Category: Commentary

Home Sweet Home Depot

I spent Tuesday afternoon wandering about the garden section of our nearest Home Depot. I don’t garden, but Studly Doright has promised we’ll fix up our courtyard area this week. And not a moment too soon–I feared hurricane cleanup crews were going to mistake our residence for a disaster area and begin removing debris from the premises. 

Studly and I have a great many ideas for improving the courtyard-style entryway. A few of them are even approximately the same.

I know that on the right side I want a garden of low maintenance potted plants and a small potting bench, with a scattering of stepping stones similar to these:



I picture the area as welcoming, and not at all formal. Studly and I can’t quite agree on the material to cover the ground. Do we want mulch or river rocks? 


If we go with river rocks, I think dark ones will look spiffy with the red brick of our home.

And the plants? I just have no idea. The area receives full sunlight for most of the day, so something that will grow well receiving the sun’s ardent attention is a must.


We are edging into fall here in Florida, so I’ll need to take that into consideration. Thank goodness for Google and YouTube and every other modern resource at my fingertips. But if any real gardeners have suggestions I’d love to hear from you.

Peace, people!

Pest Control


One night last week I killed a Buick sized roach in my bedroom closet. Now the pest control company, Orkin, and I have this understanding– I pay them a substantial amount of money, and they make sure I don’t see any creepy crawlies inside my home. I assure you, I’m  keeping my end of the bargain.

This post isn’t about my one roach. Roaches aren’t really newsworthy in the Florida panhandle, but I have a friend who recently moved to Oregon and her pest issue is enormous: 

http://www.dailyastorian.com/Local_News/20160719/animal-versus-animal-as-elk-dogs-clash
Elk are taking over her yard, creating divots that she patiently replaces, and generally terrorizing the neighborhood. And they can be aggressive. I worry for her safety. Say what you will about roaches, but I’ve never heard of anyone being trampled to death by one.

In our text chat on Wednesday morning I suggested various remedies:


Granted, the spikes might be ill-advised, and we are animal lovers, after all. My friend did say they’d tried spraying wolf urine around the edges of their lawn with no success. Can you imagine going into the local feed and seed store and ordering thirty gallons of wolf pee? And having that pee fail to do its job?

I don’t guess Orkin handles elk. On the plus side, one isn’t likely to find an elk skittering across the bathroom floor at 2 a.m.


I hope my friend and her husband find an elk solution soon, but I fear nature will have its way in this case. 

Peace, people!

Workin’ It

After many months of being a domestic goddess I’m off to work again. Part of me is saying, “Woohoo” while the other part is asking, “What was I thinking?”

The toughest obstacle thus far this morning was dragging my feeble body out of bed when the 6 a.m. alarm sounded. I’d been wide awake since 4:30 either from anticipation or dread; I’m not certain.

Obstacle number two was getting dressed in something other than denim capris, a tshirt, and flip flops. I almost cried when I placed my feet in regular shoes. I’m so sorry, feet!

And instead of my normal brunch I had to eat breakfast! To ease the strain of eating something before 9 a.m. I stopped at Cinnabon and scarfed down a serving of Cinna minis with icing. My feet might hate me, but my tummy is so pleased.

Now, having arrived a full thirty minutes early for my assignment, I’m sitting in the car in front of a school in Tallahassee listening to Howard Stern and scanning the cars in the parking lot for my coworkers, none of whom I’ve met. Surely they’ll be easy to spot. We all have identical green suitcases packed with testing materials.

Wish me luck, friends. If you don’t hear from me again you’ll know I truly was allergic to work and couldn’t afford an epi pen.

Peace, people.

Outlander Angst

I started book seven of the Outlander series today. Those of you who urged me to read Diana Gabaldon’s epic tale of love, lust, war, and time travel should be thoroughly ashamed of yourselves. Before entering the universe occupied by Jamie (sigh!) and Claire, I was relatively normal. 

And, when pressed as to why I hadn’t read the books, being the avid reader that I am, I’d smirk, “I don’t read romance novels,” in a slightly condescending voice. 

Then one day I panicked, having found myself without a book queued up on my Amazon wish list, and so to pacify my earnest Outlander loving friends I placed an order for that first book on kindle. I’ve not been the same since.

From the outset it was clear that the first book, from whence the series takes its name, was more than a simple romance novel. There was complexity here, and, well, time travel. I read science fiction and fantasy, so this was right up my alley. 

