All that college tuition is paying off!

I finally cranked out, or rather crocheted out, an item this weekend for show-and-tell time at my knitting & crocheting class.

It's a kitty. I have yet to add features, or even a tail, but I may keep it that way. The life cast behind the kitty is of me, about 15 years ago. Those were the days, eh?

Garden's Got It All: Mystery, Tragedy, Romance, Drama, Laffs & a Little Porn

Okay, this post is only for the few who love to talk gardening, particularly my gardening. Faith, Wendy, Mom, you're all so dear to listen to every detail of my horticultural life over here.

So, here's what's going on:

MYSTERY... Why is my Italian Bugloss not blooming? I got three plants and they're huge, but not blooming?  I'll probably transplant two of them to other areas. This will give my wallflowers (struggling below) a chance to actually bloom next year, when they're supposed to.

MYSTERY... The "red" morning glory. When I bought one last year it had exactly 2 blooms on it. Planted it and it grew huge, cheerfully choking everything in its path, but it only grew leaves - the 2 blooms faded and fell off very quickly. So how...HOW did one of those 2 mangy blooms manage to produce a seed that grew this year?

MYSTERY...  This lovely, soft-leaved salvia is in its fourth year at the side of the house. But last year was the only year it actually bloomed. What gives?

TRAGEDY... The dead ostrich fern fronds. The flattened fronds surrounding these black buggers indicates that a cat may be the culprit. Run, run, stomp, stomp, pee, pee... All in a day's work, Ma'am.

TRIUMPH...  I bought this shamrock-leaved oxalis (or whatever) and got it in my head that if I split its tuberous mass (again whatever) I'd have more plantage. Well. It almost died. But after about 6 weeks it revived and looks great. (Let's hope I have the same success with my transplanted toadshades.)

GLORY... Or should I say Gloryoski!? My morning glories went nuts this year and are still going strong. Plus the fragrant, delectable moonflowers are coming out at night.

ROMANCE... I love love love my new shrubs... Starting with my Oregon grape ... still tiny but has a lot of promise, and I love the leaves that look like holly, but are nice 'n' soft!

Then there's my purple ninebark, which is doing just great! That's circled in green. The two shrubs circled in blue are doll's eyes.

And this is my li'l fothergilla. I hear that it grows slowly, but the autumn colors are supposed to be fab!

DRAMA...  Here's my elderbush, or sambuca. I had to protect it from the bunnies. Wish it luck in making it through the winter. (I really want it to survive because another gardener with a competitive personality saw it and said, "Well, I've tried to grow that twice and it always died over the winter!" Well, I'll show her!)

PATHOS... My Kinnikuck (I don't think that's how it's spelt, but it's time-consuming doing this blog - I can't do everything!) is supposed to be an evergreen groundcover. The bunnies are getting to this, too. Bleah. Have to pull out the chicken wire again.

SURPRISE...  As I told Faith, one of my toad lilies bloomed early! (Sorry for the fuzzy pix.)

... Plus I thought that this white poppy plant had died about 5 seconds after I planted it.  But a few weeks later I found it thriving...  Sure, I had to move Fiona's butt aside to see it, because that's where she was sitting. The rose on the left was a sloppy transplant earlier this year, but it produced a bloom a couple of weeks ago!  Yay!

Speaking of Fiona and her derriere, she has a message for Faith and it goes something like this:

"Thanks for telling that stupid lady about Cat Bibs!"

TRANSITION...  This darned Japanese plum tree is planted too close to the house and side path, it shoots out suckers like crazy and is only good-looking two weeks out of the year when it blossoms. My plan is to saw it down pretty soon and replace it with something I like better. The idea of taking down a tree called for a little soul-searching...  other people's souls, that is, since I don't have one. I finally got a consensus that it's okay to take it down. Of course, on the ONE DAY I choose to photograph it, it looks pretty good...

ARTISTRY...  Here's a piece that I bought. I thought it was a planter, but when I talked to the seller she said No, it isn't. We'll see about that, says I.

Plus I did a little painting myself. Actually, the real painters did the first coat. I saved 200 bucks by putting the second coat on myself. I kind of miss the hillbilly look it had a couple months ago.  That last sentence was a lie.

