First Sale of the Season

I had to make a trip to Home Depot, and on the way I saw my first yard sale sign of the season.

Whoo-hoo!

Well, not so fast.

It was actually a moving sale and most of it was kid crap (as hubby and I call it).  Children's furniture, books, and toys, most of which was in sad, sad shape and should have been remanded to the garbage pail.  The few adult (as in for kids over 12--not X-rated) stuff was overpriced and not very clean.

What a disappointment.  I've been waiting six months for a yard sale and this was just so unexciting.  Still, I'm already looking forward to next weekend and hoping the local news rag is full of people in the throes of spring cleaning.

How about you?  Been to any good yard sales?

Heaven knows, I'm not the most successful gardener, but despite the tomato blight (and Mr. Groundhog eating 90% of my Brussels sprouts), I had a good year last year.  And this year I've decided to jump the gun on gardening season by planting snow peas.

Long ago, in a neighborhood far, far away, my parents were organic gardeners and they grew snow peas.  I must admit, in those days, I didn't pay much attention, but I did enjoy the bounty.  (All except asparagus, which they told us kids was "an adult vegetable that you won't like."  So I didn't.  Until my husband introduced me to it.  Now I realize there was a limited crop and my folks just wanted to keep it for themselves!)

I live along the shore of Lake Ontario and it isn't unknown for there to be frosts in late may, let alone early April, so the idea of planting now seems pretty foreign to me.  But the package (and Google) insists that these are a cold weather crop and into the ground they can go.

So, if the sun continues to shine, I will be out today with my little hoe and rake and plant my seeds.  

I can't wait to reap my harvest.

April Fool's Day!

Ugly fence

Now that spring is officially here, I've got a hankering to go out and play in the garden.  But the thing I see the minute I walk out the door is my fence. 

It's the world's ugliest fence.  It's chain link and about 40 years old and it's rusty.  I've thought about spray painting it silver, but thought that wouldn't be so kind the the environment and waste a lot of cans of spray paint.  I was wondering if I should just get a roller and go over it.  At least that might use less paint.

Anybody ever have this problem?

My lack of success as a gardener

I’ve always wanted a green thumb. Both my parents could produce flowers and vegetables by barely lifting a
finger (okay, hauling 50 lb sacks of manure might help them out a bit). They planted things and they flourished for years. I plant something and it shrivels and dies in days. (Or it’s eaten by bunnies, ground hogs or …
something mysterious we haven’t been able to identify. Probably an alien species sent to Earth to thwart my gardening abilities.)

Take for instance the once-lovely primrose I’ve had for a little over a month. The day it arrived home it was flourishing with big purple and yellow flowers. Now it looks like this. Did I water it enough? Too much?

Mind you, I have had a few successes, but I really can’t take credit for them. I inherited a rubber tree when a friend at work retired. It existed (you can’t call what my plants do “living”) in our dining room until all but four leaves had dropped off. With nothing left to lose, I tossed it out on the deck and forgot about it. It thrived on neglect and natural rain and humidity, thinking it had landed back in its homeland. I bring it in for the winter and it goes back to existing until late spring rolls around and the threat of frost is minimized.
Then it goes back to its happy lifestyle for another three to five months (depending on when fall arrives) until I have to bring it in once again.


My Christmas cactus never bloomed and looked ill when I tossed it, too, out on the deck last May. This year it’ll bloom twice. (Although this second blooming won’t be as magnificent as last fall’s.)  I find it amazing that I haven't killed it since it came in last  October.

On this first day of spring, I’m hoping the primrose survives. If it makes it, it’ll go outside (I’m having a novena said for it). I’ve also got another cactus that can go out on the deck. So far, it has a much better gardening success rate than me.

Happy First Day of Spring

Hugs from,

The fun of the planning

Wednesday was shopping day.  Here we are only days from spring and the "seasonal" section of the supermarket was all decked out for summer.  Excuse me, but we still have an entire season to go before we get to summer.

