Unsung Heroes

It was my intention today to chat a bit about all the folks besides the athletes involved in the London Olympics. Reeves Wiedeman from the New Yorker beat me to it. Actually, he, and I'm presuming the author is a he, mostly points out some odd jobs involved, however, I was thinking more broadly.

Earlier this year, Matt submitted his application to volunteer at the Games. That's my boy! Except, when the schedule arrived, with a time frame for accepting or declining, he had to say no. The hours were not like most volunteer jobs you may have been involved in, rather at least 40 hours per week split between two daily shifts: 6AM to 3PM, and 3PM to 12AM. Hmmm.....no time left to use all the expensive tickets already purchased. Which, by the way, in case you are wondering, were distributed very randomly last year. That, my friends, is how it was that he and Tom found themselves watching fencing, and women's boxing, two sports which, if given the choice, would probably not be in their top five. That said, I'm pretty sure that all of the events they have attended have been fantastic.

So, he did not volunteer, but hundreds, let's make that thousands of folks did, and they deserve hearty applause. More so now that you know the hours involved right? It's hard to know who is actually paid for being involved isn't it? The judges, the timekeepers, ball boys and girls, and the myriad of other jobs involved in making it all look so effortless. I keep thinking of how stressful it must be to be a referee.  And, of course, there is the matter of transport, which as many of you know, Tom has been involved with, for, I'm thinking three years of planning. My understanding is that all that planning has paid off beautifully with transportation working like a charm. Of course, the minute I type that sentence I came across this little problem. Striking during the Olympics? Not cool.

Earlier today I caught a bit of the "marathon swim" which is, yet another, remarkable sport. How fantastic it is that in the middle of Hyde Park, women swam back and forth, covering more than six miles? I seriously can't understand anyone not enthralled with the chance to see "world class" athletes showing off their incredible talents.

In other more mundane news, since Bruce began working from home, his desk has had quite a work out. The other day he decided that having glass over the top would be a good idea, so, after finding a glass man, he awaited his arrival to make a template. He came, he made a template, however, before he could do so, Bruce had to clear EVERYTHING off his desk which proved to be quite a job. It is not that he isn't neat, but he does love his decorative objects. Removing everything, including all the cords needed to make everything go, he then tackled the under the desk cord problem.

You know him,  before long he had everything just as neat as a pin.

The cardinals continue their shedding ways,

while the African violets continue their blooming ways!

The middle lavender ones were the last to show their pretty faces. Speaking of blooms, I know in the past I've shown you the night blooming cacti, as well as the dragon fruit the blooms become. Yesterday morning during my ride I came upon a stand that was particularly amazing.

While stopped to photograph the scene, a woman walking her dog said that she'd done her walking an hour or so later the day before and they were all closed. An incredible display! And you thought I was only going to show you photographs of homes that were a bit sketchy.

I'm so glad I took this photo of my dahlia because today there is not one bloom. :-(   Hopefully, the cycle will begin again because I've been fanatical about dead-heading.

My writing was briefly interrupted while I watched the first half of the US Women's National Soccer team play Japan for the Gold Medal. Amazingly, Matt is there seeing it in person, along with 85,000 others in Wembley Stadium. For his birthday I sent him two packages of small American flags to wave at the events but now I see my little offering was just that. Little. The flags most folks appear to be waving are full-sized versions, not the little puny ones on a stick I sent! Speaking of flags, I learned the other day that the color of the Olympic Rings are representatives of the colors in all of the world's flags. How about that for a little trivia?

Off to the living room to cheer on the women who have a 1 goal lead at halftime. GO USA!

Peach Pie for Breakfast! Oh My!

Because I had both lovely peaches and blueberries, I made a pie yesterday afternoon combining the two, using a store bought crust. Rarely do I not make my own crust, and after this pie, I suspect I won't be going this route again any time soon. There's really nothing like home-made is there? Instead of a top crust, I made a crumble using crushed vanilla wafers and old-fashioned oatmeal, butter and cinnamon.

Now before you go getting all high and mighty about having pie for breakfast, I told Bruce that with the addition of ICE CREAM, it was almost like having cereal for breakfast, only in a different form!

Both of us thoroughly enjoyed pie for breakfast, in fact, I imagine it won't be the last time this summer that we do so!

Before I ate my decadent breakfast I went for my ride, which if you're counting, I'm up to 170 miles since beginning this experiment. For once I was up early, early, as in like 5:30, so, waiting until daylight I took off, riding down Summerlin, around the curves, parking my bike alongside Lake Pineloch at sunrise.

