Designing Woman

I've been creating. Our new neighbors are having a Memorial Day barbecue and instead of bringing a side dish, I'm bringing garden designs. They've admired the work I've done on my own garden and have asked for input on decorating their own, so I thought I'd take them this potted plant arrangement as a housewarming gift.

My own garden is developing rather well. I've added a hanging basket on a shepherd's hook and a palm tree for height behind my lounge chair. The fountain is still a work in progress since I still have one more water plant to add to it as well as the decorative edging of rocks I plan to mine from a friend's quarry. The patio is now a nice place to sit and enjoy the sound of running water as I duck our dive-bombing hummingbirds.

As no garden is completely maintenance-free, I have to spend a little time in it watering, dead-heading the flowers and pruning, but it seldom requires more than 15-20 minutes. My last home had a half acre of lawn and gardens and there was always hours of work to do. I think this patio garden is more to my liking.

Springtime in the Garden

A view of my patio garden.

I've been working in my garden this month, trying to get it lush and pretty. I don't have as much space to work with here in our San Diego condo as I did in our acre yard in Massachusetts, but this one is a lot easier to care for. I just can't do as much. Maybe that's a good thing. I don't wear myself out with hours and hours of work anymore. Just a short time spent there in the mornings making sure all the plants have enough water and all the weeds are pulled.

This is one of my watercolor paintings. Today I downloaded Google's Picasa2 photo management program and discovered that it will interface with my blog, so I decided to see what I could do. This painting isn't of any particular landscape, but was inspired by scenes found in the Pacific Northwest near Port Townsend, Washington. Bit by bit, I'll be photographing other paintings that I still have with me. Might post them here, might not. We'll see. I have a friend who thinks I should set up my own little store on eBay. For the time being, I'd settle for just getting started on something new. Although my mind is bursting with ideas for new paintings, I haven't started any.

Now that spring has definitely arrived here in San Diego, we've been getting out and enjoying the area. We purchased season passes to Sea World and we continue to visit the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park. Last week we also made a short trip to the beach in La Jolla. It was a spectacular day with clear skies. Surf was up, too.