Fall Into Fall 2024 - Tangles

A FaceBook group that I follow - Tangle All Around - facilitated an event during the month of September called "Fall Into Fall".  They provided a list and a pdf of the daily tangles.  This was much like some of the other tangle events that I've participated in and once again I decided to take part in this one.  I used another keyring tag booklet for these that was orange and measured about 3" long.  On the front of the tag I indicated the name of the tangle and it's creator along with a sample of the completed tangle.  On the back I drew six boxes and used two colors to show the step-outs of the tangles.  In the past I've just done the tangle on the front of some smaller tags, or in the case of the previous years' Inktober challenges, just the finished tangle which is good, but having the step-outs on the tag itself helps to not have to search out the steps again, and believe me, sometimes you really need the steps.  There is an example of the back at the end of this.  

Here is the complete keyring - there are about 20 extra tags that I can use to add to this.

And here is a sample of the back.  You can see that I have used a dark pink marker to indicate what is added in each consecutive step.  The arrows between the boxes show the progression of the steps.  This is what the official Zentagle creators have used in the past.  This is pretty small - having to fit 6 boxes on a 3" surface is challenging.  

Inktober will be starting on October 1st and I'm going to take part in that also but I haven't figured out what substrate to use yet.  If you recall, last year I used a sheet of black paper and put the tangles in a segmented pumpkin.  I'm kind of leaning towards doing a large leaf on kraft colored paper if I can find something large enough.  Maybe later this weekend I will see if brown kraft wrapping paper would be suitable.  If not, there's always the thought of another pumpkin.  We shall see.

What's Been Showing Up

I took this picture on our way back from our lunch at Hens & Honey a couple of weeks ago. That one red tree stood out amongst all the green ones lining the highway.  There's a lot more color that's been showing up in the time since.

Some other things that have been showing up..........

This toad jumped out of the planter when HWNSNBP was watering recently.  I'm sure he was very cozy hidden there until that point.  

And last week, as I was getting ready to leave the house in the morning for my PT session, I caught this guy going through the yard.  He doubled back towards the car in the driveway before moseying over to the neighbor's yard.  This is not the same fox we've been periodically seeing the last few months as that one was very scraggly and had lost all of the hair on it's tail to mange.  Not sure it's still around because it looked to be in very bad shape.

Another find whilst watering.  This foot-long cucumber coming out the back of the planter.  Don't know how that was missed.

Arriving at the condo a couple of weekends ago I glanced out the back and saw this fella hanging out in the tall grass.  I managed to get the screen open and get a few snaps before he heard me and flew away.  But it wasn't long after that we noticed it had returned to the same place.  After that we didn't see it again in that spot.

Oh, but on our way to the condo that day we stopped at Anna Banana's Bakery because they were celebrating Harry Potter Week again and I wanted to get a ButtaBeer and a Sorting Hat Cupcake.

Seems I've been sorted into Gryffindor yet again.

Although this was not the last night of summer, this was the last summer sunset picture that I took.

This little guy is getting ready for Halloween.  Can you tell what/who he's going to be?

And this very happy kindergartener has earned his first Paw Certificate at school for outstanding sportsmanship during gym class.   

I've finished my Fall Into Fall Tangles and will post them soon.  Inktober starts in a few days and I've been contemplating how I will be doing that.  It will also be the start of Birdtober and I've seen the prompt list and have set myself up with reference pictures for all the birds.  There were two lists to choose from this time - and International list and a North American list.  I chose the the North American list to go with.  I ordered (and received) an 8"x8" watercolor pad with 34 pages in it so I could work a little bigger this year.  I enjoyed last year's work in the smaller pad, but at times did find it a little restricting with getting the bird on that size page.  This should be a little easier.  

And my physical therapist reminded me today that it's just 3 months until Christmas, so there are projects and cards to get moving on also.  It's going to be a busy October.

September Anniversaries and Birthday

HWNSNBP and I celebrated out 47th anniversary earlier this week.  This is the card I made for him.  Yes, I know it's a floral and some might consider it a little too feminine, but here's my thought process - there were flowers at our wedding and he almost always gets me flowers for our anniversary so why not make him a floral card.  I also get to display it and enjoy it here.  

 

While they are not the colors of the flowers that we had at our wedding, they are the colors that I mostly go to.  It took me one evening plus a little time the next day to do the stitching.  I wasn't sure what I was going to put in the center but was glad to find that I had the "Love" die that fit perfectly in the space and for the occasion.  