In the middle of the third book of the series, Voyager, something shifted. I began dreaming about the characters, not just as they are in the books, but as if we were interacting in real time. We’d have full-blown conversations. In addition I began thinking in a Scottish accent. Please tell me I’m not nuts. 

Now, at the beginning of book seven, I’m on the verge of a breakdown. At present, there are eight books in the series. I’m on the next to the last one. 

The books are long, and I am not a fast reader. Jamie (sigh!) and Claire will be with me for at least another month. Even so, that special heartache of knowing I’m in the final stages of a great series has set in. I can’t put the book down, thus I soon will have nothing left of Jamie (sigh!) and Claire.


And if anyone suggests I watch the televised version of the series, I will slap them. After all, I don’t watch romance!

Peace, people.

Havana Shopping, Part 2

The Shoppes at Havana Trading Company in Havana, FL, is a fun place to spend a couple of hours. Around every corner one can find something to delight: candles, clothing, tea, antiques, and that’s just for starters.

When I visited yesterday I met Melba Ginsberg, the manager of Melba’s Cafe, and Karyn Burke, the owner of the “Broken Shell Boutique” a purveyor of beachy eclectica. The Broken Shell is just one of many wonderful shops inside The Shoppes at Havana Trading Company.


In her shop Karyn sells everything a displaced beach bum might need: sandals, beach towels, stationery, jewelry, fragrances for body and home, and candles among other things. Mermaids are welcome there, so I felt right at home. 

The vivacious Karyn Burke. She’s a joy!

Obviously I wasn’t the only shopper yesterday, so rather than monopolize Karyn’s time I wandered about The Shoppes and snapped some photos.

i have a hankering for this accordion.
This little three-drawer chest is gorgeous.

I hope these photos make you want to pay a visit to The Shoppes at Havana Trading Company. I’m ready to go back!

Peace, people!

Inertia

Inertia: Watching the golf channel all day because it was what Studly had the tv tuned to last night before we went to bed, even though the remote is literally touching my elbow.

Parenting Class

For https://yourdaughtersbookshelf.

https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10206898939413597&id=1280916832

Havana Shopping, Part 1

I discovered a gem of a cafe today– Melba’s Place inside The Shoppes of Havana Trading Company just down the road from Doright Manor in Havana, Florida.


The lovely and loquacious Melba. That’s her as a child in the picture on the wall.

Manager Melba Ginsberg mixes up a mean chicken salad. I had the “Dilly Dally” salad. Oh. My. Goodness. It was so fresh and delicious I darn near swooned. 

I tried a sample of “The Coronation” and found it equally tasty, but I might have a an addiction to dill. I’d start looking for a Dill Anon group, but I’m not ready to give it up.

While I was making a fool of myself inhaling “Dilly Dally” Melba and I visited about her early life in Florida. She was born in South Georgianot far from Havana, but her family moved to the Lake Okeechobee area when she was a child. She grew up in a small town where she was a majorette in the marching band.


Melba told me that when she went to choose an instrument from the band room (everyone had to play an instrument) only the bass drum and baritone remained. Melba isn’t very tall and I giggled imagining her toting around the big bass drum. She chose the baritone, though, which isn’t that much smaller, and played it in concert band.

Melba now finds herself near the place of her birth having returned to the area to be close to her daughter. On a visit here Melba’s daughter fell in so in love with Havana that she opened a business here, The Shoppes at Havana Trading Company.

I took way too many photos of The Shoppes to put into one post, so I’ll continue this later, but check them out online in the meantime. And if you live anywhere near Havana, The Shoppes are well worth a trip. 

If I held my breath just right and chanted in the proper key maybe this link will provide more information. 

@ShoppesHTC
If not, here’s Melba’s card, charmingly posed on my denim covered thigh. This is a fancy blog, don’t you know.



Melba’s cafe features heavenly ice cream, too! I had a scoop of caramel sea salt. So much for my diet. 

Peace, people!

Dadgum it WordPress!

I just upgraded to a premium package. I guess I’m happy with it, but they kind of had me over a barrel. I couldn’t attach any photos to new blogs without upgrading, and I know how much you all enjoy my stellar (cough! cough!) photography.

But I’m griping because for some reason WP has begun publishing posts that clearly were marked as “scheduled.” I’ll go in to edit scheduled posts and the next thing I know they’ve published. It’s ticking me off.

So if you click on one of my posts and nothing is there please know it wasn’t my doing, but an overzealous WordPress glitch.

Carry on.