Saturday, October 18, 2014

Gardening Mojo

I thought maybe I had lost my gardening mojo forever, but all of a sudden, I have inspiration and the desire to be out in my yard and to make something happen out there! FINALLY! And now that I think about it, it was about 5 years in @ Tulip Street before I started attempting a garden there, so I guess technically I am a year ahead.

In my defense, I have had bad luck with landscapers. I am Seriously overwhelmed by the Size of this yard. I had a garden designer come over the first year, and she immediately said she only works on small spaces. We wanted an overall design we could develop over years.

Then I found a landscape architect who owned a nursery. Jason and I met with him and really hit it off. Long story short, he got a divorce, sold the nursery and left the coast before drawing a plan for us.

Last year, I met the guy who owns the company that mows our lawn. He's also a landscape architect, and we also really hit it off.  Even knew some of the same people from Mississippi State. After several tries, I never got a response to emails or phone calls. His brother told me months later they got some big commercial contracts and are too busy.

UGH !!!

So for now, I have decided to GIVE UP and just start sticking stuff in the ground. I can't take it anymore!!

Of course there is a second problem with this plan. There are NO nurseries on the Coast to speak of. Well one, Pine Hills, which is Ok but still smaller than what I am used to in Baton Rouge.

Today Jason and I had to go check on our house in Baton Rouge, so while we were in town I went to Clegg's (one of my favorite nurseries EVER) and went nuts!!

I am SO EXCITED!!

Almost all of these plants are going in the completely neglected courtyard off our living room. The plan is to make this a mostly white garden. Usually we are only in that room at night, and I love how white glitters and glows in the dark.
If you need me tomorrow, I'll be out in the sunshine getting down and dirty and starting what I know will be just the thing to make my soul sing!

Buddleia 'Black Knight'
Colocasia 'Coffee Cups'
Colocasia 'Coffee Cups
Colocasia 'Coffee Cups
Clerodendrum 'Blue Butterfly'
Clocasia 'Electric Blue Gecko'
My fav! White, Red, and striped flowers all on the same tree!
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Friday, October 10, 2014

2014 Reading So Far

GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!  Technology is SO FREAKING FRUSTRATING!!!  Plus, I have a cold and I feel like crap, so I'm cranky and impatient.  (More than usual, I mean).  But a while back I bought myself a fancy new Samsung Note 10.1 2014 Edition (Fancyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy) and learning to really use it has been a CURVE.  Here's what I did, though.  I hand-wrote this list of stuff I have read so far this year, and it converted it to text.  Then after MUCH RESEARCH and GNASHING OF TEETH and WHINING, I figured out how to post it directly to this blog so WOOT for me!!!!!  

Here's the list in reverse chronological order.  No ratings, no comments.  If it's on the list, I liked it enough to finish it.  I'm too grumpy to make a comment on each one right now. 

I have a few favorites; One More Thing - Stories and Other Stories - B.J. Novak is AMAZING and I loved it all.  The Good Lord Bird may be a contender for my top 25 ever.  It was sweet and moving and FUNNY.  I actually completed an art journaling challenge page based on this one I loved it so much.  

When Women Were Birds also had some beautiful writing.  Rabid made me terrified to ever leave my house.   Traveling Sprinkler is typical Nicholson Baker and I loved it.  

And yes, I listened to the unabridged version of Infinite Jest.  All 56 hours and 14 minutes of it.  AND the footnotes; an additional 7 hours and 29 minutes.  Loved it just as much as I did when I read the hard copy a few years ago.

A lot of these are "fluff" reads.  I like mysteries/ suspense in the summer and I got on a Liane Moriarty kick. And earlier in the year, a Robert Aspirin kick.  It had been WAY too long since I read the myth adventure books, I needed a refresher. And a zombie kick.  Cut me some slack.  There is plenty of "literature" thrown in for good measure I think.  

