I finished the book already!

OMG...I read the whole big, fat, juicy Twilight book in just three days! I was reading all evenings and mornings even before work! It draws you in right from the start, and keeps you reading...I was impressed. It was very easy reading, yet the plot keeps developing throughout the whole book. My problem tonight after finishing it is that I am now scared of VAMPIRES! The moon is just a little less than half full, and it is breezy and cool, with just a few clouds floating by in the sky. I was walking Doozey after dark around 9pm (after just closing the book)...and I kept watching for bats!!! It wasn't until after I got home that I realized that one myth about vampires is that they come out on a full moon, and so it wasn't even close!!! LOLOL! I was having fun with it!

I enjoyed it very much, but I don't think I will read any more in the series, because I just don't think I can take it...it is a love story, torn between danger and love, and you see that giving up on the love is impossible...so the danger remains. I feel I will just leave it alone from here...not really wanting to know what the future holds for the two lovebirds! I know I am a big weenie...but it's OK for me.

I find it to be quite intense for a young adult level book. (but that's weenie talking)! :)
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UPDATE ON THE SAGGY PANTS RULING IN Riviera Beach, Florida:
The 18 year old man who sued the city won the case, and the law has been banished!
Interesting. So the beat goes on.....
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I drew an apple in the first page of my sketchbook, and I thought I should do sketches alphabetically, and my daughter thought it would be best to do all rounded things...next would be BREASTS, and then Cantelope! WOW...this could turn out quite kinky and strange!

Fiddley- farting around!

Did I tell you

That I am trying to read the first book of the TWILIGHT series??? It is a big fat one, that would normally scare me away! I picked it up at the library and so far (I'm about an inch into it), it is just so well written I can't put it down once I start reading! I know people of all ages are reading these books and it was a 75 year old woman who inspired me to read...she has read the first 3 books and really loves them. I am posting less...am probably going to pretty much do only Cactus Monday posts for a while, until I get through this book...wish me luck! Oh...in answer to LOLO's question about whether i will show my drawings in my new sketchbook goes....I most certainly will...stay tuned!

Cactus Monday!

Update on the sketchbook I made (in last post)...I am taking it over and keeping it for myself!!! I could not let it go after making it! LOLOL! I have discovered that the brown paper bag paper loves gel pen ink! WOW! It soaks it up. Of course, I am probably the last person on earth to discover that!!!

Here are 3 cactus that are showing some new things. First, my Bunny Ear Cactus has some new bunny ears! It happened seemingly overnight...looked out the kitchen window, and BAM, there they were! There are others also protruding now, but these two are the cutest!

Here is continuing new growth on my Mammillaria. I have been surprised by this particular cactus over the years...it has had soggy looking days in the past, where I just knew it would die of rot, but it has continued to thrive! Probably because of our last 3 years of drought.

This is the same Mammillaria, and a new set of blossoms completely encircling the end. It is rare for me to ever catch the blooms all the way around. (I don't watch closely enough, generally). This one has been blooming all spring, and it seems like a sort of second wind for it.

And a couple of shots of succulents...all Kalenchoe varieties with their little leaflets all along the leaf edges or ends.
Kalenchoe tubiflora:

Kalenchoe daigremontianum:

And one without leaflets, but a blue-green fuzzy little bugger with chocolate leaf edges...oh so adorable!
Kalenchoe tormentosa:

Have a Happy Cactus Monday everyone!!!

A new sketchbook for my daughter!

Tonight I got into a mood to watch a few YouTube videos on making altered art journals! This looks like a great time to me! Anyway...one of the videos I came across was a man and his son making a sketchbook using cereal box (for the cover), and brown paper bag (for the inside sheets of paper). I was inspired to try making a book I can keep in my purse, for my daughter to use in the car or at dinner (she loves to sketch while waiting in restaurants).

I had just taken a beer box out to throw away earlier today, but I didn't have the heart to pitch it because I found many things about the box attractive...like the silver sheen, a green leaf, and the way the word MANGO was printed on it in mango-y color! Anyway...I got the beer box and cut the two sides off for my front and back covers.

