Frosty Morn

I know what most of you are thinking......surely she does not mean the icy cold kind of frost.......

Yes, it's a fact. I woke up to frost on June 13th.  Just for proof, I snapped this shot of the neighbor's roof.  I immediately ran out to the deck (6:15 a.m.)  and watered all of my containers.  My farmer friend says that if you water frost before the sun hits the leaves, it will save your plants.  I really did not see any frost on my plants, but just to be safe, I watered.    I felt pretty guilty as I knew last night that we had frost warnings, but I was too lazy to go out and cover everything.  I decided to let nature take it's course...but I would have cried like a baby if I woke up to a couple dozen dead containers.

I am happy to report that they all looked fine on my after-work walk through.

I was very surprised as coleus and cannas do not like it when the temp is below 50 degrees.  You can see in the background that I am beginning to bring the deck furniture out. We are hoping to get it all finished this weekend before my father's day BBQ that I am having on Sunday.

I have a few new things to show you from the arbor gardens.  Here you see the blue/purple spiderwort is now in bloom with the magenta.  It makes a nice combo with the one remaining allium 'Christopherii'.  I planted seven of them a few years ago.  They never survive more than a couple of years in my garden.

 Here is allium 'Molly'.  She has spread quite nicely through the years.

 Here she is peeking through a hosta.

 Ah, and here is my favorite poppy-- 'Queen Alexander' at 6:30 a.m.

 Here she is yesterday at 4:30 p.m.--not quite open.

and today at 3:30 p.m. -

Queen A may still be short with only four flowers, but she is a pastel beauty, don't you think?  I feel so good when I make a purchase that lives more than two years!

ARRRRGGGGG.....

Enough said about that.


On to more fun stuff like these Easter ideas that I found on the net:
A simple yet adorable pear salad (or garnish) and some cute biscuits. 
I think they both came from Woman's Day magazine.

My favorite pear bunny is this one.

I love pears in cottage cheese (note the cottage tail--too cute!)

I am not cooking for Easter this year, but I will save these ideas for next year.

Such a Mild Winter

I went out late this afternoon in my green polka-dot jammies and Crocs see how the garden was faring this winter.

This is all the snow on the deck.

Most of the garden is snowless. That's not so good. The plants really need a good snow cover to make it through the winter.
Although this corkscrew grass (I have already forgotten its name) is doing well heeled in next to the house. It's still green, so I am very hopeful that it will survive. It would be almost certain to survive if we get a good snow cover soon.
Last year at this time I was shoveling the sidewalks almost daily. We had banks like this:
Ugh...I remember that day so well.........I had to do all the shoveling because DH had a broken rib. I like this year much better!

I worked on my quilt quite a bit this week.

I am getting close to having enough of the 3-inch blocks. I need to make 4 more of the large stars and all the border blocks. The border blocks are the easiest to make. I just hope I don't run out of the background fabric.


I also did a Valentine table last night.

and I made a spinach/fruit salad for dinner. Yum!

It's been a good week.

The larger a man's roof, the more snow it collects

I thought of this proverb today and for the first time ever, I was thankful that I have a small home.

What do you think this is? Go ahead, take your best guess.

Well, let me tell you.

Ailing Husband has had too much time to sit and think. He has concocted this device to aid Dutiful Wife in her new position as Mistress of Ice Removal.

When I pulled into the garage after a busy 9-hr. workday, Ailing Husband met me in the garage with his invention. Before I could even bring my bags inside, he led me to the back of the house, had me climb a 6-foot snowbank and handed me that hammer head duct taped to the end of a 10-foot pole. Yes, 10-ft., that's no typo.

Oh, for gawd sakes, the man expects me to swing this thing and whack at the ice on the roof! The first three tries, I missed the whole roof. That thing is much heavier than it looks.

On the fourth try I get it to the land on the roof. A short time later, I have figured out that if I set it on the roof and swing it side to side instead of over my head, I can actually hit the target of the ice build up in the valley.

I grudgingly took whack after whack at about a 4-inch block of ice. "This is ridiculous," I complained. Ailing Anal-Retentive Husband assured me it was necessary because it was going to be 40 degrees tomorrow and the melting snow needed to be able to fall from the roof. I told him the least he could do was go into the house and get the camera so that I could document the fact that I am standing on top of a huge snowbank, still dressed in my work clothes under my long black jacket, heaving a heavy 10-ft. pole at a chunk of ice.

