Catching Up

Well, okay...so thank goodness for Photobucket. Now I just need to get a little better about re-sizing photos before uploading, and I might be okay. Sorry for the delays in posting.

Because of the recently limiting of photo uploading, I'm considering moving the blog to WordPress, where I understand I'd have substantially more memory hosting. Anyone have any bouquets or brickbats to share with me about WordPress? What's your experience been in transferring a blog and its archives from one place to t'other?

Meanwhile, though, I don't want to distract from the important garden business at hand. First, above, you can see that my imperial Chrysanthemum (well, that's what Chuck thought it was when he passed it on to me, anyway...) is fixing to bloom shortly. Also, below, I was happy to know that my favorite - the garden heliotrope - has bounced back from its rough treatment in moving and seems to be taking very nice to its new home by the front door.

Now, I realize (and have been reminded) that the recent photo debacle has left you all in the dark about how progress has been coming along here at the Nest...so I'm glad to be able to share a photo or two with you to show you how things have progressed. As I mentioned, I have finished off the painting in the living room. I might go in with a tiny brush and touch up the dragonflies a little, but I also sort of like the way they seem embedded into the wall, too. Maybe I just want to go in and sketch some of the finer lines of their wings with a marker. We'll see.

Meanwhile, though, I am happy to let them be as they are, while I try to focus less on the painting and more on getting the Nest finally starting to feel more like a home than a collection of empty rooms filled with boxes. After all, I will be hosting some company this weekend and am eager for the place to start feeling a little more comfy and welcoming. Plus, for my own well-being, it sure would be nice to have things unpacked and starting to feel a little less unsettled.

Here's a photo, with Cat, of the loveseat we welcomed to our small collection of furniture this weekend. It's second hand, but we like it just fine...plus, it was relatively easy to get up in the ladder and into the apartment. In the background, is another view on the living room painting (The crow, I'll remind you, I've actually touched up a little so its not quite so recessed into the painting now.).

There were two second-hand loveseats to choose from actually. I liked the muted colors and lighter pattern of this one, which seems to go pretty nicely with the detailed painting I've done in the living room. The other one also featured a floral pattern, but not a brocaded one, as seen here, but merely a print on fabric and in a bright green, red and pink floral pattern that would've been more appropos for the Golden Girls' lanai, or perhaps a shirt for Bea Arthur. I feel I've chosen well and Badum - who's had WAY more time than I to test it out - seems to agree.

I did make myself sit down a little the other night and it is a comfy place to rest. There's just so much to accomplish, though, that I feel a little guilty about settling in one place for too long. Well, not guilty, since I'm on no one's schedule but my own...but there's so much I want to get done. Let's put it that way. In other news, I am about two-thirds finished with painting the bathroom yellow. I like it much better than the dingy pink I am covering over, especially in the golden light of morning.

Speaking of morning, it is pretty early here just now. I have an early eye appointment (slow progress there, but I'm practicing patience, which is apparently my Big Lesson to learn from the Universe just lately) and hope to visit the bank before leaving town, so I'll have a little cash in hand for a stop at K Mart afterward for a few needful things like Flatware and maybe a nice shelving system for my music CDs...and some hooks to help properly suspend some of my houseplants near their favorite windows.

On that front, Patience (the landlord, not the lesson) gifted me a pair of long and dangly pothos plants last evening. She'd had them outside this summer, but was feeling a bit oppressed with the responsibility of bringing them in for the coming winter...so I was all too glad to bring them upstairs to the Nest, where the light is wonderful and should help to encourage that Jungle feeling I enjoy on a winter's afternoon, when all my plants are thriving and green around me.

Here's the view off the deck just about ten minutes ago, as the sky turned from dark blue to lavendar and the sun crept up over the horizon. It's chilly this morning and I wonder, with deciding, if the season for going to the beach to watch the sun slip above the eastern horizon hasn't passed for another year. We'll see. Perhaps there's one more sunrise morning coming our way before the holiday weekend is through. In the meantime, there's this view from the deck to enjoy each morning.

By the way, in the time it took me to prepare and upload that photo, we've gone from pre-dawn silence to a crazy multitude of bird chirpings out there. It's pretty nice. I'm tempted to go back to bed...but I fear I'll never wake up for my appointments if I snuggle back in this morning. Of course, it's also still far too early to think about pounding a nail or anything like that.

NOTE: Apologies about the weird photo file sizes...too early to be messing around with this, perhaps. I'll try to figure this out before next post. Promise. Meanwhile, have a day!!