Inktober 2024 - 29 Potted Plant

Inktober 2024 Challenge

29 Potted Plant

Another bit of red today.

I created a yard fence with a large potted plant sitting on the paved stones.

Permanent black marker laid over my pencil drawing.  I then applied some watercolor. 

Down to my last couple of pieces of Canson Mixed Media 154lb paper.  This has been great paper for this challenge.

Nearly done!

Sylvia's Simple Shots

 As women we need to pay attention how our body is feeling.  Symptoms are often ignored or not considered as heart symptoms.  Back pain is common in women having a heart attack.  I wore red to our first meeting in 3 years of the quilting group.

I finished this book recently Kinsey and Me by Sue Grafton.  It is a collection of short stories with her famous female investigator - Kinsey Millhone.  

As the author puts it - it is a challenge to set up the characters, the crime and solve it in a short story.

A Little Missionary Work was my favorite of these short stories.

There is some autobiography information on Sue Grafton's early growing up years which was difficult with alcoholic parents and all the comes with that.

It was a nice change of pace with Kinsey and enjoyed the stories.

If you are a fan of Kinsey it is definitely worth a read.

I headed out to the north end drugstore because my local one did not have any inventory of these bands. With the increase in the amount of leg and arm exercises I have been doing I needed some bands in different tension strength.  I am using the blue one for some leg exercises.

I was lucky to have decaf tea on sale - 2 boxes for $10.00 which a savings of $6 so I picked a couple of those as well.  I have not been able to get this tea at my regular grocery store since before Christmas. 

I finally did a Google search and my drugstore carries it.  I am there regularly so I will just keep an eye for the sale again.

I underwent a vertigo assessment by my physiotherapist this week.   I had about 10 days of bad dizziness around mid January. It started right after my big pain in my knee. I felt it was musculoskeletal and it was related to extreme tension between my shoulders.  There was a spot on the right hand side that I just could not release the pressure in that spot.  I passed the vertigo assessment.

I had a deep muscle massage which addressed the knot in the middle of my back.  That is exactly what I needed.  The pain is gone and I feel so much better.

I was also given cupping massage which felt great.

Back exercises were added to the leg ones to address the tight back muscles.

The Cat Cow yoga pose works well then I was given a deep stretch for that area which feels better now that the knot in the muscle has relaxed.

The shoulder rotation is very good.  I used pillows for my head and my knee.  

The back squeeze feels good as well.  I wrap my elastic exercise band around the door handle, wrap the two ends over and above the latch and shut the door.  Now I can pull really hard on the band and it will not let go.

I bought myself another African Violet at the garden center last week.  I am hoping to keep this one alive.  The last one was just too close to the window during the deep freeze and it succumbed to the cold.

I used to grow these in my twenties when I did not even have to try.  They sat in a large north window and bloomed and flourished.

I have set this one on the shelf near the window and hopefully just a little less light and much less cold will be the magic formula.  

I will keep an eye on it and always water it from the bottom and keep  my fingers and toes crossed.

Nice to have a bit of life in the house until spring returns.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I dropped by a green house yesterday on my way back from a short morning of photography.  I managed only 10 shots before I was out of battery and I had not recharged the extra from my trip the day before so more more photos for me.

I walked around the botanic garden just to get the exercise I needed and the greenhouse did not open till 10 am.

I was at the door at 10am and wandered around to eventually find the Sansevieria / Snake Plant / Mother-in-Law Tongue plant.

It measures about 7 inches high so the price of $13 dollars was worth it.  This is not likely the final decorative pot for it but it will do for the photo shoot.

I did some investigation of the Pothos or Devils Ivy and it is soaking wet so that is why it is not doing so well.   I have to learn to water according to the plants needs and not just once a week.

I am learning and now I have 7 plants which a huge improvement over 0 when I worked.  Just did not have the energy and connection to handle it then.

We had several days in the last 10 which were what I would call heat wave days.  Above 30C in the day and the overnight temperature not dipping below 18C.  

I had to put a dark sheet in the dining room window to keep the morning sun out of my place.

Thank goodness it did not last as long as last year.

I made a bottle full of Lemon Dijon Vinaigrette this morning.  Love this dressing on almost anything.  I use it for salads, I put it on my fish for the bake oven fish dish, and just to add a tang of flavor to a whole grain dish.

You can find the recipe here in Jenn Segal's French Grated Carrot Salad posting.

