Musings, Mischief and Mayhem

Garden Update

Karen — Wed, 02 May 2012 15:02:12 +0000

I promised pictures of my gardening efforts, so here you go.

Two weeks ago my garden looked like this:

And then last week it looked like this:

And yesterday I took these pictures:

The initial transplantation was a bit traumatic for the pepper and tomato plants, but now they are looking much healthier. And the beans are coming up! My other gardening areas that are against the house are not getting as much sun and are much slower in sprouting, or at least I hope that is the case. I did notice a radish seedling poking through, but so far no squash or lettuce or chard. They will probably all appear while I am gone and hopefully Bill will be faithful in watering them!

My flowers are doing well also. I posted pictures of my snapdragons last week. I also have daisies along the back wall of the property

Do you like the pot? It is a wastebasket that I bought for 99 cents at the thrift store!

And petunias on the patio

And geraniums on the patio

The geranium pot was slightly more than 99 cents!

Along the back wall is also a window box of bright yellow marigolds (large blossoms) and another window box of mixed cut flower seeds, which are beginning to poke up out of the dirt.

I have plans to grow an herb garden with some mints for tea and smoothies, but have put off obtaining any supplies until after I am back from my trip to Alabama. May is going to be family visiting time! I only wish Bill was able to go, but hopefully he’ll be able to make the next trip.

My New Lovely!

Karen — Tue, 01 May 2012 18:01:43 +0000

Look at my lovely new ring!

Back in the early 1990s, I lost the stone in my engagement ring while swimming in Smith Lake in Alabama. Replacing the stone would have been easy enough, but was never a high priority, especially with tight budgets. Over the years I had decided I would rather just replace the ring itself and began dreaming of what that ring would look like. I knew I wanted it channel set. My thought was to have five stones, one for each member of the family, using their birthstones. I’ve looked at Mother’s Rings several times, but never cared for the settings.

Last week I took these new-to-me earrings to the jeweler’s to see if they could clean them up.

Aren’t they pretty? I love the Celtic look of them, which is why I bought them, or rather, why Bill bought them for my birthday.

Anyway, while the jeweler was cleaning them, I looked over the displays and espied my ring! Well, not exactly, as it didn’t have all the different birthstones. But it had sapphires, my favorite – three sapphires, one for each child, and two white topaz for Bill and I. I asked to try it on and I have to admit, I was hooked. But I tried to resist!

I told the saleslady my thoughts on the different birthstones and she said that this ring could not be changed, but what I wanted was a Mother’s Ring. She brought out that display and the order book that showed many more settings, but again, I didn’t like any of them. They all seemed too much. I wanted something really simple, like the other ring. I thanked her for her time and went on my merry way.

That night I told Bill about the ring and that I was thinking about going back and getting it. His response was, “If that’s the ring you want, then get it.” So Saturday we went back and I bought it.

I think I am going to have to have it sized a bit smaller, but I’m wearing it for a few weeks to see and then I can take it back in for sizing if I need to.

Isn’t it beautiful?

Flowers and Vases

Karen — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 23:34:59 +0000

I promised some garden pictures this week and so here are the first. I planted snapdragons two years ago and they did fairly well. Obviously they self-seeded, as they appeared again last year, when I mostly ignored them, watering them only occasionally. This year they came up again and so I decided to be nicer to them. I’ve watered and pruned and they are looking very pretty.

I am glad I decided to pay some attention to them this year, as they are making lovely cut flowers.

I bought this lovely vase a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been lamenting that I didn’t have any small vases (so many of my vases are still in storage in Alabama), so when I saw this pretty blue one, I just had to snatch it up.

My cousin Roberta knows me well. Look what arrived in the mail yesterday for my birthday:

A handcrafted green vase. I love it! We both have a penchant for vases of flowers around the house, something we learned from our mutual grandmother, Mabel, which my cousin wrote about just yesterday in her blog, Eleven Point Pink. Thank you so much, Reb, for the lovely vase.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Karen — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 19:21:07 +0000

Since today is my birthday, I thought I would gift you all with a self-photo.

I’m wearing new (to me) earrings and necklace that I picked up at a consignment store in Bisbee over the weekend.

And a hair wrap that I bought at the Celtic Festival in Phoenix that David and I attended last month. I definitely need to work some more with the wrap so that it gets easier to use, but I love the way it looks.

Not the best shot, but hopefully you get the idea.

Today will be a quiet day, just the normal assortment of laundry, paperwork and housework. I planted the last of my seedlings this morning, two tomatoes (I will post pictures of my garden later this week). We did our celebrating Saturday, when we went to Bisbee for shopping and dinner with friends.

Liana Rose

Karen — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:18:29 +0000

We are the proud grandparents of another granddaughter! Welcome to the world, Liana Rose Gibson!

April 11, 2012
12:09 pm
8 lbs. 6 oz.
20.5 inches long

She missed her Grandpa’s birthday by just one day!

Miracles Do Happen

Karen — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 15:00:07 +0000

Once or twice a year a desktop appears!

