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Swinging into Action

aqua swing collage
I like to curl up on the couch with a cup of hot tea and a small pile of mending. The cats gather ’round as buttons return to their proper place. It’s therapeutic.

Unfortunately my garden swing is too big to bring indoors. So as the sun set on a warm Sunday afternoon, I sat in the garden instead. More specifically, I knelt, squatted and contorted my body around the edges of my damaged swing. You can read more about the squirrel damage here.

torn swing

Busy squirrels make quick work of my swing

I’ve been gathering materials for the job at hand with the following criteria: the repairs had to be cheap and easy. I spent hours on the original swing cover only to see it destroyed by a nesting squirrel. I love all animals, including squirrels and after all, Sunday was Mother’s Day. Mama squirrel is just looking for fluff to line her nest. My goal: restore the swing so that it’s attractive and functional, but with a minimal investment of time and money.

Here’s what I did:

After trimming away the damaged cover I cut the remaining polyfill stuffing till the edges were even. Using the stuffing from a worn out cushion, I filled in the area, then covered it with part of an old tea towel. It was challenging, working my needle and thread around the edges of the swing, but I wanted the stitches to be small and taught. It doesn’t look pretty, but once covered it doesn’t matter.

swing repair with tea towel

Tea towel repair

I used a bit of Nature’s Miracle to clean the rest of the surface stains. Now to make it look pretty again.

I found a cloth shower curtain at a local thrift store. I liked the cheerful print and the fact that it matches my blue end-tables. It took about 15 minutes to make the cover with minimal sewing.

I draped the curtain over the swing, tucking a few inches underneath the built in pillow running along the swing’s top edge. I draped the rest of the curtain over the back. By hand, I took a few stitches through the folds of the swing cover, then attached a couple of ties to hold it in place.

Covering the built-in cushion

Covering the built-in cushion

new swing cover ties

Swing ties for easy removal

recovered swing aqua

Swinging into action

All told, I probably spent a few hours putting it all together and for under $10.

Materials On Hand:

  • polyfill batting from old cushion
  • tea towel from the rag-bag
  • fabric ties made from thrift store remnant

Purchased:

  • thrift shop shower curtain, $6
swing, table and flowers

Ready for relaxing (pot filled with stuffing nearby)

As for the squirrels, I’ve left them a peace-offering. I took all the scraps from the damaged swing, shredded them into small pieces, and stuffed them into an empty pot near the swing.  As I was finishing up, I heard rustling in the bushes, then saw what I think is a baby possum climbing the fence. I called to my boys to grab the camera and they shot a few pics as the little one ambled along the fence. She exited the yard through the lattice. At least she was heading away from the swing.

opossum or rat?

Baby opossum or rat?

 

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Organize This: From Chaos to Calm, One Week at a Time

Organizing people, places and things has always been a passion. My mom said she found me in her room organizing socks at the age of two. All embellishing aside, that story illustrates my interest from an early age.

About two months ago I decided to add a feature to my blog and polled all of you with suggested titles. I’ve combined the two most popular titles into one overly long title for now, but will plan some additional tweaking as time goes on.

Organizing Garden Tools

I’m going to kick off the feature with some garden tool organization. I’ve been using this system for three years now, with great success.

In the past I would make do with the odd bucket or two-dollar tool caddy, but as you know, when your hobby grows, so to do your tools. I headed to our local hardware store and put together a system for ten bucks.

For starters, I wanted to personalize my new tool organizer.  I have nothing against Husky who made this fabulous system, but you must admit they have a grouchy-looking logo.  Since I’m organized at heart, I used a jewelry finding full of hearts.  I covered the grumpy husky with a permanent marker, then attached the hearts with a safety-pin.  Now I can change out the bucket jewelry when the mood strikes.

Husky Bucket Jockey

I hid the logo with a jewelry finding (with apologies to Husky®)

I use the inner pockets to store my hand tools, including spades, pruning tools, and hand saws. My garden fork hangs from an outer pocket, originally intended for a drill. I cut an unused garden glove to cover the prongs so I don’t scrape my leg on the rough edges as I carry it from place to place.

