Category: Grandma Ruddell

The Spring Gardening Update

 

 

It’s time for a garden update.  So when do I really, really want to get out and work on my garden????  When it’s a cold, rainy day, and I’m stuck in the house.  We’ve had two of those days this past week, and now it’s sunny and 83 degrees.  I didn’t want to get out today, because I had other things to do.  Truthfully….I’m a major procrastinator!

Yesterday, I did some “invisible gardening”.  What???   Yes, I trimmed a little here and there, pulled a big of grass, and planted about a dozen bulbs.  No one can tell that I did that, of course, so that’s what I call “invisible gardening”.  Hopefully, it will all show up later, in a month or so.

I think the front flower beds are looking better.  A few things are starting to bloom.  I still need to put some more color in them, but my yellow lantanas are looking good, and my stella d’oros also look good.  I can’t wait for my elephant ears to come up!

The back yard is a different kettle of fish.  I’ve had some plants, from the nursery, sitting on my patio for quite awhile.  They are ready to plant.  The ground is not ready.  I need to get it all prepared.  I have a Secret Garden in the back corner of the yard.  Most of these plants will go there.  I’ve filled flower pots on the patio.  One of the wisterias is starting to really fill out.  The other one died over the winter.  We thought it might be cursed, but then we found out that the lower vine had been cut.  Duh!

 

The saddest part of our back yard is our photinias.  We planted 12 of these when we moved in, about 15 years ago.  They’ve grown like trees and shaded the whole back yard.  They’ve provided some privacy.  Everyone has always liked the lush feel of our backyard.

The photinias have all died this year.  They have some kind of fungus.  We have someone coming, in another week, to cut them down to the ground. They’ll haul them away.  My whole garden sunlight will change.  It’s sad, but I’m kind of excited to plant some new flowering shrubs, and have more sunlight to grow things.  Hope they don’t have to tear our my rose bush to get to the photinias.

Stay tuned for the next update on the garden.

We will be having a photinia memorial service  at the end of next week.

A Good Case For Not Shaving My Legs!!

 

I hate to shave my legs!!!   I hate, hate, HATE to shave my legs!!!

When I was in about 7th or 8th grade, I begged my mom to buy me some hose.  Now, these were not pantyhose, which are practically a disappearing act by now.  Nope, these were hose that required a rubbery garter belt.  I felt so proud to finally wear my hose, even though the garter belt would start rolling down my stomach.  I’m not sure who ever thought garter belts were sexy, but these sure weren’t!   And…I constantly got runs in my hose.  People started identifying me as “the girl who has runs in her hose.”   Someone who thought up pantyhose must have made millions of dollars!   OK..yes..I still got runs in them.  But they felt so much better.

Shortly after being allowed to wear hose, I told my mom I needed to learn how to shave my legs.  She told me how to do that.  We did not have an indoor bathroom until I was in 8th grade.  We did have running water, and had a sink in the mudroom.  So I propped my leg on a chair, used daddy’s shaving brush in the little soap cup, and soaped it down.  I think I used mom’s razor.  It took me forever.  But I was so proud that I went into the living room and showed the family.  My brother thought it was rather dumb.  Then I proceeded to shave the other leg.  I kind of wanted to get a little nick around my ankle, because my brother was dating a girl that had recently visited us.  She had a tiny bandaid on her ankle bone, where she had cut herself shaving.  I was in awe.

After I finished shaving both legs, I put on some of Daddy’s aftershave.  It stung like crazy, and I smelled like my Daddy.  When I later mentioned to my friends that I used Daddy’s aftershave, they howled with laughter.  Hmmph!

The fun soon wore off, and I grew to hate shaving my legs.  I used to joke with friends that “I’ll shave my legs when the braids get in between the pedals of the piano.”  Once, when my hubby and I were on vacation, we had been camping for a week.  On our way home, I developed kidney stones.  When we went to the emergency room, I refused to be examined because I hadn’t shaved my legs.

This morning, I sat on the edge of my bathtub and finally did the dreaded deed.  This time, I put some nice lotion on my legs afterwards.  Unfortunately, when I stood up to swing my legs over the tub and dry them off, I slipped in the tub and fell backwards.  I’m really surprised I didn’t break anything.  I think I’m going to have some big bruises.  Grrrr.

I think I’m ready for the button you push and say “Help!  I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”    Wearing long pants all year round is looking better and better!

What are your thoughts on shaving legs?  Do you shave your legs every day?  Or for special occasions?  Or do you never shave your legs?   I’m interested in your thoughts.  Comment below, and give this a LIKE if you liked this article.

Grandma

Things I Love Right Now!

This week I love:

  • Attending the Main Street Arts Festival
  • Buying a new piece of art
  • Having my son-in-law set up my new computer
  • Having my son-in-law fix my vacuum cleaner and vacuuming the whole house for me!
  • Having a whole week to myself…plus the dog and my grandson
  • Watching my grandson and the dog, Bill, play together.
  • Having my husband come back home after a week away, and hopefully going to solve all my problems
  •  My grandson
  • My piano students

Things I Don’t Love Right Now!

