So, this is our new "stair landing".
It provides a nice place to kick off shoes and sit on a nice afternoon to enjoy the view of the gardens and birds and of course, cats running through the tunnel.
Long Live the Queen of Decks...er, stair landings
Living and loving the desert life.
Saturday, June 16, 2018
All Decked Out
One of the many rules in this park include that there are no "decks" allowed. You may have a 50 square foot "stair landing" in addition to your steps.
So, this is our new "stair landing".
It provides a nice place to kick off shoes and sit on a nice afternoon to enjoy the view of the gardens and birds and of course, cats running through the tunnel.
Long Live the Queen of Decks...er, stair landings
So, this is our new "stair landing".
It provides a nice place to kick off shoes and sit on a nice afternoon to enjoy the view of the gardens and birds and of course, cats running through the tunnel.
Long Live the Queen of Decks...er, stair landings
Friday, June 15, 2018
Free Outdoor Concerts
In our little town of Otsego, population about 16,000 there are many opportunities for shopping and entertainment. And if we can't find it here, we go into Elk River, population about 25,000, which is right down the road.
One of the things I'm looking forward to are the free outdoor concerts on Thursday nights in Elk River. Not only does this sound like fun, but the staging couldn't be prettier.
It is set right on the banks of the Mississippi in downtown Elk River with concrete seating and grassy areas to set up lawn chairs.
This should be a fun summer!
Long Live the Queen
One of the things I'm looking forward to are the free outdoor concerts on Thursday nights in Elk River. Not only does this sound like fun, but the staging couldn't be prettier.
It is set right on the banks of the Mississippi in downtown Elk River with concrete seating and grassy areas to set up lawn chairs.
This should be a fun summer!
Long Live the Queen
Monday, June 11, 2018
Happy Birthday Christy
Christy is my oldest daughter and was turning 51. That's right, I had her when I was 12. No, actually she is the best friend of my step-daughter and I've adopted her, making her my oldest child in my new family. She's the one in the center of the photo. She had given me the "Ya Sure, You Betcha" shirt for my birthday last year, so I just had to wear it for this event.
Stephanie (now the baby in our family with my son becoming a middle child) set up a surprise party for her and we gathered at The Lookout for supper and celebration.
You know I love someone when I leave the house after 4:00 to go anywhere, since I tend to be a homebody in the late afternoon and evening. We ended up going to Tracy's house for cake afterwards and I didn't leave there until 9:00 ...gasp!
The place was crowded and tables at a premium, but luckily my granddaughter works there and had secured a table for us earlier.
It was a sweet celebration and I gave the gift of a punch card for pickleball at the Andover Community Center since she had become addicted to the sport earlier. I'll get this family all playing yet!
We had the funniest waitress during our stay who told us the story of her several rescue dogs. One of them would turn and look over her shoulder when she pooped on the floor because she didn't get let out soon enough as if to say "sorry, but this is your fault". We requested her to reenact for the photo.
There is no better time than when women come together to talk, share and laugh.
Long Live the Queen
Stephanie (now the baby in our family with my son becoming a middle child) set up a surprise party for her and we gathered at The Lookout for supper and celebration.
You know I love someone when I leave the house after 4:00 to go anywhere, since I tend to be a homebody in the late afternoon and evening. We ended up going to Tracy's house for cake afterwards and I didn't leave there until 9:00 ...gasp!
The place was crowded and tables at a premium, but luckily my granddaughter works there and had secured a table for us earlier.
It was a sweet celebration and I gave the gift of a punch card for pickleball at the Andover Community Center since she had become addicted to the sport earlier. I'll get this family all playing yet!
We had the funniest waitress during our stay who told us the story of her several rescue dogs. One of them would turn and look over her shoulder when she pooped on the floor because she didn't get let out soon enough as if to say "sorry, but this is your fault". We requested her to reenact for the photo.
There is no better time than when women come together to talk, share and laugh.
Long Live the Queen
Thursday, May 31, 2018
Life in the New Canned Ham
This blog post is SO overdue. I thought I'd get away with weekly summaries with my Sunday summaries, but that was...well...a month of Sundays ago.
I've finally took some photos with the camera, not thinking that my usual setting is in RAW, which is WAAAAAY too big for the internet. So, after fumbling around and figuring out how to change the settings on the camera, I diligently went back out and shot again.
As in my gardens of old I need to add some touches of whimsy here and there, or it wouldn't be my garden. The red jacks above is to remind us to take time to play. Snort...like I needed that reminder!
I'll introduce you to the first garden I did last summer, which is the triangular section you see above, going up to the tree.
