Category Archives: weather

Jun11

Tuesday night light show

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We had a wicked rainstorm with tons of lightning go through last night. Earlier we lost power 5 times which was a pain as we had to keep resetting the clocks. It did considerably cool things off in the evening, but it was warm again today. My father-in-law lost power and it’s still not on after 24 hours. When they had their windows replaced years ago (on the lower level), my late mother-in-law decided to put in windows that didn’t open for ‘security reasons’. I questioned her about if she burnt something in the kitchen and she said she would use the stove fan and open the back door. Well, he is really suffering from not being able to have proper circulation in there. Glad something like this doesn’t happen often.

Sean took me grocery shopping over in our town’s new Acme which is 6 miles away. I know, we live closer to the mushroom town-lol. I think he wanted to check it out. We ran into Lowes to get Bri hot peppers. That’s all he talked about last week. They are something he just has to grow it seems. Anyway, the store is huge and I just wanted to zoom around in there and grab what I needed, if it was priced right. I wanted lemons-79¢ each-picked up about 3 and the last one was moldy on one side. I put it back, mold side up-bought nada ! I can go to the farmer’s market and get some at 5 for $2 and they are perfect. What’s going on here?

Got strip steak for dinner-two pieces in a package for $11! Not a lot for 3 people, but we had enough of other things-red potatoes, peas and Focaccia bread (and mini eclairs for dessert) that we were quite happy. I cook steak in a pan, with a little butter and steak rub-just what you buy in the spice aisle. I brown it well to get a crust and pop it in the oven for about 10 minutes to cook the middle. Rachael Ray said not to put ice cold meat in a pan as it ‘seizes up’ and makes it a little tough. I have to remember that. It was good!

My brother hasn’t gotten around to fixing my mom’s car yet. Guess he got held up on something tonight. Now she can’t go spend the day with my uncle on his 85th birthday tomorrow. We sent him cards, but it’s not the same. I will probably go and help her food shop before Sean goes to night class. Maybe we can do something for him over the weekend.

I’ve been working on ATCs and have some cute ones to share, I just need to photograph them. I have a series called ‘Rose babies’. Jennifer over at Sweetpea Stitches had sent me beautiful rose stickers and they were my inspiration for the two I have made so far, but I have 5 new ones altogether!

Someone in my graduating class passed away over the weekend. She was a cheerleader and an art major. Not a friend, but it’s sad to know someone my age has passed-too soon. She had two sons and still lived in our hometown. They are asking for donations for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, so I am wondering if that was what took her too soon.

I wish the idiots who use my blog for spam would take a hike! I can see what you are trying to do and I just delete it from my spam finder. They stick URLS, etc in the middle of my posts-lame!

Jun10

Power outage and flowers

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Summer Flowers 2008, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

The names of the flowers are listed on Flickr, but most of the above are Snapdragons.

From 3 pm and on, the power went out 5 times. The last time was a little before 7 and we are expecting thunderstorms too. Sean is at his night class, so I’ll be holding my breath until he gets home in an hour or so.
I did grab the camera after dinner as I wanted to mainly take photos of the gorgeous snapdragons I have in a few gardens. Each petal looks like a little gown for a fairy.
Sean and I felt a bit blah today, like that feeling you have when you eat green apples-you get my drift. I had to take some medicine for my tummy. I think it’s the heat-it should be breaking soon!
Since I sat in the dark for a few minutes and had the camera right there, I took this shot:

Jun9

View out the window-pond garden

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View out the window-pond garden, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

This seems to be the best view, through the dining room window! It’s another scorcher. Schools in the city and surrounding suburbs were closed around noon.
The Canna lily in the pond’s waterfall is blooming! The portulaca looks good as do the purple petunias. The Red Hot Pokers are about to bloom too. The only think that bothers me is the Creeping Charlie taking over the stones. I have added some perennials on the end such as Lupine and English Daisies. I don’t believe Pentas are perennials. You can’t see some of the garden next to the gazing ball. I have some pineapple sage and salvia there.

Jun9

June or August?

