A Fanciful Twist

Inspire Me {Color}

The other day, I was pondering my love for growing things and petals.  For a moment, I had this perfect understanding of how art and gardening go hand in hand.  How I devour the colors and textures in the garden, and feel refueled to create after tending flowers.

It isn't just live flowers that I have a fondness for.

One of my greatest joys is hanging flowers to dry and also, pressing them in books.

I get so excited, during rose season especially, to create little bundles that will hang about the house...

Colors slowly intensifying as they dry.

Yesterday I stood gazing up at the drying roses...

Their colors so lush and deepened in their dried stage.

I realized that I am inspired to paint, when I see color.

Color is an inspiration in its own rite, isn't it?

I enjoyed a morning of choosing some of the dried roses to put into my antique cabinet where I keep old collected saints and religious tid-bits.

I felt so inspired.

The melding of the colors, delicious.

I couldn't believe the total joy and "I want to make something now" feelings that the blues and reds, to pinks and purples + peeling paint were filling me with.

I thought, this is just what I needed.

The deepened colors of dried roses.

Yes, it's just what I needed, I thought again.

I don't share my religious beliefs often, if at all.

As I find them to be not only private (although strong and vast), but also we are all so different in what we believe in, that I never want to push my beliefs on anyone.

And most importantly, I respect everyone's beliefs ardently.

Just look at our household, I was raised Catholic, Mister Lovee Jewish.

So, I have totally open respect for all.

But I will say this, the colors in this antique cabinet, combined with religious bits and bobs that remind me of what I believe in, make me feel so full and happy.

It's always nice to have a little reminder of something that gives you hope, surrounding you, isn't it?

I for one love shrines filled with collections.

Religious or not.

Just a smattering of things that can quickly make you feel better, is what it's all about.

As I dusted each piece, and tucked dried flowers in here and there, I just couldn't get over this sort of mad infusion of color lifting my spirits.

I marveled at how a light yellow tea rose gained shades of peach and orange.

How coral roses had turned a bright cherry red.

How light lavender roses turned a beautiful purple.

I felt a need to urge you to go collect flowers and dry them upside down.

If you don't already.

They are so fun to tuck in here and there.

And, during winter months, they are a grand reminder of spring and summer.

A spirit lifter indeed.

Colors and how they affect your mood....

Interesting topic isn't it?

Color.

Mixing paint.

My brain jumps to...

Pink, red, teal, blue, lavender, yellow, lime green..

Flowers.

Textures.

I think of places.

Mexico, Italy, Morocco, and more...

Color inspirations.

Delicious infusions.

What's your fave color?

What about your least fave color?

Why?

I love all shades of teal/sea foam green, and pinks, oh pinks!

I am less partial to yellow on my own walls (even though I love the color), simply because I had a yellow room when I was really young.

Yellow bedspread, yellow Holly Hobby wallpaper, yellow everything.

You?

Remember this post?

Oh delicious color!!

Makes me want to go straight to India, or paint a wall fuchsia.

Yummm!

Color shenanigans I tell ya.

;)

Love, V

 

 

 

ps:  Still feeling a little better everyday after the anaphylactic scare.  Some days better than others.  Psychologically, sometimes I feel panic stricken, sometimes I feel fine.  Par for the course?

A Vegetable Garden...

I dreamed of a vegetable garden, to call my own...

I read up on companion planting.

I envisioned flowers, herbs and vegetables that complement each other, cozying up in lush beds.

It was summer of 2011 on our little piece of earth north of Tucson, Arizona, as the planning began.

We carved out a space for the vegetable garden.

I ordered seeds.

Mister Lovee enclosed the garden for me.

We decided on 8 beds.

We dug deep down to line the beds with thick mesh waffle wire, as we have a gopher epidemic here.

Miniature goats gifted manure, delivered by a friend.

Quickly, summer left us, and it was fall of 2011.

I planted a couple of beds to test.

We kept working.

Mostly me, I wanted to do this.

I wanted it to be my baby.

I felt something in the depths of my soul, beckoning me.

It took so much work and time.

It was a huge job, but fulfilling in ever way.

I started some plants inside in winter.

Lots and lots of tomatoes.

During those cool winter months I searched for a wooden arbor.

With no luck, I found some 10 ft. pieces of white wood (sign posts) in our wood piles, I dug 2ft.+ deep holes, and built my own.

Just like that, the dream was being created.

An escape.

Something I had to do.

A need.

A burning desire.

And so, it began...

I had grown vegetables in and around the flower gardens, and in a smaller enclosed garden near by.

But, I had to go bigger.

There was no question.

Why?

I don't know.

I just had to.