Bucket Interior

Bucket interior

Gloved garden fork

Gloved garden fork

Drill holder doubles for tools and gloves

Drill holder doubles for tools and gloves

The Bucket Jockey includes a strap attached to the exterior. I don’t know its intended use, but I’ve re-purposed it for twine. One of the tricks I learned on a garden tour was to cut several lengths of twine ahead of time so you have them at the ready when you need them. I threaded several pre-cut lengths of twine through a couple of binder rings.  They’re attached near the ball of twine.

Strap and Hook

Strap and hook attachment

Garden Twine and binder ring

Pre-cut strands of garden twine attached with binder rings

strap holds garden twine

Strap holds garden twine

"Bucket Jockey ®" for garden tools

Organized and ready to garden

Now all my hand-held tools and garden accessories reside in one easy-to-access, portable system.

Your Turn

I would love to hear your ideas for future posts. What are your organizing interests or challenges?

If you want to make a request privately, you can write to me using my contact form.

Here are a few general ideas:

Home Office/Small business:

Efficient use of email

Managing paper flow

Effective filing

Kitchen:

Improving layout and work flow

Shopping and meal planning

Dealing with ‘granny gear’

Holidays:

Organizing the holidays

Organizing gift-giving

Micro-Organizing:

Socks, socks and more socks

Where should I store the cat food?

Drowning in magazines

etc.

I’m looking forward to your comments, below.

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When Ordinary is Extraordinary

Sleeping Fairy Baby

Sleeping Fairy Baby

There’s nothing extraordinary about gathering around the table on a Sunday afternoon. Maybe you’re eating a slice of toast or reheating your tea. It’s a cool, early spring day.

But this isn’t just any old Sunday. Gathered around the table is a group of women who’ve met through blogging. We’ve formed enduring friendships across the miles that allow us to sit comfortably in our pajamas, talking and laughing and sharing gifts. It feels as though we’ve known each other for a lifetime.

Aristotle said that “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” That’s how I felt the entire trip. Our shared energy and enthusiasm for each others lives was palpable. The ordinary seemed extraordinary.

On that same Sunday afternoon, Pauline who blogs at the Contented Crafter presented each of us with a hand-crafted, personalized glass and bead dangler. We were all ‘in the moment’ and didn’t stop of course to capture her words, but now I wish we had. Pauline gathered crystals, beads and charms then infused them with one-of-a-kind reflections of each of us. It was moving hearing her thoughts as she shared each one.

Once home, it was tricky photographing the full length of this charmer without sacrificing the detail. Instead, I’ve photographed it in sections, so you can see the charms up close. I took pictures of the dangler in my garden to maximize light, but when not on a photo shoot, it hangs in my living room window. It’s 22 inches (55cm) long.

Pauline captured my love of fairy gardening at the top. There is also a fairy baby since I enjoy nurturing the small children next door. The teapot represents sustenance (and also happens to be my beverage of choice). There’s a small clock in honor of my passion for organizing and a tiny book, celebrating our Little Free Library. There’s a cat of course, sitting on the moon. Isn’t it just like a cat to make itself at home anywhere?

There are two separate hearts, entwined to show our friendship and a third heart that says ‘Made With Love.’

I’ll say!!!

Pauline enriched the rest of the dangler with gorgeous stone, glass and crystal beads.

Here it is:

section one

Garden fairy, clock book

section two

Crystal beads in warm browns and purple hues, tea-pot and butterfly, cat on the moon

section three

Two hearts = friendship

section four

Beads, hearts and crystals

section five

Bottom half of fairy baby, butterfly and beads

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Part of a long strand of gorgeous beads and silver fixings

section six

Crystal globe

We’re all back home now continuing with our lives, but changed profoundly by the experience. When I see the dangler reflecting the light, I’m reminded that what makes ordinary, extraordinary is friends.