I cut the paper bag pages into 5 x 14 inches, so when folded in half longways they would be 5 x 7, which was the perfect size to fit inside the beer box covers! I made 2 signatures of 3 sheet of the paper each, and I punched holes in both signatures and the covers all matched up perfectly. I tied the book together with 2 black and 1 ivory colored ribbons I had in my junk drawer! I left them loose enough so that when the book is opened it can lay perfectly flat, for sketching! Then I cut peices of patterend paper for the inside of the covers.

As you can see, some of the paper has art work from Whole Foods Market on it, but I thought it was pretty, and it is a recycled project which makes it ultra groovy as well!

Here are two pages that are completely empty to sketch on...notice the nice way it lays so flatly...yippee!!! The way I did that was to tie the ribbons with the book laying flat open...that way you know there is enough leeway.

I did some decoupage on the front cover to make it pretty. I left the back cover just as itself...a beer box! I think I will cover the front with high gloss varnish in the morning to protect the papers I put on there. Of course, I am always up for a little more gloss...it is a weakness of mine!!! I hope you like my first try at a little recycled sketchbook...just for fun. The whole thing only took about 30 minutes at most. The only thing I would do differently would be to use at least 2 more signatures in it. I kinda like fatter sketchbooks. Hey...next time!

Now I can go to bed...I think. I still feel wide awake...yikes!

Little fairy girl...in a mushroom world!

Happy Saturday!
I found this cute little mushroom in my fairy garden just now as I was coming in my front door. I keep the garden on a little table between chairs on my front porch, and my eye fell upon the little shroom that had popped up over night! It was a big surprise for me! Isn't it adorable and with such a great light yellow color! The fairy sleeping on the red mushroom was something I picked up while in Key West a few months ago, and she is a perfect fit for my little world here...

Here are a few more pics of my neglected fairy garden...one of these days it will get an upgrade!!! Look closely and you will see Tinkerbelle sitting in a pink vintage outdoor chair...looks like she came by for a visit with Mr. Frog.

Please excuse some of this lighting as the sun was setting.

Cactus Monday!

Several family members and my friend and I have all started walking in a natural area, either in a state or county park...every day (or close to it) after work, or around 5-5:30pm every day! This weekend we visited a beach park, and we found these interesting white balls in bushes, which Lisa, from Artsy Endeavors I.D.'d for me as Button Bush (Cephalanthus occidentalis).
Buttonbush is a woody shrub (3-10 feet tall) that occasionally grows into a small tree and can be found above water or in water up to 4 feet deep. It has shiny dark-green spear-or egg-shaped pointed leaves 3 to 6 inches long. The leaves are opposite or whorled in 3's or 4's along the stem. Flowers of buttonbush are easily identified by their greenish-white tube flowers in dense ball-shaped clusters about 1 inch in diameter. Seed heads are brown.
Isn't it neat??? Thanks Lisa!!!

And some wildly growing Opuntia species all in and about the natural dunes.

It was a neat walk, for sure!
Happy Cactus Monday to all my blogger friends!
Julie

Look what arrived today!

A little package from Soulbrush...with 3 of her beautiful ATC's inside!!! I am still trying to find what I thought would be a suitable backing for my cards, since they are painted on actual playing cards...but did not find what I wanted today, so will use an alternative idea tomorrow and get them in the mail to you, Soul B., on Monday!!! Without fail!!!

If you click on the picture and make it big, you can see the really neat orchid stamp she sent...it is shaped like a puzzle peice!!! I'm sure it is one from a series, which is always cool for me because I have a collection of world stamps! Now, I have something new to find...the rest of this particular set!

Thanks so much, Soulbrush!!!!!!!!!

What is it?

Clues:
It has small white flowers when it blooms.
It likes water, and grows overnight when it has some!!!
I'm beginning to seriously doubt it is a succulent.
The leaves are thick and waxy feeling, but not overly.
I stuck 3 leaves in the soil and they are producing side growth after 2 weeks!
Check out those scalloped leaf edges!

I LOVE this plant. It is a serious love. When I wake up in the morning it has had obvious growth overnight and it amazes me every morning! WOW! I cannot wait to take more cuttings and get a massive plant out of it, and when it blooms it is a showstopper! So delicate and sweet. I'm just waiting!

Cactus Monday done by a friend!

