Indulging my creativity

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It’s been a busy summer here – what with Sister Vacation and the vegetable garden and the preserving of plums, peaches and figs and the preserving of the garden harvest of tomatoes, peppers, green beans and corn and baking zucchini breads and eggplant parmesans and making pesto with the garden surplus to freeze or give away.

AND, out of 16 summer-ish weekends, I’ve entertained 10 additional weekenders. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love visitors! But, I want every single one of them to love where I live as much as I do, so I overly fret if they will eat well and have a wonderful time.

AND, then there’s the BIG outdoor projects – the bush whacking, hedge trimming, stump digging, chain-saw cutting, building plant shack endeavors– those super dirty, sweaty, back-breaking, knee-slamming, neck cracking jobs that have resulted in scratches, scrapes, bruises, achy muscles and poison ivy.

AND, of course, there’s the on-going job hunt, and creating my own web design/writing business. And, learning the quatrillion things that I don’t know about creating my own website design/writing business.

But, still, I find a bit of time here and there to indulge my creativity. I’ve made a ton of new and exciting foods using zucchini and eggplant and figs and plums. I’ve experimented with making yard art using all kinds of different media – concrete, old windows, rusty wire, window springs, twigs.

Indulging my creativity is good for my soul.

Today, you can see some new gourd art I’ve created since the last time I posted pictures.

What have you been up to?

Crabby

 

Lizzy

Kaleidoscope

Stained Glass

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Love shack, baby love shack

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Ever since we bought our little country bungalow ten or so years ago, I have wanted to update a little outdoor building I refer to as my plant shack.

I’ve loved my little plant shack from the very beginning. I’m not sure why. It should have been torn down, it was so ramshackle. I guess I fell in love with the idea of having a grown-up place to play – a place I could call my own.

So, Brian and I have looked at it for years, wondering if it was salvageable or if it should be torn down. It always took a back seat to the gazillion other projects we worked on in our spare time. And, during all that time, I dreamed about all the fun stuff I would do if I ever had my very own woman cave.

So, for 10 years, even though there were no walls on this building, I kept my plant supplies, gardening supplies, pots and tools stored on the shelves.

One year, Brian wrapped the building in heavy plastic (as a temporary solution) and I overwintered a myriad of plants in there. The plastic walls lasted only a year and did not keep out the cold temperatures as much as I would have liked, so in subsequent years, I dragged all of my plants inside my tiny house again for wintering.

But, then, just last week Brian finished a job several days early and had a few free days to work around the house. He suggested that he could begin the work on my plant house or finish cutting out some overgrown brush and stumps in our front yard.

Well, we all know what I wanted to do.

First, I emptied out the old hen house of all the old windows we had been saving, sorting them according to size and quality. These will be the new walls of my plant house.  Pictured above is about half of out stash! Then, I moved all the contents of my plant shack to the now empty hen house for temporary storage.

In the “before” photo above, you can see the tin roof and covered porch. And, in the photo below, the concrete floor. This is where we begin.

(Oh, yes, and Sam Dog wanted to get in on the picture, too! He’s such a ham.)

So, after two days, here is what we have to show you.

Oh, yeah, baby, I’m already loving it and everything it represents! My very own charming, shabby chic, funky junky love  plant shack!

Soon, very soon!

 

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My ultra fabulous almost-year-round outdoor room

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I’ve been seeing a lot of magazine articles and pins on Pinterest about outdoor rooms lately. While some are very pretty, they’ve got nothing on me!

In the spring, after the worst of the spring pollen is over, I spend a weekend (or two or three) making my outdoor room on the back deck.

The deck is one of the features I really liked when we bought our house out here in rural Lowcountry 10 years ago.

I like that it is under roof. I like that it is a nice size for entertaining and chillaxing (13 by 17 feet).

I begin by pressure washing the ceiling and scrubbing the deck. Then, I start planning my design for the season.

I have about 40 house plants that spend the frost season (usually Nov. 1 to Apr. 1) indoors and I am always chomping at the bit to get them outside.

The far side of the deck has a built-in bench, great for extra seating. Brian plans on adding hinges to the bench top so I can use that space to store the outdoor cushions and bird food. Clever idea, huh? I can’t wait to replace that round wrought iron table and chairs, but for now, they serve their purpose.

We added two panels of lattice a few years ago to add a little dappled shading and a backdrop for hanging decorations. I use my small bistro table and a few concrete blocks and boards to create a cascade effect in that corner.

This is a good place to read a book, except in July and August (or today) when it is just too painfully hot in the middle of the day. I’d like to get one of those misting fans to cool it down some. It’s on my wish list for next year. Of course, the plants, outdoor ceiling fan and lattice help cool it a bit.

Near the end of October, I start watching the weather reports more closely to determine when the house plants must come back into the house. I plant some pansies in the flower boxes for winter color and then we’re ready for oyster roasting season!

 

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