TEENINESS...  Faith, here are the mini-hostas I've been bragging about. You'll get yours, don't worry, but I may wait until spring to divide them. What do you suggest?

LOUDNESS...  At any rate, Faith, you''ll definitely be getting some seeds from my darker orange cosmos.  The plants I took the seeds from had blooms that were even closer to red than this.  Wendy, do you want some, too?

* * * * * * * *

On another subject entirely, I bought some commemorative stamps the other day and they are cool. I highly recommend getting commemorative stamps, particularly since it helps you slow up the line at the post office even more! Here's what I got...

This is Latin Jazz... You know it is!

And here's a pane devoted to the Eames guys.  Lovely stuff.

And finally... My submission for the next U.S. first class commemorative stamp...

I mean, I'm talkin' first class.

More stuff I made

Here's what I spent too much time making this weekend:  The FOJs are sending Jane a modest sum to go toward the purchase of her Dream Camcorder.  

Of course, I had to package it, so I put the check in a jewel case (DVD case) and created inserts to go with.

Here you'll see the front, the back, and a fuzzy shot of the jewel case with art inserted.

It's all kinda fuzzy on the screen, isn't it?  In real life it isn't.

Then, of course I had to send Jane a birthday email on behalf of the FOJs, so I found a photo of the ugliest piece of cake in Christendom, plopped our greeting on top of it and linked the whole mess to the birthday video.  

I sent the email off this morning, and Jane has already responded quite positively to the ugly cake greeting and the video.  Lets hope she likes the jewel case as well!

Oh, pardon my sloppy layout here.  I'm just getting used to the ins and outs of this blog.

Whew.  

PROUD CREATION ALERT: Our Dinner with Jane (Video)

Check out Our Dinner With Jane - a video made on Monday by the FOJs: The Friends of Jane are a cluster of folk from all staggers of life - namely Will Clinger, Cheryl Balaban, Darren Stephens, Barry Aldridge and myself - who have been pals of Jane Voigts for, like, ever.  Add to the creators Nancy Voigts (also known as Clone) who is more than a friend to Jane - she's her sister!  

Jane started out as a stand-up comic/sketch comedienne in Chicago in the '80s, which is when most of us met her.  (Barry and Jane go way back to her genesis in Iowa.)  Since then she moved to LA, became a Methodist minister, and has held forth in churches in LA and Appleton, WI.  A couple of years ago she moved to San Luis Obsipo, CA, and we just don't get together as much as we'd like to.

Jane is usually able to meet up with us for her birthday, but this year she can't celebrate her 50th with us.  Rats.  So we all gathered at a Chicago pizzaria to create a video for her a la Luis Malle's My Dinner with Andre.  Cheryl and Clone joined us through the miracle of Barry's cell phone AND iPhone technology.

Please note that the video camera added 20 pounds to my figure, as well as a waxy complexion, a shrill voice, weak eye contact, bad hair and extra tautness in my jaw.  In real life I look more like Jessica Alba.

We're not letting Jane know about this until her actual birthday, which is Monday, September 22, so if you know Jane KEEP THIS A SECRET!

DAY 1: Why this blog?

Okay, perhaps you've had a long conversation with me, even yesterday, but you were playing Minesweeper in the computer (or in real life) while I was blathering on and on - so you didn't quite absorb all of the salient points.

I understand.  I'm often embarrassed when I don't remember even the most important things my dearest friends tell me like, "My birthday is on February 25th," or, "My brother's in the hospital," or, "I've had these shooting pains in my leg lately," or, "I'll be in Costa Rica for all of July."

So.  If you ever want to call me and need to get up to speed on my current or recent concerns, check this blog.  Or if you don't really have time - or don't want to call me but are just curious about my adventures - do the same.

Now, this blog is called Lorel's Flimsy Façade for a reason:  I'm not going to list the really nefarious lowdown here.  After all, there are things I don't want clients, insurance companies, or those I gossip about to know.  For that info, you'll have to phone me or meet me face-to-face. Sure, there will be papers to sign, oaths to intone, etc., but I promise you it will be worth it.