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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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