The next three cards were kind of cobbled together with parts and pieces that I came across while doing some rearranging (still in progress) in the stamp cave.  The first one I used as a birthday card for my mother.  I took the picture before I added the sentiment in that blank space near the leaves.

I actually added the handwritten sentiment to this card. 

And this was used for another anniversary.  

We're going to try to get to Cape May for our annual September anniversary visit in the near future, but we did manage to get a visit in to Hens & Honey down in South Jersey a couple of weeks ago.  As we were driving there, we noticed some work being done on the water tower near the restaurant. We'd never seen the "cleaning" process on a water tower before.  I only got to snap the pictures because there was a traffic light we had to stop at right next to it.

My guess here is that he is making sure it's working or adjusting the force of the spray.  The shadow in both pictures is because I was taking the pictures through the windshield.

We had the Cream Cheese Board for our lunch.  It came with 4 different flavored cream cheeses and we wound up with five after the hostess realized that she had put two of the same flavor on our board by mistake.  She brought the additional one on a pumpkin plate and I didn't get a picture of it.  The flavors were pumpkin, cinnamon roll, roasted tomato, and not pictured was strawberry.  We did bring about half of it home with us, because it is a lot even for two people.  HWNSNBP had the Vanilla Bean drink and I had the Harvest Moon Smores coffee.  

The last time I posted about this restaurant I had forgotten to get a picture of the area they have dedicated to Taylor Swift but I made a point to get it this time. 

There's a mirror on the right that says "You're like really pretty........now go get coffee".

One last thing for now, I tried a new cake recipe this weekend.  It's called "Do Nothing Cake".  I think it's only called that because it's quick and easy to put together.  

You mix the batter all in one bowl and bake it.  While it's in the oven you make the icing which can even go on the cake when it comes out of the oven so it will seep into the warm cake.  I let this cool a little longer than I should have and the icing didn't get a chance to seep into the cake too much but did run off a little more when it was cut.  I won't write out the recipe here but here's the link.  If  you've got a can of crushed pineapple, a can of sweetened condensed milk, flour, sugar, baking soda and some eggs, you're on your way.  The coconut and chopped pecans on top are to your choice.  I had to send HWNSNBP to the store for the pineapple and condensed milk so I asked him to get coconut and pecans also.  The cake is sweet and our problem is that it is too much for the two of us.  He said I should try to halve it the next time.  We'll see.  If you try it, let me know what you think.  

Backyard Redo

It actually started about 5 years ago with a picture that I drew for HWNSNBP of what I wanted the back to look like as you walked up the hill near where the bird tree was.  He decided this May to go and get a load of rocks to start working on building the short wall that would be behind the sitting area.  These are the rocks that GS2 was having so much fun climbing on in May of this year.  It didn't take long for HWNSNBP to realize (as I kept trying to diplomatically point out to him) that this was not the work for a 70-yr-old.  So, thankfully, we started looking for a landscaper to work with. 

We had one guy in mind and while getting an estimate for the removal of some trees (including the bird tree) our tree guy recommended someone else who turned out to be just what we needed.  It did take a couple of weeks to get the project in motion, and there were a few changes (additions) along the way, but we are totally pleased with the results.

After removing the stone and macadam from the part of the driveway and walkway in the back, pavers were laid.  They pitched the whole area right up to the back doors, eliminating the stoops that were there.  HWNSNBP insisted on drains at both of the doorways (you'll see why soon), and we wanted to have a light for the path part, so we worked with the mason to make sure that the width of the path was wide enough for a walker or wheel chair in case of future need.  We made it a triangle.  You can also see that the cement pad that covers our water tank adjacent to the basement had to remain for the present until we can have the tank moved into the actual basement below and not in this little closet type room.  

Everything that we had planted, and some of it that was still waiting to be potted up, was moved to the farthest part of this area where we used to have a partial basketball court when our kids were still at home while the project was being worked on.  Since they have moved out, we added the fences to make it more secluded as it was open to our neighbors "parking" area and we really didn't have any privacy on that side.  We are still using that part for our raised bed planter and the tomato cages that HWNSNBP has constructed, along with barrels that have dahlias, zinnias, and our moonflower vine in them.  Oh, and the outdoor grill and table with it's umbrella and bug netting.

