Blue Macro Mandarin Orange Mellow Yellows Monday, December 23, 2013

Merry Christmas! Welcome to my Monday post, today I am linking with-

Blue Monday hosted by Smiling Sally

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma Wiseman

I Heart Macro hosted by Laura

Mandarin Orange Monday hosted by Lorik

Monday Mellow Yellows hosted by Gemma Wiseman

Some "Charlie Brown" ornaments I collected many years ago, along with a copper enamel Christmas tree I made long ago-

The tree with a small Swedish Dala horse-

The crown of a hat I just finished knitting, with the edges folded under so it can be worn like a beret-

Or flat it can be worn to cover the ears. The first area of pattern is random rows of 6 or 4 K and P stitches, the fuchsia and yellow part is a two-color pattern where two rows are knitted of each color, and stitches that are passed continue across the other color's row.

A continuation of my winter seed-growing progress, here Coreopsis at 30 and 37 days after sowing-

And here after transplanting into individual pots; Coreopsis 'Sunburst' is nice to transplant since it is not leggy and keeps the base of the plant right at the soil level, on the left; on the right is Monarda citriodora, just a little leggy so adjusted deeper when planting-

And here waiting to be transplanted at 37 days, Browallia speciosa on the left and Echinacea 'Bravado' on the right, with Monarda 'Bergamo' behind on the right, and Side-Oats Grama behind on the left which is not doing very well so far-

After the holidays I plan to plant another group of seeds and take some that are stratifying in the refrigerator out to warm up under the lights.   Within a month or so I also plan to start some tomatoes.

Happy Holidays, I will have my daughter's family with one grandson traveling up to spend it with us and my son's family with 5 grandkids, and my daughter that lives up here, 6 grandkids total.  I wish you a good time of family fun and fellowship.

Hannah

or cameras are macro

Blue Macro Mandarin Orange Monday, December 16, 2013

This week my Monday post is linked with-

Blue Monday hosted by Smiling Sally

I Heart Macro hosted by Laura

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma Wiseman

Monday Mellow Yellows hosted by Gemma Wiseman

Mandarin Orange Monday hosted by Lorik

This is a ceramic angel I made 34 years ago.   How time flies!  The background is part of a wool hat I knitted.

Heart ornaments made by some of my son's five kids-

Cyclamen

My Zebra Finches have Mandarin Orange bills, they make beeping noises and flit about constantly-

A crocheted heart I made from one I bought at a Swedish festival, and a Swedish Dala horse-

I am happy that the winter solstice will soon arrive this week and the days will start getting longer again.   Happy Holy-Days!   Hannah

or cameras are macro

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day, December 15, 2013

Welcome to my post for What's Blooming Now.   To see what is blooming in other people's gardens or houses now, go to hostess Carol's May Dreams Gardens website.  GBBD finds not much blooming here outdoors after a week at temperatures around 10*F.  So here are some indoor blooms.   A plant I really enjoyed this year, Browallia americana, bloomed so well I brought one plant in to my aquaponics bed.  It has slowed down but is still blooming-

My faithful little Geranium is blooming, though a little over the hill-

A new red Cyclamen, these I find hard to keep alive indoors-

Last week my Epiphyllum angulier, Ric Rac Orchid Cactus, bloomed, a rare occurence-

Thanks for visiting, Hannah

Blue Macro Mandarin Orange Monday, Favorite Plant Pick, December 9, 2013

Welcome to my Monday post, today I am linking to-

Mandarin Orange Monday hosted by Lorik

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma Wiseman

I Heart Macro hosted by Laura

Blue Monday hosted by Smiling Sally  

Mellow Yellows Monday hosted by Gemma Wiseman

One of those rare events is occurring, the blooming of my Ric Rac Orchid Cactus, Epiphyllum anguliger, a relative of the famous Night Blooming Cereus, E. oxypetallum, and also sweetly but not overpoweringly scented.    It has been spending time in a south-facing window but is now hanging in my aquaponics frame.   It is my favorite plant pick of the week, for other people's favorite plants, visit Loree's Favorite Plant of the Week Post and also look at the commments section.   A tougher house plant would be hard to find, and easy also to propagate, just whack off a piece.  It has many small cactusy features as well as the big Ric Rac branches.

A Mexican pottery box of a fish for something blue-

It snowed here and got down to 15*F or lower, but we were too busy putting lights for heat on our poultry and rabbits so I didn't take any sensational snow photos.  Winter is early this year.   At Thanksgiving we celebrated our 20th Anniversary of living in this house, we moved in at the tail end of a snow storm then.  Our south woods and some visitors.

 The apple orchard where deer like to come for tasty treats.

