I cannot wait. I picked one up last year with no expectations and it did nothing. I mean, it was green and it grew and got beautiful yellow flowers, but then – nothing. I mean, I can grow tomatoes just fine. Where o where were the tomatillos?
Mystery solved.
Tomatillas are not self-pollinating, it turns out. So – they need to be in a serious, commmitted relationship with other tomatillos. I got 4 this time.
A lot of people think they are just green tomatoes, however, they are a nightshade plant more closely related to cape gooseberry plants. They’re a little wild by nature and considered a common field weed in Mexico. Nonetheless – I am very excited at the possibilities…
They are indeterminate, grow 3 to 4 feet high and put down roots through their stems, so the idea is to plant them very deeply and then stake them. I am so excited I am going to give them a place of honor this year where the pond used to be, right near the patio so I can keep a good eye them. I hear if they are happy they go a little nuts. I hope that happens.
In about 75 days, I shall be in the kitchen making garden fresh salsa verde and it is going to be incredible! Want some?
Hey, Peter Rabbit – yes, you and all your friends and cousins, too:
Get the heck out of my garden, you little hole-digging, lettuce chomping monsters.
Aaaaarrrgghh!
I wouldn’t be bothered one bit if a bunny feasted on Russian Sage or Garlic Chives (both quite aggressive little boogers in the backyard). But darn it, stay out of my SFG* raised beds, or else!
P.S., Bunny-boy: I saw where you came in. Don’t make me have to take drastic action.
It isn’t really black. I wanted a gray, but I hate cool, cold grays. That is prison. I wanted a warm gray, something I could live with. Almost like a well-erased chalkboard, but not. I also have seen beauty in charcoal briquettes – variations as they burn from jet-black to white hot, so I said, “I want a dark, almost-black wall. It has to be warm and ‘read black.’ But it can’t be cold and rigid. There has to be warmth and drama, and really excellent contrast. Contrast is key. But warmth for sure. Don’t forget warmth.”
Sherwin Williams Urbane Bronze came into my life.
You can actually Google that color and there are so many images of it. The best use of it is found at www.emilyaclark.com. It sort of looks dark brown when you open the can, but then it is gray-a warm charcoal (almost black) gray. I liked it so much, I did two walls. One in the family room (it used to be red). And the stairwell wall going upstairs. Two different rooms.
There are going to be white-framed mirrors filling this resplendent Urbane Bronze wall.
There was this little accident
“Most accidents occur in the home,” we have all heard. Dang it. It’s true.
So Dave was painting the stairwell wall this oil-rubbed-dark-bronzey color that I am head-over-heels for {did I tell you about Urbane Bronze? Yes? Ok, then}. It came time to paint the very vital edge of it – the place it would meet the creamy-white of the ceiling. Of course, that has to be pristine in every way. There can be nothing short of perfection in the edges. The edges are the glorious contrast and distinction of this paint job.
But the ceiling over the stairs slopes down slightly from a 16′ high peak. And Dave could reach and tape a good portion from a ledge at the top of the landing. And he could reach the heights from the floor on his 8 foot ladder at the bottom of the stairs. But there were these 8 feet in the middle…
Sigh.
We tried something. It didn’t work like we had hoped.
Advice:
Do not jimmy-rig a “quick” scaffold from found objects, plop a small ladder atop and think, “Wow-this is working great. No problem.” Because it might not actually be so, moments later.
Dave – shown here holding one of the frames that will be getting mirrored so I could begin to imagine the beauty of this Urbane Bronzed wall filled with white-framed mirrors. This is when we thought our plan was working, just minutes before it turned out not to be…
Anyway – it sort of collapsed, and a 2″ x 8″ x 6′ board hit my right cheekbone {very} near my eye at about 300 pounds of speed and force and Dave eventually (because I saw it in slow-mo) dropped onto the tile floor on his noggin and got a headache. My eye swelled like an egg, so I iced it for 15 minutes, removed some wood from my finger (which was bruised black by the iPhone I was still holding when the dust settled – even though my glasses were across the room, neatly folded and didn’t even look like they just been hit by low-flying lumber).
First I cried because I thought I’d killed my husband just to have my Urbane Broze wall. Then, we laughed about it {wearing an eye patch for the rest of my life because I’d lost an eyeball just would not have been my style at all} and just resumed our work.
But as the day wore on, my eye turned into a full-fledged, good, old-fashioned shiner and my face swelled up. Then Dave’s ribs started feeling sore and his ring finger turned a really terrible shade of gray – the exact shade of gray I wanted to avoid on my walls at all costs. It took us awhile, but we finally convinced him to go to the doctor.
But not before he started painting the next room and mowed the lawn and all that stuff. :) He just made an appointment for two days later and went on with life.
Blood work and x-rays and answering lots of questions revealed cracked ribs on both sides, a bruised head (no concussion, thank the Lord) and a broken, gray-black-purply ring finger (plus some very bad blood sugar numbers – I knew it). Nothing terribly serious, but I have a feeling the momentum to paint the whole house just got the air let out of its’ tires.