It's a really good friend who, while having an Easter lunch at the beach with her family, puts together an idea for Cactus Monday for me! She took a large seagrape leaf and drew a cactus outline on it, and arranged some pretty wildflowers found at the beach park today. The she took pictures and e-mailed them to me!!! Thankyou, Karen!!! You are the best!!! Happy Cactus Monday to you all!

Five finished ATC's!

Anyone who is interested can see my newest ATC's for possible trading. These are painted cards, and I must say seemed much more fun to make than my previously collaged ones! You can see them HERE. I would like to ask anyone who has the slightest interest in trying these, to do so. I paint mine directly on a playing card (just the right size)...and I store mine in a notebook...in baseball card storage pages. Each page holds 9 cards.
You can learn how to make them HERE.

A little ATC preview!

I just had to show Soulbrush that I am indeed making a start on some ATC's (Artist Trading Cards) to trade. A modest beginning...but I have to wait 3 hours drying time with this particular paint...semi-permanent enamel shimmers!!! They were just laying around the house for years, and I decided to open and try...they are very shimmery!!! I have a high gloss coat when I get them finished as well...it should be interesting with all the shimmer and shine! Others of you are into the idea of trading...maybe we could come up with a theme, and everyone could make something of that theme (enough for everyone who wants to do the trade), and we would end up with one card from each person of the same theme! Just like on the ATC trading card swaps out there. What do you think???

Does the world have to be civilized in the same way it was, or can it be a new kind of civilized?

Currently there is a town near where I live that passed a "Saggy Pants" law. If you are a young man (typically male) and you are found with your pants down to where your underwear are exposed...you are taken to jail and fined.

Now, I see that one 18 year old male has found a lawyer who is willing to fight for this young man's rights to wear his pants down and exposing his butt wrapped in his underpants.

Interesting.

They brought in a fashion expert who stated that this style of dress is an expression, and an accepted form of fashion!

My first thought was "What has happened to JUST BEING CIVILIZED"!!!!! It seems almost vulgar to me to see someone with their but and underwear all exposed (pants down under the entire buttock)...but later today...as more time passed along...

I thought...well, who is to say that we can't just live in this new progressive world, in a "new" sort of civilization...is it SO bad that maybe some of us have to have an attitude adjustment. Should we even care? Where SHOULD we draw the line? Or should we draw a line? Gee...I'm wondering all of these questions after hearing about the Saggy Pants law suit this morning.

One thing I don't want to become is someone who is unable to see new ideas.

Angelwing Begonia cuttings...

Little Angelwing Begonia cuttings from the mother plant...aren't they so darling with their cute little wings!!!

How are you all doing on this near end-of-the-week evening? Tomorrow is FERTILIZER FRIDAY, which our blogger friend, Tootsie, of Tootsie Time blog advocates! I really love the idea of that...just get out there and frickin fertilize every Friday! It makes it seem easy and fun. I do have one little confession though, Tootsie...I have never done it! I feel like tomorrow might be my Friday though...my St Augustine grass is in desperate need!

My neighbor is fighting chinch bugs, and she mixed up a solution of Borax and water and sprayed the areas, thinking it may kill the chinch bugs, and lo and behold, he has green grass growing back in! He may have found a good solution that might not be as bad for the environment as pesticides. I know Borax will kill fleas in your house by causing them to dry up after they eat it. The soapy part of the Borax idea seems like it would green up your lawn as well. Any ideas on this??? I am looking for more natural lawn care ideas. I like that one guy...Jerry Baker... he advocated using a beer solution on your lawn...but I wonder how much that could run me!!! LOL! It might be fun to fertilize your lawn and yourself at the same time with that stuff...oh maybe I could use my Cactus/Lime Beer.....hmmmmm.....

Close up!

My Echeveria runyonii... "Topsy Turvy"...a little wet!

This is a close-up because the outer leaves are sunburned...I put it in the tires, and it got a little too much sun...so it is now safely insidethe screenroom...all happy in a semi shaded spot. It is a lightweight!!! LOL!

Thanks, and a few new pics!

Thanks for all your help on the last question of that cactus, that I had no idea about, but always thought all those graft hosts were euphorbias! So, I learned something new! Good to know too, since I assume that the Hylocereus undatus is making new parts of it's own self now!!! I am so excited to see what happens with it...I really like those soft ultra white hair-like spines!!!

