Yearly Archives: 2022

…………………..Just saw “TOP GUN MAVERICK”…..EXCELLENT!!!! A must see in an I MAX theater!

……………At the beginning of the season I said to myself I’m not going to buy as many pansies as I did last year….but I did…….Then I said OK you’re not going to buy as many summer flowers to plant in the pots and  the garden…..I didn’t listen to myself and bought over 170 plants…….Now I will wait for my credit card bills to start showing up!!! I’ll probably say the same thing next year!  ….but when I try to cut back it looks so bare! I always liked an abundance………can’t help myself!

…………….That sad time of the season has come when I had to say goodbye to the Pansies…..I make sure I’m not around when Franco empties the pots. I always made sure Jac wasn’t around when this transition took place. She would have kept the pansies until they were a straggly mess, but June is here and it’s time to plant the summer flowers……..Now I can just enjoy them until the fall and watch them grow.

………….I have seven pieces of caste iron that I display in the garden……two chairs and a table…..a large bench….a stand table [next to the bench]…….a stove that I use as a planter, and a tall but small plant holder. I have had all of the pieces for years and some of them are outside all year round…..They were starting to get rusty, and were not looking their best. I was thinking of having them professionally refinished, but then I thought I needed a project, and I could do it myself……I got wire brushes and metal scrapers, and got to work…….Sammy enjoyed her Daddy time and sat and watched me at work. When all of the pieces were wire brushed, scraped and sanded I power washed them to get all of the dust and remnants off. I let them dry in the sun for a day. The next day I started to spray paint them with rustoleum……When that was dry I spray painted them with satin finish white paint…..two coats! It took a few days, but it was worth it. All of the pieces look brand new, and they look great with the new fences!

…………………..The stove belonged to my mother in law, Marianne. It’s a real stove, and I often wonder how it was used. The plant stand [photo third in at the bottom] also belonged to my MIL. I know she and Jac would be very happy to see them now…..looking brand new……There are bird houses scattered around the garden. Jac and I used to collect them. It wasn’t anything serious, but whenever we saw one that was interesting we’d buy it. There are some on the sun porch in the house that I don’t bring out, because I don’t want them exposed to the elements…….The garden is looking really pretty. It’s so nice to just sit on a lounge chair in the sun, and listen to the birds……with Sammy by my side.