I call the back yard “the garden of decadent decay,” but it’s also full of wonderful strangeness.....anything goes, it all fits, there’s a home for everything out there ( Read more... )

Such a gorgeous day. We opened the house up late this morning and even turned on a few fans. I sat outside on the back yard swing for about an hour soaking it all in. The warmth of the sun felt so good and the air smelled fresh compared to the dry heat that we’ve had on in the house this past week.

My third eye . . .

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Weatherwise, I love this time of year. I’ve probably mentioned this many times before, but after our hot and humid summer, this is just paradise now. I got up this morning and it was 60. We open up the house every morning now and by 2 p.m. it is usually about 80, but the humidity is so low and with a breeze blowing almost constantly, we just ( Read more... )

A gallon of paint gives a big bang for your buck. The swing we got last summer was showing some mildew and looking a little shabby, so Pete bought a gallon of heavy duty outdoor paint for $30 to spruce it up. He picked out the color and at first I wasn't sure I liked it, but now I love it. It looks good with all the browns/tans and the greenery ( Read more... )

Pete and I are both dead tired. Pete mowed, edged & whippersnippered, then raked it all up, plus painted some trim around the back patio, too. This afternoon I cleaned out and painted all the old brown pots from last year. Here they are hanging to dry in the bare frangi panni (plumeria) tree.


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Well, the tree is down and gone. :(

I went out early this morning and took a few pictures of the star tree reflections in the birdbath. The sun was filtering through the Ficus Tree . . . for the last time.

( pictures here )

I always feel sad when a tree has to be cut down. Tomorrow the big Ficus in our back yard will be history. Every year it seemed to lose more and more leaves, but it always recovered somewhat in the spring. But this year so many fell (it looked like it was constantly raining down leaves out there all summer) so we called the tree doctor ( Read more... )

. . . it’s all in how you perceive it ( Read more... )