I Need Some Exciting Things To Talk About

...because right now I am sans projects and fun things. I am accumulating lots of ideas though, the biggie right now is to do something about the laundry situation, right now the laundry area is in the garage, and that means it is grimy and there is no good work space because I stack stuff on top of the dryer for storage. So my plan is to slap a coat of paint on the wall in there and hang a cabinet on it. Then I can store soap and cleaning things in there. And I swear, there will be before and after pictures. 

I have plans to shoot a new house tour because things have gotten moved around and my inspirations and whatnot are all jumbled up. I have been helping a recently-divorced friend redecorate and it is making me want to rearrange my house. And since the size of the house limits rearranging quite a bit, that means mostly moving accessories and swapping around art.

So I swear, there will be pictures soon. Right now I am just brainstorming and lacking inspiration. And time.

On Gardens (Mine, and Other Peoples)

This job is killing me. Every time I talk to a homeowner about their yard and make recommendations, I think, I should do this in my yard, I should prune this and fertilize that and my list is SO LONG NOW. This weekend should be good for some pruning and fertilizing. Every time I go out to a homeowner's place to take samples I am eyeballing their garden and thinking "hmm, what have they got going on here that I should copy/use as inspiration?"

I am also inspired by our trip to Monterey and the lovely gardens at the mission in Carmel.

It is a little tough because it is much foggier in Monterey than here, I am coveting these plants but I just don't have the humidity to keep them all happy without fussing over them. And I will not fuss.

The anemones are so pretty! And I have always loved tree ferns. I am adoring my new office because in between the buildings is all full of tree ferns!

This is the entry garden, there is a big cross and a big telephone pole in the background, so don't get confused. The giant purple echiums on the left are calling my name. Echiums are ubiquitous on the coast here but when they are blooming they are just kind of bulky and take up a lot of space. But they are a showstopper in full bloom! These are already a little bit past their prime.

Japanese maples add such good contrast in any churchyard! Honestly, they are so colorful and I love them, but they are the go-to specimen tree down here and they would take up space that could otherwise hold another fruit tree. Priorities, right?

I promise there will be pictures of MY garden soon, I am distracted with big cleaning projects right now because I have a very special guest coming to visit next weekend and we haven't seen him since April (and I want the house to look nice for him)! It is killing me that we only have an air mattress for him to sleep on, but the futon wouldn't even fit in the door here. So I am gussying things up and tidying and decorating instead. Which probably means that once garden projects calm down and I get those documented on here, I should do a house tour update. Things are getting done, but slowly.