Mosaic Mom

A spell of rain has hit and it’s too wet to mosaic. It rained 3 times yesterday. I got soaked and I fear the tiles are going to wash right off the wall.

All the rain has been great for the garden.
Look at the size of the sunflowers (foreground) and Okra (with yellow blooms towards the back fence).

It’s really growing big.
The new kitty is really growing too. He’s big enough to come and help me harvest now.

This onion gave me fits!

I started it the first time and didn't like...so I scraped it off the wall.
I started it a second time and didn't like it...so I scraped most of it off the wall.

Today I made myself finish it no matter what.
I like the tan color; I did not want a big wad of white sitting on the edge. But I'm not in love with the interior lines. It was a strange brown tile that I wanted to use up. I think it wasn't the best choice. But done is good.

I also used glass beads for the top of the zucchini and used the lid of a sugar bowl to make a tomato stem.

I got the tomato started and the onion started and the carrot tops.

Plant Daddy helped by drinking Heineken beers. I used the green glass from the smashed bottles to do the lacy foliage of the carrot tops.

When we remodeled the laundry room, I took the opportunity to relocate my mosaic studio.

It's a smaller space, but it really was time to down-size. I need to be more efficient, not become a hoarder!

Today at Publix, I found myself on an aisle with a woman who smelled like wet, moldy carpet and stale garbage pail. I suspect she was a hoarder. Smelled very musty and nasty. I went to a different aisle and doubled back later. P.U.!

Pretty soon I will shut down the mosaics hobby...but not the blog...but I will turn the space into general hobbies...floral...decoupage...etc. Mosaics are heavy! Writing is easier on the old bod!

Progress on the mosaic wall...today I got the zucchini roughed in.

We had a little rain last night...that's good.
The yellow flies are biting like mad...that's bad.


I am almost finished reading A Gypsy's Curse by Harry Crews. Last summer I was reading Tim O'Brien. O'Brien's was better in terms of vocabulary and structure.

When Plant Daddy came home from work yesterday, he helped crack tiles and attach them to the wall, so we made a lot of progress on the eggplant.
Today I got the wet saw running and shaped orange tiles and got the carrots into rough form.

I see that I will have to be careful about what green to use on the carrot tops so as not to be too matchy matchy to the zucchini green. Hmmm...

I worked a little on the mosaic wall today


And I got hot and thought I’d like a swim.
I took the pool water temperature…

That’s not what I’d call refreshing.

But the air temperature in the shade is 96!
Yoiks!

I couldn't get any mosaic work done today. It was just too darned hot.

How hot was it?

Well, when Plant Daddy and I eased into the swimming pool at 6:00PM the water temperature in the pool was 93 degrees.

That's hot, baby!

This photo may be hard to see but look closely.

We "remodeled" the old shed/laundry room...as in, tore it out!
That left this section of the carport wall exposed.

Kid had designed and I had mosaiced the other half of this wall back in 1998. When Kid was still in high school.

Plant Daddy asked Kid as a Father's Day gift to draw a mosaic pattern for this half of the wall...and she did it yesterday. It's hard to see the pastel chalk outlines, but soon, a mosaic vegetable garden scene will develop.

Stay here for updates.

What a great day for Plant Daddy!
The Kid has come for a visit and she and Plant Daddy are baking chocolate chip cookies. He can enjoy a nice day off and rest indoors for a change.

For supper, I am making him fried chicken, mashed potatoes and roasted veggies (eggplant, zucchini and tomatoes) Yum.

I was going to work outside this morning; vacuum the pool for Father’s Day weekend.

As I walked trash out to the dumpster, I got nailed by yellow flies. I got bit three times on my right leg. Once on my left elbow.

And to top it off, a gnat flew into my left eye, blinding me, stopping me in my tracks and giving the biting flies more time to get at my flesh.

I hate yellow flies.

Anyway, I have decided to stay inside for the afternoon and cook curried okra.

I celebrated a milestone yesterday.
I had to go for the annual endocrinologist appointment to renew the Synthroid prescription.

I realized I had not been to ANY other doctor for one year!

It felt great to keep my money in my pocket.
If I am lucky, I will make another doctor-free year.

Here's a view of the side of our greenhouse showing our summer flower beds.


We had a small amount of rain yesterday and it is thundering again today. This means I will have to start watching the Zinnias closely for mildew! Yuck!

Making eggplant parmesan for dinner tonight.

Mourning the loss of Marie Callendar's Pie Company. Hope the kid does well in school because I don't want to eat Mrs. Smith's pies at Thanksgiving.

It's Hot...and the temperatures are predicted to stay above 95 degrees every day through the weekend.

How to beat the heat?

One of my favorite ways is iced tea (decaf, of course) with mint.

We've had a nice crop of mint this year...not so much caterpillar chew. Just fresh healthy leaves to add to the glass of tea. Yum!

