Orange everywhere.

Before I showed you my deeelicious new Saver's find, I just had to show you this extra-deeelicious picture that came all the way from Big Bend, TX! This giraffe (aka the lovely Miss Addison) was looking at our Halloween decorations blog post and got inspired to make some of her own. Are they not the coolest, ever? I love her spooky jack-o-lanterns and that Peter Max bat. But the icing on the proverbial cake is that fantasmigorical giraffe costume!! Doesn't that one, big, droopy eye look SO REAL? (Kudos to her mama for that great shot!) Thank you, Addison, for making such beautiful decorations and mostly for sending them to us at the Wabi-Sabi House! BOO to you!
And now, to some thrifty orange love...


Could. you. die? I did. I just about had a heart attack when I saw this vintage tea set at The Assistance League store. I don't usually go in there, but I was on a search for some baskets and popped in for just a sec. There it was, waiting patiently for me. WHO had this? I told y'all how much I love 60's stuff and this wild orange color in particular. It looks sooo good against my stainless counters and the blue/brown/green of my tile. Unfortunately, it's going to have to live in a cupboard somewhere because my modestly priced tea set now lives in my modestly sized house and there be no room at the inn, so to speak. When I say modestly sized,you know that's like when you read a real estate ad and they list a house as a "charmer." That means you will be divorced within a year and it will just be you and your cat to enjoy hot tea together in your lovely "charmer." Naw, I'm just kidding. The tree of us live quite comfortably here in our charmer. We had a bigger house once and we didn't use all of it. We use every single inch of this place (and then some). Course, if FinnigantheCurious ends up being as tall and lanky as his Dad we may have to rethink things. Perhaps they can have the house and Jackdaddy can build me a Leprechaun addition. I take after the small Irish side of my family and don't need much room.
When I first moved in here, I got a teensy pinch of a friend's Crown of Thorns (euphorbia milii). Look at it today!

I had it stuffed in an old terracotta pot forever and it had stalled out. Then I moved it to this big doozy of a pot and it took off like crazy. Doesn't it look so pretty against the green pot and the orange pumpkins? I'm always sad when Halloween is over because all the orange goodness goes away. If you need a shot of it, just come on by. I always manage to find a way to keep the love going. I'm sorta, kinda, maybe thinking of painting the (still unpainted) trim on the windows orange. Jackdaddy is not quite as enthusiastic about that as I am. Maybe if I threaten to paint them fuchsia he'll come around. OH, I know! I'll tell him that if they can't be painted orange, I'll need him to make new trim because that was the "orange trim" design. The "brown trim" design is totally different. OMG, I'm so evil. We've been together long enough now that he'll just give me a little eye roll and tell me that if I want new trim it's gonna be "awhile." He knows that word gets me runnin' scared. And so it goes in the life of a remodel. I'll take fast over fashion most times these days. I wanna be FINISHED.

Wordless Wednesday

BOO, y'all!

We've been having so much fun around here getting ready for Halloween. It's a month-long affair at the Holt House. Anyone with a small child knows that Halloween is much more than one day. Actually, we talk about it pretty much year-round. Bright and (not so) early the morning after Halloween, FinnigantheCurious starts talking about what he's going to be next year and what I should be next year and what kind of candy he's going to get more of (or less of) next year and how much later he's going to stay up next year and, and, and... I would say Halloween is ever bigger than Christmas here. Course, we celebrate everything. We are a celebrating kind of family. We do all the equinoxes and solstices and Shakespeare's birthday (no one really knows, but historically celebrated on April 23) and "Talk Like a Pirate Day" and we sleep outside on the full moons and, well, you get the idea. We love an excuse to make a cake and put up some streamers.
This year I was trying to be thrifty with the cashola output so I went looking for ideas. My dear friend and neighbor, Sonja, who is such a fabulous artist and crafty mama gave me a great idea. She and her daughter, Olive (is that the cutest name ever?), painted tree branches in lovely girly colors and then made the sweetest little fairies and attached them to the branches. Oh, and they sprinkled glitter on them, of course. OMG...soooo adorable. FinnigantheCurious was not impressed, to say the least. If I said he was disgusted I would not be exaggerating. He wanted nada to do with purple tree branches, glitter and fairies. However, he was very into the idea of black spray paint and tree branches so, that's what we did. We picked up some "scary looking" branches here and there and went to town with the paint.

