It has been a crazy month with lots of hustle and bustle, running hither and yon and trying to keep on an even keel and stay healthy. Not always easy but doable. Early this year I had some great news in regard to my blood work all my numbers were back in the normal range, my main goal was to get my A1C down out of the pre-diabetes range and I'm happy to say I did. When I opened the page with my test results I did a little happy dance and when I saw my doctor a few days later I had to restrain myself to chanting
I told you so. At the end of 2017 she had wanted me to start checking my blood glucose which baffled me because I wasn't diabetic and my numbers did drop a bit so I didn't really understand but I told here if there was no change I would try the daily testing for a few months. Now there is no need. I am currently working on lowering my cholesterol a bit more, even though I am in the normal it has been elevated over the years and as a heart attack survivor I like to keep it in the safest range I can.
On to my garden, with the winter freezes we had here in Florida my garden took a big hit and I lost the majority of my plants when on more than one night the covers used to protect my plants came off in the wee hours of the night and truth to tell on several evenings I didn't check the weather report and missed the freeze warnings and the alerts I usually get via email somehow didn't quite make it through, or maybe I had to sign up again after a year.
On the upside, several of my plants did survive and began blooming in the early days of Spring and are still surprising me this week.
The Jasmine is cold hardy so I was happy to see all those fragrant white flowers appear on the equinox in March.
I bought a few little daffodil plants because they just sing spring and I placed them along side my succulent plants one of which I lost.
The daffodils would be placed on my outside altar later in the week for my spring ritual. I think for once I'm glad to have only container plants for the past two years other wise I would have lost quite a lot more. The 2 rose bushes are gone and so are the 4 hibiscus plants and the mandevilla, so on .
The Orange Canna lily survived the freeze being a perennial makes a big difference but I really thought she was lost than last week she gave me this lovely flower and a few new shoots poking through the soil.
The Mexican petunias have also come back though not all of them but I'm quite glad these did, I cut off all the dead parts and they are just filling out nicely.
Friday I went off to purchase a few plants to add some spring color to the drab front yard. My house is gray so the color is an improvement
The new plants consist of lantana and penta to attract butterflies, lavender and rosemary because I just love them both though I haven't had any luck growing lavender in about 4 years but I keep trying. There is also a lemon balm plant.
This rosemary was just so lush and full I had to buy it, I will transplant all the new plants into the larger pots this week, the bag of soil in my garage I thought was potting soil is actually garden soil, great for flower and vegetable beds but not so great in flower pots. I hope to have a thriving garden in a few weeks.
On the crafting front I have been busy working on my hand embroidered projects, I am still working on the Urban Threads Greenman pattern and happy to say nearly finished with the embroidery.
I'm looking forward to finishing it because my fingers get sore pulling the needle through the extra layer of fabric I have for the backing and the pattern is printed on stitch and wash product and after moving the hoop around it tends to move about and wrinkle at the edges, though smooths back in place easily enough.
My newest hand embroidery is this piece I call
Entering the Forest Clearing on Beltane Eve. Just when I thought the stitching was complete I noticed there was no ground to stand upon. I must have 'erased' the ground when I was pressing out lines when I made a few changes. So literally I am back to the drawing board. Some day I will learn not to make changes midway through my designs.
I am currently reading The Witches of New York by Ami MacKay, as part of the
This book Baba Yaga by Toby Barlow was also read for the challenge last month. It wasn't my cup of tea but I finished it, I think for e I just kept waiting for it to get interesting and it didn't.
http://melissaseclecticbookshelf.com/2018-witches-witchcraft-reading-challenge-sign-up-post-2/
I chose Crone level as my goal which is 16-20 books, as per the rules from the website (link above):
- Any full length book that includes a witch as a main character or includes major witchcraft elements counts. They may be fiction or non-fiction. However, they should not be reference books which are not read cover to cover-I will leave this to your discretion.
I have read a few other books for this challenge though I don't always snap a photo because I am forgetful.
Midsummer Night's Mischief ,Bell Book and Candlemas, Yuletide Homicide all by Jennifer David Hesse, these are a cozy light mystery.
My most recent non-embroidery project was these cute little Goddess/Spirit dolls using craft clothespins, bits of fabric, beads, buttons and charms.
These work up quickly and really have spirit to them. The clay faces are made using a mold and air dry clay.
