wordless wednesday

~~~~~

postcard from the porch

 

The windowboxes are in place,

and the little plants are beginning to grow.

The simple experimental brackets and shelf are working,

though I may make small changes someday.

Or some year.

It was difficult to envision the proportions on individual pieces until everything was in place, and by the time I had decided on the measurements of the brackets pieces and put them together, made a trip to the lumber mill and fetched home an 8' and a 12' piece of 1x12" roughcut for the shelves, gone to the hardware store to buy the proper screws, installed the brackets, and lifted each of the seven planted boxes onto the shelves...

I was ready to call the job "finished for now."

And they are already making me quite happy!

Some of the nasturtiums are even beginning to flower!

(Here, with window screen Special Effects) 

Piper, too, is absolutely beside herself with delight

about the windowboxes!

Well, she may not really care about the windowboxes,

but Piper always enjoys the porch.

And so do I, especially when it's as hot outside as it is right now.

This afternoon is going to be spent on the porch.

Living in the moment.

There will be knitting.

There will be sketching.

There will be beef-flavored biscuits.

That last one is for Piper,

but the knitting and sketching is all for me.

I hope you are having a peaceful and restorative Sunday.

~~~~~

june jewels

When I'm lucky enough to see these damselflies

swooping and darting about like animated jewels,

it always stops me in my tracks.

The colors are incredible.

Dazzling.

I don't know much about insects,

so I did a little poking around online to find an ID for you.

It seems this is Calopteryx maculata or "ebony jewelwing."

I think "ebony-winged jewel" would better suit.

When they are in flight, their bodies glisten, green and blue,

while the wings are a black blur.

I am not fast enough to get a picture of a damselfly in flight,

but here is a glimpse of the wing/body color combination

during take-off:

Dragonflies, like this lovely visitor from last September,

tend to keep their wings open when they land:

Damselflies generally fold their wings when they are at rest:

But they don't seem to "rest" for very long!

For every image of a damselfly, I took two of a leaf or rock where a damselfly had been resting a nanosecond earlier.

I feel very lucky to have these images to share :)

~~~~~

when the right one comes along

A friend once complained to me that her husband "would rather have no furniture in the house than buy something that isn't exactly what he wants!" She was complaining to the wrong person. If I don't need something immediately, I can wait a long time - often years, sometimes decades - to find "the right one" of the items on my longterm shopping list.

An advantage of this approach: when the right one comes along, there's no dithering or delay - it's a snap decision.

By the way, none of this applies to Piper.
Piper gets whatever she wants.
Pretty much instantaneously.

~~~

I've been cutting lumber by hand - and very badly - for a long time. No matter how careful I am, it is always a bit of a miracle when my angle cuts actually fit.

Even when Expert Assistance is provided.

During the building of the original screenporch in 1997, I had the short-term loan of a table saw and compound miter saw. It took a little while to get comfortable with using them - so loud! - but they soon became invaluable - so accurate! so powerful! When I gratefully returned them to their generous owner, both tools were added to the permanent shopping list. Somewhere between "livestock scale" and "adjustable daybed."

Fast-Forward nineteen years...

SNAP!

The lovely person who sold me this well-cared-for compound miter saw for a very low price (I actually challenged it and offered more) is also considering selling a table saw of similar vintage. I gulped (even at a very reasonable price, it is still, in the coin of my realm, a few truckloads of hay) but then said, "Please let me know if you decide to sell, because I would like to buy it also. Anytime."

Readers, I will keep you posted. But that one would probably be a Wordless Wednesday: just a picture of a table saw and a tall gin and tonic. ;)

~~~

Remember when I painstakingly salvaged all those bits and pieces of lumber after the porch renovation? Some of it has already been put back to work in the goat barn. And now some of it will be returning to the porch, in a new role: simple brackets supporting the windowboxes. Very satisfying!

This lumber shows its history.

Weathering on the exposed sides...

...claw marks from squirrels scrambling up to the roof...

...a carpenter's note from the Great Gable Window Search...

 ...and the occasional nail-hole, as you can see in a few of these newly-cut pieces. So glad I took the time to remove Every Single Nail from this lumber before storing it for reuse. It was ready to go!

Apparently this project requires special screws - I'm learning something new here! - so it won't be finished today. I hope you don't mind. I'm turning the simplest of projects into a very long process, but having fun doing it.

And soon I hope to show you the windowboxes in place.

For now, here's a peek:

I hope your Sunday is full of color and adventure!

~~~~~

ordinary extraordinary life

The middle of June! Time is getting away from me lately.

Each day contains some of the same ordinary elements:

weeding, planting, more weeding, goat chores, home chores, seasonal chores, watering the gardens, more weeding.

Every little thing takes me a long time, but it's all good.

New perennials in a new raised bed:
white coneflower, english lavender, harebells,
and a pink coreopsis.

Heliotrope - the scent is amazing.

One of the white spiderworts has returned!

Bonus: pumpkin from the "leftover seeds" box.

Asian cucumbers, soon to be transplanted.

.

Piper and I have been out for short walks most days, and sometimes I carry my sketchbook into the woods. I don't look for something to draw; I look for a combination of landscape elements that will make it physically possible for me to sit with a sketchpad for 15 minutes or so, and then - this is important - stand up again.

Once I've found such a place - that's the hard part - I sit.

And then I look around for something to draw.

That's the easy part.

While I focus on ahhht (I'm from Massachusetts), Piper runs loops around me. She explores the area. Then she chooses a Lookout.

Here she is perched high above me, on a slope:

And for the first time in over a year, she actually allowed me to take her picture. She didn't immediately duck her head or turn away at the sight of the camera.

We were serenaded by a redwing blackbird,

perched in the branch of a fallen tree, out in the pond:

We also saw a pair of Great Blue Herons, and the next day we saw one in another part of the wetland. Last year, I saw two in the same area and hoped they would nest nearby, but I never saw them again.

Fingers crossed for this year!

Birds are such a chirping, swooping, fluttering gift. Yesterday, when I was distributing hay on the Upper West Side, I saw something I've never seen before in my life: a Scarlet Tanager. Even if I'd had my camera, I wouldn't have taken a picture; it was a moment to savor.

But if he becomes a frequent visitor, I'll try :)

Meanwhile, after hearing my neighbor shouting "Go! Go away! Get out of here!" early yesterday morning, I think the bears may be about at last.

I've removed the biggest bird feeder, leaving just the hummingbird feeder, and smaller hanging feeders that will only be up during the day, when I am at home.

So we won't be seeing this for a few months:

Squirrels: the Tiniest Bears of All

~~~~~