Dave and Michelle live directly across the lake, as does Bill. This morning, perhaps because we finally had a nice rain last night, the air was fairly pleasant. I started to say cool, but you knew that was an exaggeration didn't you? Speaking of the oppressive heat, normally inside our back gate, the temperatures are a wee bit cooler than the rest of the yard. I can't imagine what the thermometer would have read had it been on the outside of the fence!

Of late, my cardinals have been somewhat elusive. Where could they be? Remember when I wrote the post entitled  Our Garden Birds, using Matt Sewell's title? Well, I sent that post along to Mr. Sewell and he replied in clever fashion, sending me the link to his charming post, Cardinal By Matt Sewell. Needless to say, I was delighted.

The red-winged blackbirds have not been as scarce, but now that I say that, it's mostly the males that screech their way around the yard.

Oh, I forgot to tell you, the townhouse has lost it's ground floor! Despite all of our efforts, going so far as to add a squirrel baffler above the feeder,

the wily squirrels somehow, which neither of us have actually seen in person, jump between the baffler on top of the feeder. Every now and again one of us will look out there and there is one of them, happy as a clam, eating away. So, now it's a two story affair, after being knocked to the ground!

Damn those pesky squirrels!! I lied, here's a cardinal. Just not so many. :-)

The garden is looking sadder by the day. Despite multiple blooms, my beautiful ivy geranium is going by the wayside any day now, with brown leaves like mad.

I am, on the other hand having some excitement indoors. Only about a week ago, while at the market, I told Kathy that the African violets I purchased from them didn't seem as if they would ever bloom again. But, then this happened:

Mind you, only one of the three is doing this, but I'm calling it a small victory! Jim tells me that sometimes they are just using their plant energy to grow leaves rather than flowers. I'm wondering if the mottled leaves below should be removed? Knowing nothing whatsoever about the plants, I need to do some research. I've heard that some folks become obsessed with African violets, adding more and more to their collections. Somewhat like orchids. Which brings me to another exciting development!!!

I was pleased as punch when I bought this orchid from Jim, even more so now that another stem is forming with blooms! This was ten well-spent dollars!

Finally, my birdie mobile has a new home:

Cute, huh?

We've discussed ad nauseum my horrible memory; let's add one more item to the list of things nearly forgotten. Thank goodness, while eating my pie, I was reading the newspaper, more specifically, The Calendar section which lists the around-town happenings. Before falling asleep last night Bruce asked me if I wanted to go on a date tonight? I answered, "we'll see." Good grief, I'd already planned a date, buying tickets last Friday for The Pitmen Painters at the Mad Cow Theater!! What happened was that I tried to purchase them for last weekend, only to be told that all the shows were sold out. The helpful young woman on the phone asked if I'd like them for tonight which seemed like a good idea at the time. You can well imagine how disappointed I would have been once I remembered after the fact. Not to mention the wasted cash outlay.

The lawn is mowed, finished soon after eating that big, fat, slice of yummy pie, and the clothes are soon to be on the line. Life is good.

New Floors and Walls

When Jonathan called on Tuesday evening to let me know the quilt arrived safe and sound, he asked what I was doing. Painting. "Really," he replied with a hint of skepticism in his voice. He thought I meant artistic painting to which I replied that I only "paint" with food coloring. If he'd had time to think he would have surely figured out that his mom is always re-doing something around the house.

But before we get to me, let's see what Mr. Bruce has been up to. I suppose because he was home all last week he had time to look around a bit. Just as Bruce and I do, an older home needs constant maintenance. I don't mind being older so much just as I don't mind one bit living in a 51 year old home, it's just that there's more upkeep required for both situations! Anyway, Bruce decided the garage floor needed paint. When he decides to do something, it's a big one. Moving what he could on Sunday afternoon, we did not unload the vehicle when we returned from the market so that what is ordinarily stored on his big saw table  could make room for everything movable in the garage. Staying up later, at least for us, on Sunday night, he scrubbed and scraped the floor. In an highly unusual move, he took the holiday off, at least from Darden work. Rising early, he got to painting.

It looks good folks.. See the poster on the cabinet? On a trip to London almost eight years ago he asked the proprietor of a pub if he could take it home. His idea of a souvenir.

As you know I'm a story lover from way back. An older home is full of stories. Old bits of paint, wallpaper, flooring, cabinet linings. I like that kind of stuff. The next owners of our home will wonder what the heck were they thinking when they did__________. You fill in the blank. Nevertheless, we do our projects with gusto all the while thinking they are super despite what future generations will think!