I took a few pic of 3 more of my succulents. Which one is your favorite??? (I am partial to my little tea cup with three Haworthia turgida). They were a mystery for a long time, and they grow soooo slowly and are becoming fatter, and cuter every day. One day I will need to move them out of the tea cup, but for now, they seem to be thriving in their crowded conditions! I love the little soft white striped markings out on their tips!

Haworthia turgida var. suberecta


Gasteria gracilus variegata


Haworthia cooperii

A new green life!!!!

I got such a huge surprise today after work! At least, I should say it was a big surprise TO ME, anyway!!! I had a moon cactus like the one below (except it was hot pink on top)...and the top rotted off...strange, but true. That left the euphorbia stalk that it had been transplanted onto still there...so I took the pot and stuck it down on the bottom shelf where I put all my dead or half dead plants (ones that I've given up hope on)!

Well, today I was emptying some of the pots, to clean up for other plants, but when I pulled out the stalk of euphorbia, look at what was growing out the side! A new CACTUS (or could it be something other than cactus???)! It has very fine white spines...what do you make of it? Any ideas on what kind of cactus it is??? I must go out on the web and see if I can find any pics of one like it!!! I was so excited to see that a new life (completely new) came from this...WOW!

I have a mammallaria, a haworthia limifolia, and an aloe in bloom right now. It's spring in the succulent world too!!!

Easter babies!

My sweet sugar grandbabies all the way from Germany!!! Oh, my heart is melting!

Happy Cactus Monday, ya'll!

GOLDEN BARREL CACTUS

I visited Heathcote Botanical Garden for an art and plant sale on Saturday, where I came upon these cactus and succulents, and more. Here are my favorites.

BLOOMING ALOE

My dream plant...PACHYPODIUM SANDERSII

BLOOMING CROWN OF THORNS

A healthy OPUNTIA...(nice green, eh?)

and as we were leaving this cute little roly-poly SNAIL, said "Hurry back, ya'll"!!

It's 4 o'clock in the morning!

Here is one thing you can choose to do when you wake up at 4 am. Doodle with your Sharpie pens. Draw some birds out of your Birds of North America book, and hum an old Elton John classic, and try to remember the words and what the actual title to the song is...Oh it is called "Someone saved my Life Tonight"!!!

Been listening to a new radio channel here in the car...it's called Magic 102.7 FM. It plays songs from the 60's and 70's...it's a lot of fun for a baby boomer, such as myself...I remember all of the words and can sing along just like it was yesterday. Helps me feel like I really can remember words, so I don't have to say just any old word that comes out of my mouth...not the correct one, but just the one that happens to come out at any given moment!! If you are not over 50, you probably won't know what I am talking about. My friend says she has a new way to talk...whatever word comes out as she is speaking, she does not try to come up with the correct word, she just keeps on talking...and we laugh because we know it SHOULD be a different word, and generally I know what she meant to say, and vice versa...ha ha ha. The fun of aging. YEAH. Sure. But at least we can still have fun...we aren't quite to the Alzheimers stage yet...just slightly word deficient at times. But getting back to the radio channel...it's a good thing...lot's of memories of middle school and high school years for me associated with these songs.

So I'm sure I have heard this Elton John song on Magic 102.7 sometime recently, and it quite easily jumped into my head when I found myself wide awake and unable to get back to sleep at 4 am. I decided I like the DAMN IT part of the song...it's what comes to mind at these times. I also wonder if that is why I sometimes can't come up with a correct word...could it be sleep deprivation????? I say women of the world should really unite...meet up online in the middle of the night to play cards, or games of some sort. I'm actually sure some of us are doing that even now. Maybe this will become my new world...the silent, solitary nighttime world of online games, while the rest of the world sleeps...soundly...nice long hours...all rested and beautiful each morning...and here I come, all dogged out! LOLOL.

Welcome to a happy Saturday everyone!!! Now...let me go have a nap!

What is your best idea??

For a succulent plant for me to plant along one edge of a chain link fence, that could grow relatively fast, and to a height of at least 4 ft. I am thinking a big clump of aloe. It needs to be able to hide my a/c unit too! Any good to great ideas pop into mind????
PHOTO CREDIT- Daves Garden