When the rains hold off, we can garden a little longer before the fungal diseases set in.
Here's today's look at what's growing:


We have a lot of eggplant and some tomatoes, although the tomatoes will not set fruit in the 95 degree heat we are having.
We have Okra every day now. Yum! It's a hibiscus and loves the hot weather.
Tonight for supper we had meatballs cooked in tomato soup and bell peppers. With a side of corn fritters.

Here's my beautiful summer flower garden.

Yesterday was a first.
I had to pull a drowned mouse out of the swimming pool.

Did ya'll want to see a photo of that?

No, didn't think so.

Time Flies when you’re…flying!

On Saturday the phone rang early. The hot water heater installer guy said he could get to us. Oh, weren’t we lucky.

We had been waiting on this jerk for 3 months. He had stood us up twice.

If you want to know what is wrong with the American economy it is that there are too many jerks just like this. A three month wait for a hot water heater! Good Lord.

Anyway, I told him to come on over.
Now I am enjoying hot water in my newly remodeled laundry room. Hooray!

On Saturday afternoon, I went to Walgreen’s and then up to Target for a new pillow for PD. Then to Publix for cantaloupe and cottage cheese. Yum!

Also on Saturday, Plant Daddy discovered Bony, but he didn’t tell me till Sunday. He was so cute. So I went back to Publix for cat food and for more cantaloupe and cottage cheese.

I spent Monday catching up on laundry. The Kid came home Monday evening and also fell in love with the kitty. Plant Daddy stopped for cat food at Winn Dixie.

On Tuesday I bought more cat food at Publix and Plant Daddy bought more cat food at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart has the best price on…ahem…Fancy Feast.

However it was moot, because by this time the Kid and I were feeding the cat slices of roast pork. I told you he wasn’t going to be Bony for long.

Monday evening PD and I began demolition of the Hut.
The Hut had been the employee’s bathroom when we had a nursery back in the 1980’s.

It served a great purpose, but enough is enough. We are going to clear it out and make way for a better looking patio area in the back.

On Tuesday, Kid and I went to the bank to arrange her tuition for pastry school. Then we stopped at Publix for cantaloupe, cottage cheese and cat food.

Yesterday evening PD and Bony and I harvested 8 eggplants.
Today the good news is…I am making lamb, potato and eggplant curry for supper.

The bad news is…that only used one eggplant.

Do cats eat eggplant???

Sorry that I have been a bad Blogger lately, but I've been distracted.
We have a new member of the family.

Meet "Bony"


Plant Daddy discovered him about 4 days ago up in the bushes near the road, but could not catch him.

Bony made his way to the shed and we started feeding him. He has adopted us and we love him.

He isn't going to be Bony for long.

This morning I watched the trial on the TV Channel 12. I like their format best. Anyway…today was science day.

First up was the lady from the FBI who was an expert about hair.
I really liked her poster presentation. The photos and definitions were very helpful. But what really sealed the deal for me was that she cited 4 references in the scientific literature for the history of hair analysis.

Yesterday when Beloise and the other detectives were testifying, they talked about evidence handling and testing protocol. The scientific orderliness stood up very effectively to the chaos of Casey Anthony’s story that she told to detectives.

So here today on the stand, the hair lady talked about scientific literature and protocols.
The only argument Jose Baez could counter with was OTHER scientific literature (which proved that this was a well defined area of forensic science) and he tried to point out that this lady had failed her certification test the first time she took it (too little too late, Baez).

If I were a juror, I would count the hair evidence.

Next I watched a detective from Philadelphia talk about odor. What a failure!

First this CSI and a University of Florida guy tried to collect odor by drawing air from the car with a syringe. It didn’t work.

So days later, they tried to use two different kinds of filters. Apparently that didn’t work and they had to try a second time with filters. They packed the second set of samples and sent them to somewhere in Tennessee.

BUT, they sent ALL the samples in the same box. Jeez Louise!
And yes, the odors cross contaminated, so they sent a third set…with a “control” to get a measure on this cross contamination. Ya think?

BUT, the “control” was a 2 inch square filter and the samples were all 6 inch squares.

If I were a juror I would discount all the odor evidence because THERE IS NO PROTOCOL! This really is make it up as you go along.

These odor researchers need to go make some reliable data, get scientific peer review, establish protocols and become a recognized branch of forensic science. THEN maybe they can show up in court and look professional.

The best witness about the odor was the Simon Burch guy who worked at the wrecker service. He used to work as a dumpster driver. He had smelled dead bodies in cars. He had smelled garbage. He knew the difference.

The “scientists” not so much!

Last night all the corn got harvested. I made fritters to go with hamburgers and a cool tomato salad.
Yummy!

Tonight's menu is fried chicken, mashed potatoes and corn on the cob.
Yummy!

This afternoon I will haul in several large eggplants. Any recipes you would like to share would be greatly appreciated!

I am thinking probably eggplant parmesan for a Saturday night feast and Sunday leftovers. What do you think?
Yummy!