Hope Springs Eternal

at least among gardeners in the spring (hahaha). THIS will be the year I have the flowers/vegetables/fruits I dream of, say all of us.

And so I must be an optimist. After years of drought, a broken ankle (no gardening), a broken wrist (no gardening), last year I tried again. No drought, no broken bones, but, OMG---deer!!! They ate everything, even rose bushes and they have thorns on them. Ouch! Wouldn't you think?

But this year I'm off again, to the nursery. I bought flowering perennials and I just put them in the ground. Our last freeze date is April 15th, so I'm early, but I figure that perennials are tough. Persist, perennials!!! (please don't die)

I had everything I needed, including my gawjus garden boots. It's beautiful out and it's supposed to rain tomorrow, so perfect timing.

I even planted purple coneflowers!

And that is proof of my optimism; a gardening friend, who is a way better gardener than I am, and who worked at a really good nursery, told me that, "If you can't grow coneflowers, we take away your trowel." Well, I have had coneflower plant after coneflower plant die on me, year after year. I can't find my trowel from last year, so maybe someone DID take it away. Hah! I bought another even BETTER one and I love it.

Best trowel ever!  Soil Scoop by Garden Works, Bellevue, WA

It is really curved well, has notches on the sides that make digging really easy, and I can scarify the root systems well with it. (Scarify is a word my daughter taught me, meaning that you sort of pull the roots apart so they don't continue to grow in the shape of the original container. I think she was watching a lot of Martha Stewart at the time she learned this.) Maybe you already knew the word. I did not.

So now I wait and watch. Last year I briefly tried netting until I was warned that the netting could trap birds in it. It also allowed vining weeds to twine up and through the netting and into the rose plants. I tried helium balloons. I tried cotton wadding that was soaked with smelly stuff and then attached with bread ties to the plants. 

And the deer ate my whole garden.

But THIS year? THIS year? As doG is my witness, if those deer show up, I'll, I'll, I'll, well...I don't know what I'll do.  

Cry? 

So I Finished

these $%^& socks. 

I don't usually swear at projects AFTER I've finished them; I usually swear at a project during the process when things aren't going well.  But these have taken almost a year to finish.

from my Ravelry project page

In my defense:

                             a.  knitting is not a job

                             b. I made four blankets in the meantime. And a scarf, I think.


So here they are, made from Gale's Art, Graffiti and Asphalt colorway:

See?  Skinny needles.

I made these on size 1 needles, and I really do not like knitting on size 1's.  The yarn is so fine, meaning thin, that my usual size 2's made a very loose fabric. I do love the colors in this yarn though.

FINALLY!  Finished.  

Oh, My.

These are photos from a spec-built house (click link for the video) in LA that is currently on the market for a quarter of a billion dollars.  A quarter of a BILLION, y'all. WTH!!!

The $200,000.00 candy wall, because?

From the article linked to above:  

At 38,000 square feet, the home spans four levels, has 12 bedrooms, 21 baths, seven staffers, three gourmet kitchens, five bars, two commercial elevators, a massage studio/wellness spa, a fitness center and a James Bond-themed, 40 seat Dolby Theatre. The main outdoor deck features an 85-foot Italian glass infinity pool, a swim-up bar and a pair of mini Sea-Doos and a small catamaran.  At the flip of a switch, a massive outdoor hydraulic theater-sized screen emerges, the aim of which, according to Makowsky, is to bring the Hollywood Bowl to Bell Air.

But wait!!!  There's more!!! (of course there is.)

Below the infinity pool is a sprawling auto gallery with more than $30 million in cars including a baby Formula 1 race car that goes from zero to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds (Not in LA it doesn't). There are Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Bentleys and at least a half dozen motorcycles---including a "first of firsts" electric Sora superbike.

Among the 130 art installations are chrome sculptures of skateboards and guns, an interactive digital work that stars Disney's Seven Dwarfs and a champagne pinball machine. Next to the bowling alley is a massive $200,000 candy wall, which evokes Willy Wonka, the Golden Ticket and the hope that --- just maybe --- Gene Wilder isn't really gone.  (Oh, c'mon) AND:

The helicopter from the '80s TV show Airwolf sits parked on a rooftop helipad (it's a "sculpture," says Makowsky, who notes that the helicopter is inoperable.) 


So yes, it's OVER THE TOP, geeze Louise. (But I do love the views and the pool. I've always said that I would sell my soul to have my own pool, but so far, there have been no takers.)

Now this is a spec house which makes the whole thing a bit of a risk, but the builder says that he thinks there are about 3,000 potential buyers. I get that if you are really, really, really wealthy, you are exempt from paying taxes (seems fair, right?), but what I don't get is that I didn't know it was legal to sell or buy People, Real Human Beings. But I guess it must be legal because the house comes with seven staffers, presumably live humans.

Just how does that work???