From Greenhouse to Bean House

   With limited level gardening space, one must become creative when expanding the food plots.  The steep slope that radiates from the Little Bayou House in all directions leaves very little flat areas in which to make rows for plants.  Even putting up the little metal-framed greenhouse that my sweet sister-in-law sent me presented a problem.  Son decided to go with the slope making the tunnel head down the hillside to the Bay.  Since it was to be a temporary fix to keep the potted plants from freezing, I had no qualms about letting him do whatever he pleased as long as those night-blooming cereus plants stayed warm.  Surprisingly enough, they all survived our temps that plunged much further down than we ever expected.  The plants did ok and I was satisfied.

  A couple of weeks ago, that summer garden-planting bug hit and that is where things went amok. I had more plants and seeds than garden.  Even though people claim to want a garden, it is hard to give away plants once they are seeded. So, the problem of too little space had to be fixed with a bit of ingenuity.  As Son and Mark were taking down the greenhouse before an impending wind storm, it hit me that the large (now) empty space was usable for something!  Mark built some nice sized boxes to run along the sides of the (once) greenhouse and we filled them with soil and compost.  A bit of sisal twine was laced between the metal pipe framework and our greenhouse was now a bean house with two rows that are twenty feet in length! 

  The bean plants seem to be happy in their improvised home and this freed up a bit of space for another twenty or so tomato plants and about that many more pepper plants.  It is purely a case of make do with what you have by repurposing.  By the time the framework will need its top reattached for the winter, the beans will be long gone. Now that is thinking!  Double duty gardening!

Life....and a Bowl of Cherries

  The saying "Life is like a bowl of cherries" is sort of misleading.  Life is not like a bowl of cherries in the least.  Cherries are good...always. Unless they are rotten...then they are bad...always.  But Life is not that clear cut.  We are setting ourselves up for a major disappointment if we have it in our heads that everything is always hunky-dory.   (Hunky-dory being a phrase that Mom used to say when things were nigh on perfect or use in jest when things were just the opposite.  As a kid, I could never differentiate between the two uses of the same term.)  In real life, there are days when those cherries are good and bad at the same time and it is up to us to choose which fruit to eat.  Pick out the fresh fruit and all is fine...pick the rotten and we wallow in despair.  

  Today, things were more than just a bowl of cherries even though they were involved.  Late afternoon found me exhausted and things going a bit down the wrong path.  It was just one of those days where it seemed that Murphy's Law was the rule for the day.  I could not find things, four of my jars of jelly did not seal and chairs would not fit through the doorway...just to mention a few of the frustrating things occurring during the day.  About three in the afternoon, I just quit.  I was tired after a sleepless night and did not need this aggravation.  I plopped down in my rocking chair to sit and contemplate just why I was having such a day when I heard a familiar call.  Ahh, my sweet sister-in-law was in the yard.  I yelled through the open windows for her to come on inside.  (Just a Southern thing there...."Come on in and sit a spell!  The door is open!)  Down in the Deep South, yoo-hooing is a common greeting and "sittin' a spell" is done with either a cup of coffee or glass of sweet tea depending on the weather.  

  Cynthia made her way inside and handed me a grocery bag.  Inside were the most beautiful cherries!  "These are for you!  You always share everything with anybody that visits, so I brought you something this time."  Aww, my heart forgot all of the fine things that Old Murphy was conjuring all day.  Those cherries brought a smile to my lips and a bit of joy in my heart and even though it was a stifling 90 degrees outside, we had coffee.

  Sometimes life does hand us days that are not to our liking.  It is times like that when we have to make the best of things and not sweat the small stuff.  We pick ourselves up by the bootstraps and carry on.  Then things can change in a heartbeat such as when someone kind offers a bit of pleasant company.  Throw in a bag of fresh cherries and nothing that Old Murphy can throw at you is worth the worry.  Eat the fresh, delicious fruit and do not wallow in rotten thoughts.  Life is good.

A New-found Respect!

  I have always adored my sister-in-law, Linda.  She is smart, beautiful, sweet and talented.  This makes her one of those rare people that come in your life and brighten it ever so much.  She and I hit it off from day one.  We both love crafting.  While others are scouring the internet to find pictures of what they like with never any intentions of making the thing, she and I both get ideas and just put them into action.  There is never "I have no time.", "I don't have all the right materials." or "I can't do that.".  We just do.  We both lead busy lives but never too busy to craft, it matters not if we are lacking in materials...we improvise and if we can't do it at the moment...we learn.  Linda is one of the few people who will sit and talk crafts with me at any function!

  Each year as Christmas gifts, Linda coats pine cones in wax.  These not only look pretty but are great to use as fire starters if you can ever part with one to chunk in the fireplace.  I keep mine in a large basket just because I like them.  Well, I got the bright idea to steal her idea!  I needed a basket of something to put in a charity raffle.  I figure with fall being in the air, fire starters would be a great basket filler.  I had just picked up hundreds of pine cones before I cut the grass so that part was done.  I was going to go a step further and make mine scented by using the spent wax melts from my tart warmer/candle melt burners. (Yep, I save them.  Nope, I have no idea why.)  Anyway, I gathered my cones and wax.  Linda had told me to heat the wax, dip the cones and gently shake the drips before setting them either on wax paper or foil.  I could do that!  Easy-peasy!

  I was brilliant!  I salvaged an old crockpot from the discard box.  (This, too, was headed to the same charity event but I needed to "borrow" the crockpot!)  The slowcooker would allow me to heat the wax unattended! Smart!!!!  Yep, yep!  So I started.  So....I tried.  Somehow, Linda's cones turn out gorgeous!  Mine...not so gorgeous.  The first one looked like one big ball of wax.  It weighed a ton! That would never do!  Linda had said that you needed to have the wax at the perfect temperature.  What temperature is perfect?  Who knows?  I kept trying.  Eventually, I found if I scooped the wax and dribble it on the cone, it stuck without making a wad so big that you could not lift the cone.  

  In the midst of all my hard work, Son came into the kitchen.  "Umm, sorry Mom.  If you are cooking pumpkin, it smells like you did something wrong.  It smells more like a candle."  Well, duh!  I had picked out all the "fall" scented wax chunks and some were pumpkin scented so I can see what he was saying.  I plopped another pine cone into the vat of hot lava of wax.  "Ok, well now I know I am not eating that." he mused.  Well, duh!  I should hope not!  I explained that I was making Aunt Linda's waxed cones.  "Umm, no you are not."....I chased him out of the kitchen!  Fifteen cones later I was finished!  No more!  I had succeeded in totally wrecking the kitchen but I had tried something new and was pleased with the results.  (Yes, I definitely need practice!)

  All in all, I managed to get enough waxed cones for a basket. I have to admit that the basket is not too shabby and has the added benefit of smelling divine!  Since it is for charity, hopefully someone will overlook the mistakes.  Maybe if I put lots of ribbons on the basket, no one will notice that my cones are pathetic.  Maybe if I add some whimsical knickknack, it will draw attention away from the drippy wax.  Maybe I should have asked Linda for more help!  Yep, I have always admired her but I now have a new-found respect for her abilities. She is amazing!