Then we went over to Big Lots (weird store, y'all) and found these creeeeepy skeletons. They really are just the creepiest things. Finn and I were both kinda freaked out by them and we like scary stuff. We kept throwing them at each other like a hot potato. You don't really want to touch them. They remind me of dolls that come alive at night and try to kill you. You know the ones. There's just something about them. It's no wonder they were at the discount store because no mama in her right mind would bring these home. Oh.

See? Eeek! After putting on the appropriate clothing, we attached these freaky things to the black branches that we had hung on the fence. It was a skeleton affair of the highest order.

Look at my spookalicious babe. Won't that picture be worth a million about 40 years from now? That fantabulous bird cage was a gift from my friend, neighbor and fellow gardener, Emily. She gave it to me, yes. Can you imagine? It got a not-so-warm reception over at her house when she brought it home. I snagged it and dared Jackdaddy to say a word. I asked him, "Did you SEE that fantastic bird cage in the front yard that Emily gave me?" He replied, "Uh, yes." So, basically, I got the same lukewarm reception that Emily got, but she is a much nicer person than I and actually took her partner's opinion into account. I just gloated.
I stuffed it with tons of orange lights and I put the plastic rats in there too. It looks so cool and tres Martha. I could not get a good night shot to save my life. You'll just have to drive by and see for yourself. My favorite thing is listening to the neighborhood children walk by and discuss all the various aspects of the decorations. The rats are a big hit and the skeletons are getting mixed reviews. Some find them cool, others find them too scary. Just as I had hoped. I'm like that, you know. A freaky gloating mamacita.

OOoo, I want this. OOoo, I want that. (Round Two)

So, here's another case of having loved a house before I knew who lived in it. My friend, Emily, lives in this adorable house. The color is just the best. It's this soft, modern, pale lime kind of color that looks sooo fabulous with a native yard. And it's got a purple door, to boot! I mean, you just know someone cool is gonna live in a house with a purple door. I think it should be law that front doors have to be painted some wild and fabulous color. I was so happy when we drove up to find out she lived in this house that I've looked at a million times. There's so much to look at in this yard, I just don't know where to begin. The house, the cool fence, the colors, the decorations...my eyes were literally feasting.

She made this little fountain first thing when they got the house and it is beautiful. I am not the best photographer (ahem, to say the least) so I wasn't able to capture how great this really looks. It's small and it's nestled right into that liriope (I think) and surrounded by thyme and mulch. She had the cutest little thyme in there called Elfin Thyme. Have you ever seen it? It really does immediately conjure up thoughts of fairies and elves. Pretty, pretty.

Here's one of her beautiful vegetable beds. Everything in her yard is made so well and looks so clean and neat (unlike someone we know). Everyone oood and ahhd over these veggie trellises. She told the story of how she had coveted them for so long at Natural Gardener, but kept telling herself she didn't need to spend the money 'cuz she could easily just make some. You know that story, don't you? Well, she did make some, but the real things still haunted her every time she went out there. She finally came to her senses and realized she just really wanted the damn things and bought them. They were worth it, for sure.

Now, I just thought this was so cool. Right by her grill she has some cracks in the cement and this Thai basil reseeded and nestled itself right in them. They look so great there. That beautiful soft green and purple next to the cold stainless of the grill - tres Wabi-Sabi. Her herb bed is over to the right of this photo and I'm tellin' ya, that is just the best idea ever. They just reach over and grab herbs right there while they're cooking. Unfortunately, our grill sits in the deadzoneinwhichnothingwillgrownotevenBermudagrass. We could reach over and pick hackberry leaves.