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Revitalizing my Garden Swing: The Squirrel Dilemma

garden swing cover

Making a cover for the swing

If you’ve been following along, you’ll know that I made a cover for my swing a few years ago after one too many years in the sun and rain. It looked great for a couple of seasons, but last July a nesting squirrel started taking it apart. The soft cotton cording was the first to go. Mama squirrel returned to remove the rest of the upper corner and at that point the cover was beyond repair. Originally I thought I would sew a new cover, but omit the nest-worthy piping. Apparently the poly fill is just as appealing. They’ve been making off with that for the last month as well.

garden swing damage

The squirrel folded back the corner, then chewed through the piping

garden swing exposed stuffing

My half-hearted attempt at covering the swing with a bright shower curtain

My neighbor saw the squirrel race through his yard with a mouthful of white batting last month and thought the squirrel was foaming at the mouth. We had a good laugh over that one. Last week I found a small scrap of the pink fabric used for the piping underneath the orange tree. We now have two squirrel’s nests in the tree in addition to the ‘condo’s going up in our neighbor’s tree.

swing stuffing and blanket

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse

So, what do I do with the swing? At this point, I need to replace the stuffing and make a new cover. I’m reluctant to spend money on the higher-quality outdoor fabric, only to have it shredded once again, but anything cheaper will fade quickly, so that doesn’t seem like a good use of money either. I did provide a nice offering for their nest last year, but it wasn’t enough. They took all the leftover piping, the strands of yarn, part of the swing upholstery and the batting.

What would you do?

2015 Squirrels in the garden

Mischievous and cute

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The Old Gray Matter, She Ain’t What She Used to Be

gray matterLet’s face facts: as our bodies age, our skin is less elastic. The same is true of our brains. I’m working on accepting the former with some semblance of grace. I mean what’s a bit of loose skin among friends? I am not, however, happy about the fuzzy grey matter that seems to be part and parcel of the menopause years. I want my sharper brain back.

Scientists that know a thing or to suggest activities that stretch our mental muscles. I could have taken up Sudoku or the New York Times crossword puzzle but no. I needed a real challenge. I switched from a PC to a Mac, then switched from Quicken™ to QuickBooks™ within a short period of time.

Today, like a runner at the end of a marathon, I’m feeling pumped with pride and exhausted at the same time. I linked bank accounts, created invoices, embedded my logo and stayed awake long enough to write this blog. (A bit of chocolate helped).

Mostly, I’m just glad it’s done.

Have you challenged yourself lately with something completely out of your comfort zone? How did you do?

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Monday Musings

We’ve been dusting off the garden furniture and hanging our shade sails.  Summer is on the way. Temps shot up overnight, with a high of 90 degrees (32C) in the forecast. There’s a dry wind blowing as well, making if feel more like July than April. It’s a bit strange.

I (mostly) played hooky today, enjoying lunch on the patio of  The Left Bank with my friend Laura. I made phone calls in between our get together, but overall had a relaxing day.

left bank april 2015

The Left Bank, Santana Row

Yesterday I put the finishing touches on Laura’s birthday gift, a set of greeting cards and gift tags made using the Couture line of paper by Graphic 45.

Now that the birthday girl’s opened her gift, I can give you a little peek.

DSC_0007

Graphic 45 cards, vintage trim

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These shoes aren’t made for walking: Jet rhinestones by Kaiser Scrapbook, Couture paper by Graphic 45, vintage red seam binding from Green House Supply

Graphic 45 gift tags

Gift tags: Graphic 45 Couture paper and tags, vintage seam binding, Kaiser Scrapbook rhinestones

I trimmed the box and some of the cards with vintage seam binding from my friend Donna’s Antique Row booth. She sells a variety of ephemera with a changing selection, so it’s always fun to go look (and buy).

DSC_0002

Box trimmed with vintage seam binding, topped with Graphic 45 Couture

box detail

Box detail

In other garden news, I’m still trying to decide what to do with our garden swing. It’s in a sorry state thanks to the nest-building squirrels. I’ll share more about that in another post.

I hope your week is off to a terrific start.

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Garden Snapshot

Busy, busy, busy.

Did I mention I was busy?