In this garden I planted some of my old favorites, like this dwarf goatsbeard.
The newest addition is from the tree going outward. It's not large, but I've managed to create a bird haven with a bird bath, feeders, a wind chime and hanging basket. My favorite are the trellises. I kind of went nuts and bought six of them because I love vines and since it's a small area I can use the vertical space. Mostly because I love vines.
Since it's a shady area I can have my ferns and hostas here that would never cut it in Arizona. Each location has it's one unique beauty.
One of my favorite ferns from before was this Ghost Fern, so that got added to the new area.
And I had to have just one more of the Japanese painted ferns, you can never have too many of these.
This is my favorite brunnera, Jack Frost. He'll get tiny blue flowers but I tend to grow my plants just for the foliage.
I added the variegated Solomon Seal in the back for some height. I love these and hope it spreads quickly along the back border.
Of course, a shade garden isn't complete without an astilbe.
Now let's go to the back of the yard and see what's around the shed.
The purple pig had to come with me, of course. This was a gift from my son. I planted morning glories by him, from seed no less. I've never had any luck doing that, but maybe it was the heavy clay soil I had before. This side area of the shed has bags of garden soil because the soil here is awful as well and hard to dig because of the copious root system from all my trees.
Here's a view of the side of the shed. I have cucumbers planted on the left trellis and there's a tomato on the right side.
This is the back of the shed. In the farm house container sits Bob. He's been with me forever and even though his bottom is busted out now (a toddler accident with the grandkids) he still likes to be around in a planted. Just another senior who needs a little more support.
In the taller metal stand I have a little fairy garden. I'll need to take some closer photos for those to show up, but for now I just wanted to get this blog started again.
These are my "free hostas" that I'm using to line the edge of the driveway. I am a quasi-member of the Beautification Committee here in the park and I assisted in thinning out some of the overgrown hostas and was able to take "a few" of them home.
This has nothing to do with the gardens, but on the other side of the trailer is our cat cage. It's the same cage as in Arizona, so they are used to using it. This allows them to exit through a small window in our living room to enjoy the night air.
Well, that's it for today. I hope you enjoyed the garden tour. I promise I'll update the blog more faithfully from now on with photos of things as they bloom and as things are added. Because I'm sure things will be added. I have some trellises with nothing on them yet and I spotted a park member who has a surplus of ferns should he be willing to part with some.
Long Live the Queen!
I've finally took some photos with the camera, not thinking that my usual setting is in RAW, which is WAAAAAY too big for the internet. So, after fumbling around and figuring out how to change the settings on the camera, I diligently went back out and shot again.
As in my gardens of old I need to add some touches of whimsy here and there, or it wouldn't be my garden. The red jacks above is to remind us to take time to play. Snort...like I needed that reminder!
I'll introduce you to the first garden I did last summer, which is the triangular section you see above, going up to the tree.
In this garden I planted some of my old favorites, like this dwarf goatsbeard.
The newest addition is from the tree going outward. It's not large, but I've managed to create a bird haven with a bird bath, feeders, a wind chime and hanging basket. My favorite are the trellises. I kind of went nuts and bought six of them because I love vines and since it's a small area I can use the vertical space. Mostly because I love vines.
Since it's a shady area I can have my ferns and hostas here that would never cut it in Arizona. Each location has it's one unique beauty.
One of my favorite ferns from before was this Ghost Fern, so that got added to the new area.
And I had to have just one more of the Japanese painted ferns, you can never have too many of these.
This is my favorite brunnera, Jack Frost. He'll get tiny blue flowers but I tend to grow my plants just for the foliage.
I added the variegated Solomon Seal in the back for some height. I love these and hope it spreads quickly along the back border.
Of course, a shade garden isn't complete without an astilbe.
Now let's go to the back of the yard and see what's around the shed.
Here's a view of the side of the shed. I have cucumbers planted on the left trellis and there's a tomato on the right side.
This is the back of the shed. In the farm house container sits Bob. He's been with me forever and even though his bottom is busted out now (a toddler accident with the grandkids) he still likes to be around in a planted. Just another senior who needs a little more support.
In the taller metal stand I have a little fairy garden. I'll need to take some closer photos for those to show up, but for now I just wanted to get this blog started again.
These are my "free hostas" that I'm using to line the edge of the driveway. I am a quasi-member of the Beautification Committee here in the park and I assisted in thinning out some of the overgrown hostas and was able to take "a few" of them home.
This has nothing to do with the gardens, but on the other side of the trailer is our cat cage. It's the same cage as in Arizona, so they are used to using it. This allows them to exit through a small window in our living room to enjoy the night air.
