You Asked For It!

Seriously, not one person felt my pain about the toad. Zero comments. My feelings are hurt. Let's give that story some perspective, shall we?

Okay, here we are in the kitchen/eating area. I am standing in the side doorway, which is the same wall that the fallen vase is on. Which means, awful toad was somehow on that shelf, and made its way to the foyer area, which is the blue wall you see with my black tote bag hanging on the door handle. Imagine if it had made its way into my bedroom!!!! Because no one was kind enough to console me, I'm showing you a roach. Yes, that's right, a cockroach, which I found, of all things, in the pool skimmer this morning.

Take that, non-commentors!!  You better believe that's the last time I leave the front door ajar in the evening, which is how I think the toad got in.

After my ride this morning I got to work on planting and trimming. The window boxes looked bedraggled and needed an infusion of happiness in the form of heat-withstanding pentas and lantanas. Or, so I hope.

You know when there is something that needs to be done for your own good, but you really don't want to do it? That's how I felt this morning. Thwack, thwack went the trimmers, lopping away every last one of my red blossoms on the spicy jatrophas.

It was painful in more ways than one. As I was chatting with Bill on the phone a few minutes ago, I noticed loads of scratches on my forearm. While trimming I saw a bit of blood, but it didn't hurt so I paid little attention to it. There's nothing to be done about it now, but still. I trimmed the plants back because they were covering up the windows, and that is not something I subscribe to. Whenever I see that at someone else's home, I always think to myself that those folks need to get to work!

When you do a remodel, obviously you spend a lot of time thinking about what will be the best for your space. Am I ever glad, despite the fact that my husband is a builder, that we've never built a house, because, believe you me, I'd have a hell of a time picking everything out. Furthermore, I'd spend the next, however many years, wishing I'd done things differently. I do love the ever-present red blossoms, however, perhaps those plants were not our best choice for poolside. They grow so big, so quickly, attract tons of bees, and shed blossoms which end up in the pool. Indeed, you live and learn don't you?

A better shot of how large they had become. No longer my friends. Plus, remember the first time I trimmed them and the sap stained the travertine? I was definitely freaking out. Now, what I do is, wet the patio first, then trim which keeps the sap from taking hold.  It's a good thing that the brown bud allamanda is finally blooming, so we'll still have some color, albeit yellow. I want you to notice the glider. Why, you ask? Well, that's the original color of the furniture which we are slowly changing. So, here's the new color:

I told you it was a weird shade of green. With the morning sun shining on it, it's even more shocking. This photo looks so Florida doesn't it?

Speaking of color, I am a big fan of Crate and Barrel, however, sometimes I think stores such as them are to blame for people going into debt. Why is that Gail? Well, here's some copy from the catalogue that arrived in today's post which makes me crazy.

This fall, we're warming up to a new color spectrum that's more saturated, toned down and easier to live with. We're taking inspiration for the softer geometry that occurs in nature--more relaxed, more organic---and bringing it inside.


What exactly are we to glean from this? Throw out everything we sold you in the Spring/Summer and let's start anew? Really? Plus, how much sense does it make to say more saturated, followed by toned down? Really? I can resist this sort of nonsense, but others without the means to do so, spend, spend, spend. Do I sound grumpy? So be it. I'm annoyed.

Just as I was when the Sentinel ran a huge headline reading, "Suicide by Sugar." I mean, come on, let's all relax a bit. Our forefathers would have been overjoyed with all of our food choices, and sugar has been a part of eating for God only knows how long. Food is not our enemy. Gluttony is.

Moving onto lighter topics, I played bridge with the pros again yesterday and, in spite of some poor playing on my part, I had fun. While I was stopped at Bumby and Corrine Drive I saw this in a front yard, taking the photograph through my windshield which was fairly clean due to recent rains.

How fun is this? Hopefully it brought a smile to your face, unlike my ranting AND the roach photograph!!

Let's see, what else can I find pretty to post? Nothing pretty, but oh so fun. After having the pool water tested I decided to stop at the Community Thrift store a block or so away. While there I ran into my friend Sue which I'll go into in more detail tomorrow. I will tell you she's a regular, and as such, helped me to understand their weird price tags. I was more than happy to pay the $1.24 for this crazy pig which I've put on top of the fridge, and DON"T ask me how there is some dirt up there. Okay?

What a find! I've no idea how old the actual pig is, but there is a date on the newspaper: July 4, 1986. Where were you 26 years ago? The comics are in a foreign language, although what that language is, I can't tell you because I've never seen it before. If I have a linguist in the group, let me know and I'll take another one of the language itself. As you have probably already guessed, I am a big fan of whimsy, sometimes, the kookier the better. So, if this had been a toad figure, covered in foreign comics I might have brought it home. Just don't give me the real thing!