Running With Scissors…

Marvin had his very first bath recently.  He’s gotten old and doesn’t clean himself up much anymore.  This behavior isn’t necessarily inherent in an aging cat, but Marvin has become arthritic and all the contortions necessary for a good cleaning are painful for him.  We were prepared for a fight but, actually, I think he rather enjoyed the lavish spa treatment and all the love and sweet talk that went along with it.

The towel drying afterwards was his favorite part of the experience.  Whenever he comes in the house wet and bedraggled (doesn’t seem to bother him at all–he’s such a boy!) he gets the towel treatment.  We think he goes out and soaks up some rain just so he can get the towel.  He doesn’t look too upset in this photo, does he?  Can you see his smile?

Later, I remembered this Gary Patterson stamp I’ve had for a long time.  I’ve used it a few times for masculine cards and for thanks-for-taking-care-of-me-while-my-people-were-out-of-town cards.  This is pretty much what Marvin looked like the rest of the evening after his bath.  He seemed very content.  Making this card was fun for a change, switching gears from my usual style.  I wouldn’t want to get stuck in a rut.

I watercolored the image with Stampin’ Up! inks on 90# hot press watercolor paper.  The background is two pieces from my scrap drawer – a retired wheel called Bold Blooms.  Most of it is covered up but better here than in my scrap drawer.  The background cardstock edges are sponged with matching inks and the sentiment is embossed.  I did a Google search for Gary Patterson stamps and it seems there aren’t many in circulation anymore.  Too bad.  They were some of the cutest, most comical cat images.  I did find this particular stamp here, at Addicted to Rubber Stamps, which is where I got mine many years ago. 

Here’s Marvin in one of his favorite spots for napping:

Thanks for visiting with me and Marvin today!  I hope your week gets off to a good start and stays that way.  Take care!

• Stamps:  Cat Nap by Stamps Happen, Bold Blooms jumbo wheel, Riveting and Sheltering Tree (tiny flower in sentiment) – all retired Stampin’ Up!
• Paper:  More Mustard, Handsome Hunter, Mellow Moss, Whisper White, So Saffron, 90# hot press watercolor
• Ink:  Jet Black Stazon, More Mustard, Handsome Hunter, Versamark, Regal Rose, various for watercoloring
• Accessories:  Offray ribbon, flower brad, 1 1/4″ circle punch, 1/2″ circle punch, green embossing powder, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

It’s the time of year again when I spend my days in the garden whenever possible.  Today was one of those glorious good-for-the-soul-days.  Temperatures stayed in the mid-70’s with only the slightest breeze — perfect for spreading compost, planting flowers and just general puttering around enjoying myself.

I do like to share the garden photos because it’s very much a part me but I’m feeling rather hard pressed to show you anything different from last year.  Yes, the garden is always changing, not only with each new month, but plants come and go, get rearranged, nibbled away by the deer or broken down to nothing by wrestling racoons.  The basic structure, however, remains the same.  Still, I never tire of it.

This particular spot has always been a favorite of mine no matter what the month.  I’ll hurry along past it to the garden shed, but when I turn to head back up the stairs it gives me pause every time.  So this is what it was all about — all that digging out of sod, mixing dirt, hauling rocks, setting bricks, planting flowers.  The moment I turn I’m a little overcome by the tranquility I’ve made of my world.  I must have had a real need for this to have gone to such lengths.  I am a quiet person in a very noisy world.

Just for fun I thought I’d share a “before” picture of this very spot.  When we were house shopping 18 years ago we did a drive by of this property after seeing it in a real estate catalog.  We could see but a glimpse where the driveway parted the hedge but that, for me, was the beauty of it.  The neighborhood was quiet and tidy, the house was the right price.  I had to see more.  As it turned out, the house was extremely ordinary — sturdy, but with some design shortcomings.  Too bad…my head was turned by the possibilities of the landscape.

This photo was taken from the upper level, looking along the edge of the slope, whereas the first picture, the “after” photo, was taken from the lower level.  There was a garden shed, sans garden, at the foot of the slope.  To approach it you risked tumbling into the blackberry thicket that edged the hillside.  If you tumbled through the thicket you’d land in a gully on the other side.

We replaced the garden shed and dug out and terraced the hillside, turning our slippery slope into a garden vision.  The blackberries with their wicked thorns are gone, replaced with a flower bed that borders the path to the garden shed.  Tons (and I mean that literally) of sod were removed from all over the property as flower beds were added.  The sod was used to fill part of the gully and expand our usable ground space.

This green oasis is much more to my liking than the parched and patchy lawn that preceded it and my husband, the lawn guy, is happy to have less work on his hands.  It’s more work for me, but then, there’s no place I’d rather be and no pursuit at which I’m happier.

For the folks who’d like to know what the flowers are in the first photo:

The blue is Ajuga, or Carpet Bugle.  This variety has burgundy foliage, blooms in Spring and again in August.  Very easy care.  Takes some foot traffic.  I have it mingling with Creeping Jenny which will bloom with yellow flowers later in the summer.