1>  4th of July Creek- Smith Henderson 
2>  Three Wishes-Liane Moriarty 
3>  Heft- Liz Moore 
4>  Louisiana Longshot - Jana DeLeon
5>  This is the Water- Yannick Murphy 
6>  The Winter People - Jennifer McMahon 
7>  The Secret Place- Tana French 
8>  What Alice Forgot- Liane Moriarty 
9>  Big Little lies- Liane Moriarty 
10>  The Edge of Normal- Carla Norton 
11>  Rabid- Monica Murphy, Bill Wasik 
12>  The Husband's Secret- Liane Moriarty 
13>  Beautiful Lies- Lisa Unger 
14>  The Outsourcer's Apprentice- Tom Holt 
15>  Savage Harvest- Carl Hoffman 
16>  The Devil All the Time- Donald Pollock 
17>  600 Hours of Edward- Craig Lancaster 
18>  Watching You- Michael Robotham 
19>  Why I Left Goldman Sachs- Greg Smith 
20>  The Farm- Tom Smith 
21>  Eleanor & Park- Rainbow Rowell 
22>  Code Talker- Judith Avila, Chester Nez 
23>  The Wrath of the Just- Manuel Loureiro 
24>  The Wicked Girls- Alex Marwood 
25>  The One I Left Behind- Jennifer McMahon 
26>  Dark Days- Manuel Loureiro 
27>  One More Thing - Stories and Other Stories - B.J. Novak 
28>  You Should Have Known- Jean Korelitz 
29>  The Beginning of the End- Manuel Loureiro 
30>  Everything's Eventual- Stephen King 
31>  The Woman Upstairs- Claire Messud 
32>  The Interestings-Meg Wolitzer 
33>  When Women Were Birds: Fifty-Four Variations on Voice- Terry Tempest Williams 
34>  As I Lay Dying- William Faulkner 
35>  The Secret History- Donna Tartt 
36>  Wonder Boys- Michael Chabon 
37>  The Scar Boys-Len Vlahos 
38>  Divine Misfortune- A. Lee Martinez 
39>  The Talented Mr. Ripley- Patrica Highsmith 
40>  Myth-ion Improbable- Robert Aspirin 
41>  Myth-Alliances- Robert Aspirin 
42>  At Night we Walk in Circles- Daniel Alarcon 
43>  Myth-Taken Identity. Robert Aspirin 
44>  Class Dis-Mythed- Robert Aspirin 
45>  Myth-Gotten Gains- Robert Aspirin 
46>  Myth-Chief-Robert Aspirin 
47>  Myth-Fortunes- Robert Aspirin 
48>  In The Blood- Lisa Unger 
49>  Telegraph Avenue- Michael Chabon 
50>  10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in my Head...- Dan Harris 
51>  Siddhartha- Herman Hesse 
52>  Practicing Mindfulness: An Introduction to Meditation-"Great Courses" 
53>  Fangirl-Rainbow Rowell 
54>  The People in the Trees- Hanya Yanagihara 
55>  Blood Will Out- Walter Kirn 
56>  Steam-Terry Pratchett 
57>  The Good Lord Bird- James McBride 
58>  Traveling Sprinkler- Nicholson Baker 
59>  Fiend: A Novel- Peter Stenson 
60>  This is Where I Leave You- Jonathan Tropper 
61>  May We Be Forgiven- A.M. Homes 
62>  Serpent of Venice- Christopher Moore 
63>  This Book Will Save Your Life- A.M. Homes
64>  Missing You- Harlan Coben 
65>  Infinite Jest- DFW
66>  Broken Harbor- Tana French 
67>  Croak- Gina Damico 
68>  Monster: A Novel- A. Lee Martinez 
69>  Scorch- Gina Damico 
70>  David Foster Wallace: In His Own Words- DFW 
71>  Rogue-Gina Damico 
72>  The Book Of You: A Novel- Claire Kendal 
73>  The Boy Who Could See Demons - Carolyn Jess-Cooke