I just store in a cleaned out Dijon Mustard plastic jar in the fridge.  I double the recipe.

I enjoyed this book a lot. The Road Home by Tommy Tenney and Mark Andrew Olsen.

It is a Naomi and Ruth story based on the bible but set in modern times.

The women are living in Las Vegas and have fallen on hard times.  They have both lost husbands in the last few years and Ruth is Naomi's daughter in law.  Naomi is now in her 60's and wants to go home to Pennsylvania where she grew up.  Ruth grew up in the foster system and has no real home so decides to make her home with Naomi. 

They travel across the country in an old Impala that Naomi's husband had both here years ago.  They work along the way to have enough cash to get HOME. 

Beautiful story!

I want to do some work on the kitchen.  

I painted the middle panel of the kitchen doors in 2017.  You can check out the improvements made then in this post. 

Now I want to paint all of the cupboards in order to freshen up the kitchen again.  I have chosen a light yellow and a warm grey in craft paint to paint paper which I will tack up against the cupboards to make a decision on a color.

I did investigate replacing the hinges but that was a no go as they have changed - the holes are not in the same place and the plates are not the same size so I think they will just be painted.

I want to had knobs or handles to the doors and drawers but I have not made a final decision on those yet.

I will post updates as they happen.

I played hide and seek with a Northern Flicker the other day.  They are a wood pecker which spends a lot of time on the ground looking for food. 

An enjoyable time.

Flickr Macro Monday was Miniature.

I got this miniature Tupperware Thatsa Bowl key chain in my prize from reunion raffle.  It is so cute and you can see the lid comes off.  I have a couple of the regular sized bowls in the Tupperware in the cupboards.

Love the color of this bowl as well.  The ones I have are white and red.

Have a great week.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

 A beautiful hollyhock plant grew on the edge of the parking lot of an abandoned building.

It is a volunteer! I am so glad it decided to grow there.  I have no idea where the seeds would have come from.  I have not seen some of these in the neighbourhood.  I suppose it could be dropped by birds? Carried by mice?  Who knows!

A very tall stalk sporting several gorgeous warm pink flowers.

It was a precious surprised and it blessed my day.

My niece gave me a nice macrame plant hanger when I saw her a couple of weeks ago.

It was to replace the flimsy one I had cobbled together to hang my spider plant in the bedroom.  The plant is doing so well there in the north window.  I have been cutting off the spiderettes when they grow on this plant.  I may decide to keep the next one to create a new plant.

I decided to re-pot this plant while I was at it.  I put it into a bigger pot and added soil. It should be good for the next year or two.

I am wanting a Sansevieria / Mother in Law Tongue / Snake Plant which likely will go in the bedroom as well.  I stopped a CTire today and checked out their garden center but no luck. I will have to go to a green house this week.

I found a new tape measure.  The one I have owned for 30 years had the lock break about 6 months ago so it is very difficult to use.  

I found this one this week for $1 so the price was right at the thrift store.

It may be shorter than the other one and it is smaller so better size for me.

Trying to decide if I keep the other tape for crafts or not.  Probably not as I have other priorities.

It worked well to determine how much flooring I would need for the kitchen.  We shall see!

This book Take me with you by Brad Newsham was a great change from the fiction I have been reading.

I'm not much of a traveler so I have not experienced wanderlust where one just needs to leave and go.

As a young man in his twenties in the early 1970s, Brad took a trip to Europe but was pulled to visit Morocco, Turkey, Iran and finally to Afghanistan.  The trip was to be a month but lasted over 7 months. At the end of the trip he wrote in his diary - Someday, when I am rich, I'm going to invite someone from my travels to visit me in America. 

14 years later, he lives in San Francisco and drives a taxi for a living.  Safe to say travel may be in his blood.  Now, single again, he decides to take 100 day trip. On this trip he has decided to keep the vow he made years ago. He visits the Philippines, India, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and South Africa. He is traveling on a very low budget of $25 a day so he find very cheap accommodations in each country.  As he travels he gets to know people along the way. He gathers the name and addresses of many people.  Some he has promised to send photos he has taken.  He has not shared his plan with many people.  The book tells it like it is to travel in very poor countries, travel in less than ideal conditions, but meet some salt of the earth people. 

I have been able to pick about 1/2 cup of raspberries in the patch at the end of the block.  I have permission to pick.  I am amazed that many don't pick them but I guess if you grow up thinking raspberries come from the grocery store then you may not recognize them on the bush dow the block.

