Saturday Meanderings
It is such a busy week with lots of projects going on at the same time. From gutter repair, tree trimming, painting and plastering, there is much activity here. Welcome to Saturday Meanderings! Let’s get started chatting about all good things this week.
Valentine’s Dinner
We kicked off the new week having a nice Valentine’s dinner with friends. Very small and quiet, and just what I needed. Sorry for the picture quality~as I am scurrying around before company comes and I forget to take good quality pictures.
A simple cookie cutter can turn a regular meal into a festive one. My heart-shaped cutters got a workout this week. A charcuterie tray but with heart-shaped cheese slices, peppered salami, warm brie with chutney, fruit and nuts.
The tops of the Beef Wellingtons each has a heart. A simple dessert of heart-shaped Angel food cake topped with strawberries and whipped cream, made the dinner feel special.
So if you are feeling festive for St. Patrick’s Day, here’s a link to a 5-piece set of shamrock/clover cookie cutters.
So Many Birds
Since the pandemic (or perhaps the quiet time during lockdowns) there appears to be an increase in wildlife. I am seeing much more animal activity at our home and property. Lately, we have so many robins.
Is it true when robins appear, loved ones are near? The well-known phrase alludes to the belief that the robin is a messenger. When robins are seen, some people take comfort that loved ones are at peace, and many believe that their lost loved ones are visiting them. Looks like a family reunion at the fountain!
Also, I got a glimpse of that pesky squirrel (I swear there is only one in our neighborhood), casually walking up our driveway the other day. And I just knew he was heading to my garden for lunch. Grrr.
New Word Game
Every day, my husband, son and I play two addictive word games, Wordle and Daily Dordle. Wordle is a web-based word game developed by Josh Wardle. Players have six attempts to guess a five-letter word, with feedback given for each guess in the form of colored tiles indicating when letters match or occupy the correct position. Recently purchased by the New York Times, I just google it each day but I also think you can download an app.
The Daily Dordle is like Wordle, but twice the difficulty. Described by its creator Guilherme S. Töws as “Wordle plus Wordle”, Dordle is a more challenging outlook on Wordle’s formula. You have to guess two words, concurrently, in 7 tries, with 5-letter guesses. These elusive words have separate grids dedicated to them and both the grids work independently of each other.
The fun part is that daily, we share our completion of both Wordle and Daily Dordle. It’s a good way to work your brain and and vocabulary too. If you like word games, I highly recommend.
Heavy Equipment
We rented this huge lift for a few days to tackle projects that doing on a ladder would be dangerous. Some roof and gutter work, trimming trees and hopefully I will get to wash the windows in the well tower. Unfortunately, due to its weight, it’s not feasible to drive it across the yard, because those palm trees in the background could sure use a haircut.
I did try to use that window cleaner that you attach to your garden hose to clean the exterior of the well tower windows, but it did a terrible job. Anyone we hire to wash windows refuses to clean the ones at the top. I can’t say I blame them!
Everything Roses
During a very long conference call this week, I decide to multi-task and try my hand at learning to paint roses. Using raw umber and white paint, and following Kelli Folsom’s tutorial, here is a glimpse at my first attempt.
Of course, now I am staring at every rose I see~noticing its details, shadows, color and shape. This week I did receive the most beautiful roses from The Bouqs (my monthly subscription), and am taking lots of pictures of them in different light.
Hopefully some day I will be good at painting these amazing flowers.
Weather Station
If you need a great gift for someone, we just love our weather station. But after 18-20 years it finally died and now time to buy another. Truly, I use this every single day to see what the temperature is outside.
The weather station used to be located in the orchard, but my husband moved it to the garden. Since our neighborhood temperatures are 10 degrees lower than the rest of Phoenix, we often get very chilly nights this time of year.
The weather station is Ambient Weather WS-2902C WiFi Smart Weather Station. It’s wireless and measures wind speed/direction, temperature, humidity, rainfall, UV and solar radiation. My husband mounted it on a pole in the corner of my garden and it is solar powered. This station is $179.99 and can be found here. There is a variety of price points and lesser expensive models here. If this one lasts as long as our first one, it’s a great investment.
