south dakota tropics

whew! another 100 degree day on tap! i don't know about you, but this pretty much zaps my energy...i feel like laying with the afghan on the couch most nights. kind of ready for fall.

one thing that is totally THRIVING in this hot weather is my little grouping of cannas. these came from a lutheran rummage sale in a parking lot this spring - $3 for 3 bulbs. the tallest one is now quite a bit taller than me.

the thing about cannas in SD is that they are OLD SCHOOL. for the life of me, i cannot figure out how or WHY a bunch of farmer wives had access to bulbs for tropical plants in the middle of the prairie. but most all of my family (farmer roots) had them.

i would actually KILL for a photo that is seared into my brain of my mom and dad's two-toned green trailer house (the one that i came home to when i was born) in the middle of summer, lined with giant red cannas as tall as the roof. that photo does more to describe the aesthetic i have today than anything i can ever remember.

they were simply that good and memorable.




and now, here i am at fern, circa 2012, with dead grass and dead ferns and sad trees with their leaves falling off, and thirsty pots of half dead annuals and THESE. these beautiful perfect plants that i water the heck out of every day, and am getting so much enjoyment from.



sigh. what a good summer.

orange you glad?

mondays are funny. mostly, i am not a huge fan of them, but sometimes, like today for instance, they don't seem so bad. i guess because i have some sort of fun projects to work on this week, and no major storms on the horizon (hopefully).
plus, i got something accomplished over the weekend....orange something!

it happened on the way to sprucing up the white trim on the windows, so that i could paint my garage door with a pop of green. the paint chips have been laying on my desk for awhile now, and finally i had a day to take the project on.

in a moment of genius (ha) i discerned that it was possible to add a third color into the mix, by separating out the trim around the windows. all good news, but what color?

in the late 70s, we had a bright orange garage door at our house. my mom and i still laugh about the oddness of that door in a WTH kind of way!!!! our excuse to this day is 'well, it was the 70s.'

i'm not sure what my excuse will be when the subject comes up. what i do know is that it's going to get either way better, or way worse when i paint the garage door to match when i get some time this week.

what i also know is that it will be fun to say 'it's the tan house in the middle of the street with the orange garage.'


or maybe i won't tell, i'll just let newcomers GUESS which one is mine. pretty sure they'll be able to figure it out :)


happy day!

quarter turn

ah. finally a day of complete rest...and boy do i need it. i have plans to paint some of my trim on the house, but it looks like rain. a good excuse to delay for awhile, anyway.

in the meantime, i have noticed the slow 'creep' of the creeping charlie coming back into my newly mulched landscape. that stuff is vicious. i spent an hour last night on the internet, googling and reading with much dismay that you cannot 'instantly' kill this stuff. and even trying can sometimes wreak havoc with the rest of your plantings. i had visions of a mass field of cc when i went to bed last night, and a small but growing feeling of failure.

this morning, i walked out into the yard to do my 'coffee look' at things. i bent over, and pulled up a couple of the weeds. then a couple more. then i hunched down to get a better grasp, placing the weeds in a neat pile so that i could dispose of them. then, more. then, i started talking to God while i pulled. before you know it, i was sitting in the midst of the garden, pulling and talking, pulling and listening, pulling and being.

something happened to me out there, just then. the thirst that has captivated me for the last few weeks started to be satisfied. i listened for the birds. i realized the air was cooler than it has been for a few days. i seriously felt my blood pressure SLOW DOWN.

and the weeds? after an hour or so of this activity, they were gone. oh, i know that they will come back in some fashion...but isn't that the way with sin in our lives too? at one point, i was MIRED in it. it stuck to me like sweat on a 100 degree day. and even now, when i feel the most 'clean' - i cannot stay that way except for a moment.

the reality is that i have to slow down, bend down, and get with God to do the work. It's not magic. there is no 'spray' that can instantly take it away. but surely as someday i will see the end of the creeping charlie, so is it with the sin in my life that i keep chipping away at...and the sins that i have yet to even begin to deal with.

i guess that God is the ultimate 'weed b gone' - :) and guess what? he is free and available where ever you might be today.

happy weekend!

In returning to Me and resting in Me you shall be saved; 

in quietness and trust shall be your strength.

Isaiah 30:15

back from the wild blue yonder

well, hello there.

it's been awhile, eh? i have missed you guys. i realize that i like remote relationships alot. perhaps that is because i have been in 'people' mode for the last week or so, and am ready for the introvert hibernation period that MUST happen in order for me to get back to normal.

anyway, all of the people i've been spending time with are A.W.E.some. just awesome. i'm so blessed to have such great friends. friends who i don't take photos of, btw. however, here is what we have been up to:

 okay, well i did take one pic. of kersten at the brookings summer arts festival, and a guy....sucking his thumb? hmmm.....no wonder i take pictures of plants and cats instead.

 i bought a skinny tree at the arts festival. maybe it's one of those things you have to see in person :)

 and then after kerst left on monday, i went to bible study. that was nice, except for when the cops showed up. har. that is my friend rachelle 'explaining' :)

and then, it was off to rapid city for a quick excursion. carey and i discovered that we 'brake' for elk, and made a quick trip through bear country (which i had never toured before).