I’m having fun in the garden in between appointments, exercise and carpool duties. Here are a couple of snapshots as I go about my day.

garden snapshot potatoes, watering can, geranium

Patio corner springs with life

There are two steps leading from our back door to the garden patio. They form an L shape, resting against the house and leading to the garden. The steps currently house a potted geranium, my new watering can and a ceramic bowl of water for the cats. I’m energized by all that color. The small fountain that the cats like to drink from is off-limits so that the birds can have a swim unmolested. The fountain is now surrounded by a small wire fence.

Staked inside the geranium are a pair of gardening tools, a gift from Talia and Belinda. They spotted them at a cat show and thought of me. Sweet, eh?

That small bowl of red potatoes grew in the center of my sheet mulch compost project. I’m looking forward to steaming them later this week. Red potatoes are one of my favorites.

bowl of red potatoes

Red Potato Compost Harvest

Here is a closeup of my garden fork and spade. Aren’t they cute?

garden tools meow

Charming gifts

And I’m off…

I hope you’re living life in the slow lane. I’ll catch up soon.

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Loving Our Earth

I’m spending  Earth Day getting my hands dirty.  I started yesterday, since there is always a lot to do this time of year. After dispatching every last weed in the garden, I got busy staking the tomatoes I didn’t plant and harvesting the potatoes from the compost pile. I didn’t plant the potatoes either.

So far it’s been an interesting spring in the garden. We’ve stopped watering pretty much everything. This is year four of the California drought, prompting Governor Brown to issue mandatory, 25% state-wide water restrictions.  Later this week I’m meeting with a landscape designer to draw up alternative plans to replace our lawn.

In this semi-arid state, we have no business planting lawns in the first place. It’s an old tradition, imported from the lush gardens of England and Europe where water is plentiful. Somehow it became a status symbol and then the status quo. Those days are over.

I’ve been contemplating several ideas but I seem to lack the overall vision of what a replacement will look like. It will be nice to meet with J.P. who designed our beautiful front ramp and deck  in 2010 and the circular patio out back.

2010 Landcape Plan front yard

J.P. Bergez, Landscape Design

2010 front garden design bergez

Completed Landscape, 2010

Two years ago we removed the grassy sidewalk strip and replaced it with a flower garden. The sidewalk garden uses less water while attracting beneficial insects. I think it’s much prettier, too. We should have done it years ago.

Sidewalk strip before and after

Sidewalk strip before and after

Yesterday I gathered all of my stored seeds including my much-loved sunflowers and planted them in the curb garden. There they will grow or perish. They’ll have to get by with the water available to that narrow strip.

Late last year Garden Sunshine blogged about her sheet mulching project and I knew immediately that I wanted to do the same thing.  I drew a mental line down the center of the lawn in our back garden, then sheet mulched half of it. The area is still composting, but I achieved the desired effect: that section of the lawn is gone. Slowly, gradually, our water-thirsty suburban grass is going away.

I’ll let you know how the consult goes.

Here are my goals:

  • Reduce the amount of water needed to maintain the garden by half. Since 50% of residential water use goes to irrigation, cutting that use in half means we’ll achieve a 25% reduction overall.
  • Create a small seating area for my swing under the shade of the orange tree. We used to have the swing under the tree, but it rested on the lawn. We had to remember to move it every two or three days, or deal with a soggy swing. No grass, no problem.  My future, summer afternoon napping place is secure.
  • Share the process and what I learn along the way with others via my blog, Facebook, Twitter and email.

Please let me know if you take the Earth Day quiz, below. I only scored five out of ten but was happy to know I beat the average score of four.

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Turning Lemons into…Dinosaurs

Our lemon tree is covered with flowers again, promising another banner crop later this year. What I didn’t expect was this:

baby dinosaur lemon tree
It seems our enterprising tree has given birth to a baby dinosaur.

Thank you in advance for keeping your congratulatory comments to a dull roar. We don’t want to wake the baby.

Is there any ‘funny business’ happening in your world today?

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The power of celebration

I’ve loved reading the different perspectives of our blogging extravaganza. Julia speaks eloquently of our time together, and on the power and importance of celebration.