But the one thing I was eager to investigate was the seed rack.  For several years, I've been trying to find Kentucky blue (pole) beans.  I've only been able to find Kentucky wonder, which were good, but not as good as the Kentucky Blue.  Yup, the store had them, and I bought three packages.

I usually grow potatoes in a bin, but this year I think I'm going to put them back in the ground.  Instead, I'm going to try to grow leeks in the bin.  It's the same principal, you cover them up as they grow, so they'll grow taller.  This should be fun.

But the most exciting thing is snow pea seeds.  I've never grown them before, and they're a "cold" weather crop, so I can plant them in the next couple of weeks.  (And hope the rabbits don't get them.)

Meanwhile, Sunday I'll be talking about some other plants.  Stay tuned.

CONTEST UPDATE:  t was a very tough choice for who would get the giveaway pictures -- Hubby picked Gert's name out of the hat.  Congratulations!  Please contact me at ivybend2@gmail.com and give me your address so I can mail them out.  Thanks!

HAPPY ST. PADDY'S DAY!

A nice, BIG pot of soup

For a month or so, I've been saving the carcasses from our roast chicken dinners.  So much, so, that they were beginning to fall out of the freezer and bonk me on the head every time I opened it.  Today I figured, TIME TO MAKE THE SOUP.  I filled the big kettle with water and have been boiling the bones for hours now.

The whole house smells lovely.  The only problem?  There'll be far too much soup for our tiny freezer.  Mother to the rescue!  She has a full-sized freezer in her garage.

I am I the only one who makes enough soup to feed an Army?

NEW MOON

According to the calendar, tonight is a new moon.  I probably won't be able to see it because the weather calls for rain and cloudy skys ALL WEEK LONG.  Still, rain will bring the flowers, and I can't wait to get out in my garden and start cleaning up from the winter and planting my veggies and annuals.  Of course, in this part of the country that means another two months.

*Sigh*

But I'll leave you with a picture of the new moon anyway.  I can always dream about it.

PICTURE GIVE-AWAY

For many months now, I've had a grocery bag hanging from the door knob on my office closet.  It's not unusual for bags (gift, grocery or canvas) to hang from door knobs in this house.  In fact, once, when I still had a day job, my husband sent me pictures of every bag on a door knob in the whole house.  It gave me a very welcome laugh at work.

But this bag had treasure in it.  Forgotten treasure. 

I tend to buy little pictures in gold frames.  Don't ask me why--I have no idea.  I guess I just like them.  But the thing is, I've run out of wall space for these treasures.  So how about a give away?

Here they are.  All you have to do to enter, is leave a comment. and on Friday I'll pick a comment at random and announce the winner

I love you, Mr. Robin ... but ....

We've had mild temps for the past week (mild being over 40).  The snow, that's been at least two feet deep for at least six weeks, has finally started to melt (or evaporate--I'm not sure which) and slowly my yard is beginning to reappear.  Of course, now it's supposed to rain for the next week, but that doesn't bother me as much as snow.  And, for writing purposes, it's much easier to work when it's NOT sunny and pretty outside.

The daffodils have poked through the dirt, but even that isn't much of a sign of spring.  Last year my daffy daffs poked their little heads out in January.

What really makes it seem like spring is one the way?  Birds.  Suddenly there are a lot of birds around.  And they're tweeting.  AND WAKING ME UP BEFORE I WANT TO BE UP AND AWAKE.

Of course, this is just a prelude to April when there'll be even MORE birds sitting on the pine tree outside my bedroom window and starting to squawk about 4 a.m. and continue until at least 7.  Cute as they are, hopping around the yard, looking for worms or looking for building materials for nests, couldn't they sleep in until 8 or 9 and THEN become industrious?

Oh well.  I suppose it's a small price to pay for sunny days and warm temperatures.

If you live up North, have the birds returned to your town?

Doesn't Everyone Want To Smell Like A Toilet Deordorant Cake?