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The heat got turned on full blast two months too soon! Eek! It’s horrible. We’ve been holed up inside and only venture out after the sun goes down like vampires. Last night, Sean helped me water things, proclaiming that his dear old ma had a lot of flowers. : ) I will say we ate well on Sunday. First we had scrambled eggs and bacon, then Bri ran out (we needed a few things at the store) and picked up a taco pizza-that was yummy. The same place that made the cheesesteak pizza we had a few weeks back. They are a new place nearby, but I think they need to advertise their ‘gourmet’ pizzas. For dinner I had oven roasted red potatoes and pork tenderloin. And to top that off, Sean took me to Brusters and I had a turtle sundae! I’ve been sweating a lot-calories are getting burned, I swear!

Not much else is new. My Uncle Don turns 85 on the 12th and not sure if we will have a get together. There is so much family tension. Mom needs to have her starter replaced. My younger brother usually works on the car, but something is up-I guess he is so busy! I would love him to charge my a/c in the van one of these days. Poor guy!

Hopefully the heat will break by Wednesday. Bri can’t understand why the air has to run so much. It’s midnight and still around 80!

Thanks to Missy for her link to the peony page. It said my peony may need to be reset and divided. Makes sense to me!

May23

Mom

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My mom went to the doctor this morning and ‘found out’ (but we knew it) she had hearing loss in both ears, the worst being the right ear. She’ll be going to a hearing specialist soon. Her doctor also said her right hip is probably what is hurting her more than sciatica. He gave her a shot there. He also gave her the ok to get her cataract surgery. Hopefully she’ll be all fixed up and feel better! Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

The sun is shining nicely and it’s warmer with a breeze. I finished most of my plants in pots. I need more soil! I usually put my coleus in larger pots so they get really bushy. All the coolest and rain hurt some of my seeds, so I added a few rows to where I have the zinnias, etc. Also stuck more nasturtiums and a few moon flowers here and there. We need to get the tomatoes, green peppers, bean and zucchini planted this weekend. Almost finished!

Almost forgot! Went on my first stroll around the yard and stopped at the pond. There was a garter snake stretched around the rocks sunning itself right next to the pond! I stared at it and it me! I came in to get the camera, but he was gone when I went back outside. Gee, have a lot to do in that area and don’t want to see him again. I think I’ll tap on the rocks before I start digging or anything!

May23

Some more movie magic

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There’s a really nice slideshow here

The Local Paper put this up. Bri also brought home the printed newspaper, but this is much better. The snow looks so funny-they even added it to the trees. I’m glad to see Owen looking so good now considering he had a rough time last year. This town reminds me of a larger version of both Kennett Square (nearby) and my hometown.

Not much new on the home front. Got to mulch a few gardens, but so chilly and windy to do so. I have one more garden to do.

Sean has rented a few movies-‘Blades of Glory’ (I like ice skating, though this was a bit silly, though funny) and ‘National Treasure-2’ (liked the first one better). Been watching some finales of the shows. Seems they just started airing new ones!

Did a nice thing yesterday-the mailman delivered a package here that was meant for a Diane a few roads away. There are about 4 Diane/Diannes (that I know of now) within a 1/2 mile radius. The package was sent to this Diane from my hometown, so I felt obligated to get it to it’s true owner. I was a little nervous when I saw ‘Beware of Dog’ signs, but the mailbox is across the road from the long drive. I did write a note to the mailman. I guess I’m the Dianne who gets most of the packages!

May20

What to do when it feels like March

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That’s right folks! It crept up to about 60 today and rained until 4 pm. I had started a few ATCs yesterday and did a few more tonight (see Flickr). Sean started a writing course tonight down at the annex campus at PSU.

Here’s what I did :


I printed out some images on vellum paper and made this card for a friend. She gave me the neat backing paper with the ‘language of flowers’. I liked the way it turned out. The vellum makes the paper curl up though.

Over at ‘Facebook’, there is an application called ‘Sketch Me’, so I did it with a newer photo of me kneeling with my flowers. This is my new calling card!
Hope to get outside tomorrow. I walked around tonight and things look ok, but I need to do so much more weeding, planting and mulching. Hope my tummy is better too. I had to take some prescription medicine today, which is my last resort.