Here is the Alamo vine I was telling you about! It. is. gorgeous. I mean it is a show-stopper of the highest order. Huge magenta blooms with lush green vines. This is one of those plants that looks almost fake it's so magnificent. Well, I've been informed that I was misinformed. Again. Kat says that the fuchsia flowers are October hibiscus and not Alamo vine. OK, well, just read everything I said and apply it to them instead. I got seeds, I got seeds, I got seeds. I'll give you some once mine gets going. (From the Alamo vine, not the hibiscus, dammit.)

Here's looking up from the other end towards the herb bed. The grill is now on the right. Look at the juxtaposition of the black wrought iron with the gorgeous purple...yowza! It's a caterpillar nirvana in there. We must have seen 10 of them munching on the parsley and dill. This is such a lovely and peaceful yard with so many interesting touches. I can't wait to get an invitation to hang out there. Hint, hint.

And now....drum roll, please. Do you have a house that you covet? The house that you'll go out of your way to drive by? The house that makes you feel both joyful and depressed (because its not yours) at the same time? This is that house for me. I've always loved this yard. It's a double lot with lots of shade which is right up my alley. Then, in 2005, they did a remodel that blew my mind. Well, it blew everyone's mind. The whole neighborhood was in a tizzy. This is actually Beverly's childhood home. Could you die? Isn't that the sweetest thing ever? They kept the original home, of course, but added a gorgeous, tasteful, modern addition to the back and spiffed up the old house to match. Again, that pale greenish color that I adore with parts of the house painted a perfectly coordinating sky blue kinda grey color. There are tons of windows and metal and wood and the gardens...oh, my friends, the gardens. It's wild, but in a very, very intentional way. There are olive trees and citrus and morning glories out the yin-yang and passion vines and ponds and old metal signs and old European bathtub fountains and old NYC street signs and metal tubs and statues and bird feeders and mulch paths and acacia trees and big, wispy grasses and colorful pots and Buddhas and, and, and...here, you look.




I mean...I WANT IT and I WANT IT NOW. I want to live there. I want to HAVE IT. I'm gonna. I swear I am. When my big dogs you-know-what I'm gonna get one older one in a manageable size and I'm gonna have that yard. When FinnigantheCurious is older and no longer wants to tromp through the yard playing pirate (sniff), I'm gonna have that yard. I am. I'm gonna volunteer to pull weeds and sweep decks over there just so I can absorb all that perfectness and learn how to do it for myself. This yard is the epitome of Wabi-Sabi. You could get a 300-year-old Japanese tea master over there and his first words would be, "Mmmm, Wabi-Sabi." I felt like a teenager in love with a rock star for the first time. I kept following Martha (the one who does the gardening) around with stars in my eyes trying to ingratiate myself to her in a rather obvious way. In my own defense, I was not the only one. We were all googly-eyed. She and Beverly were just beyond nice and friendly and welcoming. Of course, you could tell they were good folks just by seeing the house. It's warm and interesting and different and really, really, really cool - just like them. I even had Jackdaddy drooling over all the "stuff," and you know how Jackdaddy is about "stuff." Course, all her stuff is placed perfectly within these outdoor "rooms," not shoved in a big crap pile in the corner of the yard. But, hey, I'll get there. And I didn't even take pictures of the right-of-way in which she dug out all the Bermuda by hand and created a full sun garden that looks like something out of Dwell. Hell, not even Dwell has stuff this cool. It's unbelievable, really. Next time I'm stalking them walking by, I'll get some pictures of that too. I'm off to dream and plan.

OOoo, I want this. OOoo, I want that. (Round One)