Well, that’s a wrap. Pool house renovation is going well. I cannot wait to show you the progress. Thank you for all your comments and feedback on the design selections. Have a fabulous rest of the weekend!
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I love your meanderings, Mary. The rose paintings are just beautiful. About the birds, I”ve always heard that cardinals also mean loved ones are near. I have a window right by my desk, and I always see cardinals in a little bush right outside the window. It makes me feel happy. The Valentine’s dinner looks so lovely.
This has nothing really to do with your posts, except that you live in Phoenix!
We have a friend here in Pasadena/So. Pasadena, Brad Colerick, that has been hosting Wednesday night “Wine & Songs” for about 10 years (until the pandemic closed it down) He’s recently started doing them again about once a month (but it’s cold outside still…) and recently announced that he’s expanding to Phoenix. Don’t know what kind of music you enjoy (except Eagles) but I thought I’d pass this on. It’s mostly Americana/acoustic…
From Brad –“Wine & Song – Phoenix. The long-running Wine & Song series expands to Phoenix on March 10. Please spread the word with your Arizona friends. 6pm every Thursday at Short Leash in the trendy Melrose district. 4221 N 7th Ave, Phoenix, AZ. I’ll be there on the 10th for the debut show with Laura Joy, who will be hosting the series, and the always entertaining Nathan McEuen. I hope to pop in often.”
https://www.facebook.com/events/642362560340593/
Have fun!
Nancy, thank you so much for this info on Wine and Song. I will check it out. Short Leash Hotdog is a favorite spot too. Will definitely share!
Your paintings are so lovely Mary – those roses are gorgeous! And of course I love the black and white color scheme! What a great way to spend a conference call! 🙂
Love your robins too, and all the news! Happy delicious February my friend!
Have been hearing about Wordle and with your explanation, tried it for the first time. I love it! Do the NYT Crossword every Sunday and now I have a game for every day. Thanks for sharing.
Holly, I google it on my phone daily. the URL is wordle.berknation.com. And then I click on Today’s Word. They change the word daily. Hope that helps. I know the NYTimes purchased them in late January. email me if you trouble and I’ll send you a screen shot of what it looks like.
Holly, my email is [email protected]
I found many apps named “Wordle” and was confused as to which one you were referring. I also love word games and installed a few to test but none of them looked or worked like your picture. Is there more information you could give us to point us in the right direction. Thanks! P.S. I live in Phoenix and love following your blog.
Judie, I’m so lame, I responded to your email but used the name Holly. So, you can either see the comments to Holly or here’s the URL that I google from my phone daily. wordle.berknation.com. This was recently purchased by the NYTimes in late January so I don’t know if there is an app for it, but I’ll check. If you have problems, email me and I’ll send you a screen shot.
Thank you Mary, I found it! Played one round and it’s so fun. This should keep me busy for hours.
Judie, I love these games too. Apparently there is a Quordle that has 4 words and one with 8 words too.
We have a weather station and check it for our daily temps. Ours was a gift to my husband.
I am trying to understand Wordle…do the words or word already shown have any meaning to the answer? Like if it were the word water the answer might end up to be the ocean (yes..only 6 letters but just trying to understand)…are the words a clue or just showing letter placement and have no meaning or relationship to the answer?
Lori, No, the words are not related. I try to start with a word that has more than one vowel, like RELAX.
And based on whether those letters are correct ones, then I try to use the other vowels. Seems to narrow everything down for me. No clues are given. It’s just figuring out the right 5 letter word.
Such a treat, thank you Mary❣ Especially enjoying your photo of the beautiful roses…
Sue, thank you so much!
Mary my husband has the same weather station which conked out right before we moved. He can’t wait to reinstall it at our new home. Your artwork is amazing! Your valentines dinner looks amazing!
Cindy, it’s amazing how dependent I’ve become to our weather station. I actually have a picture of roses you posted on your blog and just started trying to paint it. If it is half-way decent, I will share it with you. Love hearing about your new home too!
Mary, I always love your “Saturday Meanderings” blog. The weather station tip is very helpful as we need to replace ours and didn’t have a clue which one. One of my daughters suggested Wordle and I’m loving it. Each day, my daughters and I compare our answers. I wasn’t aware of Dordle but will investigate. Fun projects happening at your house! Happy Saturday!