Gardening - Sanding - Reading - Bird Watching : Our Lists

Several projects going on here at home. This is the reason for my lack of posting. There's so much to do and I get so involved in what I'm doing that I forget to bring out the camera to take photos. It's good that I'm staying busy, but I do miss posting here on my blog.

I'm trying to grow some herbs, again. This time I'm researching and watching several How To videos and I'm inspired to see the many great people who make videos on how to do anything. Here are a couple that I found very helpful, and will be visiting often.

• MonkeySee: Green Gardening
• GardenGirlTV


I'd recently purchased some basil and cilantro at the farmers market and two days ago the basil was looking pretty bad. I hadn't transplanted them into larger pots right away. I quickly read up on how to take care of both of these herbs. Toot and I went to a local nursery and purchased organic soil. Watered very well and left them outside overnight.

The next morning I woke up to find my basil looking alive again.

So glad I didn't kill the poor plant.

What is marvelous about gardening is that Tootie is enjoying the process as well. She helped me transplant the herbs into bigger pots and watered them. It was an enlightening experience for her to get to see the transformation overnight. She's learning so much and every morning I look forward to our next adventures and discoveries.

A list of what I'm working on:

1. Three paintings. One is a landscape and it's almost finished. I will be posting soon.

2. A new compost heap. This time I'm using greens that my father is saving for me from his garden. He doesn't use any chemicals.

3. I'm sanding and painting our backyard benches. Yes, Kermit Green. Isn't it yummy!

4. Worm compost bin.

5. Reading three new books: The Food You Crave, The Garden Primer, and How to Raise Emotionally Healthy Children.

My Girl's List:

Learning to tell time.
Spelling and writing her name.
Math puzzles.
Creating stories and songs off the top of our heads.
Identifying our backyard wildlife.
Bird watching and paying attention to the different bird calls.
Hula dancing
Made and erupted a volcano out of paper mache.

book cover photos: Google Images (Amazon)

How to cut a Prickly Pear (Tunas)

As a young girl I grew up eating Tunas in the summertime and now I am passing this delightful tradition to my girl. The ruby red ones are delicious too. My mother was the one who usually cut them for us because they have tiny bristles or thorns (espinas) that can be irritating if you pick one up right where the bristles are. Eventually I learned how to cut them with a little tutelage from my mother. At the beginning there were many espinas to remove from my fingers with eyebrow tweezers. I'm a pro now.

These were washed with the rubber gloves I wear to wash the dishes with.

Cut the ends off. It's easier for me to hold from the ends to avoid the espinas.

Cut across lengthwise. About a quarter of on an inch deep.

It's a blurry shot, but you can see how far to cut-Right where the fruit begins.

Gently pull the skin back. The fruit will stay intact as you continue to pull all the way around.

Pull the pear shaped fruit out and you are done. I put the peels in the compost. Nothing wasted.

They are ready to eat.

I've cut this one in half so you can see that it has small seeds in every bite. Don't try to chew them because they're hard. It's okay, you can eat them whole. Some people are uncomfortable about eating the seeds. I've never had a problem eating them. They are juicy, sweet and very refreshing on a hot day. Enjoy!

KarmaTube: Alan Watts on Life and Music

KarmaTube: Alan Watts on Life and Music

A sketch called Ambrosia

Ambrosia

This is a sketch that I've been working on a bit at a time. I'll be approaching this in a different manner. Thinking about adding color on the bond paper. I'm usually transferring a pencil sketch to a watercolor block and adding watercolor and gouache to the second generation. I don't want to go through that process with all this detail. I did the pencil sketch about two months ago when I got sick with a cold. I then went over the pencil sketch with a black art pen. This took several days to do. Now, I've been visualizing how I'm going to add color. It'll be different than my usual applications.

Her feet remind me of my mother's feet. Especially her big toes.

Painting her view.

Ambrosia

My Little Helper and The White Oleander

Here's Dorothy washing dishes. The ball has ended and it's back to work for my chickadee. It's not all glamour around our home. There are responsibilities to be taught and learned. I probably give the impression that I'm always cracking the whip with my Toot. No, I enjoy having her next to me while I'm washing the dishes and she practices on a cup or a spoon. She loves the idea of helping with the dishes. Most of the time she's playing with the suds and water. I do like that her Dorothy dress became her very first apron-Why not.

These are the Oleanders that have been on my mind. I found out that these healthy looking flowery bushes are poisonous. When I found out about this I couldn't sleep that night. All sorts of horrifying thoughts flashed across my mental screen.

They grow on both sides of our backyard. This is a bush growing over the fence from the neighbors yard. Ominous....I try not to look, but they are there and I'm trying to figure out what to do.

Here they are next to my compost bin. Could I have raked some of the flowers and leaves and mixed them with my compost? I haven't used any of my compost on any plants. It's still pretty low, and now I'm afraid to use any of it. Honestly, I haven't had anytime to garden. Anyway, I'm thinking about starting over and moving the bin to a new location.

The movie that kept me up and lost sleep over was White Oleander. I was fine until I watched the bonus features and heard that it grew abundantly in California. It's everywhere! So I looked it up and there it was The White Oleander. Scary and at the same time so interesting. Plants, I mean. I just want to grow a couple of herbs, but I didn't realize that there could be some evil plant putting its noxious branches around my harmless rosemarie. I've got to rethink this whole set up and process.