"Fall Is Just Up The Stairs..."

(Ever get tired of saying "around the corner?") Going up the stairs means I have to climb to get somewhere, and that I do, both literally and figuratively. 

Once the weather cools down just a little bit, I have to go upstairs to the attic to pick up on the long overdue unpacking. (Yesterday was a blazing 97º and the temps in our attic are far above that). I did manage to tough out about 45 minutes up there Saturday to sort out several big piles of clothing into different sizes. By the time I finished I felt like I'd spent an hour in a sauna. We have been through an extraordinarily hot summer for Omaha this year, and I don't like that one bit! Along with the extreme drought we are still in, it's been a struggle to keep plants alive. 

It's also made me cranky! I'm a cool-weather girl and I love my rainy, dreary days. Since June, there has been exactly ONE of those.  The weather man promised this morning that we're going to drop into the 80's by tomorrow and will stay cooler for the next few days after that with a chance of rain. So I'm hopeful!  Sorry, all you sun-lovers out there... your turn is over for awhile, I'm hoping! Anybody know any great rain or thunderstorm videos? I think I could use one.

On the figurative side, I have an uphill climb still ahead on my personal goals of more weight loss and finishing work on my book. Those are hard, but exciting things to look forward to! I'm looking at a total of over 75 crochet patterns here, and trying to decide whether to put them all in one book. I also have to find all of the crocheted items I can to re-photograph them. Pattern tester volunteers (God love 'em!!) are waiting for assignments. There is a lot to do!

Speaking of that... I'd better get to work now!

It's Not "Fried Green Tomatoes" The Movie – It's The Hosta

My favorite movie of all time is "Fried Green Tomatoes," the story of a friendship between two women who were several decades apart in age. When I discovered there was a hosta called "Fried Green Tomatoes," I just had to have it because my friendship with Scooty Maguire reminded me so much of the friendship illustrated in the movie.

Hosta "Fried Green Tomatoes." Image source
daylilyandhostagardens.com

Ten years or so and a lifetime ago, I wrote a little story called "A Walk In The Hostas With Scooty Maguire" as a tribute to my friend. Rather than repeating the whole story, I'll refer you to the online publication, which you can see here.  This month hosta plants seem to be upfront in my consciousness for two reasons. One, the weather has been perfect to divide and move them to new locations in my gardens. Two, the lens I referred to in the link above was selected to appear all this week on the front page of Squidoo.com.

My late mom, Norma Frasier, with Scooty Maguire...
a very treasured memory.

There's just something about being picked for the front page that gives you an incredible feeling of pride and accomplishment. I've had more fun answering all the comments that have been left on the lens by visitors. My week-long feature ended yesterday. This morning, I was surprised to learn that another of my lenses, "Plant Trading 101," is being featured for this week! I'd never been on the front page, and now two weeks in a row! Holy cats, this is exciting!

 I've been writing daily now since I got home from my first hip surgery in March, 2011. It was the one thing besides crocheting that I could physically "do" for the long weeks of recovering I had ahead. Squidoo is a place where you can write single topic lenses (web pages) and publish them for free. It's also a community where you can get feedback from other writers/readers, win prizes, and achieve higher levels with certain accomplishments.

Most of my lenses have been individual crochet designs that I've been making free to the world. Quite a few are current/recent designs. I've also done a surprising amount of lenses on things like gardening, the Schnauzers, even my favorite recipes. It's taught me a lot about myself. Somehow, this method of writing and publishing just motivates me tremendously, and that has inspired my crochet design. When I was asked to write a weekly craft column for Squidoo's SoCrafty online magazine, I jumped at the chance! While I write for free, it gives me priceless exposure of my work to the world. I've only been doing this for a couple of months, but it has made me feel so much better about myself!

My "Busy Beehive" design was the subject of one of my
recent crochet columns in SoCrafty Magazine.

Being disabled, it's easy to not feel included in the "real" world because you don't have a "real" job.  You lose all those things like appraisals, deadlines, projects to do, feedback on your work, etc. Having all these things is a piece I have been missing. I love it and will do it as long as I'm able! Besides, it's so motivating having a new project to work on every week.  You should've seen me at JoAnn the last week of April, picking out all my materials for the weekly projects for May. I had so much fun!

I'm so happy with my gardens' progress this Spring! Yesterday I was out picking early cherries from my little tree already! It's a miracle they survived the late freezes we had, but survive they did. I got them all pitted last night and put up in the freezer. When I have enough, I'll start making yummy cherry things. And since we treated the tree last fall and winter, there should be no wormy visitors to ruin my pie this year!

This time last year, my friend Heidi helped me pick and pit cherries all
afternoon, only to discover a couple days later they were full of worms! 

I've made several additions to my "Out My Window" garden, moved a lot of plants in there from other beds and picked up a few new ones. The smartest thing I did was to add a bird feeder and a little bird bath.  I have baby black squirrels, a bunny, several kinds of birds, and even a hummingbird visiting my garden every day. Since I spend a lot of time at my desk by that window looking out, I'm always fascinated when I see some little critter out there having a snack or a drink. It tickles me:)

Well, that's about all the chatter I can muster today. I spent some time outside working in the gardens and my back is screaming at me to lie down. Obey it I must, or I will pay...