the baby bears were especially fun. although we both got a little excited to see bears, wolves, elk, and a couple of rowdy buffalo, too.

and then a most delightful dinner with my blog friend cher! she is even better in person! and she gave me the most delightful set of photographs which i am going to cherish and really enjoy. i have to get some framing done, but you can see how she sort of 'gets' me :)

sigh. and then home again. i'm very much looking forward to a slow, back-to-normal weekend. i have some plans to paint a bit, palette is above. hopefully i'll have some progress to show you guys next week!


have you ever really just deeply thought about how grateful you are for the people God has set in your life? i have, and i am :)

see ya later, VBP!

i thought i'd show you a snippet of what *vbp* looks like. i am hoping and praying today it leaves my house forever.

it's kind of hard to believe i missed nearly a month of my life IN THE SUMMER because of *vbp*

good news is that from now on, i will dance in the sunshine and make crafts :)

*update* VBP is approved. and it's actually smaller than my big toe. wow. surprising.


ps. and i need a pedicure. stat.

green day

sigh. tired.



i am hoping for about a 24-hour nap soon.

in the meantime, i hung some new artwork.

it's vintage, natch. $6 bucks for the 2 pieces.

i kind of liked the whole thing, i get the feeling someone started, but did not finish what they had planned.

it seems like he/she was a confident painter, though. bold strokes.

it really is very simple and nice in person ;)

small things, but good things.

i will survive

schwew. monday here. all the promise of another hectic week, just what i wanted.

actually not. things are looking pretty good. but *VBP* is winding down, with emails over the weekend from various elements of client-land, including the pres of the fine institution for which i am working.

i must decompress in situations.

and frankly, i don't really work full days on the weekend...full disclosure. so in the in-betweens, i found some things to do.

....like eating. first of the garden veggies are in. the tomatoes came from a roadside stand, though.

 

whatever you do, stay away from these. i had one, and then wanted to have 3.

rounding out dinner with these. to be honest, after drinking one of these, i don't get much of anything accomplished :)

i stopped at a thrift store and saw him for $1.25. he's upside down, and i'll bet you still recognize him!

and here he is on my shelf. he's greener than he appears in the picture. and somehow, i do not believe he is a life-like rendition of HIM. but he makes me laugh.

and then i got a fishtank. those little minnows in the back have renewed the interest...but it's been 25 years since i had a tank! i am worried i am forgetting things!

it's nearly impossible to photograph fish with an iphone. esp. after drinking the woodchuck.

here is my little 'shy' guy - he likes the plastic plant life.

except for when i am looking at him. then he decides to get even further away from me!!! but 4 fish purchased, 4 alive so far. that is a good start to the week!

alive and well!

oh, hi. i know, i haven't been around much lately. that is because of the *very big project* that hopefully will go away next tuesday.

after that, i can already tell i will be going from 110 mph to 10 mph. sigh. oh well, perhaps the change will be good.

there are things still happening on the back forty.

for instance:

there are some 'purpley' things rani, just not doors ;)

crunchy, crunchy, very dead grass. and some very alive little morning glory weeds. at least there is something.

green beans! must. pick. today.

tomatoes too! quite aways away from ripe, but still....coming.

no pumpkins though, as my very big/cool pumpkin plant has been attacked. so very sad to see it just die within less than a week. curse you, squash borers!

4 little fishies of 10 are left. not super good odds, but the remaining seem happy enough.

siesta says 'oh hello - are you going to let me roam wild yet???!'

paint away your stress!

i know there is a recipe for this kind of thing - too much work, fear of failure, and piles and piles of anxiety. it goes something like this, right?

spa day

latte with friends

leisurely walk in the park

road trip to the beach

in my head, i KNOW the recipe. but for some reason, MY recipe for stress relief always seems to look like this:

uh-huh. spray paint. i used to be kind of afraid of spray paint, but thanks to blogs and pinterest, i have overcome my fears.

perhaps I have gone a bit far, but it did feel good. here's the scenario. remember back july, the first time we saw fern?

she was cute, but that vertical plastic 'siding' on either side of the entryway REALLY bugged me. what may have been intended to be a 'feature' was really, really bad. really.

and the house numbers did NOT help. plastic. PLASTIC. like the house. with pencil marks (where they were crookedly placed) and multiple drill holes showing. yikes. oh, and touch-up paint on the tan plastic. nothing says 'welcome' like that hot mess!

so, first thing i did was buy some new house numbers last year. last. year. and they were kind of cool looking, sitting in the drawer. then, i put em on a shelf in the living room where they were still cool. not super functional, though.

so, time to install. they ARE cool! unfortunately, they had zero visability from the street. which technically, i suppose, is the point....

only one course of action to take, then....spray paint!

after multiple trips - lowes, ace, home depot, and multiple choices, and some quick taping off and swoosh of the spray can, here we are.

wow. that is all i can say. suddenly, i like my house. it was like taking years and YEARS of grandpa out of the house with a can of spray paint (or 4)...



next up, those shutters have got to go! but seriously, gotta tell you, the stress is nowhere to be found :)


happy monday!