SHOW & TELL SATURDAY: OUR CRAFTY WEEK

Our condo. We had the lower level.

Okay. That was a teaser. I'm not really going to tell about the week yet, but I will show a few pictures, just of the condo and the four of us.

Aunt Charlotte, Mama, & my daughter December

Me, Mama, and December

Our crafty vacation ended yesterday at noon. December and I made pretty good time--three and a half hours from Redmond, Oregon to home, chattering like magpies all the way, except for times when she was copying recipes from the awesome cookbook I picked up at one of the thrift stores we'd gone to. I finally told her she could just borrow it; I know she'll bring it back.

I was too exhausted by the time I got home to do much of anything except vegetate, especially since we'd taken time before the drive home for a swim and soak in the hot tub. This morning, I got the DH off to his remodel, which is blessedly near being completed, and then rushed to get ready for a Trillium board meeting, after which I went to Value Village (Oh, my. Can you say SCORE?!) and Joann's. Home for a quick bit of lunch, change of clothes, and then off to our friend Bruce's, where I pounded nails in or pulled them out of lumber he'd thrown in the front yard for the burn pile, and loaded them in to the back of my car. Finished that up in time to get home and fix dinner, and yes, I'm even more tired tonight than I was last night!

Almost forgot: Just before jumping into the car to run load wood, I grabbed my camera and got a few shots of the Grandpa Ott morning glories and crocosmia out in the yard:


Aren't they beautiful?

I'm looking forward to tomorrow: I finally got to my email and found out who my partner is for the Decorative Envies postcard and envelope swaps. Oh, I am Smiling!

LOVIN' ON MORNING GLORIES

It isn't politic, I realize, to love morning glories. In fact, two years ago, if you'd told me I was going to turn into a morning glory fan, I'd probably have laughed myself into a prone and helpless position.

That was before Grandp Ott. You're wondering who the heck Grandpa Ott is, aren't you? Well, apparently, he's the guy who walked out into his yard and discovered a gorgeous purple morning glory with a lovely pink center:


It was with a certain amount of trepidation that I watched a friend plant those first Grandpa Ott seeds at the base of the rose arbor, some years ago. She promised me it wasn't invasive, and sure enough, not only was it not invasive, it barely grew. But it sure did have a beautiful flower.

It grew and bloomed exactly once.

Then, year before last, I noticed a little vine over by the clematis. One of those garden miracles had occurred: twenty feet at least from where the seeds had been planted, and a good three years since I'd seen it last, there was another lovely little Grandpa Ott. The vine stayed small that year, and the next.

Last week, I looked out the kitchen window, and saw the top of the clematis arbor awash in a wave of purple:


I'll have to confess, I can't seem to get a really good shot of these. My camera refuses to "see" them as anything but navy blue, and I get the purple into them only by virtue of knowing how to monkey with the color in PhotoShop.

After Grandpa Ott, it was only a matter of time before it occurred to me morning glories might come in other colors than white or purple.

Look what I found!


That's a Japanese Morning Glory assortment. I found the photo, with seeds for sale, at Onalee's.

Further exploration brought me to Hirt's Gardens and this Picotee Blue:


Never again will I think of Morning Glories as only a vegetable snake in the grass, and next year...who knows where the glory will shine?