My wandering mind.

I went out this evening to water my potted plants. I love the quiet of the evening.  We have a lot of construction going on next to us. Started last Oct. and probably won't be finished till next May. Turning our old school into 34 apartments. Talk about noise. Lots of noise, jackhammers, tractors digging here and there, and various other machinery doing their thing. But they start at 7 a.m. and work till 5:30 p.m. so evening is quiet. And cooler. Our cool weather of last week is gone, summer is back. The hint of fall was a nice break from the summer heat. I am sure it will be back before we know it. But in the meantime, the heat has returned, which means we have to water more often, again. Anyway,  sorry I got lost,  back to where I was going.On the north side of the house, there was a big, very yellow swallowtail fluttering from flower to flower. I just had to try and get a picture of this fellow. Here are the results.

He really seems to like all my Balsam plants. They are pretty. Watching him work was a nice way to end a nice day.

Take care,

Rose

Do you like working on puzzles?

The sun is out. Haven’t seen it for a couple of days, which is a good thing. It started raining during the night Wednesday and we had almost two inches of rain by morning. It was a beautiful rain. No wind, no lightening, no hail, just nice gentle rain. And boy did we need it. And then it rained a bit more overnight and this morning to give us a tad over two inches. It is a bit cool today as it was yesterday.  Definitely feels like fall instead of the middle of August.

Yesterday, with the clouds and rain, was a perfect day to the start the puzzle I bought back in July. It was one of the things on my list “of things to do when I retire”. Boy, it is going to be a hard one. One thousand pieces, 39 x 19 inches in size. Plan on hanging  it above the table in our “new entry/puzzle room. It will be perfect there. Of course, it might be awhile.  I haven’t even got the border done. Hubby helped some this morning. That really surprised me since he made it clear that he doesn't like puzzles. He even found a few pieces. Hopefully that hooked him. I sure could use the help. I am beginning to think I should have started smaller. After all, the biggest puzzle I have put together in years has been a child’s 100 piece one.

This is how far I am.

And this is what it will look like when I am done.

When I was a kid, we always had a puzzle in progress on the dining room table. The whole family worked on it. When one was finished, another was started. Did you work puzzles as a kid? Do you still work puzzles or are you not a puzzle worker?

Have a great weekend,

Rose

Are you Superstitious?

A friend and I were visiting the other day and superstitions came up. I never considered myself a very superstitious person but as we talked, I began to think maybe I was, a little bit. My mother was a very religious person but she was very, very superstitious. She had many and I suppose it did rub off on me. Here is a list of some of my superstitions.

Spilling salt-I never can remember which shoulder you are supposed to toss a grain so I toss one over both.

Killing a spider in the house will bring rain- This one hasn’t held true lately here in our part of Iowa.

Opening an umbrella in the house brings bad luck-During her first year of college, one of my daughters came back to her dorm room during a rainy day and found open umbrellas up and down her hallway. Well, you guessed it; she went up and down that hall closing all the umbrellas. She made Gramma proud.

Breaking a mirror brings seven years bad luck- I have broken so many mirrors, especially during my teen years, that I would have to live to be a thousand to use all those years up. Remember the mirrors in compacts of pressed powder. Somehow, those didn’t last for the life of the powder for me

.

Black cats crossing your path- In the past, we have had two black cats. The last one lived for 14 years. Always considered myself a fairly lucky person and I sure crossed their paths many times.

Four leaf clover brings good luck- I have carried one that I found as a child in my purse for years.

Break a bad luck spell by turning seven times in a clockwise circle-I have done this one. But, here again, I never could remember which way to turn so I do seven both ways. Works for me. But I am sure others wonder what the heck is she doing. lol

Knock on wood- This is the one I use a lot. No need to say more.

Here is a list of some I have heard of and some I haven’t. Sure don’t need to add any more to my list. http://www.csicop.org/superstition/library/common_superstitions/

Are you superstitious? Which one do you believe in the most?

Rose

Giant pink ball in the sky.

Our weather here in Iowa has just been beautiful. Reminds me of fall. Our daytime temps have been in the upper 70’s or low 80’s and night in the upper 50’s. A blanket this morning felt great. The morning chill, 55 degrees, made one what to stay in bed a bit longer. If we could just get some needed rain, it would be perfect.

