#3 How Does My Garden Grow? With Hope and Resilience.

"April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain."
--from The Wasteland by T.S. Eliot


I love poetry, and these are four, simply perfect lines of verse. They are framed and hanging in my kitchen, and they provide solace when the first tender blooms flood me with apprehension and hope because they so courageously dare defy winter's oppression. This plant is an "Endless Summer" blue hydrangea.

Chalkboard Labels on Glass Bottles

I've had this project in the queue for too long.  I don't like to use cooking sprays because of the additives.  First, I bought and tried an oil pump that didn't work. Then, I tried a sprayer that didn't work. Finally, I tried using empty sauce bottles with a shaker "O" in the center of the plastic cap. That worked. I used an old Worcestershire bottle and an old hot sauce bottle. After I filled the bottles with oil, I found it difficult to distinguish between all the oils--corn, olive, etc.  I decided to try painting on labels made from chalkboard paint.

On Single-Serve Mason Jar Entrees

 "Every child is born into a different family."  That's an adage in psychology, and it's true.  Our family has certainly changed over time.  Now our schedules rarely overlap, and we seldom eat together.  I do miss all the family meals, but it was time to adapt.  I wanted healthy, single-serve entrees that anyone could prepare quickly.

These one cup canning jars inspired me.  I chose this squat design because they stack easily in the freezer, and they efficiently use the one small shelf that I could spare.  The entrees usually require two or three of the jars: rice/pasta jar, sauce/veggie jar, and meat/protein jar.

DIY: On Hiding Computer Cords, Etc.

When my daughter was in middle school, she traded her purple (!) bedroom for a minimalist haven in pale blue and black.  She chose her dream desk--a corner unit in matte black metal.  Enter all her gaming systems, computers, tablets, lamps. I foresaw a nightmare of tangled, dusty cords.

The solution was ply board.  We bought two pieces and cut them to fit the varying lengths from the floor to the desk top or to the shelf top.  Then we painted the boards to match the wall and baseboard. The result is a trompe l'oeil. All of the cords are hidden between the ply board and the wall.  My daughter later moved the desk to another wall and removed the corner unit so the boards no longer fit perfectly.  You can see a thin line where one board now sits behind another one, but it's still an easy and inexpensive solution to cords.






by Robert Burton
No cord or cable can draw so forcibly, or bind so fast, as love can do with a single thread.

DIY: The Holy Grail of Washable Dusters

My home is dusty, really dusty.  I suspect an issue in the attic involving open ducts. Whatever the cause, I have to deal with it.  I "should" dust often, and I've tried many types of dusters--lamb's wool, microfiber, feather, nylon, attachments to the vacuum cleaner.  I've even watched YouTube videos on how to dust. Not my proudest moment, but I was desperate for something that would help. Swiffer dusters seem to work the best for me, but they are too expensive for a home that requires such constant dusting.  I found a homemade version online that uses fleece.  Here's my first attempt.

I chose a geometric pattern for two reasons.  It makes cutting the correct size easy without measuring.  It reminds me of the stained glass windows in my home.

DIY: Solar Garden Lights

I love stained glass--inside and outside my home.  For several years, I've had 5 stained glass votive lights lining my front sidewalk.  I found them at a nearby Jo-Ann's and stalked them until they went on sale.  For the first few years, I used votive candles in them until I realized that a solar garden light would fit inside each votive.

#2 How Does My Garden Grow? With Rainbows.

I use a lot of brown twine in my garden.  When the leaves fell last autumn and bared the empty birds' nests, I was surprised to find snippets of that twine interwoven into most of the nests in my yard.

Corn feeder.

I often walk the culs-de-sac in my neighborhood, and during the winter months, I see many abandoned birds' nests. A plan emerged. This spring I purchased multi-colored yarn and decided to have it available during nesting season. I cut the yarn into small lengths and looked for something to house the pieces.  In the garage, I found several empty green cages--some for squirrel corn and some for bird suet;  they are perfect for housing the pieces of yarn.  The corn feeders appear to work better.

Vingnette: Hiding in Plain Sight

My home is small by McMansion standards, but it's splendid by real world standards.  I try to use the space wisely.  One of the decorating games I enjoy is called "Hiding in Plain Sight."  It's pleasing to combine aesthetics with function in a design trumpe d'oeil.

-----This is a cabinet in our entertainment system.  See the box on the bottom shelf?  I've had it for many years.  It's beautiful and works well with the other items.  I use this box often.

-----Can you guess what this is?

On Hanger Hacking

I discovered the practicality of hanging blue jeans on child-sized coat hangers some years ago.    The jeans were corralled and thus a bit more stable on the child-sized hangers.  Although these smaller hangers worked better, they didn't solve all the problems.  The jeans could and would still rock back and forth on the hanger or roll off the hanger.  These rock and roll hangers also left crease lines

Enter foam pipe covers.  You can purchase these inexpensive foam covers at home improvement stores, hardware stores, and Wal-Mart.  At the end of the winter season, the covers are on clearance.  This package costs $2.50. I usually use 1/2 inch size for child hangers and 3/4 inch for adult hangers.  

Rumblings of a Project: Entry From Garage

Here's the inspiration for a project rumbling in the back of my mind.  The search begins for such a door.  This is what I need to organize, display, and decorate the entrance from the garage.  The hallway leads by the laundry, and it's too narrow for a desk, but the door on the wall would work.

By William Blake

If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear as it is--infinite.

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The Bare Green Knob

I love stained glass--especially windows, lamps, vases, and dishes.  Lately, I've been collecting colored glass knobs and musing what to do with them.
  

#1 How Does My Garden Grow?

The crocuses are fading now. Their brave purple bravado has paled to a translucent, white epiphany. I can never decide if crocuses are stalwart or foolhardy. My garden will have little luxuriance this season. It's a spare, lean season--one for healing and ruminating. The postmortem is removal and change.

The Wasteland by T.S. Eliot

Breeding lilacs out of the dead land,
Mixing memory and desire . . . .

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On Ribbons of Morning Sun

I was putting away clean dishes when the morning sun flashed rainbows throughout my kitchen.

I'll tell you the sun rose   by Emily Dickinson
I'll tell you how the Sun rose --
A Ribbon at a time --

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Welcome to the Bluebird Laundry

Where to begin?  How about my favorite room, the laundry "room."  OK, it's a laundry closet.  I wish I had a before photo.  All Builder Beige with two white wire shelves.  One morning I opened the louvered, bi-fold doors and faced the Great Beige Wasteland for a final time.  This had to change.  I put the husband on notice:  Project Approaching.  


I toyed with several ideas.  Maybe a retro look with pale green and tin? Tempting, but I love color, and I needed inspiration, not serenity.  I also needed to enliven a daily chore. My inspiration was bluebirds. The Bluebird Laundry.  I chose a deep, crimson red and a pale blue. 

A Thing of Beauty, or These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

This Sunday afternoon was lovely--a soft, gray, autumn rain.  What soothing assonance. I sat in a bookstore, drinking coffee and meandering through magazines.  I found a magazine devoted to flea market finds;  it included an article on blogs about flea market finds.  Voila!  My new blog. I've tweaked the idea to encompass more than just flea market and thrift store finds although I surely have hundreds of those, too.   I'm eager to begin and share all the wonderful finds I've accumulated from a lifetime of collecting. I'll add some favorite prose and poetry.  Pleasure, companionship, creativity, and solace are ahead. 

http://fleamarketstylemag.blogspot.com/

A Thing of Beauty (Endymion) by John Keats A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: Its loveliness increases; it will never Pass into nothingness; but still will keep A bower quiet for us, and a sleep Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing. 09/24/11

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