I love raspberries and they are my favorite fruit to pick.  I love picking my fruit clean and it is very easy with raspberries.

I have had raspberries on my breakfast 3 times.  It is delicious and nutritious.

This has been a very good year for raspberries.

I won a few things at the raffle at the reunion.  

There was a Tupperware tumbler with blue and yellow items.  That got my attention.

Here's the nice tea towel that was included in the tumbler.

There was a small Tupperware key chain, stainless steel straws, and a few other things on the summer theme.

I hope you have a great week.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

After three days of ridiculous and constant wind we got a skiff of snow over night.  Others in the province did quite a bit of the white stuff.

The temperature this morning was -11C which is very cold for this time of year so the snow could have been much worse. 

Despite that, the hares are getting brown so we will get through this.  I was very glad to see this big guy in the back yard this morning.

I finished this book - The Waymaker by Ann Voskamp this week.  I believe I have read all her books and I own quite a few.

This is her latest released recently.

The lesson in the book is that we must maintain our connection to God - Jesus as He is the Waymaker.  He knows what we need and he knows what is next for us.

I bought the book because I am having to practice patience for the time being.  I keep the house tidy at all times and await calls for viewings with the hope of the right offer.

Mom & Dad have both experienced health crisis and that requires trust that the best for them will come to pass.  

As a planner, living with uncertainty is very difficult but I guess that is the lesson to relax and trust that was is right will come.

I replaced my TV recently.  I have had the old one for nearly 10 years I think and I bought it second hand.

It was not working well for quite a while and I thought it was just the antenna but it was the TV.

There was a sale in March offering a generous discount so I just made the decision to move forward. 

I love that I can put my music on a USB stick and play it in the living room - just like that.

I have not been able to connect it to WIFI yet so I will need help with that.

The DVD player is packed so that will have wait as well.  Very happy so far!

The challenge on Flickr Macro Mondays this week was - Bulb.  The electric kind not the garden kind.

This is one of the shots I took for the challenge.   You can check out my Photostream (SMDPics) to see the image I submitted.   There was a good variety of images to see.

I bought myself a new Basil plant last week as well as the other I purchased last April was getting gangling and not very pretty.   I am very happy to say that I now have 5 plants growing in my place.  My windows face east and north.  I have given up on African Violets for now.

The Aspargus fern I bought last year is doing well.

The Dracena I got from aunt fall of 2020 continues to grow.

The Greek Oregano that my sister gave me is a bit stretched out but I take leaves it about once a week to keep it in check.

The spider plant my niece gave me last year has been moved to the north window and is making babies for the second time which I take it is quite happy there.

The Devil's Ivy has been moved further from the east window not sure how happy it is.  Just for a little while longer, I say.

I am sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday #173 and Mersad who hosts Through My Lens #332. 

Have a great week!

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I found some Blue Squills this morning in a neighborhood front garden.  They only last for such a short time.

They are very small and such a wonderful color.  

It helped my to feel optimistic about spring coming and other flowers coming along.  

Photography has changed for me this spring because our COVID numbers are high. We have a few people resisting the transmission measures in place so I can't go places I did last year.

It means my number of good photos is down and I have to adjust.

 

 

I had an outdoor visit with my sister last week and she brought me a spider from my niece.  It hangs in the bedroom where the African Violet was before it just died.  It is a north window so I think it will do well there for now. Maybe it was over watered.  I would like to try again but this plant gives me some green above my sewing machine which is wonderful. 

The basil plant has it's second leaves so I am optimistic about it's survival for now.

 

 

We had construction at our building all of last week with a few days of water shut down and one day with power shut down.   Makes being at home more of a challenge and going out with COVID numbers is scary also.  Tough spot to be in. 

I believe it continues this week to put the ground back to what it was before the tear up.

It has solved problems so that is always appreciated.

  

I took my camera to a new area the other in hopes that it would have less people around.   It was good and I saw the river from a different point of view.

I captured the bend in the river.  There is still a bit of ice along the banks.  The water is much lower than it should be so there will be drought for our farmers, food growers, and gardeners this year.

 

I have needed a new mattress and pillow for a while but with  COVID had not pursued the purchase.

Ten days or so ago I had completed my on-line research and took the plunge to actually visit the store to see the mattress I was interested in.