The white is Allium, or Wild Onion.  Grows like a weed, very invasive, spreading both from bulb and seed.  It will keep you busy trying to maintain control.  It’s beautiful but I’m rather sorry I ever planted it and when I’m asked to share starts I refuse.  I wouldn’t wish it on my friends.

The deep pink is an evergreen azalea just coming into bloom.

And this is a Periwinkle bloom.  It’s not growing in the immediate area of the first photo but I thought it was so cute peeking out from between the rocks.   There were surprises and little delights everywhere I turned today.

I’m so glad you could stop by for a little time in the garden.  Tomorrow I’ll be out there again but I’ll have some stamping to share tomorrow night.  Thank you for indulging me today.  Be well and I’ll see you again soon!

I shooed away these visitors last night before I went to bed and again this morning before I went to work.  When I came home for lunch these two siblings were sunning themselves on the lawn, no doubt their bellies full of the most tender Spring green morsels my garden had to offer.  They stood up to pose for a picture and to listen to a car drive by on the other side of the hedge.  Gee, it didn’t seem to bother them at all when I pulled up in the driveway…in full view…just a few feet away.

I think they’re wise to me.  I don’t spray them with the hose, as has been suggested, or chase after them shouting and waving my arms; I simply step outside and tell them sternly to go find something to eat in the woods.  They listen very closely, politely, even…

When they’re satisfied I’m done having my say, they twitch their ears, flip their tails and head toward Mom, who’s usually browsing in another part of the yard.  The photo below is one of the youngsters again, still in the garden.  I guess I can’t blame them for not knowing where the woods end and the garden begins, as if it would matter to them.

They ate all my Trillium today, the white flower I pictured in a post the other day.  I don’t have nearly the mass of blooms I’ve had in prior years.  Just when I think I’ve found a flower they don’t care for, they take a liking to it.  Honestly, it doesn’t bother me as much as it used to.  Sometimes it’s a little like living in a Disney movie with all the critters around…sigh…I persevere…  Have a wonderful day!

Does it look like she hasn’t been used in a while?

Poor thing.  She looks downright abandoned, like an old car gone to ruin in the weeds.  But she started up just fine and went to work today.  The old girl’s still got some life in her.

Happy Spring!

Just a brief garden moment…  It’s been a beautiful day here on my little stretch of the Oregon coast.  There’s apples cooking down to sauce in the crock pot, the air is crisp, the neighborhood quiet.  I went out to trim the hydrangeas and found only one bush ready to cut back.  These are from two different bushes.  The reddish flower is from the same bush I pictured in September.  It started out purple, then turned the delicate shades shown in the photo below.  Now it looks like this.  When will I be able to trim it?  These hydrangeas are not giving up to Fall easily but my, oh my, they’re so pretty!

Here’s that hydrangea as it looked in September:

It goes through quite a metamorphosis and every stage is beautiful.  I hope you’ve been having a wonderful day, too.  I’ll be back later with a card!

I promise I’m going to post a card later tonight.  But, dang, isn’t this pretty?  I just had to share it with you.  I was trimming the spent blooms from my hydrangeas today but this particular hydrangea aged so beautifully.  How can I call this a spent bloom?  It’s exquisite!  This is why it takes me so long to get anything done in the garden.  I get lost in things like this.  There’s a Georgia O’Keefe quote I have in a stamp:  “When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it is your world for a moment.”  She is so right.  Back to my other world now…sigh…

Just a couple of garden photos I took this morning.  Gee, September must be pink month.  I do have blue, white and coral out there, too, but this is what caught my eye.  These look a lot like lilies but they’re Amaryllis, commonly known as Naked Ladies — so called because the stems have no leaves at bloom time.  In early Spring the leaves will fill their garden spot, then gradually die away over summer.  In late August Plum colored stems emerge bearing the buds that open into these lilac-pink pretties in September.  I think these are pretty common.  Maybe you have some, too?

The next photo is Autumn Joy Sedum.  It looks great all summer while the buds are green, but in late August/early September they open all soft and fuzzy pale pink, turning gradually darker as the season advances.  These have been open for a few weeks.  Can you believe it’s the middle of September already?

Back to stamping shortly…have a fine day!

It’s been a while since I shared a garden photo.  In fact, I missed the whole month of August when the Oriental lilies were in bloom.  I took this photo when these Coral Bees first opened but I just never got around to posting it.  They’re done now and the September show is underway.  I have no garden photographs yet this month, although I did spend most of today in the garden.  It’s winding down for Fall but there’s still a lot going on out there.

It’s early evening where I am on the Oregon coast.  I’m going to have a little dinner and then finish a card I started last night so I’ll be back later.  See you then!