*Sigh. So close!
On the bright side
We had already decided to re-stain and paint the banister and railings to rid them of the awful orangey-pine look and even though that was going to be a project at a later date, but, since the wood that hit my face first shaved off an eighth of an inch of finish and wood on the railing top and broke a couple of spindles, too – that project gets moved up. Isn’t that fortuitous?
Averi is here for school today and she got a matching black eye to make me feel better…when I discovered that my normal everyday eye shadow contains all the colors in my black eye. Hmm….
Geesh. We are now most certainly a statistic of accidents at home, sweet home.
Absolutely…not. But am I going to do it? Yes, I am.
So – I have this ridiculously ornate, gold mirror I have been using for many years now. I have used it in an early 1920s Craftsman, an 1800s Victorian, a 1970s split-level and most recently here, in the “sanctuary.” It has been flanked by barn art (I have a thing for barns), Victorian paintings and in this house, I just went for it and surrounded it with religious iconic paintings in more gaudy, gold, Italian-made, ornate frames.
I can tell you everything about when I got it.
That is weird, right? But it was the week of the earthquake during the World Series between the Oakland A’s and the San Francisco Giants in October of 1989.
We had a house guest and he wanted to go looking through junk stores one day in Norfolk, NE. There was a really odd one with tons of space and hardly anything in there that called themselves a tool store. All I know is I bought 5000 lace, paper doilies for $5, a Hymnal published in 1910 for $1.25 and 2 old-old, heavy, well-made frames (the small one was $2.00). But this? This gold one is the piece-de-resistance from that day. Measuring in at 4′ x 4′, it was a steal for only $5!
It is wood construction with carved wood details, and is actually three separate frames layered into one. Trying not to be too technical, but we used to own a frame shop, so I can’t help it. If you brought in a good piece of art and wanted something done in museum-quality, you would pay by the foot for each of the parts. Each! There is the outer frame, an inner liner that is velvet-wrapped (a framing detail rarely used these days and quite costly), and inside that, a thin gold-washed liner.
The outer frame is an over-the-top, heavily-ornamented, Italian Baroque. It is gold-leafed to the max, REAL gold-leaf. You can find, if you search, where the leaves of gold came together here and there, but it was done well, not spray-painted by a machine like most frames today. I couldn’t even afford that much gold leaf, if I wanted to do a project this big, now.
The dark parts you see in the carvings are where the wood, once carved, was stained a deep, dark mahogany. The leafing was on top. It wasn’t washed in later, as is common now.
I hauled it home, ordered a mirror insert, and voila. At every single house, Dave has cringed wondering whether the wall would be able to hold it, but it isn’t as heavy as it looks and every wall has been up to the challenge.
Authentic, old-world beauty
It was considered junk when I nabbed it in 1989. And not everyone could appreciate the style, for sure (I love Italian ornate), but there is one thing it has always been, all these 24 years of it’s time with me: authentic.
It really was from the 1960s, really Italian, really wood, carved-wood, gold-leafed Baroque, not some imitation of those (many of which are done nicely, but…). A real beauty. Aging, certainly, but true to its’ intent.
Gulp
Now it is going to get a face-lift. I am painting it white – even the velvet. My daughters are egging me on. It will hang on a charcoal-colored wall.
I seriously doubt if this new look will have the stamina to last 24 more years. Much like an aging Hollywood beauty, once the face-lifts begin, more will have to follow, I am certain.
I know about furniture facelifts’ short life-spans because in our early marriage, in the 1980s when wood was so vogue, we spent much time and effort stripping all the antiquing and painting people had done in the late 1970s and thought: “What were they thinking, painting this beautiful wood furniture this color???”
And with all the painting going on these days – I hold my breath…because this mirror? Is never going back to its’ authentic, real state again. Much like Kenny Roger’s big round eyes which will never crinkle in warm smile lines like they once did, when I make this step, this is a white frame. It can’t go back.
Most people will see it next to the Home Interiors framed mirror or the Ung Drill I just got from IKEA and assume it is like those: fake, but fun versions of something from another continent. It will be sort of like having a Kim Kardashian next to an Elizabeth Taylor. Maybe Kim is beautiful, but it is hard to really tell and we never got to see her before every possible augmentation. But no one will ever doubt Elizabeth was drop-dead, breathtakingly beautiful, and real.
I will know my frame was beautiful all along.
It is going to look fabulous. It will be totally dramatic. I need a big change for fun (bye-bye, Under the Tuscan Sun house), but these changes cannot be undone. Ready or not….
As they go, however, this one isn’t on any of my top lists or anything (not much of a story), other than the fact that the cast is amazing – Lauren Bacall (gorgeous, smart), Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable (who was already a little old for this role) as gold-diggers in one of the first-ever wide-screen CinemaScope films in 1953. So it is beautiful to watch.
Naturally, the women are after money (men with money, specifically), but end up falling in love. Oops. I just spoiled it for you, didn’t I?
But in their pursuit of sugar-daddies, they lease this magnificent New York apartment. The furnishings are pure mid-century-classic-dreamy.