My neighborhood's second garden tour, which feels like it was 4,000 years ago, was just this past Sunday. I had excellent intentions of riding my bike to the houses and having a healthy and leisurely morning. That was the plan. Course, seeing as how I had a filthy house, a play to be in later that day, and a wrap party to throw after that, well, I carpooled. It was still the cat's meow, even though I was somewhat fried. I'm gonna show you two gardens today and then two more tomorrow. The first is Anne-Charlotte's house and oh, I just loved it. I already knew this house because of the GINOURMOUS century plant in her front yard. I have driven by that house many times over the years and exclaimed from the privacy of my car: "Holy $*$&^#! Look at the size of that *%&^$ thing!" Now that I know it's A-C's house I can say it to her face, and, man, did I ever! Look at this!
She's a lucky duck because the previous owners were gardeners with a capitol G. Just the loveliest beds of natives all grown up a little wild which is exactly how I like them. I really think that is my favorite garden look - planned, but wild and natural looking. She also has a lot of climbing fig vine in the front and I just adore that look too. I'm dying for some to grow up on a semi-ugly fence that we have. I figure (pun!) if I plant 42 of them along a 15' fence, they might have it looking good in, oh, 10 years or so. Unless they eat the fence up first; it's wooden. If you click on the picture below to enlarge it, you can see the juxtaposition of the St. Francis statue with the Halloween skull heads. I dig that.

In the back we found this swanky rusty box spring thing. It's going to hold a climbing vine once the damn thing gets to climbing (the vine, not the box spring). I can't remember what plant she was talking about trying to grow because I was too enthralled with the springs. I was plotting and planning on how to get one into my garden without Jackdaddy knowing about it. I think I'd like to figure out some kind of arbor situation for one. If I bring one more crazy thing into this yard, Jackdaddy is gonna have me sleeping on it as opposed to decorating with it, if you know what I mean, and I'm sure you do.

Moving on over across the street to the house where the boys are encouraged to pee in the yard. My kinda house. Let me explain... Danielle and Kyle murdered some hackberrys. The hackberrys staged a major revolt and returned with a vengeance. So, Danielle has embarked upon a science experiment, of sorts. Well, not of sorts - it's a controlled experiment, for real. She took four different hacks and is treating them with four different products to see which one works the best. Isn't that cool? As we have some mutinous hackberrys over here as well, I'm really looking forward to see what transpires with all this bruhahack.
Number 1 is the dreaded Eraser. Not Schwarzenegger's new movie, but glyphosate, N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine, in the form of its isopropylamine salt. (Yes, I did google that.)

Number 2 is acetic acid. It's an organic acid which gives vinegar its sour taste and pungent smell. (Wikipedia, smartypants.) I was told this stuff would kill the invincible succulents planted around my oak trees. Didn't work here. I'm waiting to see what happens with this hack. I might try again if it works for her.

My personal (and the crowd) favorite: the PEE REMEDY! I could go on and on with the puns for this one, but then you'll find out just how immature I am and we can't have that, can we? Basically, they throw their kitchen scraps in this bucket and then pee on it. Man, I hope this one is the winner. Jackdaddy and FinnigantheCurious will be sooo happy. You can even see the evidence down the side of the tub. And, woah, would my dogs ever be happy too! Does dog pee have nitrogen in it?

And number four is the sugar drowning. She poured Coke and sugar and something and something on it and then wrapped it up tight. I think she said this one is coming back. I can't remember for sure which one had shoots coming back. Finniganthecurious is always jonesing for sodee pop so, I know he's hoping this one proves to actually increase growth and vigor. All the better to support his argument in favor of the stuff. I'm gonna have to spout off with the old, "If all the deadish hackberry trees are drinking Cokes, does that mean you would drink Cokes too?" Doesn't have quite the same umphf as the jumping off the bridge lecture, does it?
And lastee, but not leastee, are their new solar panels! Ta da! They got in while the city still had some rebate moola too. I'd like to tell you how much their utility bills were this summer, but you'd spit up your beer coffee just like I did when I heard. It was low. Very, very low. I think they look just marvelous. The added benefit of them is that they turned this way sunny little spot off her office into a cool shade spot that they all love. It's worked out so well that they're putting a deck right off the front and making it official. They actually have a lot of really fabulous environmentally cool stuff happening in this yard. Mucho rain water harvesting, greywater set-up, rain garden, tons of food growing, etc., etc. I'm looking forward to seeing this yard in a few years as it's gonna be bitchin'.
Next up I'll show you Emily's uber cool place with that amazing Alamo vine I was telling you about. Then, oh, then comes my personal coup de grace (which, in French, literally means a death blow of mercy). This last yard is my dream yard of all time bar none times a million plus infinity forever and ever and it would be best to just kill me now and put me out of my misery for lack of having it. You're gonna love it, I just know it.