After some resistance, guilt must have prodded him to go inside and get the camera. While he was gone, my first chunk of ice fell to the ground. "Yeeesssss!" I screamed out loud. That felt so good! My arms were aching, but my minor success propelled me to keep whacking.

It wasn't long before all the ice was on the ground.


The valley is now pretty clear of ice chunks.

I am now taking my aching biceps inside for a much deserved glass of wine.

How Many Family Members Does it Take to Fill a Tow Truck?

Early Saturday morning, we decided to take an overnight trip with my Mom & Dad.

We were on the road before 8:00 a.m.

About 80 miles into our journey, we decided to stop for gas before heading over the Mackinac bridge. It's a tradition of sorts to buy scratch-off lottery tickets at this station, so we all went inside to get some.

We got back to the car and settled in for another hour of driving. Dad turned the key and ........... nothing happened. He tried again..........and again.......NOTHING!

So began a new experience for all of us.

It was a very cold weekend and it's common for batteries to fail in sub zero temps. We crossed our fingers that a jump would do the trick.

It didn't.

We were in a small town and the tow truck driver thought the Ford dealer and all the repair shops were closed on Saturday. We made a few calls...closed, closed, closed. After much frantic searching through the local phone book, the driver remembered a dealer across town that may be opened. He called and hallelujah, they were.

So the driver tells us to get in the tow truck. My mother gave him her best you've- got-to-be-kidding look and says, "But there are 4 of us."

The young driver shrugs and says, "Yeah, it'll be tight." Then he assures us he won't get pulled over because he is considered an "emergency" vehicle. Like that makes us feel any better about climbing up 6 feet and squeezing our ample butts into that truck seat.

We had no alternative, so we started climbing.


They are already squeezed in there like sardines and I still had to get in.

I climbed atop DH's lap. My face was almost pressed against the window.
None of us had ever been in a tow truck. We laughed over our predicament all the way to the dealer.

At the dealer's we sat in the waiting room for an hour. When the mechanic came out just minutes before their noon closing time and said he would not be able to even look at our car until Monday, we stopped laughing.

We had no choice but to rent a car and head to our hotel and hope they could extend us for one more night. I had to call my boss and tell him there was no way I could get to work on Monday. He took it better than I expected, though I know he was probably not too happy about having to go in at 7:00 a.m. to cover for me.

Somehow we made it though the two days and are now happily back home.

Remember when I said it was cold? Here is the actual temp. when we left this morning.

Yes, it really does say 27 BELOW zero.

Now that's it's all over, we think it was a pretty fun unique experience. I am sure we'll be talking about it for years to come!

There was a bit more Snow than I Thought

I never did hear just how much, but it must be over a foot.

Shortly after my first post this morning, I heard a noise and ran to my front window. I was met with the most spectacular sight -- my wonderful neighbor and his John Deere snow blower. I can't tell you what a beautiful sight that was.

I still had to shovel the sidewalks and in front of the garage. Luckily this snow was not wet and heavy.
I had to throw it up pretty high!
It was actually fun.

All of the neighbors came out one by one. Snow blowers buzzed and shovels tossed the white stuff in all directions.

Snow storms bring out a certain neighborly camaraderie. There is a lot of chatter about how much we got, what the yearly tally is and how much more is coming. All the guys with snow blowers used them to clear a path in the road. We live on a dead end road and it never gets plowed on the weekend. Thanks to my neighbors, I should be able to get out for work tomorrow.

I took a loaf of my English Muffin bread to my neighbor. His wife called me to tell me that they both really enjoyed it for breakfast after he finished working outside. It does not seem like much considering all the work he did, but I was happy that I could do at least a little something in return.

Wouldn't You Think in the last Century They Could Have Improved Patterns?

If any of you have ever sewn clothing, you will know what I am talking about. The flimsy pattern pieces that you have to deal with are enough to make anyone give up the hobby. Look at this mess!

Before I can even begin, I need to find all the pieces and cut them out. I think with today's technology, they could be cut out before they get to me. At the bare minimum the manufacturers could put all of the same pattern pieces on the same sheet so I would not have to play find-the-pattern-piece with six pages of this stuff!

Oh, well, that is not my biggest challenge today. Look at the view from my living room window at 7:00 a.m. Yes, another 8 inches or so. It's enough to make a grown woman cry.
See that UFO hoovering over the neighbor's house? Maybe they were sent to rescue me.