Following the painting we took a trip to Ikea for some sort of rug to put in front of both the bench and the washing machine. Just because it's a garage doesn't mean it can't be nice you know. While there we looked, measured and pondered about ideas for my office. How about this? How about that? Color??

That's it! Bruce left early Tuesday morning as I mentioned and when I woke up that day, it hit me that the reason I was struggling with ideas is because I had no color scheme. You know where I went. Sherwin Williams, my favorite paint store. Actually before I left the house I had pretty well decided on yet another green room with the white table and black accents. What can I say, I like green?

While there I did pick up some new HGTV paint cards seeing if they had any power to sway my decision. They did not. The green I had in mind was a bit what I'm calling "minty", however after a consultation with Angela, who by the way, hardly had to stand on the stool to tape these bits to the wall, I made my decision. You see, I needed something to match my robin's egg blue ceiling which I did not want to do away with.

My choice was the bottom left one even after Angela tried to dissuade me from painting yet another bedroom green. You know how much the paint color means to me if you've been reading this blog for any length of time; this one, "Cucumber" is no exception. Crisp, cool and light. Perfect.

You also know full well that when I get an idea I act upon it immediately. Back to SW, paint and new brush secured, and let the painting begin!

Ordinarily I use the brushes we have but I had a coupon and the desire for a new one. Good decision. A sash brush works like a charm at the ceiling line. I learned from Bruce not to be afraid, load the brush up and make big strokes and you are get to go. I did what I could without Bruce being here to help me move things, working until well after dark.

I couldn't wait for the morning light to see how it would look. I was pleased. The funny thing about color is that although as a whole the room looked gray, it had a lot of lavender undertones as you can see on the right. Wednesday I got around the corner on the left and half way around the room on the right. Bruce will spray paint the shelves a crisp white. Not the total slacker as far as spray painting is concerned, I took down the old mirror and spray painted it black.

I was puzzling about the curtains, whether to use the plain white tab tops, or go with something a little jazzier.  After another trip to Ikea to buy Bruce an additional rug after we found the first one worked so well, I chose these striped ones, however, after looking at them for a day I've decided they will not work, mostly because the heavy fabric is too much around my desk. I've packed them up and yet another trip to Ikea is in store for today. Good thing the store isn't far! When I discussed it with Angela the other day she tried to dissuade me from going jazzy, saying as always I have too much going on, but I'm ignoring her advice. There's another pair there that I think will be perfect. I like jazzy. Will all this spiffing up make me a better writer or photographer? Probably not but it makes me happy so that's something.

Another project underway was the preservation of the cardinal's nest I found in the yard. While chatting with Matt on FaceTime Monday afternoon I showed him the nest. He seemed duly impressed, going so far as to look up how to preserve it. (Imagine in the future when I die and the kids have to go through my things!!!) Humoring me, he found the best way was to use Mod Podge, a 70's throwback if ever there was one. Mix it with water and spray, letting it dry between coats were the instructions I remembered. And so I did. The above link is one I want to visit again so I can use up said Mod Podge.

How wonderful is that nest I ask you? Amazing piece of architecture.

Yesterday I skipped bridge. Didn't want to but something had to go. One of my problems is I'm constantly getting sidetracked taking photographs. Everything inspires me. I tell myself--"Self--NO MORE!!", yet I pick up the camera in between everything. My windowsill is a constant tease.

See those adorable African violets I got from Jim and Kathy on Sunday at the market??? All week they kept begging to have their photograph taken and I've complied, trying different lighting situations. I'm pretty partial to bright.

And then there are the morning walks with Baxter. The other day we went down to the lake where I saw this cool lake mussell, or that's what I think it is.

You know those cardinals keep me from getting things done!

The best and worst idea I ever had--putting the Nuttery where I can see it all the time. The robins were back this week, however, they were too high up in the oaks for my lens. Maybe they'll come down to earth one of these days.

So, last night I forced myself to work on the prints. The picture isn't great because I took it at night but I would like you to notice the black boxes on the floor on the left side of the table.

Woohoo!!! While starting the sprinkler the other afternoon I glanced over--lo and behold an orchid from last year is blooming proving there is a FIRST time for everything. As you can imagine I was delighted.

Okey dokey--off to Ikea to exchange the drapes and try again. Mr. Bruce returns this afternoon. Talking last night on the phone I mentioned how happy I was that he'll be home soon to move the furniture and such. Whoops!!! I'm happy honey just to see your smiling face.

More about floors next time,
Gail