"Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit either." ~ Elizabeth Zimmerman

8/2/15

Orchids in Bloom

It was a boiling hot day today! It is also extremely smoky out. Thick dirty smoke making my eyes burn and my asthma angry. Urg. So I spent the day indoors, puttering. I've been doing a lot of puttering of late. Puttering is when I drift around the house cleaning and organizing small areas that have been neglected (like organizing the junk drawer, and the cup I keep my crochet hooks in, or cleaning the top shelves where I can not see, let alone reach). I've changed light bulbs, replaced batteries, repaired things that need gluing, hemmed pants that needed hemming, finished little projects that needed finishing. I have actually been quite productive, but if you walked into the house you wouldn't know it.

I wish it would cool down a bit and the air clear out. I want to get busy with my newspaper mulching. I bought 20 bags of beauty bark that I have stacked neatly in the front yard. I have quite a few piles of newspapers from friends and family (Thanks guys!).

I have decided I'm pulling out the rose bushes in the front yard. I've had them for years and they have never amounted to anything. They get about a foot tall, have 1 flower each, and that's it. They should be big bushes by now. I need to plant things that will actually like the poor soil, though I don't know what their problem is. I give them rose food, and they are in an area where wild roses grow like weeds. Urg. It's not fair!

The azaelas and forsythia I planted last May are doing fantastic. So there are things that like it out there.

The woods are very dry and crispy now. We've seen deer every day for a week nibbling on our green oasis. I have fences around all the baby trees so they are safe.

Indoors my orchids have been blooming quite nicely for more than 4 months now. I've taken a few pics. I have 5 Dendrobium orchids. 2 haven't bloomed this year. They are pretty small plants so I'm not surprised. One finished blooming last month and I never got pics of it. But these two are still going strong.

This one has a most unusual coloring. This is the last flower on the plant. It had a total of 3.



This one I've had for a few years. Long enough that I couldn't remember what color it was, so I was quite pleased when it bloomed this year. It's a pale green with purple stripes and red lip.



There are tiny red spots on the yellow throatr.



This is the Pansy orchid Sarah and Frank sent me for Mothers Day. It's still going very strong. Has lots of flowers yet.



Today also was my daughter Ruth's birthday. Finally! I could give her the knitting bag I made for her. She loves it! Hurray! This is what it looks like.



Oh darn! I forgot I took this before I put the button on it. It has a lime green and white polka dot button for the tab. Perhaps I can steal it back a bit tomorrow and take a more current pic. Anyway, the pattern for this can be found here: Charm Pack Tote Bag

This is my first project using a charm pack. It is a Moda My Sister & Me pack that apparently is no longer available cuz I was gonna link to it and I can't find it anywhere. I must have bought the last one in all the world.

Well, that's the news for tonight. Hopefully the nephew will be by tomorrow to finish his work. He's leaving for football camp later in the week and I would be quite unhappy if he couldn't finish for me before he leaves. He's got a football scholarship to the University of Idaho, if I'm remembering correctly. He is working very hard to be ready for the football season. He's quite good at it, though he doesn't want to make a career of it. He plans to major in Political Science

Live long and prosper. \\//

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