Friday, August 28, 2015

Rocking Your World 2015; Week 35


I am trying to write a quick post this afternoon as I am going out for a while this evening. The reason? Our son Tom arrived in the early hours of this morning. So another little holiday time has begun. A swim and a beer for this afternoon, and that´s a good enough reason for me to be smiling.

In preparation for Tom´s arrival, I was determined to finish my wall clock that I previewed a couple of week ago, so when the frames were delivered last weekend, I set to and printed out the photos I had prepared. All our sons, grand-children, and great-grand-children are there. The frames are light weight, so, for now, they are just attached with blu-tak, which makes it very easy to change and update the photos.
Then I measured the available space more carefully and adjusted the cutting file I had made for the script. I cut it from vinyl, and attached it straight onto the wall. This is a trial run so I could see whether the vinyl would stick well to our painted wall, and more importantly, whether it would stay stuck! So far so good. The second, (lower) section of the script is not quite straight. It was very difficult to tell when I was working close up to the wall. But we are hoping to decorate this room in the Autumn, so I will be re-doing it then, and I will have to be even more careful when I position it. But I am really pleased with the end result. It is how I had imagined it would be.
The whole clock, including the photos, is about 80 cm in diameter.

We also tried to get the front garden tidied up this week, so we cut a lot of untidy branches from the shrubs, and emptied the pots of dead pansies etc. Then we went to the garden centre and bought some petunias, Bizzy-Lizzies and verbenas to put in their place.
They make a nice patch of colour on the front step.

We also bought a red ´crown of thorns´and two geraniums for our tall stand by the front door. Hopefully these will keep giving us some flowers until it is time to replace them with poinsettias for Christmas!

Back at the beginning of June I showed you a baby tree in a pot that I had bought at the market. I was sad to see that it was not flourishing. It dried out very quickly, and even watering it most days did not stop it dying off. However I trimmed the dead branches off, and a few weeks ago, Chris managed to dig a small hole in our hard ground to plant it in. It immediately picked up and now it is a healthy little shrub. It has grown a lot since we planted it, and hopefully it will now go on to be the tree we wanted.
And one last gardening photo - our stephanotis on the back fence, has been lovely this year. It flowers quite early on, and then has a rest. But now it has lots of flowers again. They are stiff, waxy flowers and their scent is heavenly. As you can see, new buds are still forming, so we will have flowers for some time to come.

When Tom was in the pool just now, I sat on the edge with my legs dangling in the water to cool my feet down. Our cat Paco came and rubbed around me, then he held on to the side and started lapping the water. I have seen him do this before. I am not sure clorinated water is very good for him, but it doesn´t seem to have harmed him so far. Goodness knows why he choses to drink it when he has bowls of clean tap water all over the house, but that´s cats for you. So I´ll leave you with this photo of his little pink tongue lapping twenty to the dozen, and I´ll be back next week.
I am linking this up to Rocking your World over at Celtic House, and Annie´s Friday Smiles.

13 comments:

Annie said...

I really love your clock Kate.....such a lovely idea. I think animals have a mind of their own cos our dogs have always preferred rain water to the fresh water they are given every day so your cat doesn't surprise me.
Have a lovely week with your son.
Hugs,
Annie x

Jean said...

Your clock looks really lovely Kate, I'm glad you are pleased with it too. The little shrub/tree in the front garden is very pretty and certainly looks happier in the ground.
Have a good week with Tom.
Jean x

Barb said...

Your pool looks great and Tom seems to be enjoying it. Hope you have a lovely time together. I really like your clock. What a lovely idea that is and totally unique. I glad to see that your little tree is now growing happily in your garden and I love the picture of Paco with his little pink tongue. Our dog chose to drink from the birdbath although I always put fresh water in the garden for her if it was hot.

Thank you for visiting my blog earlier in the week and leaving a lovely comment on my card. Enjoy your week. Barbxx

craftyani said...

Love the family clock. I have a stephanotis in a large pot trailing up by the front door. Last year I had numerous seed pods on it but wasn't sure how to use them, any ideas? I did try planting some of the seeds but they didn't take. My cats and dog drink any water available even the water in the plant pot trays, even though they all have fresh water in their bowls. yuck.

Virginia said...

Ah fab post, hope you are having some fabulous times with your son being over. I love what you've done with the clock - it looks fantastic and that vinyl is seriously cool too. We have a cat lives next door and despite her owners putting out tap water she spends most of her time going to our outdoor bubble pond, or anything that has gathered rainwater! Cats are crazy sometimes. Loving the flowers as well - really need to do something with our garden to brighten it up. Hope you have a fabulous weekend and week ahead!

Lilly's Mom said...

Greetings Kate from scorching southern California. I love the picture of your cat drinking from the pool. My Lilly does the same thing and the water never seems to bother her. Your clock turned out perfect. The design and layout is beautiful. Enjoy your visit with your dear son. Mine left last week and its so quiet here now. My best to you, Pat xx

kiwimeskreations said...

Loving all your garden photos Kate :-) Hav fun with Tom visiting.
I do know what you mean about cats and their water - ours loves the (yuk) pond water over the clean bowl(s) of water inside....
Blesssings
Maxine...

Sue Jones said...

What a fab clock! Love all the flower photos and sunshine :) Enjoy the visit and have a great week . Soojay x

JoZart Designs said...

Lovely photos and so nice to have your latest visitor. Love your clock and YES! time spent with family is worth every minute and saying that, I'm off to Germany tomorrow to be with some of mine! Short message as I haven't yet packed and I don't know how it's all going to fit in the cases! Panicking.
Jo x

Twiglet said...

Your clock is really lovely Kate - oh so true. Great pics of the garden plants too, especially the stephanotis. Have a fab time with all your family. x Jo

Shaz in Oz.CalligraphyCards said...

Ahh wonderful post Kate, ... Love the pool and family to visit are special, always...

And that clock, now that is very clever and well done too, great way to justify crafty stash creating something like that.. Superb keepsake.
Love all the flowers and plants too, and great when you finally get something to thrive isn't it?
Thanks for popping over too, happy smile's day, a little late,
Shaz in Oz.x

{Calligraphy Cards - Shaz in Oz}


Hettie said...

Gorgeous pics this week Kate. I was thinking of you yesterday when Hubby and I came back from Salisbury. I was looking at the cloud formations. First there was a chevron pattern in the sky and a little later I saw two swimmers. I got the camera out and we had a long stretch of trees before I could try and get a shot, but the top swimmer had all but gone. A few minutes later the bottom swimmer had turned into an angel. then when we were nearly home there was a dove. Unfortunately I only have one photo but it is not very clear due to moving car!!
As for your cat, our dog likes to drink out of dirty pots and lids too!!
Hugs
xx

Robyn Oliver said...

Hi Kate... I did read your post over the weekend and then didn't make a comment. I actually showed your clock to my friend, we think it's fabulous. Enjoy your sons visit, you always have an interesting week with lovely photos, cheers Robyn