Quick Tip – Losing my Glasses/Tip on Tuesday

On By TimelessladyIn Quick Tip16 Comments

I lose my reading/weeding glasses everywhere. Gardening brings about a constant loss and drop of my dollar store spectacles. I place them on the top of my head for safekeeping, but then I need a hat to shade me from the sun and must move them. I carry them in a shirt pocket or tuck them into my collar, and they drop out unbeknownst to me and blend into the weeds. I have a string to hang them around my neck, but it gets caught on bushes and twigs, and besides, I’ve lost that somewhere too.

I found the solution in a simple large safety pin. I attach it to my shirt, and the earpieces slide smoothly into the side, firmly held, but easily removed too.

Here’s a few more Quick Tips for using safety pins:
Safety pins eliminate static cling in clothing: Reducing Static Cling
Zip your dress: Alone and can’t zip, attach a safety pin with a piece of dental floss tied to it and zip away.
Avoid pickpockets: For added security in crowds, safety pin zipper to fabric of purse or pack.
Fix a broken flip-flop: Pin through stem underneath the sole. This will not last long, but might get you to where you can get a new pair.
Keep keys safely in pocket during an amusement park ride: Pin your keys to your inside pocket to avoid losing them when that roller-coaster goes upside down and around.
Keep spare buttons organized: When a shirt/blouse/coat comes with a little packet of replacement buttons, thread them on a safety pin and store in a safe place.
Hide bra straps: Use a safety pin (or paper clip) to hold the back of your bra straps together.

Added tips:
Sherry – Wearing a safety pin can be a way to show solidarity.
Prior – Has used a creative repair for broken flip-flops – a piece of silicon from pool goggles.
Derrick – Great idea for glasses…have a few pairs in different strengths for different needs.

Know another? Tell me in the comment box and I’ll add it to the list.

Philm – Lion/A Portrait of Persistence

On By TimelessladyIn Philm4 Comments

The film ‘Lion’ is available now to watch through many outlets. It is a true story written by Zaroo (Sheru) Brierly. The movie is based on the book, ‘The Long Way Home,’ chronicling how Zaroo found his way back home to India from Australia. This movie did not disappoint in any way.

Peculiarities – Cat Snack

On By TimelessladyIn Peculiarities11 Comments

Sunday, I was getting myself ready to go to church and enjoy the Easter cantata, when I noticed my cat behaving oddly. He was crouched near my fireplace, intently studying something on the floor. I watched his odd behavior for a moment or two, then noticed, whatever he was watching, he was also eating. The clue is the small speck of beige on the big blue pillow.

Did you guess? Yes! My praying mantis pod hatched on Palm Sunday.

I was lucky to notice before I left for church and took the pod outdoors to my porch. At this point in time, it seems only a couple dozen or so of the mantis babies escaped the cat and are roaming the house. I have let these mantis go about their business on my walls all day, and they have darkened up in color, and most seem to be okay. Since I’m not squeamish about non-biting, benign insects, I will wait until tomorrow and then give them a ride outside on a sheet of paper. To try and handle their fragile bodies would crush them.

Most of the remaining mantis babies were born outdoors on the back porch. Thankfully, the weather has shifted, and the coming week is going to be warm and without heavy rains. They have a good chance to survive if they can find smaller insects to consume. If not, they will find each other, and it will be a matter of survival of the fittest.

By the time I arrived home from church, most of the mantis babies seemed to have disappeared. I’m hoping they are in the yard already. I know that their small size allows them to slip through the mesh of the screening.

There are still a few lingering on the pussy willow branches, but by tomorrow they will probably have found their way into the great outdoors.

Photographs – Swampy Security

On By TimelessladyIn Photographs5 Comments

We took a bike ride this morning on the local trail. The ride takes us past a swampy area. Today we noticed a pair of ducks in the water. They are probably a nesting pair. What a perfectly secure spot to raise a family of ducklings. The soft ground keeps large predators away, making it easier for the ducks to raise their family to adulthood.