May12

Nor’easter blew out power for 5 hours

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We just got technology back at 4 pm-it was gone from us since a little before 11! What a pain! It’s too rainy and chilly to do anything outside, and a bit dark to do anything inside! I did go through some bags in my bedroom and condensed them. I had been in my bedroom all day Saturday doing the winter to summer clothes switch-a-roo. So proud to be on my 3rd bag for Goodwill donations. Sean did add stuff though.  I never have enough room for my clothes in the armoire. I take pretty good care of them (line dry many things) so I have them for years!

We did take mom out to a Chinese dinner which is usually a ‘no-no’ for me, but I got out voted 3 to 1! The restaurant smelled funny, like they had had a water leak-wet rugs. I think we should have left and gone to the Jewish deli place across the shopping center, but mom reminded me we didn’t like what we had there one time. Mom goes to this restaurant a bunch, so we stayed and shared ‘Seven Stars around the Moon’ for two. It was nicely presented (Sean has a photo on his camera phone) and was pretty good, not too much of an MSG taste. They had the shrimp butterflied and cooked with bacon-quite yummy. We also stopped briefly in a Dollar Tree and AC Moore and I got a magazine and few little gift items and things. Mom wasn’t feeling well, so we dropped her off and came home, but hit a new Target where Sean and I looked around for a bit and shopped. Oh, the entire day my left knee was so sore! When I came home (after Baskin Robbins) I used the heating pad and it went away! Amazing.

Today I did a few ATCs by the light of a little lantern. I wound up some music boxes! It was too quiet! When Sean came home from a Longwood Gardens job interview (which he says sounds good), we played Trivial Pursuit, but just answered questions without using the board part. I called my mom as she had gone to the hearing dept at the hospital and she had water in her ears’ tubes which may be causing her hearing loss to be moderate to low. She needs to go to a specialist now.

We are waiting on Bri for dinner (McDs). He brought us pizza home for lunch as I wouldn’t dare open the frig. I only ate one slice as I was feeling the affects from out dinner last night.

Here’s hoping for a gorgeous day tomorrow!

May4

A May day in PA

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Just took some photos a bit ago. Sometimes I fix them in Flickr after I post here, so you can look at all of them there if you wish also.

It was simply gorgeous, around 70 with a slight breeze. Who could ask for anything more? I decided to continue gardening.

Here’s an ATC I made a week ago. I used an image form a catalog for the background. I call it Seeds of Friendship:

I was wearing overalls today, but shorts kind. Gotta feel like a real gardener!

See how high up the lilacs are? We need to do some serious topping on this shrub!

Look at the dear Dogwood flower!

I potted these up a few nights ago. The African Daisies are near the pond.

This is the shady side of the house! Now, who can tell me what is happening here with this azalea bush?

Here’s where I planted a bunch of wildflower seeds. I hope they come up!

It is behind where my lilies and grass garden is.

Here’s a garden that is a bit more prolific growing! Mom gave me the pansies around the perimeter. The Bleeding Hearts are just starting to drop, but the Barrenwort is going strong (heart-shaped leaves). The hanging pots were purchased at Loew’s last night. One is Dianthus, the other is a variety.

Had to show you an iris! It’s Raspberry Blush.

And my new water plant. Will have to go look at the name of it. See the baby waterlilies there?

My friend the catbird (or child of catbird) came back yesterday. He (or she) was serenading me the entire day and most of today. The only thing I don’t like are the droppings all over the chairs. Speaking of chairs, I bought two cans of green spray paint to spruce up my plastic furniture. I may need more!

Apr20

Scenes from the front door

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Late this afternoon, I was getting ready to run down to the grocery store to get a few items. I heard terrible thumping on the roof and heavy rain and opened the front door to find hail!

It was really pouring! I was hoping the bleeding hearts seen here were still intact.

And for the heck of it, I took a photo of the pond out the dining room window. Not much happening there and this shot makes it look tiny-there’s a little waterfall piece at the top there. We need to build up the sides a bit as they are collapsing on us. Next shot will be the pond at night as the lights look neat-like a little landing strip, so Bri says! I even have a floating ball that lights up at night.