Looking forward to the Winter Solstice in a couple of weeks when the days will start getting longer again!    Hannah

or cameras are macro

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Mandarin Orange Blue Macro Monday December 2, 2013

Welcome to my Monday post, today I am linking with-

Blue Monday hosted by Smiling Sally

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma Wiseman

Mandarin Orange Monday hosted by Lorik

My Pelargonium Geranium that makes an excellent blooming houseplant twice a year-

I hope everyone enjoyed Thanksgiving.  We had dinner with my son's family of 5 kids on Thursday, then had dinner here for them Friday along with my daughter and 102 year old Swedish mother-in-law.

I also grew up in a family of 5 kids, so learned to be utilitarian and frugal.  So when I started keeping my daughter's 2 female Zebra Finches, and saw how many eggs they kept laying, I eventually decide to try them.  They are tiny, here with an egg from our ducks, and a chicken egg-

 One egg, poached-

They are hard to get out of the shell, I have to squeeze the halved shells between my fingers, I guess because of surface tension.  They have the most delicate exquisite egg taste you could imagine.;-P

Here is my typical brunch, I finally got around to presoaking the buckwheat overnight and a lot of foam came off in cooking, so I hope that means I got rid of a lot of phytates, which bind minerals from food and prevent absorption.   I add vegetables, here some Japanese long eggplant; the poached egg duck egg, some soft goat cheese and/ or sour cream, and season with lemon pepper and Turmeric.  Very satisfying.

I decided to start some plants earlier than usual this year, so I am growing seeds under lights, and also planted some covered in baggies in my refrigerator to stratify for a month or two.   See more about my shelves and lights here.   Here are some after 1 week, Side Oats Grama grass and Coreopsis lanceolata-

One week Side Oats Grama and Monarda 'Bergamo'-

Two week Phygelius capensis, miniscule when it sprouted at one week,  and one week Anagalis monelli-

Coreopsis lanceolata Sunburst and Sterntaler at 2 weeks-

Browallia speciosa, which took longer and had poorer germination than the Browallia americana I grew last year, and Echinacea 'Bravado' which didn't need stratification, yay! at two weeks-

I used to spray the soil and seedlings, now I use a glass dropper bottle, I water them morning and night with around 5 squirts per container to keep them moist, I don't use plastic covers like some recommendations because I had trouble with mold.  Sometimes very small seeds seem to wash so end up in clumps like Bergamo above-

In addition I have some seeds that have not sprouted, either they have poor germination or will take longer or need stratification or ?

Happy Cyber Monday!   I hope you had better luck getting Legos or ? on Black Friday than I did.

Hannah

or cameras are macro

Blue Macro Monday, November 25, 2013

Welcome to my Monday post, this week I am linking with-

Blue Monday hosted by Smiling Sally

Mandarin Orange Monday hosted by Lorik

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma Wiseman

I Heart Macro hosted by Laura

This is the last of my kitchen tile photos, we actually put the tiles over a cream formica counter and backsplash with metal edges, on the end having a slant we had to cover.  The counter has granite tiles, black with blue "butterfly wing" flakes in it.  The glass tiles, AO 'Blue Topaz', were thinner than the other tiles, so I came up with a fix, I put plastic weed whacker cord under them to bring them up level.

I basically started with the blue crazed tiles, Grazia Rixi craquelle finish- 'Reef', and finally found some more 5" tiles, an unusual size, to go with them- Florida "Tam", and I got mostly the Ivory tiles, then supplemented with 5 of each of the other colors, Opus Ivory with the small faux tiles, Forest, Desert, Copper, and one Ivory with a cutout and Metal Cherry Insert.   In this photo the work is in progress, still being grouted on the left.  I didn't like the brown grout with the blue tiles so tinted some white grout blue for that part of the tiles.   I used most of the odd darker colors of tile on the stove wall below the rectangle (actually not visible behind the stove), and also on the windowsill of the window over the kitchen sink.  As I said last week, the black rope tiles around the rectangle I bought as bisque and glazed.  The ivory rope tiles and narrow beige tiles are from Home Depot.  You can see a photo where the iridescent tiles are picked up by the light here, scroll down.

You can tell you are a gardening fanatic if your cabinet pulls look like something from the garden, I love these, they are easy to hang stuff on-

I tried a wonderful annual for the first time last year, Browallia americana.   It bloomed like crazy all summer and fall, so I saved one in a pot and brought it in to my aquaponics grow bed before frost, where it has been happy and blooming still, my camera likes to invent beautiful colors-

Here is my last remaining Shubunkin, Miss Furshness, with a mysterious little two-headed turtle shadow, after she is gone I am going to start using hydroponics fertilizer which will be more balanced in nutrients, fish wastes are low in phosphorus needed for fruiting-

Meanwhile, outside, the temps went below freezing for several days-

I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving, I have much to be grateful for to my Creator, who also likes to garden.

Hannah

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