I wiped away the weeds & foam. / I fetched my sea-born treasures home... Ralph Waldo Emerson







Sunday, September 29, 2024

September ~ Blink and You Missed It!

 


Good morning! We've had some grey cooler nights and when I went out this morning I found a sweet chubby bumblebee sleeping in one of the larger zinnia flowers. Stuffed full of pollen and exhausted--or chilled---he woke up when I gently jiggled the stem and seemed ok. Busily working an hour later when the sun tried to peek out. Many of you kindly admired the zinnias' final glory. Especially this palest pink.

Here it is fully opened and pinkening [w damp air damage, sadly] , and then deep rose with the fully developed beehive shaped center. I want to harvest some seeds.


below ~This too is a beauty, ombre shaded from brightest coral  red to fuchsia outer petals, then small yellow center circle instead of a cone.

September has flown by this year. I wasn't ready for pumpkins and cheddar quilts, so I did a fun display of my accumulated tomato pincushion, a harvest note of sorts. 



And covered a throw pillow with a flea market found scrap of Indonesian batik. 


Finding the right bowls prompted the washing of my pumpkin and brown glazed yellow ware bowls. I love them, so pretty!




Note my dried gourds. Every year I buy and save a few. Last year was a small white pumpkin, it sat and mouldered and rotted for a whole year.

I dust of course, constantly, Mo and sand blown in make sure of that [but there it is on the lip of that newly washed bowl, eeek.] And everything gets sticky over the humid summer of salt air blowing in with fine sand everywhere, so I decided to wash collections of seaglass and shells! 


A start on Fall cleaning. No sense washing windows with the wind and fog dregs of H Helene? dampening everything. Problem is, things never fit back in as they were carefully fitted and puzzled in over the year[s]. I got all but maybe 3 of the shells back in their bowl, was quite relieved. Even the fountain got a good wash.

I am almost finished with Mo's Christmas gift neck warmer, made in reflective yarn for dark winter dinner walks. Some drivers are so uncaring. So for some late night reason I succumbed to pretty yarns on IG, and ordered a few  skeins for kiddy hats or mittens. Bright pompoms too. 

My little artist friend wants a neck warmer like Mo's, to match her unicorn hat, but that is leftover yarn plus some glow yarn--so I don't know what I was thinking. Three Birds Yarn Studio  for hats and poms.

The white pom is called Bun Bun. It is intended for Mo's scarf but it's huge, almost as big as he is. I showed it to him and he was scared, lol. I was hoping to hide my poor selvedges of the striped cowl. I'll make a wool pom, or maybe add a wool felt heart instead to cover the ugly seam. Not that Mo cares. Next I want to make him a little snood or hood.


Late summer necklace find. All summer I was wanting the love bead -ish fine African beads, below, to wear everyday with tee shirts, but never could free up buying money.

I was so happy to find this necklace during my dusting binge. The heart is from Arizona, either from my mom or other family when they lived there. I'll wear it instead for early fall. Beads source

I ordered a couple heavy weight winter pants from Old Navy, for when it's too windy for my usual chino cargoes but not cold enough for my snow pants. But the fit is very odd. The waists fit ok, a tad too big, but the rest of the pants are HUGE. enormous. Circus Tent style. And so long! I am tall, what the heck? One pair was denim cargos, I may actually keep them and tailor them to fit. They have great pockets for all my stuff and were so loose I can wear leggings or sweats underneath, depending on how I take them in. But so long, like 6" too long?


Today I may bake cookies, to warm the house and make it cheerier. From Trader Joe:

I'll make the bar cooky version and freeze them for afternoon tea time on coming cold days. Not sure about pretzels as an ingredient. Maybe need some chocolate too?


Mo is happier with the cooler weather despite the mist. We've walked down to the beach entrance almost daily, sit again on the old bench. Just like old times, though at age ten and a half  Mo can no longer jump up on the bench on his own.



Here he is shouting a puggy trademark Ah-Roooo. From his sofa back throne. 

  ''I am happy! I am the King. 
Ah-Roooo, ahrooo! Ahrooooooo!"

Have a great week. You can put your Pumpkins out now, it's okay! It is October on Tuesday. #nopumpkinstiloctober



love
lizzy
gone to the beach....










Friday, September 20, 2024

"It's So Hot...[how hot is it?]..." ~ Zinnia Report 2024


 Hi! It's so hot we couldn't sit out for sewing afternoon. 84* w a windchill--I mean heat index!--of 91*+.
 

And so bright. After the IV treatment I am very sensitive to intense sunlight and being too hot, so I brought Mo in. He was hiding in the shade of the zinnies again.

Weed garden, ick!



Yesterday I had a hummingbird visit! And a yellow swallowtail butterfly as big as my hand. The flower pots are finally bloming and the tiny creatures have found me. Lots of bumblebees too, and sweat bees, wasps, other butterflies.


I drew the ugliest bumblebee in my nature journal, prob have to redo. The bottom bee below is from a book.


Only Two months late the flower pots are brimming and bursting with color.

So many kinds of zinnias, am thrilled and so proud.

These ''cactus'' zinnias are beautiful, big and showy.




As are the pompoms

Traditional large and small. These are the bees' favorites. 



I esp love this palest pink one.


The marigolds are cute and fill in the zinnias' scrawny base stems


This very large pompom marigold is just starting to bloom. It really takes its time! I love its name and color.

\

Not a lot of cosmos but a nice selection of different kinds, from tiny 12" with one inch flowers, to today some pink ones taller than me!

The meadow seeds


are mostly a fail, I got a lot of crabgrass, weed grasses, and what I call chamomile but is maybe chickweed? [tiny white daisy flowers w a yellow centers, really invasive, not cute. ]I did get some baby breath and this new to me tubular flower in red and purple. 

I thought it was a non-hybrid snapdragon precursor but it is ''balsam''. NO relation to a balsam tree that is like a pine tree w fragrant needles---this is a type of impatiens. Who knew? [link:  HERE   mine are delicate not profuse like the ones here]

Assessing results so far:

These grew:



The cosmos grew, the green zinnies may still bloom. I have one pot with buds only, pretty sure they are the greenies.

These did not grow or died immediately [nasturtiums]:

I'm carrying many buckets of water for the flower pots, twice a day.


Today [Thursday / Friday both] was supposed to be cool and drizzly, but instead, this heat wave. No rain on the weather bug predications for the next few weeks.


Short walkies for Baby Mo---see you soon!


love

izzy

gone to the beach....




if you enlarge, click on image, you can see the swarming birds. This was a wind-free buggy night.