All's Well That Ends Well

Rumpelstiltskin is over and now I can get back to gardening and homing. I've got two fantastic garden tours to show and tell you, some cool Halloween decorations to reveal, my new, FREE birdcage to brag about, and a new blog feature that I'm excited to start. But I'm gonna tell ya, it's gonna have to wait until tomorrow because I am still walking around like a dazed and crazed woman and FinnigantheCurious is about maxed out with mama having to do things and my cupboards make Old Mother Hubbard look like Costco. You know what I'm sayin' here? I've got to take care of my home today and my blog tonight. It's been too many days though, I know, I know. Thank you so much for all your emails wondering where the hell I am. I am still alive, but barely, and I'm afraid I have to say the same about my baby veggies too. Everybody's gone and gotten neglected. Boo Hoo. So, look for a nice, juicy post tomorrow, OK?

HUZZAH! Rumpelstiltskin

Veering far away from the home and garden theme today to give a shameless plug to my dear theater troupe, The Violet Crown Community Theater. We are a group of neighbors and friends who heeded the call of our fearless leader, Nancy Barnard, to start an old-fashioned theater group. Currently, we are all adults doing FREE interactive plays for children (and the young at heart). We hope to branch out in the future to involve children in the actual productions and also to do more dramatic fare geared toward adults. (You know me, I'd love to do an R-rated version of a fairy tale.) Our latest production is an adaptation of the classic fairy tale, Rumpelstiltskin. It is an interactive show for children of all ages and runs about 40 minutes. We are totally self-supported by, uh, ourselves and the kindness of local advertisers as well as the "passing of the hat." We make or borrow all our own costumes, sets, props, etc., etc. It's fun, exhausting, and well worth it when we see the faces in crowd; happy, intrigued, joyful, mesmerized. Our last production was Jack and the Beanstalk. Here are some pictures from that show so that you can get a feel for the kind of work we do.





I would like to invite each and every one of you, young and old, to join us at one of our three shows this week. The show opens tonight at Freddie's Place located at 1704 South 1st street 78704. Showtime tonight is 7 pm. (The show is only 40 minutes, so not to worry about bedtimes.) Freddie's is a magical Austin restaurant that sits overlooking Bouldin Creek. Not only is it very child-friendly, but dog-friendly as well (on leash, of course). Great food with huge portions (that can easily be split), adult beverages, a play scape, washer pits, and a stage for live shows all set under huge live oaks and lit by a multitude of colored lights. If you're looking for the quintessential Austin experience, you've got to check this place out!
This Saturday we'll be at Brentwood Park. The address is 6700 Arroyo Seco Blvd. 78757. Showtime is at 5 pm. We will be selling delicious bean and cheese tacos from the very generous Tacodeli for $2.00 and lemonade for $0.50. You are also welcome to bring your own dinner and drinks. Bring the blankets, come early and enjoy the festivities! There is a play scape at the park and plenty of wide open space for the children to run wild before the show.
Our final show will be at Central Market this Sunday. Showtime is at 5 pm. The performance will be held on the deck. Come after the game and let the kids hit the play scape before the show. Stay after the show and have dinner.
This is truly live theater at it's finest. We've got gender-switching, a storyteller, a trumpet player, silly props, homemade costumes, a bumbling King, a disgruntled squire, a busy page, a braggart miller, a totally sullen maiden, her silly attendant, and a strange little "man" who just might be turning straw into gold. ALL SHOWS ARE FREE!
Y'all come, OK?