It was wonderful because there were no other customers there during  my visit. One salesperson who was masked and sanitized all that was needed.  I did purchase a mattress protector and a new pillow as well.  The delivery was delayed by the construction our front of the building and we managed to get up to the my suite before the power was to be shut down.  Excellent.  The guys were great!  Wrapped the old one in the wrapping of the new one and it is gone.  It took about 10 minutes in all.  

The pillow is humongous but it works very well.  I am happy with my purchase and the service received from the store.  The mattress is 2 inches taller than the old one so now I cannot sit on my bed and have my feet touch the floor.  Makes me think of the Princess and the Pea with mattress stacked very high.

The challenge at Flickr Macro Mondays this week was forks.  This challenge could have been quite boring but we have had some creative shots taken.  You can check my Flickr photostream (SMDPics) to see the shot I submitted.

 I am sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday #128 and 

 Mersad who hosts Through My Lens #286.

 Have a great week!

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I saw Crocuses on my walk this morning.  Nature is saying it is spring time.  I am so glad we did not get the snow that some of the province got yesterday.

I finished this book on Sunday.

A book filled with mysteries years old.

Based in London in 1970's it features a new crime solving unit (Peculiar Crimes Unit) who use non traditional methods to solve crimes.  Detectives John May and Arthur Bryant in third book pursue a murderer with no very little hard evidence to go by.  People are dying every day, its Christmas time and the clues seem to lead in a very unusual conclusion.  

Eventually the method in the madness is revealed and the murders are solved but a family has lost quite a few members.   I enjoyed the book! 

Since the renovations in 2019 I have been on the search for new shades for the lights in the front hall.  Of course, the pandemic has curtailed to a large degree my discretionary shopping.  When my sister called to say could we have a visit outside and they were headed to ReStore I said sure! 

I found shades for the front hall for a very small sum!  The store was not busy and social distancing was maintained.

 

I found ceramic tiles for the base of my photo studio as well. I bought two 12x24 tiles with some texture and a matte finish.  Because of the pattern and the square edges when put together you cannot see the join of the tiles!

The color is neutral and the pattern subtle enough to provide a seamless surface for my photography. The size is manageable weight wise.  I had looked at 24x24 tiles earlier this year but moving one very large tile was not a good idea.

Again, the price was very good!

This my second go round trying to get a basil plant growing.  The other just died.

I see that I have second leaves on this one despite the fact that it has a very short stock. 

I am paying attention to water more this time.  The grow bulb is on very day for 8 hours.

I am hopeful that there may be basil in my cooking this summer.

 

A spring mosaic featuring icy puddles in the morning, my first American Robin of the year and some crocus blooms.

 

The Flickr Macro Monday challenge this week was Circles.  This shot on the right is a few small clear plastic containers backlit with purple and pink gels on my lights.  You can check my photo stream (SMDPics)  to see the shot I submitted.

I am sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday #127 and
Mersad who hosts Through My Lens #285

Have a great week!

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I decided to visit a different park on Sunday for a change of scenery.  I had to dress for a bit of coolness but it was a good day out.  

As you can see though the sun did not cooperate very well.   It tried but did not succeed in getting very bright.

After 2 hours out and as I arrived back home it finally shone but that was too late for me.

I loved the silhouette of the tree branches against the bright spot, looking up in mid afternoon. 

 

 

 

I finished this book in a late night reading session on Friday night.  I just needed to know how it ended.  Who had done the deed?

A Bend in the Road by Nicholas Sparks was good and suspenseful.  Sarah as moved back to be near her family.  Miles Ryan is the local sheriff who lost his wife a couple of years ago and is raising his young son, Jonah.  Sarah is Jonah's teacher. 

With the son in common they spend time together over the schooling and a relationship grows.  Miles wants to know who killed his wife on a rainy night as she was jogging along the road.

The ending is very surprising and redemptive for all concerned.

Out of the 5 basil seeds I planted in this pot I have 1 tiny plant.  There was another but the seed casing was stuck on the top and it eventually just died.

I am watering, spritzing and provide light with a grow bulb in hopes of being able to harvest basil for my cooking sometime this summer.

It takes a lot of patience and attention to have plants thrive.

That little red mark is the only evidence of my first COVID Vaccine shot.

I had a sore arm for a couple of days but that was all.  I am very grateful as I hear some people have been ill following their shot.

Looking forward to the day we are all protected.

 

Here's a few more shots from the park I visited on Sunday.  A beautiful sculpture.