Beam me up, Scotty!

See this Driveway?

I just spent 35 minutes shoveling heavy, water laden snow from it.

Yes, not only am I the nurse, but I am also the Driveway Maintenance Woman and the Director of Sanitation (i.e. I haul out the garbage).

So right after working all day, I shoveled the driveway, then I put the garbage can out for tomorrow's pickup.

I AM WOMAN, HEAR MY ROAR!

Yesterday I dropped DH off for an appointment. While he was there, I ran to a dollar store nearby and I found these green martini glasses:

They were only $1 each! ONE BUCK! I couldn't believe it. I bought six because it was all I could carry. I plan to go back and buy six more blue glasses. I really have to check out that store more often.

At the hotel where I work, we just purchased new bedding. We went to thin white comforters which are $120 each. We just put them on the beds last week.

Today the Executive Housekeeper came to the General Manager's office to show him a cigarette burn in one of the comforters. He told her to get rid of it.

$120 down the drain all because of one careless guest. If you wonder why hotel rooms are over $100/night, this is part of the reason!

Lucky for me, my office is right next to the Big Kahuna's. I jumped right up and asked if I could have the comforter. Really now, why throw it in the garbage, when I am sure I can make something out of it. He said I could take it.

Look how beautiful the pattern is on it:

I was thinking of making sofa covers, but I really need about three of them because I have two sofas to cover. So I may make dining room chair covers instead. You can be sure I will show you what I make when I do something with it.

I have to end this blog post now. My patient is getting hungry.

A WOMAN'S WORK IS NEVER DONE!

Why do I Ever Listen to the Weather Person? ##!!##

When I planted on Sunday, the whole week was supposed to be no lower than 40 degrees at night.

Thank goodness I went outside last night and covered everything that was too big to haul to the garage.

When I got up this morning it was 29 degrees! There was a heavy layer of frost on the neighbor's roof.

Hopefully these nice warm blankies kept my babies safe and sound. I am not going to uncover them until I get home from work this afternoon.

What Should I Plant in My Hanging Baskets This Year?

It's about time to start thinking about such things.I really loved last year's baskets. I bought them already planted so it saved me a lot of work and they gave instant color, but by July they were putting out less and less blooms. See how they are almost all green? The same thing happened two years ago

By the way does anyone know how to make it so that when you click on one of my hyperlinks above, it will open in a new window? Right now it opens in the same window and you have to hit the back button to get back to my post. If you hit the X you will go completely out.

I am wondering if I should go back to planting them myself. The plus side is that it will cost much less (I need to buy 8 large baskets) and they will give more color in August. The downside is that they won't look good at all until mid July.

Just typing this and remembering past years of looking at sparse baskets for 6 weeks, I think I am leaning toward spending the extra and buying them. I will enjoy the deck so much more with beautiful baskets in June. By mid July all my other stuff is looking pretty good, so it's no big deal if the basket flower less.

So I guess I just answered my own question! :) As long they are not outrageously expensive, I will probably buy them.


Last Saturday I was checking out the quilting books on Amazon. I was looking specifically for bird/animal paper-piecing pattern books. I found a couple that were not too expensive and I ordered them.


I did not pay extra for the fast shipping. They were scheduled to arrive on April 17-18, but I got them TODAY. I was thrilled! Ordered on Sat. and in my hands on Wednesday. I love technology!


I have only had a chance to give them a quick glance, but they look like exactly what I wanted. The one called "A Quilter's Ark" by Margaret Rolfe has a lot of different animals. Look at these chickens:



so cute! You all know how I love chickens! LOL. It looks like all these animals are tiny blocks, finishing at only 4 inches. I did not realize they were that tiny, but that's OK because they will make great centers for stars.

We are supposed to get something like six inches of snow today. I think I will hunker down with my new books.

"Hunker down".....where did that word come from? I don't believe I have ever said "hunker down" in my life and yet it just popped into my typing fingers. I must look it up before I post this..........o.k. it says its often used to mean "take shelter", so I guess it works since we are in a winter storm warning.

Hopefully you are all having much nicer weather. If not I hope you are also hunkering down! :)

Winter Has Arrived

with a vengeance in Michigan today!
It is quite beautiful, but I am disappointed as it caused me to cancel my hotel reservations for my weekend get-a-way. Now I'm stuck home all weekend.