  • Taking Bill to the clinic for a week’s stay,  for heart worm treatment
  • Having my hot water heater spring a leak…may need to be replaced
  • Having to pay a huge amount for taxes
  • My messy house

How is your week going?  Leave me a comment in the section below.

Fun at the Main Street Arts Festival in Fort Worth!

                   

 

The Main Street Arts Festival is a yearly event in Fort Worth, TX.  It is a juried art festival, and they are judged on their work.   Most of their work is very expensive, but occasionally I find something that speaks to my quirky mind.  Every year, I like to add to my collection.

I always like to find the shops that have heads or weird things.  I have quite a collection of weird things.  (Yes, I know…you’re thinking “who IS this weird person!” )  This year, my favorite booths were not there.  The head lady wasn’t there. The guy who paints the big green olives wasn’t there.  But there were other artists that were new.  I particularly liked the booth with ceramic pieces, such as this white piece.  Another booth had big metal pieces that moved around.  I thought the one in the middle looked like a treble clef.  I don’t know how the artist made it all work, but it was very classy.  When I win the lottery, I may buy one of his pieces.

Due to rain on Saturday, the crowd on Sunday was really large.  If you were walking against the flow of the crowd, you were lucky to be able to move.  So I made a few circles around to get to one booth.     There were fun things to look at on the way, like the Monkey picture, hanging on the side of this booth.

     I finally settled on my art piece of the year.  It is a wall hanging, about one yard long, and about six inches wide.  It has a music theme, which I love.  I am a piano teacher and have several students who sing, play piano and dance.  I think they will like it.  Nope, it’s not weird, but it’s COOL!  It was nice to find out these artists were from Kansas, my home state.  They are Greg & Mindy Rhoads, from Marquette, KS., and their work is called Mindful Mosaics.  They work with clay and other mixed media.

I hope you’ve had a chance to go to an Arts festival.  I know that so much work goes into these different pieces.

What kind of art do you like?  If you won the lottery, what would you buy?   Let me know in the comments below.

Isaac and I visit the Bob Jones Nature Center

 

Recently, my 20 month old grandson, Isaac, and I attended the “Mommy and Me” class at the Bob Jones Nature Center (BJNC).  The BJNC is a beautiful place in Southlake, Texas.  Bob Jones was a slave that was set free after the Civil War, along with his brother and mother.  They bought the 60 acre farm and over the years, Bob, his wife and their ten children expanded the farm until the owned almost 2,000 acres.  The BJNC is located on part of that land.

At the BJNC, they have summer camps for kids, Mommy & Me classes, a Preschool,  Home Away from Home classes,  Camera Club meetings, Master Gardeners meetings, and they encourage membership and volunteering to keep their preserve beautiful.   Lots of weddings are held there, and tons of visitors come each year to visit.  It’s a great place to experience nature!

At the “Mommy and Me” class, there were about 12 little ones with their mommies, grandmas, and nannies.  They ranged from one year old to three years old.  This class lasted an hour.  The theme was Earth Day.

Before we got out of our car, Isaac refused to give up the little ambulance that he was holding.  So we took it with us.  That might not have been the best idea!   We sat down to hear the story.  Little ones were doing fine with their mommies.  Isaac decided that was a great place to roll his ambulance, and he rolled it out to the middle of the circle.  Other children’s eyes lit up, some reached for it, and their mommies restrained them.  After retrieving the ambulance,  we moved to a bench, outside the circle, so Isaac could roll his ambulance around without disturbing the group.

The story led into the next activity, which was painting.  That was a fun activity, which included painting the earth…a blue circle of construction paper.  We left the paintings to dry, and then took a nature walk.

Along the nature walk,  there were a bunch of ant hills.  After we looked at them, we tried to avoid them.  It was a nice walk.  At one point we stopped and the leader gave all children a little tiny plant to throw in the wind, so there would be new flowers next time they visited.  Trudging on, we were pretty far behind the group.  Isaac was fascinated with the gravel on the path, and wanted to scoop up every rock and throw it.  We eventually caught up.

The group stopped to hear another story and sing some songs.  Then there was free play.  Ahhhh…finally…Isaac got to play with the ambulance and other kids shared with him.  Eventually, we picked up our paintings and made our way back to our car.  Within three minutes, Isaac was asleep for the long drive home.

This was a fun experience.  I’d highly recommend the Bob Jones Nature Center. There’s so much nature to explore!  The leader was great and had a lot of patience when the little ones started wandering off during the last story.  The only problem I had was the time…it took me an hour to get there, and an hour to get back.  I’ll find somewhere closer next time.   But the best part of the day was spending time with my little guy!

What fun things do you do with your children or grandchildren?