There was another partial eclipse here yesterday. The last one was in October. The October one was on a Saturday. This time, it was a school day. All the kids had eclipse glasses, and we went out at the height of our coverage, which was only about maybe a third(?) of the sun.
I took a picture like last time, and like last time, you can’t see the actual eclipse, but you can see the shape in the lens “ghost”.
Here’s a zoomed in image:
I kept telling the kids they should remember the day. The next eclipse that touches North America is twenty years from now.
We were at about 80% coverage here, and I did the disco-ball-reflections thing with my kids. It was fun, but that meant that nap time was only about ten minutes. They’re all going to be crabby today…..
One of my goals during my vacation week was to work on my bedroom. I did get some straightening done on Monday, but I also wanted to do some actual decorating.
I got some artwork in Ireland that I wanted to hang, but I needed frames. I found two carved-wood frames I liked, but had to search and search for the third one. It was frustrating, but challenging and delightful at the same time. I feel like internet searches are different than they used to be. So many of the results seem sponsored or something. Instead of seeing what I’m looking for, I’m seeing what Google or Amazon are paid to show me.
Anyway, I did eventually find the third frame, and I love it. It’s in the middle of the picture below. I had to find some acid-free paper to put behind the art, and then the framing was complete:
Since I like the frames so much, I was inspired to look for something to hang on the wall by my bed. There’s a chair rail all the way around the room that meant I had to find something narrow, but after another delightful internet search, I found it:
It looks too small in the picture, but in real life, it looks better. I maybe need fluffier pillows or something. The carving on the wood panel looks like the frames. I like it.
I’m not done with the room yet, but these first steps I think were the hardest. I can do the rest in bits an pieces.
I finally worked in the back yard yesterday. It has been my intention for a while to move my potted plants from the west side of the pool to the east side. The pool equipment is on the east side, so the plants should go there and the (eventual) table and chairs should go on the west side.
But I wanted to get some shelving for the plants to sit on, and the pool piping was problematic. But I figured it out! I got some wire shelving, which is adjustable, and I could set the shelf height just right:
Adding a tiered shelf on the other side, gives me all kinds of plant space:
Moving the plants was hard, because they were heavy and because I had to decide where they would go. I still don’t like the arrangement because it looks too busy, but I can work on it in spare moments and maybe get it more to my liking.
Since the plants aren’t on the west side of the pool anymore, there is a big empty space there. It’s time to start saving for some patio furniture. Here’s the before and after:
My amaryllis plants are blooming, and moving one of them caused one of its flower stalks to snap. D’oh! But it does look very nice with the oriental lilies I got the other day:
Yesterday I spent the morning trying to get some work done on my computer, but none of it worked out. Hopefully I can get back to it some time. Sometimes I wish I had a personal secretary and could just ask them to do stuff for me.
In the afternoon, I went to a pottery place that I found online. I was looking for some large lightweight pots for my back yard. I have some small trees I’d like to grow back there.
The pottery place was HUGE:
They had a cat
There were big lightweight pots, but “lightweight” is a relative term. I decided that maybe I would just stick with various plastic pot offerings from Home Depot and Lowe’s.
When I got home, I napped, but then felt like doing something in the garden. Since I didn’t get any pots, I couldn’t work on back yard stuff, so I decided to trim the palms in the front yard. I only did one tree. The palm leaves aren’t supposed to go in the “green waste” bin, so I had to use my regular trash can and didn’t want to fill it too full. Also, the palm leaves have huge thorns on them.
But the tree I did cut was the one overhanging the driveway, so it does look better:
Nice ‘ghost’! I’m glad they got to experience it!
We were at about 80% coverage here, and I did the disco-ball-reflections thing with my kids. It was fun, but that meant that nap time was only about ten minutes. They’re all going to be crabby today…..