Photographs & Pheathers – After the Storm/Skywatch Friday

On By TimelessladyIn Pheathers, Photographs8 Comments

It’s rainy and overcast again. In our area ‘April Showers’ are usually a reality and not just a cliché. I took a few photographs of the sky as the sun came out and broke through the storm clouds. I enjoyed the way the light illuminated one side of the trees with the backdrop of grey sky still behind them. The birds looked a little rain-weary, not really moving around too much, giving me a chance to zoom in and get a few interesting photos as they dried off.

If you have a chance take a peek at the Skywatch Friday BlogSpot for some stunning sky photographs. My photographs were taken within a half hour’s time, the storm cleared out quickly, the sun and wind are miraculous at breaking the clouds up and blowing them away.

Plants & Projects – Throwback Thursday – Spider Plant Revisited

On By TimelessladyIn Plants, Projects11 Comments

Two years ago, April of 2015, I shared a project involving a yard sale bird feeder frame and a spider plant. I love to find wiry, strange contraptions at yard sales and turn them into plant containers. This one is still growing strong. The photo above shows the growth the spider babies have made in two years. Spiders are great plants and easy to propagate. I thought this was a good post to revisit for Throwback Thursday since yard sales are beginning again with the warmer weather. The photo below shows the plant when it was just starting out.

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Quick Tip – Tip on Tuesday/The Miracle of Sharpies

On By TimelessladyIn Quick Tip8 Comments

I love Easter Chicks. Show me a small, feathery, fluffy, bright yellow baby bird with beady black eyes and I will definitely say, “Aw…”

I’ve had the chick in the photograph above for years. Over many seasons of packing and unpacking, the tissue paper covering his beak on one side tore away.

Sharpies to the rescue! These permanent markers are great for repairing loss of color. I use the black and blue most often. When I use bleach for cleaning or laundry, no matter how careful I am, if I don’t cover up with an ancient bathrobe while I pour the bleach, I tend to ruin my clothing. Sharpies to the rescue for bleach spots too! I’ve filled in many a spot on blue jeans and black jeans with a sharpie marker. It isn’t perfect, but it extends the life of the garment.

Look how well the Sharpie Marker filled in the torn area. Best of all, I bought this pack of Sharpies in the Autumn when they were almost giving them away during school supply sales.

My Tuesday Quick Tip: Always have an assortment of Sharpie Markers at the ready for small color loss repairs.

Quote – Monday Morning Wisdom

On By TimelessladyIn Quotes6 Comments

“Your actions, in passing, pass not away, for every good work is a grain of seed for eternal life.”
– Bernard of Clairvaux

Wishing you a week filled with blessings, joy and peace.

Psalms – Winter into Spring

On By TimelessladyIn Psalms and Proverbs5 Comments

Before the mountains were born
or you brought forth the whole world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
~ Psalm 90:2

The weekend is a perfect time to take a nature walk. These are a few photographs of the wetlands near my home: the trees are beginning to bud, the birds to build their nests, the grasses will soon shoot up new growth, the border of tall waving fronds around the swamp will become dense and impenetrable. Even the ordinary becomes divine when I walk in the beautiful world God created.

Grasses bordering the wetlands, their texture is fascinating.

 

Photographs – Razzle Dazzle Rose

On By TimelessladyIn Quirkiness19 Comments

Somewhere within the glorious colors on the petals of this variety of orchid, there must be the shade…Razzle Dazzle Rose, today’s Color Your World – 120 Days of Crayola color. These orchid photographs were taken in the Longwood Garden’s Conservatory, March 2017.

Project – Forcing Pussy Willows

On By TimelessladyIn Projects16 Comments

I searched the creek banks near me several times in the last few weeks for pussy willows. There were once several stands of them, but that was before beavers moved into the creek, built a dam, and took down dozens of trees. The beavers have since been relocated to another area, but too late to save the pussy willow trees.

I decided my only course of action to have an Easter arrangement with pussy willows was to buy a bouquet of them. I did so, vased them up, placed them on the mantel, and waited for the catkins to burst through the brown buds. It never happened. My pussy willow branches must have been cut and left dry before they were sold. The twigs are not alive, their catkins will never burst out of the tight buds.