Amore Arizona – The Weather

Karen — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 18:04:47 +0000

This morning I am glued to Facebook and the steaming video from WHNT 19, a television channel in Huntsville Alabama. Already this morning there have been tornado touchdowns in the north Alabama area and the day is only beginning. Do I really miss the weather of the southeast? Well, some days, yes, I do miss it, but today is not one of those days. Today I am enjoying a typical southeastern Arizona March day; crystal clear sky, light breeze, sunshine and temps expected to get to sixty (which is actually a bit on the cool side for this time of year).

In January I was able to repot my plants outside on my patio.

In February I was picking bouquets of pansies.

Winter can be cold here. Our first winter here (2009-10) was very cold, with too much wind and too much snow for my taste. But the subsequent two winters have been mild, with only a few very cold days and just a light dusting of snow on the Huachuca Mountains to the west of us. Spring and Fall are beautiful weather-wise and Summer here in Southeast Arizona is almost like living in the southeast, with temperatures in the 80s and 90s and a lot of moisture in the air with the Arizona Monsoon. Other areas of Arizona have more extreme weather; Tucson and Phoenix get very HOT in the summer, with days and weeks on end over 100 degrees and the northern areas of Arizona often get massive amounts of snow in the winter. So I am grateful that we live where the weather is quite pleasant most of the time, avoiding those extremes.

More Crochet Heart Jewelry

Karen — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 17:49:12 +0000

I have so many crocheted jewelry ideas tumbling around in my head, yet when I go to make them, I either don’t have the type of yarn I need or it just doesn’t work out quite like I thought it would. It is a bit frustrating, but fun at the same time. Here is what I made Saturday:

The earrings on the right are made with size 2 yarn, as are the hearts on the necklace. It works well for a pendant, but is too big for earrings. I really need to get some size 1 yarn. The earrings pictured in the circle of the necklace were made with size 10 thread, which seems to be about the right size. I tried a lot of different things with beads until I settled on just the two at the bottom of each heart. My beads are too big for the size yarn, yet too small for the needle I have; I had to thread them by hand, which was not fun!

I wore these out to dinner Saturday night (the necklace and the beaded earrings) and my two female friends immediately commented favorably on them. Now whether they are just humoring me or not, I don’t know!

I have one last row to finish on granddaughter Liana’s baby blanket, so watch for a picture of that in the next few days. And then Munchkin has requested baby doll blankets to cover her baby when she is riding in the stroller. All the blankets she has are too big and hang over the edge. We can’t have that, can we?! Munchkin helped pick out the color of yarn from my stash on Friday (Skype on a laptop is so wonderful!), so as soon as I finish Liana’s baby blanket, I’ll whip up a couple of Munchkin baby doll blankets.

Mint Espresso Beans

Karen — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:28:48 +0000

These should come with a Surgeon General’s warning that includes the words “highly addictive” and “too delicious”!!!

Busy Weekend in Phoenix

Karen — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 19:15:45 +0000

We spent this past weekend in Phoenix for a multitude of ventures, all of which were successful! While Bill was taking another certification test (he passed), I spent a few hours shopping with my cousin Reb. She helped me hunt for crochet and crochet-jewelry-making supplies. I think she was a little too helpful! We visited three craft stores (none of which we have here in Sierra Vista) and here is what I brought home:

I still do not know what I’m doing or what I’m going to do, but I have ideas and the books here will help, I think. I purchased items with Miss Munchkin in mind, as she has requested jewelry (more heart necklaces) in dark pinks, purples and blues. She requested black also, but somehow I forgot about that! Anyway, I picked up a variety of types of threads/yarns and some beads and even some feathers, as Munchkin loves feathers.

Saturday evening we attended the Grand Canyon Square Dance Association Festival in Phoenix.

To help celebrate Arizona’s 100th birthday, the Grand Canyon Square Dance Association brought in Rex Allen Jr. for a small concert before the Saturday evening dancing. I really was not familiar with his music, but knew that his father, Rex Allen Sr., was one of the singing cowboys in the 1950s and I assumed his music might be similar. He sang some of his dad’s songs along with many of his own, some of which both Bill and I recognized from the 70s and 80s. We really enjoyed him and I will definitely be looking for more of his music in the future. If you ever get the chance to hear him, be sure to do so. He has a beautiful singing voice and gives a very entertaining concert.

In the spirit of my goal of contentment, I will post a link to Rex Allen Jr’s song, I Love You, Arizona. This song has been adopted as one of the official state songs and it is a beautiful song. It is also a nice showcase of Allen’s voice, along with some gorgeous pictures of Arizona.

Rex Allen Jr., I Love You, Arizona

Sunday we took David out for brunch, picked up some things at Trader Joe’s and The Vitamin Shoppe, and then headed home. I have declared we are not going anywhere next weekend! It is Speedweeks at Daytona, with the Daytona 500 on Sunday, and I am ready to stay put for a few days. Two weekends in a row driving around the state is enough!