Something I felt that I needed to do in my life - grow edibles.

This was to be a special place.

A place all of its own.

Totally organic.

Winter and into spring 2012 brought us cabbages, and Brussels sprouts, and spinach.

Broccoli and lettuce of all kinds too.

Turnip seeds planted, which gifted so many to share.

More cabbages grew, onion seeds were planted.

 Tomato plants were transplanted into the garden in early spring.

I tucked each one in with care and love, sitting in the dirt.

One by one...

Getting them in as perfectly and as securely as I could.

Pumpkin seeds were taken out of pumpkins, as I baked the last of fall's babes.

Then...

Planted in the ground.

Snuggled into the earth, to sleep for a little while, before the warmth would wake them.

I couldn't contain myself.

I kept ordering seeds, and planting them.

The seed packages from different places were so lovely.

So much life in a little paper envelope.

I even ordered some extra sort of fancy pumpkin seeds.

Just to see.

And then, the growing began...

The garden sprouted -

April and May, growing growing growing...

And then, came June.

Today...

In early spring I planted corn and sunflower seeds all around the inside of the garden.

I dreamed of a green wall surrounding me.

Cabbages in the covered cage below have been eaten, and now we await new sprouting seeds of different things.

Cages are removed when sprouts become large enough to be safe from birds.

The hot sun is making everything grow and grow and grow.

As my dreams of a summer vegetable garden become more real.

We pull big beautiful carrots and red onions out of the dirt.

The scent.

Oh the scent.

The glorious aroma of dirt and onions and carrots...

 

I used this as my companion planting guide.

I printed the pages.

I drew up a diagram of what to plant where.

Onions with carrots, in one bed.

Basil, and peppers and tomatoes in another.

In the center of the garden was a wonderful wooden table Mister Lovee made in the 80's.

He rebuilt it for me.

But then I needed more planting space, so it now lives right outside the garden.

In its place, more basil and dill and sunflowers.

Behind that, beans and strawberries.

(giant bricks hold the umbrella stand, as the wind whips like never before here)

In another bed, cucumbers, garlic, onions, dill, celery and nasturtium...

And farther beyond...

Turnips and beets and bok choy, and more.

The corn surrounding the garden gets taller everyday.

I decided to put in more tomato seeds in late April.

They grow below with all sorts of peppers, and a rogue squash plant.

The front entry was lined with wildflowers in early spring.

Bachelor's buttons and shirley poppies grew in massive abundance.

Less now with the heat.

Below, the tomato plants I began inside in winter, surrounded by basil and parsley.

I toss parsley seeds here and there, and they take off like mad trees.

On the day that the hives+anaphylactic shock debacle began, I curled into the corner below...

The scent of the tomatoes bewitching me.

I stood up parsley and tomato vines and trimmed here and there.

I washed all my sunflower leaves with more soap than I was supposed to, in a desperate attempt to get rid of the bugs on them (2 kinds).  The soap and bugs and plant oils dripping all over me.

Whatever it was that caused the dilemma...

This is where I was.

Tucked into that little corner below, smelling the beautiful smells.

I begin to feel so confused that I don't know what or who to blame.

Tomatoes, parsley, bugs, sun, soap+plant oil drippings?

Or something else I don't even know about?

So, I blame less.

Because, it could have been anything.

So, I tread with great caution, and that is all I can do.

I collect arugula and other types of lettuce.

From delicious, peppery and intense, to mild and sweet...

I take some carrots and onions and lettuce across the road.

My neighbor e-mails me to say, thank you for lunch...

My heart smiles.

I spy cucumber flowers and bees doing their thing...

I look at the parsley a lot.

For some reason, I think the parsley has some serious secrets it needs to tell me.

It knows things.

It knows.

I stand back and watch everything grow bigger and bigger.

I spy little corns forming sooner than I imagined.

And a big shiny pumpkin pokes out from underneath a giant sunflower...

I look around.

More cautious than ever.

I feel good about being cautious.

With a slight tinge of reservation.

My birthday birdhouse from a few years ago (from mom and dad) greets me...

As the sun shoots beautiful fairy colors through the trees.

I ponder the last week again and again.

But I find that the happenings are fading from my memory.

I have never been a person who can hold onto things for long.

Even when I want to.

My brain just auto-corrects somehow.

It's strange.

As it forces me to move on.

So, I walk along.

I breathe.

I think.

I love the breezeway between the vegetable garden, and the pumpkin patch...

Squash blossoms just began in the pumpkin patch, which means it might be time to take the fencing down soon.

I close the gate as I leave...

Looking back to make sure everything is in check...