In the meantime, I read an article on preserving pussy willows. I didn’t know I could remove the bud case around the catkin by hand.

This is not as easy as it sounds…and creates a lot of mess.

Removing all the buds took about a half hour of time, but it was worth it. The arrangement looks better with catkins reflecting the light.

Perspective & Plants & Quote – Seedlings/You Do Too Much? NO!

On By TimelessladyIn Perspective, Plants, Quote14 Comments

The coleus seedlings have begun to thrive. After their typical slow start, they have developed roots and are now reaching toward the sun on a kitchen windowsill. I’ll let you in on a secret…this is only a portion of the coleus I have growing, there are dozens more under lights. Yes, it seems like a lot of plants, when you add in the tomatoes, eggplant, zinnias, cardinal flowers, moon flowers, etc., etc., etc., but today I came upon a quote in ‘One Woman Farm,’ by Jenna Woginrich, that perfectly described how I feel about what others might view as an excess of activity and objects in my life.

Jenna writes in a chapter titled, ‘I Do Too Much:’
“I do what I do because it fills my mind, body, and spirit. I live in this frenzy of activity not as a victim but as a celebrant.”
and…
“You know what I think? I think wasted potential is a lot scarier than feeling overwhelmed. There is no monster greater than regret.”

I agree Jenna, and so I say when I spend a good half hour watering all my seedling babies…”Onward!”

One of the ‘mother’ plants of my coleus seeds.

Planting – Sweet Potatoes…again

On By TimelessladyIn Quirkiness28 Comments

I bought three different varieties of sweet potatoes in the market this week, a red, a white, and an orange yam.  I’m not planning a new recipe or dish, instead I’m going to grow them, and hopefully, when they sprout, they will all have foliage in different colors.

The foliage of sweet potatoes is lush. After they sprout, I’m hoping to grow them on in hanging baskets with flowers added for color.

Sweet potato vines are available for purchase in garden centers. They are expensive, usually 3.99 a pot. For less than a quarter of what three plants would cost, I should have three plants for my baskets.

I’m starting them in water. Until they sprout, I’m keeping them in the basement to mimic the darkness underground. Hopefully, updates will follow with photographs of wildly growing vines.

Planting – Ranunculus

On By TimelessladyIn Planting2 Comments

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I love Ranunculus flowers. In years past I’ve bought them as potted plants at a local farm stand. This year for the price of one plant, I bought a package of ten tubers.

I read that the tubers are less brittle and easier to handle if you soak them for a few hours in water. I did this, and they plumped up nicely. I planted each one in a separate pot and put them in a sunny window.

Hopefully, in a few months I will be able to update this post with some photos of blooming Ranunculus.

Philm – Young Messiah

On By TimelessladyIn Philm2 Comments

In the past few years, I have not been inclined to waste money on going to movie theaters only to be dismayed at what is before me on the screen. Even the most careful selection often misses scenes and themes in films that I just do not care to see. The ‘Young Messiah’ is a movie I wish I had seen on the big screen. I watched it this past weekend and know it will be a movie I try to watch again at least once a year, perhaps more, much like the movie ‘The Nativity Story.’  Although there are some themes that are not Biblically correct, such as the timing of when Jesus began to bring about miracles; the story is a shining example of good film-making. I read a comment under a review that made me laugh and shake my head in agreement, to not see the movie because of possible inaccuracies of when Jesus began to do miracles is a perfect example of Christian nitpicking. The movie is very uplifting and available through DVD and many cable/On Demand channels at this time.

  • This movie contains several violent scenes that might be upsetting to small children.

Phlowers – Vivid Violet/Color Your World – 120 Days of Crayola

On By TimelessladyIn Phlowers2 Comments

Going, going…almost gone.

Pansy and Johnny-Jump-Up sprouts will be planted in outdoor pots today.

Promises of things to come…Color Your World – 120 Days of Crayola/Vivid Violet