The more you move...

The more you want to.  Right?  Spring is right around the corner and I've been exercising and getting healthier over the past several months.  So it really doesn't seem too far fetched when I state that I am anxious to be more active and am thinking of an outdoor hobby.  I know, I know... "Susan, you're an artist, and artists stay in one place".  Yeppers, that staying in one place may have contributed to an excess of 40 to 50 pounds being packed onto this 5'4" frame.  So I'm thinking Rock Gardening. 

I don't have the patience to grow flowers, and actually I'm not that good at it.  Maybe some Cosmos or something that practically grows itself, but I was thinking rocks and cacti or succulents.  In doing some quick web surfing I found these images...

 Of course I'm not thinking anything this elaborate. Even though I have the room for it.  I'm thinking something that I can do by myself and even change or add to each spring if I still have this unusual desire to be outside lifting heavy objects.

Something like this might be possible. I do have lots of paving stone/tiles and rocks left here by the previous owners.  She loved rocks also and they are tucked away in several places.  I would love to get to the place, strength-wise, that I could heft rocks up into a wheelbarrow and move them from place to place.

I know this is a bit ambitious.  I just want it to be mine.  Something that I have done.  Not something my landscapers ( whom I adore, by the way) or my very strong and handsome husband has done for me.
But something I can putter around with and get some exercise while I doing it.  Oh, I know I could get the clippers and trim the ivy from around the trees or pick up sticks and pull weeds, but what's the beauty in that?

So let's put on our thinking caps and come up with a fun rock garden for me to do.  I have the space to do it.  I can rake and hoe by hand.  I don't really want anything that involves tillers or anything that will make me want to give up.  You get the picture, don't you?  Something doable that will show results.

Let me know what you think.  This is going to be a good Spring, I can just tell.

Life aint nothin but a funny, funny, riddle...

Isn't it funny, how all summer long here in the blistering humidity of the Old Dominion, I sit and think of how much I long for cold and snow and then after eight or nine weeks of the stuff, I'm so done with it? 

Now I'm wishing it was warm and sunny.  I want to work in my yard, picking up sticks or tromping around down below the house revamping  plans for more landscaping in the woods.  Even though our humidity is sometimes excessive , I love it here. 

We don't have earthquakes much to speak of (only one that I can remember) and tornadoes usually pass us by (well, there was that one that came through several years ago) and usually the snow is minimal in our area (except for last year when we had about 24").

So we put up with the occasional bout of bad weather, but we love the area.  Everything is nearby.  We have the strawberry festival,

lots of shopping, our fitness center is only one mile away, and of course there's always bowling.

Whenever we get the urge to catch a movie, most of the new releases are playing at several different complexes. 

If you are in the mood for outdoor activities, we have everything you could ask for.  A nice little zoo, all kinds of places to hike and picnic and a recently completed greenway that winds around for miles. Now that I'm getting in better shape, I hope to take advantage of these new and improved trails.

So whether I'm sitting inside watching it snow while I do needlepoint, or gazing out the laundry room window watching the wind whip the trees, I always know that this blustery season is temporary.  The sun will shine and soon I'll be kicking up my heels in that sunshine and singing the last line to  John Denver's famous song in my own way..."thank God I'm a country girl".

Well, that's it for me for today.  We'll talk soon.  Enjoy your winter and dream of spring.

What Cha Doin?

..."feeding Alexander".

Now that my friends, is an obscure reference to an old Gravy Train commerical.  It's no wonder people never know what I'm talking about.  I still speak in the vernacular of vintage television commercials and after school specials.  I can't remember to cut the broiler unit off, but I can recite decades old adages and such.

What about you?  Do you find yourself retrieving ancient information from your memory banks?  Anyway, I was just wondering if it was just me.

Still no new art to take fancy shots of to dazzle you with.  I'm still working on needle point and going to the gym and trying to get healthy.  BUT in between these things I do manage to read some.  I am currently reading Rise and Fight Again by Charles Bracelen Flood. It recounts four of the most disastrous defeats of the American Revolution.  I just finished the section on Fort Washington and read about the horrible deaths of the prisoners that were basically stored in churches and warehouses or violently stuffed into the bowels of docked warships without any food or water.  Some very sad passages in the descriptions of these soldiers.

I also read fiction.  I like the lighter crime novels.  The ones that just say someone was killed and then the local librarian or book store owner proceeds to solve the mystery.  I also like Southern writers like Fanny Flagg and can always relate to the scenarios that she refers to. I don't usually care two hoots for romantic fiction, but have enjoyed the books by Tracy Chevalier, due to their historical information and well researched facts.

So while it is snowing outside, or the wind is howling, or you just want to cozy up and read, what do you choose.  Let me know.  I always want to know what my friends are reading.

Well, that's it for now.  Take care and stay safe and warm.