Lamp-loving
Over the course of the film, they sell and re-buy the furnishings repeatedly as money is needed to keep up their charade. But the lamp…the lamp stays. And I am in love with that lamp. If I could get my hands on it, I’d build a house around it.
Colors-so-lovely: Yellow-orange bench seating and throw pillows. Buttercup yellow couches, cool blue-gray floors and walls, beige and plum-brown throw-pillows.
Everything else was easy-come, easy-go, but the lamp always stayed! I totally understand why. :)
Yes. There were balloons to celebrate Bailey Sophia. Because they look cute in the hospital room and I knew her big sisters would wholly enjoy getting to play with them.
And of course there were tulips (coral-colored), because a bouquet of lovely spring flowers gladdens the mommy’s heart – after all her hard labor (so deserving).
But this time, I decided to make the new daddy a little something, too. Cigars! Yep, rolled ’em myself.
No, just kidding. I saw the idea on Pinterest for Father’s Day and personalized them for Rocky to distribute to visitors at the hospital.
By the way – did I mention we just had our 8th *grandbebe* born on April 5? Did I fail to tell you our exquisite and so-sweet little April-Angel is named **Bailey Sophia** and we are head-over-heels? Well, in case I forgot to mention it, here she is. This photo was when she was 10 hours old, fresh from her first bath. Please note the sparkle of angel-dust as it gently falls all around her…
Ok, I digress.
The cigars
So, where were we? I got the idea off Pinterest{click here}. and I personalized the free down-loadable cigar labels to fit our occasion. Oh, but wait – the cigars are not actual cigars – did I say that already? Ok – they are just those pretzel rods. I cut about 1/3 of them off (my husband and dog ate the un-useable 1/3) and dipped the 2/3 length part into chocolate candy melts (melted, of course). Cooled them, cut out the printed labels and used a tiny bit of tape on the back to hold them in place.
I was going to use an empty cigar box from Walgreens to place them in, but the smell of actual cigars would have infused the chocolate-covered pretzels. No bueno. So, I thought and I thought and I thought, and then by sheer accident, I happened across a little endcap display at Target with these plastic boxes for making “home made lunch-ables” and voila! Perfect.
How fortuitous, don’t you agree, that I had already cut them the exact-perfect length??? :)
Chocolate-covered Pretzel Cigars, enjoyed by young and old alike.
Also known as – Coltivata Da Orto or Rouquette Arugula, or “Rocket Salad.” Can you name the *movie line?
Arugula – it’s a vegi-table.
I planted some seeds in trays on Thursday (for transplanting into the garden anytime after April 12, and yesterday morning, walking past the assortment in bright morning light, some tiny little specs caught my eye…could it be? Breath-held-hope…YES! Arrugula! It has sprouted, this cruciferous vitamin-and-nutrient-packed wonder, beating all the other seeds I sowed. *sniff So emotional. :)
Happy, however, to see the cabbage, kale and lettuce giving pursuit now. I have seedlings. Lots and lots of seedlings!
The growing season
The Denver Metro area is 5b on a growing-zone map, which means we only have about 132 frost-free days to grow a great garden. Our final frost date in the spring is listed on various websites between April 30 (wishful thinking) and May 13 or 16. I just use Mother’s Day as the general rule.
For any frost-sensitive plantings (tomatoes!), just wait until after Mother’s Day to plant them. I don’t care if it was 142-degrees on April 27th – don’t do it. Don’t fall for it. Just wait until Mother’s Day! Trust me on this, people.
You have to expect First Frost in the fall right at the autumnal equinox, aka “first day of fall.”
Do NOT fight me on this!
Now, ’tis true, you can grow lots of things before final frost in May and certainly after first frost in September (around the 3rd week). They just can’t be the best of the summer tenders (tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, squash, etc).
I have had beautiful pots of pansies and a wonderful harvest of tomatoes right up to Thanksgiving some years. My petunias, which start to look tired and fried in the heat of August perk right up and bloom profusely in October each year. But watch those frost dates and don’t be hasty!
Overall, put your finger on Mother’s Day and plan backwards for gardening this year!
We are 5 weeks ahead of final frost today. Here is what you can plant:
Seeds indoors: Broccoli, parsley, cabbage, onions, eggplant, and cabbage can still be seeded indoors if you start right now, otherwise it will be too hot for them by the time they are big enough to transplant (but you could still buy seedlings). You can also start planting eggplant, lettuce, Swiss chard and peppers indoors right now. The lettuce and chard could be transplanted to the garden in early May, whereas the eggplant and peppers would be ready to sink into the soil in late May.
Seeds outdoors: Peas and spinach are good to go being planted outdoors this week.
Established seedlings into the garden: You could pick up some broccoli, cabbage or parsley at a garden center and plant them outdoors right now, too. They can handle some frost or even a {blasted} snowfall.
Today, however, my heart belongs to arugula. <3
*Movie reference: “Arugula. It’s a vegi-table.” Steve Martin as Vincent “Vinnie” Antonelli in My Blue Heaven(1990), a fun family flick!
