Home

Gosh. I am home. Not from a trip or a journey. Just home. What makes a place home? It can be a person, no doubt. It can be a place. It can be a collection or association of objects. Not just any old objects. Objects collected from vacations or journeys. Even journeys to thrift stores or yard sales. Those objects say something about you. This is what interests me or what I find interesting or comforting or comfortable. It can be an object that has a story. It can be a very personal story or a story about your family. Or, it can be something that makes you smile when you look at it.

I recently bought a print at the thrift store. It was not signed or numbered and had a plastic cover so I knew it wasn't valuable. I sort of agonized about buying it. Not because it cost a whopping $5 but was it "me"?  I awkwardly carried it around the store for awhile (too large for the shopping cart) as I was browsing for other stuff. I really did like it and it was in a nice custom frame and garden themed, my favorite stuff, so it came home. It is titled, Still Life on the Veranda by John Powell.

A couple of caveats. It can be easy to get carried away buying stuff at a thrift store. Even there, don't just buy stuff because it is cheap or a bargain. I have re-donated stuff to the very thrift store where I bought it after I looked at the stuff at home. In fact, I bought a table and chairs and the guy loading it cautioned me he didn't want to see it back for at least 6 months. And, don't end up a hoarder with your house bursting at the seams with stuff that was too good to pass up. Sometimes when I see stuff and I know it is nice and a bargain but it is not something that is me, I just say, I'll let if be someone else's treasure. And, lastly, if you do love it, buy it because you may not find it when you return. Now, I just have to decide where to hang it.

Zentangling Away

 This is my third zentangle doodle. I was looking at the prow of a ship from a Viking ship if you can't guess. Still working on my medieval Norway quilt...

The doodle just progressed and grew until it became the whole ship. The perspective is off and it isn't historically correct and would probably fall over if it was built but it isn't a drawing just a doodle! And, did I say it's a lot of fun!

This is the first zentangle I tried. I am hoping to make some zentangle inspired embroidered hearts before Christmas.

Zinnias!

I couldn't go a summer without posting a photo of my favorite flowers, zinnias. I confess, I usually cut them when they are smaller and have them finish opening up in the vase to beautiful shades and variations. I procrastinated... No further sighting of the praying mantis. He/she must be down in the stems eating bugs (surely there is a good supply of aphids down there). Last summer I saw a praying mantis rip the head off a honeybee and proceed to eat it...They are effective predators but indiscriminate. I have had fewer bug problems this year with earwigs who were plentiful earlier in the year. Last year, they were pretty bad in the pluot trees. All of the leaves were moth eaten from them. I couldn't work on the trees without getting showered with earwigs. I think the heat might of done them in which was a good thing. I ended up with 62 pounds of plots halves frozen. I think the tree must have produced at least 100 pounds of fruit!

Garden Angel

I was looking for a spot to photograph a baby boy quilt when my garden angel caught my eye. It has a shaded spot in my garden on an arbor bench. I try to rotate what I plant in the summer and squeeze in as much as possible. A Sakata melon vine has twined itself around the bench while a Marina di Chiogga squash, blueberry bush and fig tree crowd the back.

Color pots

Spring has sprung and my color pots are filled. I love this old wire basket filled with succulents.

I love this blue pot filled with a tweedy, yellow and green coleus, coneflower (yet to bloom from last year), light green heuchera, yellow and pink latte cuphea and sky blue lobelia.

This pink and lime green petunias and sky blue lobelia are my favorite colors this year.

Along with this pink on pink petunia. Yum. Yum. Yum. A feast for my eyes!