Wordless Wednesday (that I forgot to post *%&$^#)

Intrepid Gardeners or How Much I Love My Neighborhood

This was how the day was supposed to begin. My wonderful neighborhood has an active and very friendly garden club. We chit and chat and exchange plants and share successes and failures. We lament and love the weather together. We're environmentally conscious. Best of all, we're fun. There is some seriously good humor happening around here. So, it was with good humor that, after slaving away all day Saturday to get my yard ready for our fall tour, I awoke to this:

Poop. Well, poop and not poop 'cuz I am still absolutely loving all this rain. I was feeling just a tad put out that it went from drizzle to buckets just moments before the tour was slated to begin, but, hey, beggars can't be choosy, right? I'll take a rain-out over a drought-out any day.

I failed to mention that we are intrepid group as well for here's the first of the slightly wet, yet impressively cheery friends! (From left to right: Jack, Prentiss, Emily, Kat and Lori) Jackdaddy had a fire going and the coffee was hot and the rain, well, Kat (of solar chandelier fame) put it best: (Actually, she quoted Braveheart - what more could you ask for?)

It twas "a grand, soft rain."

And, indeed it was. We gathered our brollys and Macs and went poking about in the yard. Others sloshed in bit by bit, and a good ole' time was had by all.

Here's Prentiss by the Pan and fountain. Someone commented on my cement stone bench by calling it Stonehenge. Then I think it got twisted from there as someone called it "Stonerhenge" due to my Pan being recently confused with a ganja-smoking devil.
We went from here to Emily's amazing yard that made me feel like a cartoon cut-out gardener. I forgot the camera so I have no pictures to show you, but I'm gonna get some because I want to show you this vine she had called, Alamo Vine. Lawdy, lawdy it was purdy. I mean, her whole yard was insanely gorgeous, but I'd never seen nor heard of this vine before. We had just watched The Alamo movie (really good!) the night before. Kinda weird. I didn't see that vine in the movie ;). From there they went to Caroline's house. I had to miss that one because we had another shindig to put on here (more on that tomorrow), but "I know where she lives" and I'm gonna stop by soon to see her yard and cuddle her newish baby. We've got three more houses next weekend and I'm beside myself to see one of houses on the schedule as it is my favorite yard in the whole hood. I am, literally, counting the days. And, to finish it all off, I leave you with words from FinnigantheCurious:

When we woke up Sunday morning and the rain was coming down, he asked me if I was sad. I replied that I was not really sad, I was just disappointed. He said, "Oh, me too, Mama. (and here I'm thinking how precious and sweet he is) You and Dad took such terrible care of me yesterday while you were working in the yard, and now it seems as if it was all for nothing."
I still think he's precious and sweet and oh, so funny. It was true, you know. Saturday was one of those "cereal-eating, smoothie-in-a-bottle-drinking, watch-one-more-movie-it's-OK kind of days. Like he really hated that.

Middle -of- the -night- naked- dance

NOT what you're thinking.

The middle-of-the-night-naked-dance is when you hear a huge noise outside and you and your partner jump up at the same time and start running aimlessly around the room, whispering loudly and frantically, "WHAT WAS THAT? DID YOU HEAR IT? WHAT WAS THAT? GO LOOK! NO, DON'T GO LOOK! WHAT WAS THAT?"
All that crazy adrenaline rushing through you causing you to do nothing that makes sense much less to do anything that actually helps.
We got some seriously crazy wind that rolled in with a storm early this morning. We heard a huge, I mean, HUGE noise which propelled us up and and out of bed to do the dance. Jack finally got it together and went outside. I stumbled to the back door to offer moral support, should he need it. I heard him holler that our dog, Angus, was out. Out meaning outside of our fenced yard. This is not particularly unusual for Angus as he has a predominant wandering gene, but he is afraid of wind and rain and thunder and lightening and loud noises and even the noise of soft Nerf bullets flying by (but that's another story). For him to be out meant only one thing - the noise must have been something breaking so he could get out. Sure 'nuff our new, 14 gazillion pound automatic gate had been swung around by the wind so that one end pivoted off the track and slammed into the other side of the fence. Honestly, it weighs FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS. The wind moved it six feet off the track! Here's the gate as it's supposed to look:

Nope, sorry, we did not get the camera out at 5 am to take a picture of it off it's track. Wish we had later. We were still in the thick of the early morning daze coupled with the rain starting and the dogs freaking out and the wind still kicking. Could I stop here and say that FinnigantheCurious slept through the whole damn thing? The child who refuses to sleep ever, slept through the doors being opened and slammed closed and the dogs running insanely through the house and Jack and I yelling at each other from across the yard. Hilare. I did get a picture this morning of some of the damage. It's worse than it looks here. You'll just have to believe me. It. was. crazy. man.

