A certain friend reminded me that I have been a little quiet around here.... and she would be right. I have been a little up to my elbows in welcome company and outdoor work of all kinds, plus tweaking of the inside of my house to fine tune my living space.... yet again.
While my son and his wife were visiting several days ago, we had a detailed discussion about Ten Forward. When I have guests, that's the room they stay in. I have a really great inflatable bed that C. bought to sleep on when she visits. Anyway, I was telling them that I don't use that room as much as I would like and it's always been a problem. I won't go into all of our different ideas about it, but since they are both very observant and intuitive people, we DID figure out something to try.
A. felt that the room didn't have its own sounds. The rest of the house did. When you walk into that room it seems too quiet. And ultimately, it makes you uncomfortable and you would just as soon find somewhere else in the house to hang out.
So I decided that Ten Forward needed it's own .... heartbeat.
I had a substantial cash back reward on my card, so I used it to buy myself another Echo. I hooked it up with lots of ambient sounds to play throughout the day. AND I dusted off my essential oil diffuser and have been running that as well. It is powered by a USB connection, so I moved the laptop and can watch movies in there too if I want to.
It's working perfectly. Right now the Echo... (which answers to 'Computer' so as not to confuse Alexa in the other room) is playing something called 'City Rain' which is actually quite unobtrusive and calming. I can barely hear it in here, but it is perceptible. After a while I'll change it to 'Bird Sounds'. :-)
***
I wanted to post a few pictures of the garden right now, especially these lilies that were sent to me by my friend C. The first one bloomed today!
What a showy flower!
The little 'shoes' are hinged in the middle, so with the most subtle of breezes, they rock back and forth like they are dancing...
Here's my shelter with my yard sale rug ....
I need to figure out a more substantial fabric for the roof, but so far I haven't found what I'm looking for.
Morning glories, basil and creeping zinnias...
Broccoli...
Cabbage...
Tomatoes... [not quite ready to eat, but they will be the first!]
Feverfew that I rescued from a spot where it wasn't thriving... it is now!
Here's the spot where only last night there were several potato plants...
Here are the potatoes...
And lastly, my pet project of the garden season... the most mature of several plantings of a lettuce I grew two years ago called 'Breen'. It's a small headed red romaine. It's fabulous eating. I have poked seeds all over the garden every few weeks. I'll plant the next batch where the potatoes were.
Those are some random Zinnias that I decided to pop in.
And oh, I forgot...
The corn:
All in all, the garden is thriving. Except for one thing. The summer and winter squashes are just not growing very fast. I'm not sure what they want, but for now, they seem disgruntled about something. We may have to have a meeting and get to the bottom of it. I certainly hope we can figure it out, because I have a powerful desire for some yellow crookneck.
:-)
It's working perfectly. Right now the Echo... (which answers to 'Computer' so as not to confuse Alexa in the other room) is playing something called 'City Rain' which is actually quite unobtrusive and calming. I can barely hear it in here, but it is perceptible. After a while I'll change it to 'Bird Sounds'. :-)
***
I wanted to post a few pictures of the garden right now, especially these lilies that were sent to me by my friend C. The first one bloomed today!
What a showy flower!
The little 'shoes' are hinged in the middle, so with the most subtle of breezes, they rock back and forth like they are dancing...
Here's my shelter with my yard sale rug ....
I need to figure out a more substantial fabric for the roof, but so far I haven't found what I'm looking for.
Morning glories, basil and creeping zinnias...
Broccoli...
Cabbage...
Tomatoes... [not quite ready to eat, but they will be the first!]
Feverfew that I rescued from a spot where it wasn't thriving... it is now!
Here's the spot where only last night there were several potato plants...
Here are the potatoes...
And lastly, my pet project of the garden season... the most mature of several plantings of a lettuce I grew two years ago called 'Breen'. It's a small headed red romaine. It's fabulous eating. I have poked seeds all over the garden every few weeks. I'll plant the next batch where the potatoes were.
Those are some random Zinnias that I decided to pop in.
And oh, I forgot...
The corn:
All in all, the garden is thriving. Except for one thing. The summer and winter squashes are just not growing very fast. I'm not sure what they want, but for now, they seem disgruntled about something. We may have to have a meeting and get to the bottom of it. I certainly hope we can figure it out, because I have a powerful desire for some yellow crookneck.
:-)