Well, that's it for today. I hope you enjoyed the garden tour. I promise I'll update the blog more faithfully from now on with photos of things as they bloom and as things are added. Because I'm sure things will be added. I have some trellises with nothing on them yet and I spotted a park member who has a surplus of ferns should he be willing to part with some.
Long Live the Queen!
Monday, January 29, 2018
Sunday Summary January 28 2018
Last Saturday we went to see "The Post" with Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks. This was a marvelous movie and spoke of the courage of journalists as they share the news stories of our times.
Sunday was a quiet day, which I've learned to savor. We went to theTex Mex event for supper and watched the Viking game on the big screen in the ballroom and finished watching them lose another chance at the SuperBowl at home.
Monday we had a breakfast special at the patio grille and I got called in to work in the kitchen. We served 167 people that morning, biggest crowd I've ever seen. It took an hour for us to get our food...it was much bigger than they expected. At noon I went to work in activity office, a job I've also come to love.
Tuesday meant shopping with my friend Sandy and then having some Indian food for lunch. Later that night Left Brain and I went to see a performance by Jeanne Robertson, one of my favorite comediennes. She was performing at another park nearby. Finally...another item checked off my bucket list. Here's a clip of the act she did that night, one of my favorites.
Wednesday morning is always coffee and donuts in the ballroom, another favorite ritual of mine. It's not just the sugar either, I love visiting with everyone and singing my announcements. I did that once as a joke and now they've come to expect it. It's always silly and fun.
Thursday I got called into work the kitchen again in the morning. I was able to join the water volleyball group at noon for a couple of hours of laughing and splashing.
Friday was "ladder play", kind of a weekly mini tournament we have in the park. You take your cumulative score for the three games and move up and down "the ladder" depending on your ranking. Later that afternoon I went to Leisure World (a neighboring resort) and met one of my new partners for an upcoming tournament. While playing with her, I also met her other partner and really enjoyed playing with her and hope to join her in future tournaments.
Saturday I attended the Lady's Luncheon, something I've never done before. This involved shaving legs, putting on a dress and wearing a bra. Not something I usually embrace, but it was fun getting to know some new people that I sat with that day. The men all have pretend tuxedos on and serve the meals to us.
Sunday I played with a bunch of people I'd invited from other parks over to our pickleball courts. It was terribly windy, unusual for us here in Arizona and made playing difficult, but we still had a good time and I met some new players.
When I returned from playing our house guest, Larry, had arrived so I got to visit with him and Left Brain. It's so nice to have guests because the house gets a thorough cleaning and I do some cooking.
It's amazing to me how fast the days fly by and soon January will be over and a new month will begin.
Long Live the Queen
Sunday was a quiet day, which I've learned to savor. We went to theTex Mex event for supper and watched the Viking game on the big screen in the ballroom and finished watching them lose another chance at the SuperBowl at home.
Monday we had a breakfast special at the patio grille and I got called in to work in the kitchen. We served 167 people that morning, biggest crowd I've ever seen. It took an hour for us to get our food...it was much bigger than they expected. At noon I went to work in activity office, a job I've also come to love.
Tuesday meant shopping with my friend Sandy and then having some Indian food for lunch. Later that night Left Brain and I went to see a performance by Jeanne Robertson, one of my favorite comediennes. She was performing at another park nearby. Finally...another item checked off my bucket list. Here's a clip of the act she did that night, one of my favorites.
Wednesday morning is always coffee and donuts in the ballroom, another favorite ritual of mine. It's not just the sugar either, I love visiting with everyone and singing my announcements. I did that once as a joke and now they've come to expect it. It's always silly and fun.
Thursday I got called into work the kitchen again in the morning. I was able to join the water volleyball group at noon for a couple of hours of laughing and splashing.
Friday was "ladder play", kind of a weekly mini tournament we have in the park. You take your cumulative score for the three games and move up and down "the ladder" depending on your ranking. Later that afternoon I went to Leisure World (a neighboring resort) and met one of my new partners for an upcoming tournament. While playing with her, I also met her other partner and really enjoyed playing with her and hope to join her in future tournaments.
Sunday I played with a bunch of people I'd invited from other parks over to our pickleball courts. It was terribly windy, unusual for us here in Arizona and made playing difficult, but we still had a good time and I met some new players.
When I returned from playing our house guest, Larry, had arrived so I got to visit with him and Left Brain. It's so nice to have guests because the house gets a thorough cleaning and I do some cooking.
It's amazing to me how fast the days fly by and soon January will be over and a new month will begin.
Long Live the Queen
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)