The wind also kicked some gargoyle ass. Knocked his poor little head right off.

Took down the tee pee. Wish it had blown that SO glad it didn't blow the ugly much-loved trampoline into someone else's yard.
My globes and the always-about-to-fall birdhouse survived. Old man Luetkenholter put up this huge bird house about 25 ft. in the air on a rail thin pole that is buried about 12 inches in the ground. I'm not kidding. He anchored the damn thing by running wires from various other trees and structures to the pole. It's held up by wires that run all over the yard. It sways and swings and leans and bends. Looks terrifying to me, but it's full of birds. They must like it. That or we have birds with bad credit; can't get a place anywhere else. Maybe my bird house is the ghetto of the bird hood. Someday we'll fix it, but truth be told, that's about number 543,655,231 on the "To Do" list.
I meant to post a lot earlier in the day, but such is life with homeschooling. Today there were puddles to be splashed in and a cake to be baked and Uno to be played and forts to be built and, well, now it's almost 11 pm and I have a minute. Had a minute. I hope there's no more late-night bruhaha tonight. If there is I'm gonna pull a Finnigan and sleep right through it. Don't tell Jackdaddy. Course, he's probably thinking the same thing. Great and devious minds think alike.

Wordless Wednesday

La, la, la

La, la, la, at last, at last. Windows, my friends, windows! Windows that work, that we can open, windows that we can actually see out of! Oh, but they are so pretty. They are also very, very clean so, might I suggest you take a good look now? I can assure you they will not stay that way for long. In fact, one screen has a teensy tear in it already. An errant football throw, I fear. Boo Hoo. Oh, well, such is life with happy, busy children. Look at sweet, old Luna laying there. I think she likes them too. She's probably just hiding from errant footballs. We're still waiting on the two big ones which are on special order. Apparently, they are on specialspecial order as it's been forever since we ordered them. I'd like to give a shout out to David Duarte of Duarte Construction (david@duarteconstruction.com) who helped us choose the Andersen windows and did a great install job. We were very,very happy with him. Nope, we did not get any discount (oh, as if) nor does he even know I'm posting this. It's just an honest referral because he did a great job and we like him very much.

Here's an outside shot. I saw this trim on a new construction in Hyde Park. True to form, I slammed on the brakes and took pictures to bring home to Jackdaddy. He was so relieved to have some fancy-shmancy trim to make. He thought for a minute that he would be making quick and easy "normal" trim. (Surely he knows better by now.) I really like the slightly whimsical look of this trim. It also has an Asian feel to it which I like although, my house has no real Asian-vibe. Oh, wait, I have a cool dragon on the porch that I got at a garage sale. It was over priced, but they were closing up when I stopped by and the woman finally relented on the price. I still paid $5 which is a tad high in my book. I do love that dragon though. A guy who specializes in Feng-shui came by my house one time with a friend and he complimented me on my excellent use of the dragon for Feng-shuiness. I didn't have the heart to tell him I just put her out there for looks. If she's doing some Feng-shiu mojo, I'm all for it!

Here's another shot of the new windows, this time while open. The install coincided perfectly with this lovely fall weather we've been having. Here in Texas we get to open our windows about 6 weeks of the entire year. I think we might have gotten an extra week or two this year. They still need to be caulked (hint, hint to you-know-who) and painted, but I just love them so.

If you stop by I'll let you play with them. Now, isn't that neighborly of me?

P.S. I forgot to say that my dear friend, neighbor, and gardener extraordinaire, Paige, took the old windows and is using them in her greenhouse that will support our neighborhood urban farm, Urban Patchwork.