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!