New Quilt!

This weekend while I was away at Chincoteague for the last time this year I finished my latest quilt. I had my doubts about bringing it while I was away but I was glad because I finally finished it. It took me more than a year because I prefer to hand sew. The night it was done I had a nightmare that I was working on a quilt and every time I thought I finished it I found something else that needed serious work. Also, everyone hated it. This quilt, however, is really not for public show but simply because I needed a new quilt for my bed.

Evening at Chincoteague

This is on the wildlife loop at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge.

Wordless Wednsday: The Shenandoah River at Harper's Ferry, West Virginia

Stinkbugs on My Mind

No, not really, but they make good fodder for articles these days. Personally, I only see a few here and there in the city. They drop in through my bathroom skylight and end up in the bathtub. I hear from friends that actually have sheds and other outbuildings full of them. Plus, they are all over the news as the critters are busy worrying about summer crops, so I guess stinkbugs won't go away soon.

Last week I needed a quick article for Examiner and wrote "How to protect your garden from stinkbugs". Then I forgot about it and didn't post it until today, mainly because I was busy playing with Squidoo. I'm investigating this as a different source of residual writing. I used to get residuals from old articles I wrote for eHow. But, they had an author buyout recently because everything is now commissioned by Demand Studios (which I also occasional write for).

So far I'm enjoying Squidoo and the freedom to add lots of stuff. (I often end up with too much research to put in those 400-500 Demand Studios articles and Examiner also likes things short.) I never played with it before because it seemed a bit confusing. Well, I put aside other things on Friday and Saturday to just spend time learning and got my first Squidoo lens up. I called it "Stinkbug Invasion!" which is not the best title, but it works. I will add more later, but for now I just wanted to finish one for the expierience. I have other topics for there in the hopper, time permitting.

This great photo of stinkbug eggs and nymphs at various stages is by Gary Bernon, USDA-APHIS, on Wikimedia Commons. I couldn't find many decent pictures of stinkbugs but when I searched for the Latin name of the brown marmorated stinkbug (Halyomorpha halys) his excellent work came right up. I'm going to use some more of his work when I get a chance to refine the Squidoo lens.

Wordless Wednesday: Charm City Tulips

Ode to Artificial Flowers

One of the reasons I’ve been so busy this month is that I’m working on a Baltimore themed luncheon with others. We decided that the centerpieces should be artificial flowers. I went to the dollar store and they came through for me because they had racks and racks of them on display. I got in line and it seemed that everyone was buying them. No one seemed to think it was unusual that I was buying 30 bunches. Ahhh…springtime in Baltimore!

As I work on this and neglect my real garden, people all around me are placing these very dollar store flowers and pots on their front porches or in the dirt of their front yard. Living rooms here all seem to be full of plastic flora. Like with fake Easter grass, I can’t say that I hate them, as they are just a part of life here. If it makes other people happy, fine. I’d rather have real flowers though, which is why I grow some specifically to cut every summer.

Over the weekend I finished the fake flower arrangements. Here they are growing all over the floor in the middle bedroom.

Mmmmmm...free samples!

On Thursday evening I got home to find a pair of large boxes waiting for me. Well, I didn't order anything and opened them with some curiosity. Inside were these two trays of plants from PanAmerican Seed. Left to right we have:

Marigold Bonanza Deep Orange
Begonia Dragon Wing
Begonia Gryphon
Petunia Shock Wave Coral Crush
Angelonia Serena Blue
Wave Purple Improved Spreading Petunia

When I got them it was too cold to put them in the ground and so I kept them on the back porch. In fact, it was so cool that I was concerned enough to put a sheet over them at night. But, the weather is now improving so once I get a chance to get a little garden clean-up going I'm going to stick them in the ground. Some will go out front and some will go in the back yard flower bed.