Let’s read!
Our alcove with LED pot lights is “purrrfect” for reading “old-fashioned” books. Eve joined me in the adjacent chair for each chapter.
This week we read the old-fashioned format…paper, hard cover, jacket of Legends and Lies, The Patriots by David Fisher. We recommend reading this compelling history of the founding of the United States, especially in an election season. Our politics were messy then, as now.
“It’s my day to sleep in.”….”Did you say fresh catnip?”….”I’ll be right down!”
Spring mix of perennial volunteers…catnip, lemon balm, oregano and mint…an island in the garden plot. All (except the oregano) take a lot of effort to keep from taking over the garden.
Horehound
Rue
Love the foliage and the tameness of these perennials.
Six Tomato seedlings
Melon seedlings with room for vines to run along retaining wall.
I chose very young plants this year due to the unseasonably cool weather. May need to replant. I also chose to add a path for access to the six tomato plants.
Path-Before
Dilemma? 25 years ago my kitchen garden was two 8’X8′ raised beds in full sun. Over the years the transition has been to nearly full shade. The Earth Angel and Golden Edge Hostas as well as bird bath and feeders were the new look. A sweeping retaining wall replaced the original box plots enclosing about 400 square feet. The dilemma for this season is that we are back to full sun due to the loss of ash trees to disease. The hostas may not survive a hot August. Rather than fine tuning the stepping stone path (and have to redo), I took them up and mulched the path. Check back in the fall on how this season worked out!
Path-After
My survey of 50 years of accumulated personal files/papers….estimates 27 cubic feet….how low can we go?
“Eat the elephant one bite at a time.”
Left stack: scan and recycle. Right stack: straight to recycle.
I purchased a Brother ADS1500W portable scanner. This was my break through! Compact, desktop, less than three pounds, scans two sides @ a time, sends new pdf files wirelessly to my laptop. LOVE IT!
Tone and shred! Three bags full!
“Are you done yet?” Yawn…..NO.
15 inches cleared/reclaimed of 108! WooHoo!
For folks who are numbers and task oriented, I believe it helps to depersonalize stuff with numbers and the base line helps to quickly access progress.
This project is on HOLD at the half way mark, since higher priorities have prevailed.
The modern translation for I Ching No. 47 is confining………………………………on the light and bright side:
Cat in the Box (Shelby)
Raven cage, Tower of London, 2012
On the dark side:
Prisoner entrance, Tower of London, 2012
Happy New Year! Time to review the 2015 annual report!
WordPress has helper monkeys. Elfcroft has Eve the “office assistant” ready to launch 2016.
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,300 times in 2015. If it were a cable car, it would take about 22 trips to carry that many people.
2015 Holiday cards and 2016 Calendar
Yes, office assistant “Eve” even appears on my holiday cards. (She is “Eve” because she was found abandoned in a cattle trailer Christmas Eve of 2006).
The second project is a very special calendar for a WWII veteran featuring photos from two trips to the memorial in Washington D.C. (2008 Reunion and 2014 Honor Flight). I discovered last year (don’t know how long the feature has been available) that photos of family members can be dropped in on their birth dates with text! @92 years young, it helps! This 2016 calendar was a quick update of what I prepared for 2015 and saved as a project on the Shutterfly site.
“My Life as an Artist” by Mary Ann Boysen
My cousin Mary Ann Boysen’s career as an artist spans 40 years. She prepared this book as a legacy for her grandsons. She shared her book with me on Shutterfly. Yes, I wanted to have my own copy to “tell the story” of my own 20+ collection of her watercolor originals (plus a few prints). The book format is 11″X14″ and 93 pages is hardly enough to do justice to her life’s work.
Oh! and Shutterfly included with the shipments 40% off discounts thru the end of the year. There may be an update 🙂
This article suggests there are three styles (Dewey decimal system not included): bookstore, theme and rainbow order. After paring down and shuffling my books in July, I went with “theme” bookshelves. Laura Gaskill has great advice with photos for oversize books, plan to rotate, display covers, care for rare books, rack ’em (children’s), vertical or stacks, accent with bookends and last but not least….leave room for more!
Coffee table books
My oversize books span decades with The Incredible Year 1968 being a clue. Kenny Rogers, Your Friends and Mine was a gift from my sister in 1987. She had Kenny Rogers autograph it for me. Tennessee, Virginia and Indiana have been home. Hmmmm….I need a rotation plan for these books on the coffee table.
Eve and brass book end
I love bookends and often buy them as gifts. My shelves are so full, I don’t often use bookends myself. However on my desk is a single brass one of a dog and a cat on a stack of books. My grandmother used it for years. Office assistant Eve…insists her photo is better than a brass cat!
Time to harvest catnip!
Catnip in background, attracts bees and finches, even one hummingbird siting
Heliopsis in foreground
Catnip spilling over retaining wall
Catnip blooms drying
Eve is not happy.
She thinks wearing a shawl makes her an old lady.
We have had fresh catnip all season….sprigs upstairs and downstairs.
Life is good.
I put away the recipe for Impossible Vegetable Pie. Pause. Ah ha. Half of my modest cookbook collection is just taking up counter space. Now those unused cookbooks are headed to a public library book sale. But not before…I’m on a roll…before scrutinizing the nine shelves behind the couch. In 2010, the nine shelf solution was progress. Some of the books I have had 50 years. The thermodynamics text book…40 years. Blah, blah, blah. Since then, I have read dozens of ibooks.
Before
The first sort of about 300 books is complete with everything left in place and hot pink stickers on spines of books to donate. The subjects range from travel, gardening, fiction, non-fiction, business…even organizing…I stopped to scan that one. The goal of the 2010 effort was to fill the shelves to keep “Office Assistant” Eve from napping between books. There is no Dewey decimal system in place.
Sort with Hot pink tags
Donation_first 50, followed by 27
After
A week has come and gone since I started this project. Results:
Eve still naps under the potted plant 🙂
Snooooze
I choose to keep the six shelves filled: (2) for favorites, (1) for travel, (1) for business/government, (1) for youth and finally…..miscellaneous!
What is your story?
The first design appeals to me for maximum functionality. I like having a stand up desk and three work stations. What is missing is….the cat…I mean Eve the office assistant!
Office assistant Eve
elfcroft 