signage

The Most Wonderful Sign that my son and daughter-in-law gave me years ago now has a more prominent place to sum up my yard; the blue wall of the studio. This blue wall is begging for more cool mermaids.. not Little Mermaid kinds of mermaids but funky ones like this gal made of old tin ceiling tiles, parts of dinnerware and medallions.

Born Again Shed.. updated

Amazing what a little paint can do! There are a few boards on the west side that are now literally held together with paint molecules.. the dry rot being very real and very spongy. My only worries are the BIG olive tree limbs that loom over the little studio. I'd love to have the tree guys come prune them back but I am still recovering from the bill from last fall's Whole Day of Pruning.

Recently there was a little Sunday afternoon gathering here, in which old friends met new friends, books were exchanged, wine was consumed and much laughter was heard. I should do this once a month.

Transformation

Two Ladies of A Certain Age decided that the old gray/pale blue studio was just TOO BORING so.. out came the collection of "oops" paints from OSH and Emigh's and Home Depot and... TA-DA!

Nice, ever-so-cute (we think) studio just begging for people to partay around it. We aren't quite done yet... is anything ever really done?.. We wouldn't want to run out of things to do, for Heaven's sakes. (Have I ever mentioned that I have the BEST neighbors?)

upside down fence

Is it just me or is this fence upside down? All these many years I thought the "dog ears" were supposed to go on the top.

too much digging/raking

There are way too many projects on the current list and I've way too few brain cells to know when to quit. The old Azalea grove is being dug up. Between the age, (mine as well as the plot),the deer and the drought, it turned into a patch of dead branches and imbedded roots. The plan is to dig all that mess out and make a simple labyrinth. Need to get that olive stump out of there too.

The chasmanthe and sticky willie grows rampant in this 25' x 75' alley. Believe it or not, I had mowed, once, in the spring. This week I got out there one morning with a rake and built a pile of fire hazard 4' tall and 5' wide. (Amazing how much one can cram into a 90 gallon Green Waste can) This stuff isn't fit for my compost piles as it is chuck full of weed seeds.)

The same view after the mowing and raking and mowing and raking episode. Still need to haul those olive limbs off. They have been there for a couple of years now so I can almost handle them. anybody want some Dietes? (Fortnight lilies, aka African iris) Come dig it up and its yours.

Yet another project. From here, I removed an ancient fence, a small forest of Mahonia, a LOT of Vinca Major, some Billbergia nutans and some Bletilla striata. This is to become a bermed area with agaves and other "dry" stuff. I still need to dig out that Mondo grass and move it to a shady spot. (this WAS a shady spot until I had the leaning tower of cedar removed.) My problems are that I cannot clone myself, day laborers are not in the budget, and I sub-luxated a rib a couple weeks ago and I keep forgetting to wear the back/ribcage brace when I pick up shovels and rakes. Now it feels as though there is an ice pick lodged under my right boob but it only hurts when I breathe. Or move. I can't seem to formulate an actual design for this spot either, other than "berm or berms, decomposed gravel, and all those currently potted agavies and stuff".... which reminds me, the deer ate another little pot of succulents last night. It wasn't a "known" but I think it was in the euphorbia family... hope that deer has a bellyache this morning.