Why is it whenever I like a product--really like it--it gets taken off the market? (Garlic flavored "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter," Reynolds plastic wrap with the easy slider cutter; ice tea flavored Gatorade?) And if they don't take it off the market, they "improve it."

Lots of things DON'T need to be improved, and I ran across one yesterday when I went to ... ahem ... color my hair.

I've been using Nice'N Easy #116A for about 18 years. Okay, I tried to be a redhead for a while, but even though there have been redheads in my family, it just didn't suit me, so back to #116A it was. I've been very happy with the product. They changed the conditioner a few years back, which was okay (but they give you a million times more than you need, and I usually just toss out the newest tube.)

Hubby always complained about the smell. "Ick--like chemical green apples." I got used to it and after a couple of hours, the bathroom doesn't smell anymore and life goes back to normal. Yesterday I used the NEW AND IMPROVED Nice'N Easy #116A and ... quite frankly, it stank. Stank like those little deodorant cakes you hang from the side of the toilet bowl. But ... eventually the odor dissipated and life went back to normal.

EXCEPT -- I could smell my hair. Just a whiff now and then, but it's really revolting. I took the cat to the vet and all the time wondered ... can the vet tech smell my hair? I was awakened in the middle of the night and what did I smell? MY HAIR. LIKE THOSE LITTLE DEODORANT CAKES YOU HANG FROM THE SIDE OF THE TOILET BOWL.

I've been quite happy with this product for almost two decades. Maybe this bottle was a fluke. But next time I use it, if I end up smelling like a deodorant cake, I'm switching brands.

Anyone got a suggestion?

Oh, how I love brown transferware

A couple of weeks ago, I was in Michael's looking for something to hang christmas ornaments (yes, I do realize I don't need to do so for another 10 months), and saw they were selling calendars for 30 cents.

Yes, THIRTY CENTS!

Well, I'm not one to turn down a bargain when I see it.  This calendar is about collectibles, and this month's picture was of brown transferware cups with a couple of quails.  When I saw it, I immediately knew I had to have it.

You see, I've got this thing for brown transferware.  I collect it. I've got some really old pieces, and some quite new ones.  I have a bunch of brown transferware plates hanging near the ceiling in my dining room. (Here's just a sample (above).) 

 But even cooler, when I studied the quail pattern, I realized I have a piece of quail pottery in my transferware collection.  My mother's friend gave it to me to sell back in the days when I had a booth in an antiques arcade, but I loved it too much to part with it. 

As you can see, it's marked FURNIVALS QUAIL 1913 -- I don't think it's that old--but I've been wrong before.  It has other markings, but I haven't yet investigated them.  I just like it and think it's pretty. 

It's getting harder and harder to find the older brown transferware for reasonable prices (probably because so many decorating magazines keep telling people it's worth a LOT of money).  Then again, my definition of a reasonable price is a lot lower than these magazines.  And have you noticed that the magazines based in New York tell you that something is reasonable when it's under $2-3,000.  Yikes!  What real person has that much to blow?  Not this girl!

But that won't stop me from keeping my eyes out for more transferware.

What do you collect?

HGTV Magazine?

Yes, just what we all need--another time sink.  It's not enough that I'd live in front of my TV 24/7 watching Spice Up My Kitchen, Divine Design, Rental Property and International House Hunters, now they want me READ all about the shows I've missed (like Neighborhood Curb Appeal, ad nauseam) in HGTV Magazine.

And you know what:  I'll do it!  Just let me sign up for it.  Now.  In fact, yesterday!

I've actually dumped a lot of my magazine subscriptions.  These days I'm only getting Victoria, Tea Time, Celebrate, Romantic Homes, and yes, I've sighed up (after a long absence) for yet another subscription to This Old House.  (And for some inexplicable reason, I'm getting Country Living again . . . but I never asked for or paid for it.)

Actually, that seems like quite a few magazines, doesn't it.

Hmmm.

What magazines do YOU read?