Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at 4:36 pm (Heavy Clay)
Tags: signs of spring, tree surgery, winter damage
More like tree surgery. Or orthopedic surgery, perhaps, since limbs are involved?
February’s snows did quite a number on my small, ornamental Japanese maple. This is “him” — Laceleaf — buried during one of the big storms. He’s the white blob in front of the second column.
I tried to find a picture of him in happier times, but apparently never took one. We’ve been together for almost 7 years now — 2 years growing in a pot on my townhouse patio and nearly 5 here at the house — and I hated to think of losing him. I neglected to take pictures of his damage — basically the two largest limbs had split right at the crotch (ouch).
But I read online that you can sometimes get good results repairing splits by screwing the two parts back together. So that’s what Mike did yesterday morning before work.
I’ll be amazed if it works — but it’s something to hope for, at least.
Here’s something else hopeful.
I only have a few crocuses (croci), and since they are such a sign of spring I’m wondering why I haven’t planted more. (Note to self: Plant more croci this fall.)
These make me particularly happy because the bulbs were tucked into a wonderful basket of garden goodies my friend Tracy gave me at my wedding shower.
I haven’t seen Tracy in probably 2 years, but I always think of her when the crocuses pop. Thanks, Tracy!
I also took my first walk of the “spring” today. Had high hopes of making it 5 miles, but had Jell-O legs after only 25 minutes. I did manage to make it 60 minutes and 4.29 miles. (And I’ll likely be hobbling for the next couple days.) The biggest thing was seeing all the snow damage around the neighborhood. Tree limbs everywhere, and much bigger trees than my little maple split and likely ruined. All in all, we fared pretty well in comparison, so I’ll refrain from complaining about our broken boxwoods and the limb off the holly tree in back.
But I do hope Mr. Laceleaf survives. I’d hate to lose my first surgical patient.
As the poet said, “only God can make a tree” –
probably because it’s so hard to figure out how to get the bark on.
~ Woody Allen
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Friday, March 12, 2010 at 8:04 am (Writing by Ear)
Tags: babies, nephews, spring
I opened my eyes this morning and saw this outside my window.
Raindrops on maples are one of my new favorite things.
Especially giant Japanese maples already showing the first blush of spring 8 days too soon.
On a Friday.
Of the week I have a brand new great-nephew!
Welcome sweet little Charlie! Your big brother Oliver loves you!
So does your smaller big brother Elliot!
And, as their mouths reveal, Oliver and Elliott both love soy butter on bagels.
Grandma thinks it’s a very authentic look for the pictures.
But I think they’re cuter a little cleaner.
It’s been a good week.
You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that
have passed, there has never been another child like you.
Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move.
You may become a Shakespeare,a Michelangelo, a Beethoven.
You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel.
~ Pau (Pablo) Casals
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Monday, March 8, 2010 at 12:15 am (Cottage Industry)
Tags: fixer-upperhood, painting, powder room, repainting
Just a brief powder room peek.
Our experiment with metallic (copper-colored) paint didn’t work. The space is so small with a lot of trim, and apparently the treatment works better when you can make long strokes with the special roller instead of trying to work with a brush in small nooks and crannies. We were afraid it wouldn’t cover, so we never did the second metallic coat. Plus the color was just too dark and felt oppressive. So that was 2 base coats and 1 top coat of metallic paint (at $18 a QUART!) down the drain.
We have a small paint store in our basement, so I went shopping and found a simple “Heavy Cream” (from the kitchen ceiling) that works fine on the walls and ceiling. Matches the floor tile pretty well. We still have a couple bells & whistles planned for the walls, but at least this is a better base to work with than the copper.
Yes, paint is relatively cheap (except at $18 a quart) — but the labor is a killer. By the time I’m done putting the final coat on, I will have painted those little walls 7 times. Won’t be the first time we’ve painted and repainted and repainted. The kitchen had 3 different wall colors — plus we started out by painting all the woodwork white before we changed it all to cream. (Did I mention I hate painting woodwork worst of all? My next house will have stained trim — just like every house I’ve owned prior to this one.) We also tried 3 colors in the bathroom before landing on the current one as the lesser evil — not something we ever really liked, and lately we’ve started talking about repainting it. It’s been, what, 3 whole years? You know you’re in trouble when you have to start doing things over before you’re even close to getting everything done once.
On an unrelated note, we bought a cute (inexpensive) bistro set for our new patio area out back a couple weeks ago (20% off at Big Lots) and assembled it today while waiting for the paint to dry. Of course, the patio is still covered in snow. But since we’ve been battling chronic fatigue syndrome (the powder room strain) for months now, a raging bout of spring fever is a welcome change of pace.
Color is my day-long obsession, joy, and torment.
~ Claude Monet
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