I took this picture yesterday evening at sunset. Not sure why the sun looked pink. I wonder if it has something to do with the fires in the west. It sure was a unique sunset. A giant pink ball in the evening sky.

Amazing,

Rose

Who said retirement would be fun??? lol

Half way through day two of retirement. I am beginning to think daycare was easier. A month or so ago, we had new kitchen windows put it. The carpenter messaged twice, told the lumber yard the brand and size of windows being replaced, but low and behold when the windows arrived they were too big for the openings. Now what?? Simple solution, make the opening bigger. If you have ever had work done on a 100 + year old house, you know that it is never simple. A job that should have taken a half a morning took a day and a half. I have a floor to ceiling pantry that sits right next to one of the windows. It was full of fine sawdust, leftover from the sawing the openings larger. At that same time I was having a lot of trouble with my knee and I took the lazy way out and vacuumed out what I could without moving things. Well, I decided the time had come to do the job right and re-organize at the same time. And the next thing I knew, I had cleaned out and re-organized all of the kitchen cupboards. 

Kitchen pantry

Before

After

Who said retirement would be relaxing. But I love the new windows that let in a lot more light and air and I am loving clean and organized cupboards. Now for a nap. LOL

Only a half day left.

Been a very busy summer. I keep hoping things will slow down but not yet. Maybe after Monday. Monday is my last day of daycare. At 1:00 p.m. that chapter of my life will be over. I gathered and cleaned all my daycare things that I have used for a lot of years. I had almost 400 kid books alone. Hubby would say,” Do you really need another book in the house?” Guess he was right. I had quite a library. But I love books, especially kid books. After I cleaned out the toy room, the toy pantry, a large shelf in the kitchen, baby furniture stored upstairs, high chairs, strollers, outside toys etc., I had one side of the garage full. Decided I didn't really want to sit out there a whole Saturday selling so I decided to sell all of it as a huge lot. I hoped someone starting out would want it all. Swap sites on Facebook are very popular right now. I spent one evening joining about 5 different sites. On Saturday, I took put similar items together, took pictures and posted. Within two hours I had everything sold as one huge lot. A young gal was opening a daycare and took it all. And I was only thirty dollars shy of my asking price. What a relief that was. Still have a crib to get rid of, needed it till Monday, but I am not concerned about that. Daughter no.4 and family came home last weekend and painted the toy room for us. Hubby had put Kilz on the blue but not the yellow. Well, I guess he should have because the whole room took two coats. Boy, are they good painters, even the two girls. Did a great job.

Check out the before and after pictures. 

Before

After

I always loved doing puzzles. Haven't done one in years, unless you count kid puzzles. Have done a few of those over the years. I had almost 50 box and wood kid puzzles. I bought myself a 1000 piece puzzle of a house on a lake with all the wildlife and nature that goes with it... A granddaughter came up with the idea to make it a puzzle room and hang the finished puzzles on the walls. So that is my plan, doing puzzles and filling the walls with them. My first one should be just right for above the table. Should be fun.

I am going to miss the daycare kids and parents but at the same time, I am really excited to have my days to myself for the first time since I was a kid. 

Have a relaxing weekend,

Rose

Straw Bale Garden Update

Our straw bale garden is growing right long. But it does require a lot of watering. I suppose if we didn't  live on the edge of town but more in the middle it wouldn't be so. We get so much more wind up here. I can walk down the street a couple of blocks and it will be almost calm. Add on the fact that it has been in up 80’s and lower 90’s and sunny and you have to water every day. We definitely could use a couple of rainy days. Forecast sounds like maybe Saturday night and most of Sunday will be rainy. Who would have thought that with the rainy, cold spring we had, that we would be praying for rain. But then again, we live in the Midwest.

This straw bale gardening has been an exciting experience for Macey.

Our first harvest was small. Macey was so excited about the green beans and wanted to pick them.

Tomatoes on this plant are getting bigger. The plant the rabbit ate off is growing back but slowly.

Cucumbers are being a bit pokie.

      

 What is a flower garden in rural Iowa without Holly Hocks. 

Rose