Category Archives: gardening

September 1, 2008 · 11:05 pm

How I Spent My Holiday Weekend

By Tiddleywink

If I were still in school, in my old school district, the first day of classes would be Wednesday. I’d have a new notebook (I prefer the blue, cloth-bound binders to the noisy-Velcro® Trapper Keepers), some new BIROs (black, medium point; they’re now know as Round Stic by Bic), a fresh haircut, and a new outfit or two.

But I’m not in school any more.

I did get a new pair of knee socks from Target, and had my bangs trimmed at Floyd‘s. I also bought two more vintage hats, and a vintage winter coat from the thrift store. I splurged on six completely unnecessary votive candles in one of my favorite scents (Pier 1’s “oceans”) at 50% off. I swept the patio, I pulled weeds, I turned the compost pile, I emptied the rusty water out of the definitely-not-made-of-copper firepit. I looked, yet again, for red dice.

I intended to build the final page of my online portfolio, and make more hair flowers to sell for a little extra cash, but instead spent the time alloted for both tasks repairing existing Web pages on my site which ALL had tiny glitches. Strange characters, missing type, randomly resized images. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: good Web pages are created by good programmers. I am not a good programmer. There are folks out there who can code HTML, who are as comfortable in Dreamweaver and GoLive as I am in InDesign or QuarkXPress. I can come up with a half-baked idea, but I should leave it to someone else to make it work. A good programmer costs a lot more than a thrift-store coat, though, so I muddle through. And, now that the other pages are all straightened out, I’ll be able to focus on that One Last Page before I make the site public. And impress people with my mad skillz, thus encouraging folks to hire me for their freelance needs, so I can trade ‘Working For The Man’ for ‘Buying My Own Health Insurance.’

And you know what? It’s almost Halloween! To be continued…

6 Comments

Filed under gardening, nostalgia, the office, vintage

June 9, 2008 · 11:18 pm

Flommers

Yeah, I have no idea why, but “flommers” is a verbal affectation that I share with my mom. It means flowers in our family-speak. I’m pretty sure that it has nothing to do with how my sister or I may have mispronounced the word when we were wee. (5 points for entertaining alliteration!)

So, I’m sure you’ve all been waiting with bated breath to hear news of my lone peony bud. Well kids, it finally bloomed! Beautifully!

It was preceded by a short-lived Siberian iris, and is currently joined by a potted dwarf day lily and something that I thought was a weed, but pretty, so I left it alone. My mom tells me that it’s called Love In The Mist. Gag me with a spoon. Since this photo was shot, the blooms have taken on a rosy-pink blush. Interesting.

Oh, yeah, and I am so getting an iPhone on July 11th. Sprint can bite my ass. Thankyouverymuch.

3 Comments

Filed under gardening, springtime

May 18, 2008 · 11:28 pm

of things that bloom

Springtime along the Front Range is never less than amusing, although this year didn’t seem to have quite the same kick as usual. Yes, we had an 80-degree day followed immediately by snow, but we only had one of those. And where is my rainy season, when it rains every single afternoon from 3:00 to 3:15?

My narcissi came up a month or so ago, followed in short order by my tulips. They’re not spreading as rapidly (or at all) as I would have hoped, but the few flowers that peek up bring me great joy. There should be irises (iri?) in there as well, but nothing is happening along that front so far this year.

And then there’s the peony. I have always loved peonies. Near my last apartment in Boulder, there was a gentleman who carefully tended a yard full of different varieties of peonies. I commented on them once as I strolled by, and he was so pleased that I even recognized them. I guess they’re not as common out here as they are in New Jersey. When Chris bought his little house in north Denver, I immediately planted two peonies to flank the front walkway. I never saw them grow to full force, though he told me they were pretty amazing in time. When I bought my own place in 2003, I planted a peony in a little garden bed I made by the front stoop. Though it had buds on it when I planted it, the shock of replanting, and so late in the season, pretty much took care of stunting its growth that year. The following year, its first in its new location, the plant did not bloom. This is not unusual for a peony. When spring rolled around again, I had a small, raised bed built around the plot I had originally planted. The peony came up, but again, no blooms. Curious. In the fall, I planted bulbs. Spring of 2006 brought me bulbed flowers and peony leaves, but once again, no buds. I did some research online and decided that the raised bed meant that the peony was now planted too deeply in the soil. However, digging it up meant disturbing the bulbs. I decided to leave things be while I figured out how best to handle it. Which meant, for me, not really handling it at all. 2007 brought me peony leaves once more, but now they taunted me, begging me to get off my lazy ass and do something about raising the plant. I still didn’t do it. 2008 came and with it the aforementioned narcissi and tulips, and also the peony leaves once more. I was happy to see them, but also grimaced at the thought of neglecting the problem yet again.

And then…

I noticed…

A bud! A tiny, round, peony flower bud! In time, it has grown larger, though still tightly packed with the petals that will (hopefully) blossom into a beautiful, extravagant bloom. Ants, as per tradition, have also discovered the bud, and are having a grand time marching around it and performing their pollination-for-food dealio. It’s only one bud, on a plant that should support many more, but still, I am overjoyed.