The Reluctant Gardener

I told "those people" I wanted a low maintenance garden...because I'm not a gardener.  

I went for a power walk in the neighborhood this morning.  It was a beautiful morning...there was a nice breeze, it was cooler, the birds were singing...I call such a morning a Katina morning, because my momma and I would enjoy those kinds immensely.

My neighborhood is beautiful.  Everyone keeps their gardens and yards so nice.  Probably because most people around here have gardeners.  They have the kinds of gardeners that change out the seasonal flowers, maintain the current flowers and plants, put out mulch and pick weeds...in addition to the basic lawn mowing and bush pruning.  My gardener falls into the latter category...he's just a lawn mower and bush pruner.

Remember Shirley MacLaine's character, Ouiser, in Steel Magnolias? I've always wanted to be a Ouiser type character in my old age - but figured I wouldn't make a good one, or at least a complete one, because I don't wear big hats and garden - as all good southern ladies do.  I can make a mean pitcher of lemonade though...

Anyway, I have many, many knockout rose bushes at the new house.  They were all blooming and going crazy about a month ago. You can catch a glimpse of a few along the back fence in this picture:

Well, about two weeks or so ago, all the blooms on every stinking one were dead - in the front and back yards.  

I was miffed.

I spent about an hour this morning deadheading some of the bushes in the front:

See that one bush in the top picture?  It's getting pretty with blooms again. Yay. See those sickly looking abelias next to those pretty blooms, and again in the left side of the bottom picture?  Yeah...I don't know where to begin with those...

I still have these groups of roses in the front to go, but it was getting a little too sunny for me to be out there for too long:

I still have the whole back yard to do too - see them?  Under the crepes?:

...and that's just part of the bushes along the fence.

Oy.

Now, these beauties...they don't ask a thing of me:

I cut the three biggest blooms to bring inside:

I just know my momma is looking down and having herself a good laugh.

MK out.

WIP Wednesday - 5/28/2014

I feel like such a slacker these days.  I've been knitting a little, but nothing is getting finished.  I need a little instant gratification, but with Camp Loopy starting soon - I don't want to add another project in the mix right now.  I'm not even knitting on a plain, vanilla sock this month - so, I really don't have an excuse.

I've been trying to finish Issey:

I think I am almost there...maybe by the weekend it will be complete.

Bubblemania may not look very different than the last time it appeared here:

I still have Gaia (not pictured here), but I haven't touched it in several weeks.  I need to get up close and personal with it soon.  I have other cardis I want to make...

That's the state if the knitting...

MK out.

Movie Monday - 5/19/2014

In Adore, Naomi Watts and Robyn Wright play best friends from childhood who eventually grow up and start relationships with each other's sons. Wow! Just...wow! It was good.

Naomi Watts and Naveen Andrews star in Diana, about Princess Diana's last two years of her life when she was in love with heart surgeon Hasnat Khan and campaigning to ban landmines.  I wasn't sure I was going to like Naomi portraying Diana.  Surprisingly, she actually did a pretty good job - she had some of Diana's mannerisms down - but the script was lacking. I'm sure parts of the film were made up, but overall, it was true to the story.  It was alright.

MK out.

I'm Ready for Camp Loopy 2014

Can you tell?

For the first challenge, Sheri states:  "Find a project that reminds you of one of your favorite books, TV Shows, or movies. It can be based on a character, or a scene, or colors, or names, or however you’d like to interpret your love of that book/show/movie."

I love The Wizard of Oz.  I may have mentioned it before.  I saw the yarn and read its name...Ruby...and immediately thought that Dorothy has those ruby slippers.  Maybe, she'd like a matching shawl.  

MK out.

WIP Wednesday - 5/14/2014

If you are thinking this post is going to be about knitting, you are going to be disappointed.  

Since we at Chez Merry Karma are currently undergoing The World's Longest Move Ever, the whole project is a work-in-progress.  It will continue to be a WIP for the foreseeable future...

Yesterday, I unpacked the knives I brought over from the former house.  I've had these knives for a long time, and the wooden handles looked sad.  I remembered a product called Wood Beams that I purchased from Goodies Unlimited at DFW Fiber Fest and I thought I would give it a try.

Here are the knives before: (I had already applied the product on the bread knife in the lower left of the picture.)

Notice the sharpener - it looks better than the knives because it doesn't get washed as often as they do.  I do wash my good knives by hand - but this method is just as dehydrating to the wooden handles as the dishwasher would be...it just takes longer.  

I wasn't expecting the handles to return to their original color, but they do look nicer:

Back to the grind.  I hope to get back to knitting soon...

MK out.

Movie Monday - 5/12/2014

The longest move in history continues and I've fallen out of movie watching mode. I'm trying to get it back, as I've watched a few films in the last week:

Strangers in Good Company is a heartwarming little story from 1990 about a group of elderly women who become stranded in the wilderness when their bus breaks down. The dialogue is heavily improvised and the actors talk about things from their pasts, as well as their thoughts about life and death.  It was sweet.

Sienna Miller stars as Tippi Hedren in The Girl.  It tells the story of the relationship between Hedren and Alfred Hitchcock during the time the films The Birds and Marnie were being made.  Toby Jones plays Hitchcock and Imelda Staunton plays his wife, Alma. The movie details Hitchcock's attempts to make Hedren into the next Grace Kelly, as well as to engage in a sexual relationship with her.  The release of the film caused quite a stir as people who were close to Hitchcock in the past felt that it was a gross misinterpretation of the facts.  The movie is well acted and worth watching just for the "behind the scenes" filming of The Birds. 

Anthony Hopkins plays the lead and Helen Mirren plays Alma in Hitchcock, a movie about their relationship during the making of Psycho.  Scarlett Johansson plays Janet Leigh.  Apparently this film was much better received.  The acting was very good and it was a very entertaining movie overall.  

MK out.

Happy Mother's Day!

MK out.

FO Friday - 5/9/2014

Hello...hello...

There is finally an FO:

They are another pair of plain, vanilla socks.  

I love stripeys.  

The yarn is Rainy Days and Wooly Dogs Goth Socks Laudanum Lache in the Ditzy color-way.  (That's a mouthful.)  

I checked the other day and noticed I have several skeins of sock yarn...still.  I also have many, many pairs of socks.  I've decided that I may not make a dozen pair this year.  I think I will make at least six, and see how that goes.  I'd like to make some sweaters and other things besides socks.  I need a sock vacation.

MK out.