I am happy Mister Lovee is helping me with the garden ever since the scare.  I have found a peace and acceptance in being helped.

All of a sudden, my garden becomes more our garden, and I love it even more.

I realize it is extra special now that it is shared.

Yes...

A place to share with someone you love.

That is what it has become...

With so much respect for nature at every turn.

Eyes and heart open.

 

Love, Vanessa

 

♥

Crochet Sunday & Mad Tea Party Thoughts

I am still doing a lot of this...

Trying to get myself to feel better.

I think I might need a detox after all those meds because I am feeling yuckety yuck.

Any ideas?

Tomorrow I am going to start eating raw food again.

(raw was off the list for a few days)

I have had lettuce and apples.

But nothing more complicated than that in the raw fruit/veg dept.

I am dying for the hugest salad ever, ever, ever!

And huge oranges and lemons!

So far, no hives again.

Fingers crossed.

The doctor thinks it was really an isolated incident.

But could happen again with exposure to whatever it was.

What, who knows?

In the meantime, I am taking it easy as I can.

Sitting still is so hard for me.

Luckily my body feels sort of rotten (dizzy, headache, stomach pain, body achy), so I have to sit still.

(par for the course after the meds, I am told)

I am not good at not feeling good I guess?

But who is?

Life is grand, could be a lot worse.

I am not complaining.

I am just happy I have not had a hive relapse.

So so so so so so so so happy.

I am almost afraid to be too happy about it, just in case :)

I am watching deep sea tales (love that).

While I twist and turn yarn.

I just invent as I go.

My grandma always told/tells me to just try different stitches, which she taught me.

And, to invent and try other things.

Which is what I do.

I am so sorry I don't have a pattern or tips.

I have tried to read those crochet books, which look like a foreign language to me.

I am not good with that sort of thing.

It's like cooking.

A dash of this, a sprinkle of that.

I have no clue what the recipe is most of the time.

I also stitched the flowers together, and will add more as I make them.  I guess I will end up with a crude blanket/throw of some sort, I think?

The tip I can give, sounds like this...

(Which will make no sense I am sure, unless you crochet and wing it too)

Make a chain of about 10 links, close it up, then make loops that are 5 links each and loop about 7 of those into your closed circle chain (petals if you will).  Keep inventing stitches, and going around, adding more loops.  Longer chains for loops, and on and on as it grows.

Trying different stitches each time around for fun.

This is my fave thing to do at bed time.

(Oh boy, I just re-read that, sounds like gibberish)

My stitches so are not technically sound in any way.

Guess what?

My hydrangeas are turning pink.

I think my soil must be low on the aluminum sulfate, or whatever makes them blue.

:)

So they are sort of turning lavender and pink.

I wish they stayed blue.

But, pink is good too.

I also brought in the first zinnia of the season.

Zinnias in my garden always mark a change to come.

Means...

Spring is gone for sure, and summer flowers begin their party....

Alsooooo,

About the Mad Tea Party.

It will be...

Our 5th annual one in fact!

I have gotten lots of questions about this lately.

It is so exciting isn't it??

Please don't worry...

As soon as I know that I am going to be 100%, and have a few more days of no hives, I will think of a good date.

We normally have it at the end of June, but this year due to everything that has happened, we'll have it a little bit later in summer, okay?

Does that sound like a plan?

We can't miss a Mad Tea Party.

That would be too tragic ;)

OKay soooooo,

I need to put my head down, woozy woozy.

Oh!

Look who has been asking to be brushed.

He will bring you his brush if you ask for it.

And now, he brings it to you if he feels he needs to be brushed.

He loves to be brushed.

This is about 5 times a day :)

Fluffer nutter!

If that doesn't make a person smile, then I don't know what will?

Furry horrible brush, tee heeee.

(he destroyed his other brush last week)

All the while his little big brother Matty catches creatures...

(if Matty sees you with the brush he runs away)

On the hunt.

Sigh....

Matty is still on medicine but doing much better.

I know it is odd that we both got sick around the same time.

But it was totally different and coincidental.

Miles is snoring on my toe.

I'll be back soon, I hope!

 

Love, V

 

 

Tip-Toeing Around...

I just wrote the longest post, and then the power went out.

Hello, lessons and lessons.

Let me try this again...

You see ~

I have been taking little steps back into my life...

Back into the garden.

Slowly.

Thoughtfully.

And, with renewed respect.

As I start to feel better my outlook changes.

Fear is slowly replaced by caution.

I am reminded to respect nature.

Animals bite, insects bite, plants have toxins, and people punch if they are startled.

It's about being aware and cautious, this renewed outlook I have.

I have been doing research about the plants in my garden.

