don't always use my Kindle).

I love fat, hefty, reference-type, hard-bound books!

Gung Hay Fat Choy

CHINESE NEW YEAR

It's the beginning of the Chinese New Year or the Lunar New Year today. The year of the Golden Rabbit is upon us.

The Chinese culture is rich in tradition and interesting beliefs. I find some of them fascinating!

Tradition says you shouldn't sweep your house today or you'll sweep all the good luck and good fortune out of your house.

Wear RED, it's a very auspicious color.

Oranges, tangerines and persimmons signify health, good relationships and abundance, so have a bowl of these fruits on your table.

Open your doors to let the old year out and the new year in...my doors are opened right now, even tho it's 25° out there... and heaven forbid you should wash your hair or get a haircut today! DON'T DO IT!!!

We went to a Chinese place today for lunch. Our favorite buffet that offers hundreds of interesting dishes. The meal was great but one of the best parts of the meal was my fortune cookie pearl of wisdom. It said...

"One dreamed of becoming somebody. Another remained awake and became."

FENG SHUI

My sister called me this morning and asked me to Feng Shui her house for the new year. I got the book out and figured out how to remedy bad things in our houses for the year. Both our houses face North, so we both need the same remedies and the direction a home faces is one guideline for figuring out how to provide fixes for the bad areas and how to figure out which areas are bad. I got it done and made a file to send her so she knows what to do. Now I know what to do to mine too.

Interesting stuff....does it work?

You bet it does!!