800 mg of Motrin and I'm good to go

someone just has to tell me when to stop.

As you know it has been a long time (more than a dozen years) since I gardened in dirt that was not contained by walls of a flower pots residing on my balconies.

So the prospect of having nearly an acre of dirt to plant in was overwhelming when I saw the house Lyn had in mind for us a little over a year ago. And it still is overwhelming to a great degree. We still do not have grass in the back yard and the sowing of seed it is still weeks away because the prospect of having to go out every day to water is daunting. It is still very much summer here despite the fact that the gardening centers are filled with Autumn plantings. Having visited several centers over the last week or so for other stuff besides plants, I could put it off no loner my desire for more flowers for the front garden. I was basking in the fact that nearly everything I planted last spring grew and thrived, except a dozen or so Dahlia's.

Just know, they will not be part of the summer garden next year. The petunias did well as did the begonia's and impatiens so they will return next year and there will be more of them, since I will not have to invest in perennials again.

The perennials I planted in the spring are doing well despite the saying that the first year perennials sleep. I am looking forward to year two when they begin to creep (spread) Year three when they leap, I will probably be doing a lot of thinning out and transplanting since I ignored the spacing suggestions. I am impatient. I like the lush full look for the get go and it was this lush full look I was aiming for when I brought home 9 gallon size pots of asters in the most wonderful hues of purple and 30 smaller pots of yellow mums. I picked up this hanging basket of lavender to replace the summer arrangement that the grand boys gave me for Mother's day in the spring. The summer assortment had seen its better days.

Gardening is always quilt related. Flowers are what inspires me. The oldest grandson helped me plant in the Spring, but I thought I would tackle the job of putting in the plants for Fall myself, the Motrin did so well helping the pain of older age, that as I was digging in the dirt and bending over I was thinking of making another trip to the Gardening Center.
I am happy with the look of the garden even thought there are still a few bare spots on the west side of the front door. I think I'll leave them for now But the trip to the garden Center I hope will resolve the problem I have with a large bare area in need of plantings on the east side of the front door. The spring/summer bulbs I thought I planted in that area did not come up.

After the cable guy comes this morning I will be off to see what else I can plant.

I have a quilt on the design wall that is in the piecing stage with two area left where I haven't solved the issue of what piece(s) of fabric needs to go there. But I think by the time I get to those areas of uncertainty I will have solved the problem.

I am also reading, yes reading and not just listening to a book by Brenda Ueland titled "If You Want To Write: A book about Art, Independence and Spirit. Copyright, 1938, it reads a lot like it was the inspiration for the Artist Way by Julia Cameron. There's nothing like going to the source.

Since the weather is taking a turn for the cooler over the next couple of days, I plan to spend some quality time in the garage working through some ideas I have for screen printing.