This is the view of the finished project looking from the back of the house up the hill.  HWNSNBP made those chairs which are similar but not as deep as adirondack chairs.  I have to get cushions for them next spring.  I had originally bought one set when we only had one chair, but of course, now I need two and would prefer that they matched.  This isn't exactly as the picture I had drawn (which he still can't put his hands on), but it's close.  The plant/feeder pole will have matching pots next year also and there will be more flowers along that lower wall in and amongst the hellebores that we were able to save.  (I lost a beautiful snapdragon plant that had become somewhat perennial that was at the base of the tree we removed, but it might just show up in grass behind the chair wall like the cleomes did because they moved the soil from around the tree to that area while they were working.

We replaced the old wooden steps with these and had a wrought iron railing installed because this old person needs to hold onto something going up and down the stairs.  

A more recent view of the chair area - you can see the volunteer cleome that came up in the grass behind the chairs.  And the frog planter that got knocked over is in its place next to the chair on the right.

You can just barely see the birdbath with the solar fountain behind the tall zinnias.  Those zinnias look a little scraggly this year (not as full as in previous years).  We bought that pot of zinnias on the wall in front of the tall ones last weekend and I noticed this morning that something ate all the flowers overnight.  Not happy about that.

The grill and table off to the side.  The netting is supposed to keep the bugs away, however, this one that I got to replace our older one that had disintegrated with age didn't come with the inflatable ring at the bottom to hold the net in place from the wind.  We didn't open the package within the 30-day return period as it was bought late winter, so we couldn't return it.  I need to add washers or something to the bottom to make it more usable in the future.  You might be able to see the fishing line that HWNSNBP added to the top of the moonflower cage that goes to the worm feeder giving the moonflower more area to climb.  It doesn't seem to want to flower until it gets to a certain height we had noticed in the past.  And it's still not flowering.

Looking out the back door to the left - the tomato cages and the raised bed planted against the fence.  The other birdbatch and my lemon tree just outside the sliding glass doors in our dining room.  (I painted that flowerpot with the sunflowers ages ago and have asked him not to use it, but he insists.)

Looking out from the back door area - see the drain in the lower right corner.  And some more fishing line tied to the light fixture for the plant to trail up.

We covered the well covering with potted plants as we have done every summer for the past decade or more.  They are filled with vinca (periwinkle) and the taller angelonia - both are deer resistant and we have multiple pots all over with them in various shades of pink and white.  The chair in the lower right corner is one of two with a table to match that we have in that area (I forgot to get a picture).  The nights have been cool this last week and I've been able to spend a little time outside reading in the early evening.  The birds usually come to the feeders around that time so I've found myself using this sitting area so I watch them and they are more comfortable without me in their space above.

We filled the light triangle with broken glass pieces in shades of blue that we ordered online and added the flattened glass marbles as filler.  The bigger pieces were quite expensive compared to the $1.25 bags of the smaller filler that I got at $Tree.  I just couldn't justify getting any more of the big stuff.

With the light on.

An early picture of the back with the new lighting (before we added the finishing touches).

A few days after they finished with the pavers, on June 30 we had a rainstorm when 2.5 inches of rain fell in 10 minutes.  Even with the drains at the top of the steps at both levels, the water cascaded over the steps, however, instead of coming up toward the house it was flowing down the driveway.  There are drain pipes that are in the ground on each of the levels buried in the ground to divert the flow of water from the hill in these instances.  Thankfully it worked, and thankfully they had installed the pavers and the basework of stone and sand was covered or that would have washed away.

This shows where the buried drains/perforated piping comes out and does not approach the house.  Even still, HWNSNBP was adamant to have the drains outside the back doors in case of a heavier rain.  We have had storms (hurricanes) that have dropped 5 or more inches of rain in a short amount of time and know how that back can become a waterfall and get very close to the house.

I said earlier that there were additions along the way.  Originally the driveway was supposed to remain between the back door and the wall in the back, but the mason suggested extending the pavers for the whole area so that we could get the pitch for the water and we decided to go for it, and we're glad that we did.  It took a little more work in the back than was first planned - the bottom two rows of siding had to be temporarily removed so a double water barrier could be installed under them so we could bring the pavers up to the bottom of the siding.  It took less that a day for that to happen.  

And HWNSNBP decided to have the pathway on the side of the house that goes to the front door paved along with the front stoop.  There is a temporary pole there for us to get a lamp post for that area.

(Not sure that the video I added is working.  I've tried to upload it several times.  Apologies if you're unable to see it.  I don't know what else to do as it has worked in the past - before this week.)