Y4 – Day 88 – Energize vs. Drain

Have you ever noticed that a great song on the radio will make you want to move and even sing along? I feel stronger and more alive when I am dancing to techno or ’80’s New Wave bouncy tunes. I get a kick out of bopping to uptempo “musique electronique”.

I am inspired when I start and tend a fire. I feel reflective and relaxed when I garden, write, meditate or decorate. These hobbies maintain my sanity and are as necessary as my breath to my very existence. God forbid I shouldn’t have pens and paper, paint and brushes, colorful makeup and markers, flowers outside in my garden and indoors in vases. Like food, my passions feed me and keep me balanced, so I tend to them, like little fires in the hearth.

On the other hand, have you ever known anyone who sucks the life out of you? Vampires really do exist and sometimes they are in the form of family members (no one reading this need be concerned).

What about a job that depletes you? I am exhausted after making a bed but love to wash dishes. I hate laundry duty but love ironing.

So, continuing with our inward journey in getting to know our authentic and unique selves; what puts a spring in your step? what interests make you lose all sense of time? AND also ask; What or whom or both makes your skin crawl or drains you? What tasks do you despise?

It’s good to know what we love but it’s also smart to know what we’re not fond of so we can avoid it or deal with later at a better time or place or delegate.

 

Y4 – Day 83 – Home Floral Arrangement

I am Loving the garden this spring. Here we have alstroemeria in fuchsia pink throats, ombre to light powder pink towards the tips of the petals and spotted dark brown dashes inside yellow mottled bases. Like identification cards, each flower is unique and each variety of the Peruvian lily, as it is commonly named, has markings and colors that make it a favorite item in any bouquet.

And then we have the smallish white lily with lavender and yellow stained petals that I still can’t identify ( see Y3 – Day 81 ) but grows proficiently with neglect in any shady spot I transplant it in since 1987 when I first laid eyes on it by our sidewalk at our first house.

And then I just filled in the display with a few “weeds” that were growing in a semi circle planter abutted to our rear house wall. They were star clustered fuzzy flowers and rosemary like spiked leaved stems. I had hubby clear them out today and re-fill it with three bags of organic soil. Then, I planted multiple colored petunia plugs I chose from Home Depot this morning and sowed four o’clock floral seeds he bought me last week that I had been waiting to disperse for just the right moment and place, which was this glorious, beautiful day!

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Y4 – Day 81 – Veggie Garden 2016

IMG_1029My husband cleaned up and then reloaded the vegetable garden plots with organic soil and the walkways with new black bark. Then, I planted a variety of organic tomato plants, including eight cherry tomato transplants. I added lemon thyme, Italian and Greek oregano and bell and chili pepper plants. Now it was time to lay the drip hose down and make sure my babies were watered well. Lastly, I prepared stakes around the tomatoes so when they started to spread and grow, I could harness them in with tomato tape and keep them from falling over.

And after Adelaide left, because she loved to jump from plot to plot, I was ready to sow organic seeds. I have it all written down, charted and mapped out and we shall see what develops. Once seedlings come through, it will be time to thin and space them accordingly so everyone’s roots have room. Looking forward to sharing the maturation process as they germinate, sprout, enlarge, widen, bloom, bear fruit, swell and ripen.

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Y4 – Day 75 – Clematis Spring of 2016

Here is our climbing clematis in full bloom. The clematis vine loves cool, moist soil for its roots and sun for blooms. We have ours in the front yard, under a palm, so it gets part sun and not as many blooms or growth as I would like but plants are funny like that. Sometimes they do well where you don’t expect and some, even “easy” plants may die on you for no apparent reason time and time again, as if you were not compatible. I have absolutely no luck with orchids but geraniums ( see pink single petals in picture ) think I am awesome and aloes absolutely adore me, flowering every season, no matter where I transplant them and are just happy campers in my yard.

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