What's New?

My new passions lately are gardening and cleaning in anticipation of more gardening and relaxation.

Our house has a greenhouse attached, which has gone unused for many years. I just didn't have the time, energy or interest to do anything with it. A few years ago, we had to repair it, since some large tree limbs came crashing down onto it. Now, some of the glass panes are replaced with plexiglas. They don't fit as well, but most of the time, they do the job.

Lately, I have been spending my time picking up the broken glass from inside (and a little outside) of the greenhouse, and cleaning it - getting ready to do some planting and growing. My friend, Joanna, found a greenhouse and garden guy - which i have visited and hired, too. The greenhouse guy has a passion for ethnobotanicals. You can see some of his offerings here. The garden guy, Jim, specializes in butterfly gardens. My interest in herbal remedies and my desire to expand the herb garden coincides with Jim's passion of creating gardens for drunken insects (butterflies). I get so happy when i look around my new expanded garden and see the purple cornflowers (echinacea) in bloom, as well as blooms on the St. John's Wort, Sage, and the impending blooms on the Calendula plants. Then, there are a couple of heirloom tomatoes, peppers & an eggplant plant that i watch with anticipation.

From the greenhouse, I've acquired a patchouli plant, rose geranium, special sage, sweet grass, angel wing begonia, and other interesting plants that i wouldn't normally find at Lowe's or Home Depot.

The other passion is right next to the greenhouse. My "office", and workroom - which is the only room in the house that isn't finished. I've decided to make it more welcoming on a shoestring budget. So far, I've used old sheets to make a makeshift ceiling (no pun intended). I've acquired a sweet full size futon/couch from Craig's List for $35 - which is just the perfect size for the room. I've been cleaning, and moved my jewelry bench to one side of the room, taken down the pegboards and old shelves (put those up on freecycle so someone else can use them), and am generally cleaning and sprucing up the place! It's exciting. It's like reclaiming or finding something I've had all along, but didn't see the possibilities.