Before I start stamping I just want to share a few garden photos from today.  It was one of those incredibly still and beautiful days we get before a rain.  Mostly overcast but warm and so quiet you could hear the buzz of a bee in the far distance.  I must have been the only person home in the neighborhood today, too, because there weren’t even any of those sounds.  Maybe everyone stayed inside, put off by the overcast sky, thinking it a dreary day.  It was anything but a dreary day in the garden.

The first photo is a view of the upper level of the side garden.  To the left of the photo the garden slopes down, accessed by a set of brick stairs and a grassy “road” with a terraced bed between the two.  I’ve shown glimpses of those areas in photos I’ve posted before.  I’m standing near the honeysuckle arbor where the path curves around to the back yard.  The yellow bench in the distance sits on our tiny patio off the kitchen and beyond that the path curves around the front of the house toward the driveway.

This photo is across the path, sort of skipping over top of the sunken area and looking to the upper level beyond it.  Our stone walk is a work in progress.  I envision it cushioned with steppable ground covers, making the path more a part of the garden, less raw and glaring.  It can actually be quite blinding on a sunny day.  It’s paved with Rocky Mountain Rose Quartz and looks like it’s sprinkled with glitter when the sun hits it just right.

Let’s go around to the front of the house, now, but rather than curving to the right behind the yellow bench in the first photo, we’ll step through that little break between the butterfly bush and the Rose Glow barberry.  We then enter a grassy area where the picnic table sits under the cherry tree.  I’ve stamped out there before but I’ll confess, the garden does distract me.  These words by Morpheus express it so well:

When bright flowers bloom parchment crumbles, my words fade, the pen has dropped…

I posted earlier that I’d make quick work of my gardening today so I could spend the afternoon stamping.  Who was I kidding, I wonder?  I simply cannot resist the lure of the garden on one of the few days I’m able to enjoy it.  I guess I’ll be doing some evening stamping after dinner…  Until my next post, take care and enjoy your weekend!

It’s been a while since I shared any garden photos so I thought I’d do that today.  I’ve been home from work this week, a little vacation from the daily routine.  I spent some time with friends and family, did a little shopping and stamping, finished a book, watched some movies — mostly all the same things I try to stuff into the work week but without the schedule, the hurrying and the sleep deprivation.

Throughout all of it was my desire to spend time in the garden.  Nothing is more calming and tranquil for me than my garden sanctuary.  Everything just melts away in the middle of all that green.   Today was one of those days.  The forecast said rain and when there’s rain in the offing it’s always preceded by the most gloriously exquisite day.  I live on the Oregon Coast and our property is situated not far from the ocean, very temperate and when the thermometer reaches 70 degrees, we’re getting pretty warm.  If it’s 80 degrees I get downright sluggish.  Almost every year we have a lone 100 degree day and our world almost stands still.  Today was in the upper 60’s — room temperature.

The first picture is one of the easier areas to photograph in the middle of the day because it’s in the shade.  Those sunny spots might look fabulous in real life, but a photo from my little digital camera without a polarizing filter winds up looking pretty washed out.  The shady areas are never quite ablaze with color but I love all those different shades and textures of green.  The chartreuse froth under the orange lilies is Lady’s Mantle.  I planted it there but it reseeds like crazy and it’s become the foundation of much of the garden.  It’s everywhere, but very welcome.  Everything looks good with it.

The second photo is a section of the front walk.  I’ve shown you this area before, but I can never get over the glory of this barberry.  I trim it into a rounded shape every year in March and it erupts into this riotous display by June.  Beyond it is the gray-green foliage and purple blooms of a butterfly bush.  I hope you’ve had the pleasure of sinking your nose into the soft cushion of this flower and inhaling its fragance (but, hopefully, a bee didn’t have the same idea at the same time).  The scent of these flowers transports me to another time for some reason.  It evokes a memory that I can’t quite put my finger on.  I’ve puzzled over it many times; I can smell the memory, but I can’t visualize it.  It’s very pleasant and comforting, though.  It’s always been lilacs that I associate with my Mom, but I can’t figure out this butterfly bush…  I’m sorry the camera washed out the pink cranesbill across the path from the butterfly bush.  Try to imagine those big purple blooms bowing over the emerald carpet, nearly reaching into the cloud of pink.  That path is like a gateway to a secret garden.  Turn left and you enter the area shown in the first photo.  Turn right and…well…maybe we’ll go there later.

Finally, the last photo is a companionable pair I look forward to every year — purple smoke tree and spirea.  They’re in the front walk, too, but not included in that photo.

Sadly, the wheelbarrow now rests against its tree behind the garden shed and the gloves are in their drawer.  My week at home is done.  I feel very fortunate to be able to come home for lunch on the patio and you can bet I’ll be walking out there with my coffee in the morning.  It’s my equivalent of yoga.  This week will be nice with Wednesday off for Fourth of July.  Not so bad.

I hope you all have a good Monday.  I’ll bet you’ve already been doing fun Fourth of July stuff!  Usually we’re hearing a lot of firecrackers by this time, but nothing yet.  I’ll see you back here for Ruby Tuesday.  Take care!