New Toy

Of course I had to show you a picture of it. :)

Nikon D60

It's mine!

I am too exhausted to tell you anymore right now.

And there's too much happening between now and Sunday or Monday or Tuesday for me to tell you before then.

So you'll just have to WAIT.

:)

DIY Photography Backdrop

I'm getting prepared for my first paid photography shoot, happening this Sunday. I needed a backdrop, but didn't have a spare $200+ sitting around, so went to Lowe's and bought a painter's dropcloth. And bought dye. . . . And went back to town and bought more dye. . . . And went back to town and bought more dye. . . . And more dye. . . . Over the past few days I've dyed and bleached and re-dyed and dyed again and dyed some more. -- And run to town a lot. Ha! (I'm not exaggerating in the slightest.) And tonight I have a backdrop! Woohoo!!! While I'm not sure this is the one I'll be using for the project on Sunday, it was a great learning experience, and I will have it as a spare.

And now, (drumroll, please) here it is:
Since Husband was at work and the kids were in bed and I was too impatient to wait for some willing subjects to wake up in the morning, I nabbed son's teddy bears, and got some still life shots. Here's one:

Leave me a comment, tell me what you think. Thanks!

Slow Progress

Since the last post, I have been hanging' out at the hospital with Husband, who was diagnosed with pneumonia to both sides of his lungs. Was it the tree he cut down with the hand saw that did it???

Also, since my last post, our neighbors totally bowled us over with their kindness. -- As we headed off to the ER, they snuck back to our yard with a few more people, and, armed with chainsaws, tore the bank's underbrush and rotten trees to shreds in just a few hours! When I came home briefly to pick up clothes and other necessities for a hospital stay, I was too preoccupied to notice it till I was headed back down the driveway, and then I just sat in my car and bawled. Had it been left to me to finish alone, it would have taken me weeks, and then it wouldn't have happened because I would have been overcome by all the encroaching growth. So, this was simply amazing to see! I spent the time at the hospital wondering if I'd been dreaming about what I saw. :)

Today I spent a lot of time outside with the kids while Husband slept inside, recuperating.

This morning we planted:
2 bareroot raspberry bushes
3 bareroot blueberry bushes

We potted to larger pots (till there's time to dig a permanent garden spot):
3 hydrangeas
1 butterfly bush
3 ecchinacea
1 monarda

This afternoon I worked on clearing leaves and GOBS of garbage from the bank. So far there is quite the growing pile of cinder blocks, garbage bags, dishes, an old metal garden frog, and various other non-descript items. The happy thing I'm "discovering" is lots of boulders. -- I knew they were there, but now I can really see them. And suddenly, I have a new garden-in-the-making: a rock garden!!! I am so excited! The sky is the limit for what I could do here! But for this spring, I'm just going to work at clearing it out, and then planting annual seeds. I have a plethora of seed packs, some old and some new. I don't know if they'll all make it, but I figure this will be a good place to experiment. So, I shall let you know how it comes along.

What Is It?

This is the happiest item we unearthed yesterday, in all our thrashing of underbrush. Minus a few blossoms that got knocked off, it looks pretty good, but the question remains: What is it?

The thin tree bears delicate flowers of light pink color, with a dark pink cluster of stamens (??? -- Forgive me! I don't remember my floral anatomy from college A&P) in the center. Leaves are bright green, with one point at the tip, from what I can tell, as they are barely opening up.

Thanks for any help with identification!

Worn Out

Husband and I spent most of the day working along the bank of our front yard. The yard abruptly ends at the top of a fairly steep bank where nothing has succeeded to grow save scrubby undergrowth -- largely wicked honeysuckle vines and some even more wicked thorn bushes that have grown from the ground up to the heights of the trees. Many of the trees at the edge of the lawn are dead, with parts hanging over the lawn, making it precarious for Husband to mow.

So today we started into a huge project: removing all of this undergrowth. Armed with two small handsaws, Husband and I actually chopped out a lot. Pulling it out was probably the hardest part, as the vines acted like super-glue, keeping the trees in place.

Daughter kept busy running between the edge of the lawn and the trash cans, as Husband and I also unearthed a dump from the previous owners. Why do people do that?

At the end of our day, I can look out our front windows and actually see past the edge of our lawn, which is a very nice start toward ridding the claustrophobic feel that we've had until now. I think tonight we will all sleep harder than we normally do!

Planting

This morning I went to my local nursery and took Mr. Jim's advice and bought Loropetalum and Abelia and Camellia. (Seven plants total.)

This afternoon, I planted:
2 Loropetalum
4 Abelia
1 Camellia
And transplanted to pots (for now):
2 Echinops Ritro
1 Echinacea
1 Hydrangea

And tonight I am sore and tired! Nothing like digging in clay!!!

I still have to plant:
3 Nandina
4 potted plants from above
4 other hydrangea
3 blueberry bareroot bushes (I'm nervous about the bareroot part!)
2 raspberry bareroot bushes
1 butterfly bush
3 rudbekia
1 monarda
and a ton of seeds, which I'm not at all worried about.

Also need to MAKE a bed for many of the above, weed out another bed and finish building it, and dig out an old gravel drive where I'll plant the berry bushes. In other words, more aches and pains! But, oh, you'll not hear me complaining come summertime, when I'll be rewarded with all kinds of beauty. :)