I have gone through my step by step log of all the things I did before the hives fire.

I am still feeling a little strange and off, but the hives have subsided.

Yay!

That itch is mind blowing.

Wouldn't wish that on anyone.

I have talks with myself about them coming back, and how, it will all be okay if they do.

(easier said than done of course)

I will just have to work through it.

I think about toxins on the plants.

I think about kissing bugs.

I take your advice.

I love your advice.

It helps me feel less crazy, all holed up in a little room in the middle of nowhere.

I think about all the things I did different before the thing happened, and there were a few.

You know, the nurse who looked after me the second time I was in the hospital told me that her son had gone through exactly what I had, just not as long a time, but it was from being bitten by a kissing bug.

Scary.

I have done some research on allergists in my neck of the woods.

I look forward to it.

For some reason I have no fear of needles?

You should see the bruises on my arms from the poor nurse not being able to find my veins.

Oh my goodness, I keep thinking there is paint on me.

Then I remember, oh bruised :)

Sometimes I wish I had been a dermatologist.

How I love popping and squishing things.

Yucky, I know.

I don't think I ever shared that when I was a little girl I could not go near grass without my eyes swelling up.  I would get itchy sneezy and beyond miserable.

There came a point where I simply could not play outside.

My parents took me to an allergist as a little girl, and I went through the torturous medieval scratch tests on my back and arms, strapped face down - with skin balloon tests too, to find out what I was allergic to. (I hear the tests aren't so bad nowadays)

There was almost nothing I wasn't allergic to.

I proceeded to have to have, 4 allergy shots twice a week, until I was 19 years old.

Then one day I rarely sneezed again while outside.

In my renewed respect for nature I think about how in life, we get so used to the everyday, that we stop being cautious.

We stop locking our car doors when we get in.

We don't look both ways.

We don't check to see if there is a poisonous snake amongst the flowers.

Both literally and figuratively.

It isn't until something goes wrong, that we are reminded, isn't it?

Maybe those reminders are crucial?

I am keeping my head above water, and so happy to be done with those steroid pills today.

I am chucking some of these strange feelings to the pills, and looking forward to moving on.

I have had so many talks with my family throughout this.

My mom and dad are so wonderful to talk to.

My mom is a ray of beaming pulsating optimistic life.

I am so lucky to have her as my mom.

And my sister, boy do we laugh.

I always feel 13 when I am around her.

I come from a family of very strong people.

Not mean strong, but, don't drown strong.

A sort of, find your happy, strong.

Hold onto your happy strong.

They are almost like....

Eat as much cake as you want, dance around madly, wear all your jewels while in your pajamas, but by golly, don't drown in sadness.

Hang onto the gold thread, and find a way out.

That is how I see my family.

From grandparents to parents.

They all are sort of like that.

Tough, but partake in all sorts of shenanigans to keep their spirits up.

In a good way.

I for one think it is so important to feel.

To cry, to laugh, to scream, but to feel.

It's the only way to find your way.

Major points on the map to self I think?

So much to think about, with philosophies abound.

For now I am doing lots of this...

And trying to keep still and recover fully, so I can get back to myself.

I have been drinking my usual buckets of water.

My dad always says "you know my love, there is such a thing as drinking too much water."

I know he is right.

But I love the stuff.

I love drinking it.

Playing in it.

How I LOVE to swim.

I used to teach swimming lessons when I was a teen.

My life revolved around the water.

I miss it so.

Hello giant turnip :)

I have enjoyed watching Mister Lovee find his way in my gardens.

I am learning a huge lesson in all of this, and that is, to let go a little.

Let him help me.

We both have very strong personalities, and our own way of doing things.

But I have talked to him about my budding outlook on "we both do things differently, but with the same outcome."

Which is super fine.

Great in fact.

It's like tying our shoe laces.

We all do it differently, but in the end, we all have our shoe laces tied.

I am learning lots and lots of lessons.

I am open to them.

I want to learn, even though I can be stubborn.

I will tread lightly.

This morning my body woke up at 5 a.m. on its own, as it did before this happened.

I went to Mister Lovee and told him not to get up, that I would take care of the garden.

I slowly went out, cautiously, and I watered.

I did not touch, just watered.

I have my long sleeves and my gloves ready.

I am taking my little steps, and with each one, the fear washes away.

Little by little.

I am going to go rest my head and play with yarn a bit more.

I am one wilted girl, but feeling oh so much better.

I even caught myself singing today while washing my hands.

So much to learn all the time, isn't there?

Fingers crossed that the hives stay away, oh please oh please, stay way hives...

 

Love, Vanessa

 

♥