Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Cornflower blue buds and long stems reaching towards the sky...

Who would of thunk it that decorating an obscure inanimate object would be a morning objective propelling me into the idea of the beautification of our rain barrel?
My hubby set me up alongside of the loud dark hunter green plastic garbage-can-like object, although it is a fifty-five gallon container on a pedestal, actually made into a rain barrel by a company that does these things, costing $79.99 on sale, regular price $99.99, our bargain some months ago, ha. The lid of the rain barrel is perforated around its circumference and a few inches from the base is a hole made for the hose or faucet to come out of that, which we do use for watering our garden. The perch for my sitting was on the one remaining fiberglass/ plastic molded chair from a set from before Hurricane Charley, and it is the sole survivor and we continue to harp on that fact by an indelible marker printing those exact words year after year since they get weather worn and must be replaced.

My reasoning for decorating this slight eyesore, although in a corner of our yard and not that easily seen by us, but our neighbors view is quite obviously on that side and even though they rent the home next door and will be moving in June I felt the need to try and make it a little more attractive. And so today was the day. My energy level had slightly improved from last night and I would be sitting so why not?

First I found my acrylics in the drawer location that they are kept in our garage. My husband located plastic cups for my mixing of my colors for shades that I wanted to make lighter. I even used some of his exterior primer in white to help me with that. Then I took my first cup of leaf green, several shades lighter than the base color of the container and began to paint a free flow my leafy vines. I had, had a small table if need be alongside of my work area, but Skipper went into his Marley mode and decided that, that was his seat to be on right next to me; not allowing me to rest my cup of paint so I decided to hold each light weight cup as I painted, and it did work. After the leaves I did my cornflower blue buds but made them fluffy with my stippling brush, dabbing for a fluid affect, later on I came back with a yellowish white highlighter for additional depth, abundance of the flora was glorious!
I do hope that any new or even the neighbors there moving on will not see this rain barrel as too harsh a garden necessity in our times but more like a work of art.

I was done before noon, and watched the news and heard that our eldest son’s area of the state was under a tornado watch with a barrage of those heavy storms that were all over the news just north of here. I knew he was working today so I called him on his cell; I’m his mom, so too bad I had to know that he was all right, right? He answered and just said yes it is raining very hard, he works about a half an hour from his home, which we all know can mean much different weather, but it was the same, nasty and harsh. On the six o’clock news tonight there had been two possible tornadoes that did hit his home’s area but not his home thankfully; relief for a worried mom and dad.

That same storm front was heading our way supposedly around one-ish, but in actuality it didn’t get here until four P.M. Meanwhile due to I guess a combination of the reaching from my painting and the weather my hips and shoulders did their nasty thing and caused me to need to get into bed, and forgo our journey to the plant show at the county extension, but there will be another next Tuesday; I guess I will take a nap first.
That sounds just terrible, doesn’t it?
I really think though when I do too much it must catch up with me, and that is the explanation of today’s miseries.

Oh well, whatever will be, will be.

Good night to all and to all count those blessings and I will too!

Speaking My Mind: Which way will the war go?

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