Vaulted Willow, a permanent aluminum sculpture by Mark Fornes, the pavillion is clad in mirrored triangles which is very cool, and there are several benches.  I loved the color of this yellow one.

Check out these thorns!  Wicked looking and very sharp.  These are on the Japanese Barberry bush.  It is helpful at this time of year to clearly see them.  During the summer when in full leaf they are harder to spot.

Still one of my favorite park bush always provides  great photos.

I am sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday #124 

and Mersad who hosts Through My Lens #282.

 

 

 

The challenge at Flickr Macro Mondays this week was awards. 

 

I was pretty stumped as what to photograph staying within the 3in limit.  After some rummaging in boxes I have not opened in a long while I found my high school grad ring. It needed a bit of polishing and the photo turned out alright.

You can check my Flickr Photostream (SMDPics) to see what other challenges I have been participating in.

Have a great week!

Photos - This Week

My aunt gave me this plant - Dracaena.  It is a good indoor plant and helps with cleaning the air.

When growing a dracaena plant, locate it in brightly filtered light, such as through a sheer curtain in front of a sunny window. Room temperatures of 60-70 F. (15-21 C.) are best during the day, with night temperatures about 10 degrees cooler. However, the dracaena is forgiving of temperatures, as long as they are not too cold. 

I have placed it near the east window which is the brightest I can provide.  I think right next to the window would be too cold so it is about 4 feet away. We will see how it goes.  It benefits from misting occasionally and moist soil but not soggy.  It enjoys a time of dormancy in the winter during which it does not need fertilizer.

I really don't have a green thumb and growing things does not come naturally. 





I finished this book recently.  A Sudden Change of Heart by Barbara Taylor Bradford. The story's main characters are Laura and Claire.  Laura is from a well to do family and Claire is taken into the family at about age 10.  Laura is an art consultant and works in New York but travels a lot.  She enjoys time with her grandmother, Megan Valiant.  And the family farm where the girls spent time together as children is in Connecticut. Claire lives in Paris with her teenage daughter following a divorce and works for a magazine.

When Laura's work takes her to Paris she always takes time to visit with Claire. 

Laura works on finding art which was stolen from Jewish families during the WWII.  She finds several pieces but the challenge is to have the current owners relinquish the art to the rightful owners or their descendants. Many are worth a lot of money.

Health challenges visit Claire and eventually she is back in Connecticut in the home she lived in as child.  Memories surface of her home life before coming to live with the Valiants.  She comes to terms with the life events with the help of Laura and Megan.

I cut a few 2.5 inch strips of bright fabric for our quilting time tonight.  We are working on making some kid quilts for a women's shelter.

These will be assembled like jelly rolls.  They will get a layer of polyester fiber fill and a backer.  I believe the small quilts will be machine quilted instead of long arm quilted.

Hopefully, others will have some coordinating colored strips.  I forgot to ask if I should have included solids as well.  We shall see.

Photo Blogging - Six

I have been chasing large plastic poker chips.

My niece is planning a girl guide project in June and put the call out for poker chips to be used as tokens in the camp.

I have found quite a few stashes of these for good prices.  My sister is also on the hunt.

We need 1500 chips and we are over 1000 so we certainly get what she needs before the deadline.

This traditional game pieces are being dumped as people go to digital entertainment.




Spring has arrived.

I have 6 new leaves on my African Violet plant as the light outside becomes brighter and longer

I love the contrast of the green against the red stems.

The leaves have not developed their fuzzy surfaces yet.

I see little flower buds in the back there so maybe I will soon have purple flowers on this plant.

I found some silicone muffin liners for this very old pan I inherited from my Mom.  I had not used it because I was sure what I would put into the cups would stick.

It is a mini muffin tin with 16 cups.

Love the colors in this set of liners.  I think they were a Halloween collection.

Now I could make some mini muffins which will certainly come out easily.

I found a cobalt blue tea bag holder to join my collection which now makes it at 6.

Unfortunately, they will not all sit in the holder.

It will certainly work very well with my Blue Nordic dishes.

Here are six props I bought in recent days for my macro photography.

I love the small elephant with a great red oriental bead.
Three filigree metal work beads.
A blown glass heart which was a drink marker.
The turquoise star was an earring.  The plastic circle is a cabinet door knob.
The gold Japanese fan is a jewellery piece as well.  It actually opens and closes.

I am joining the Photo Blogging Challenge - March 2019 - Six hosted by Lil HooHaa.