vrya

Update on the Update

vrya — Sun, 25 Oct 2020 15:26:04 GMT

Elysian Fields has expressed an interest in re-creating the BDB within their site. I'm sure they would welcome any help anyone wants to contribute. Anyone else who wants to incorporate the database into their own site as well, please let me know and I will send you a link to the php/database data archive I sent. I stripped out the personality and left the core functionality, so it should be ready for a fresh take by anyone who wants to give it a whirl. I just skimmed an ebook that looks like it describes the process pretty well, if you're curious.

An update

vrya — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 22:34:20 GMT

Long time, no post. Just wanted to leave a note here yo say that I've finally decided it's time to stop renewing my web hosting account. It would have been 20 years this winter, but for some reason the account expires Oct 22, so doesn't quite make a nice even number, but still... crazy. 25 years old then, 45 now!

In case anyone is going to miss the Buffyverse Dialogue Database, I have a little farewell gift available for download via We Transfer. If the link is expired, let me know, I'll get it to you. I think this one will last through the 25th.

My master muffin recipe, in a web form

vrya — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 00:29:13 GMT

I know, I know, I never post anymore. But suddenly I realized I have been up to something some of you might be interested in, so I present:

The Muffinator.

Basically I took the base muffin recipe that I've been using for years and turned it into a web form allowing you to generate (get it, Muffin(gener)ator? okay, a little weak, but I still like it!) a custom recipe based on what version you want to make today. Also you can do do a test batch, then come back to a bookmark of your settings and up the quantity to make it in quantity without any of that pesky math.

Since I launched it a few weeks ago, every time I make a new batch of something, I take a picture and upload it to flickr.

(more info here along with the cool flash-based photo album that livejournal is not letting me put here where I wanted it)

So, if you're interested, have a look. I'm calling it "beta" because I haven't gotten any feedback but my own as to how well the code is behaving, but I think it's pretty much there.

Project update

vrya — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 02:07:54 GMT

A few projects from my new(ish) crafty site:

	Owl Kite Print yourself a paper kite and be out flying in no time.
	Friendly Bat Kite Print a small paper kite, perfect for small children and Halloween treats.
	Paper Airplane Kite A simple folded paper plane with a bit of string becomes a small kite for little hands.

	Crockpot Refried Beans Reach for your crockpot and some dried beans rather than your can-opener the next time you're in the mood for some delicious and inexpensive refried beans.
	Cranberry Sugar Cookies Craggy and delicious, simple and unfussy

	Clipart Animal Stickers Churn out a bumper crop of sticker strips for your next kiddie give-away using inexpensive printable address labels.

	Animal Shadow Makers Make 6 quick shadow toys out of cardboard.
	Miss Mouse & Miss Kitty Girly dresses and animal ears, a winning combination in small rag dolls.
	Converting jeans to skinny jeans Grab a pair of jeans from the depths of your closet or a thrift store and make yourself a new pair of skinny jeans.
	3 Hens in a Basket 3 little fleece hens snuggle in a nest.

dabbletree.vrya.net now officially open for business

vrya — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 00:49:28 GMT

I have reinvented my website: Dabbletree. The Buffy Dialogue Database and my fanart/vid site are still there for those in the know, but I'm not linking to them from the domain anymore or adding to them. I've been working hard the last few months to try to get a good base of material up, and of course I'll keep adding as fast as I can. A representative sampling of what's there so far:

Low-Key Pizza: Homemade pizza, from scratch, but with a laid-back attitude. A fabulous crisp crust without the stand-mixers, food-processers, hand-kneading, pizza stones, pizza peels, or lengthy preheat times. A bowl, an aluminum pan and some patience is all you need. Other dinner ideas: Chili-mac casserole, Potato/Beef/Veggie casserole, Cast-iron frying pan split chicken breast.

Magic Bread Box Bake yeast bread on any busy day of the week with a bit of dough from your Magic Bread Box. Or wow your next potluck with potato focaccia or brunch with sweet potato waffles.

Colorful Cats Paper Finger Puppets. Great for imaginative play, counting, color identification or just arranging in a line. Also Cat Stickers and Animal Shadow Makers, Butterfly Beads, Butterfly Kite.

Knit Baby Cardigan Knit an adorable little sweater for the newest baby in your world. Top down, with a charted lattice pattern. Or crochet your very own Squeato the Mouse .

Fairy Rag Dolls Turn a few scraps into a charming set of fairy dolls. Or a Cozy Little Penguin or a Soft Little Duck.

Storm at Night Quilt An eye-catching twist on the traditional Storm-at-Sea pattern. Or try Square Panel Quilt. Or use the Quilt Calculator to plan your own quilt.

Draw Inkscape patterns Learn to draw patterns (or anything, really) with Inkscape, a free vector based drawing program or make collages with Picasa, another free program you should have! There's also my book on Photoshop Masks, an expansion on one of my more popular tutorials from back in the day.

This is a commercial venture in that this is my first site ever with advertising, and there are a few things for sale, too. Much as I was reluctant to sell out, it was necessary. Plus it's great motivation to keep the projects coming. It's going slower than I had hoped with just an hour or so of computer time a day, but at least I feel like I'm making some progress and I've still got a whole ton of ideas for articles.

vrya — Sat, 07 May 2011 19:53:43 GMT

In honor of mother's day, I bought 1 very mom-ish one-piece bathing suit. And 3 bikini tops with "wardrobe failure!" written all over them. Or possibly "sun burn city!" Now if we could actually get some warm weather sometime this decade, we will see which I will actually decide to wear in public...

Garden 2011

vrya — Fri, 06 May 2011 01:45:20 GMT

It's not much, but it's a start:

This month's natural gas bill contained the interesting tidbit of information that April 2011's average temperature was 7 degrees colder than last year's April, which I had suspected. Everything's a bit behind. But it's coming up! The chives as usual are my front runners, with a fair number of buds already. The creeping thyme already looks amazing. I thought the oregano and strawberries were gonners, but they are edging back. Not as nicely as the ones I've seen in other inground gardens in the neighborhood, but I'll take what I can get up here. I wasn't expecting to see the agastache back after the mint (mint! I thought you could not kill that stuff!) didn't make it through last year, but it's sprouting nicely. As are most of the seeds I planted in my winter-sowing experiment and a host of candytuft volunteers. I've got a tray full of seedlings under lights inside and several windowsills full of mangy over-wintered plants that are only just finally starting to look a little less mangy, so the weather outside can not get warmer soon enough! Now let's hope it can all survive a little over-enthusiastic watering from a 2 year old...

Summer Bulb Timing

vrya — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 02:24:05 GMT

Google fu is failing me! I've been all over the internet trying to figure out exactly what is meant when you are instructed to plant a summer bulb in "spring". Late spring, after the last frost date? Which here in Chicago might as well be called early summer? Or much earlier, when you start seeing crocuses and it still might snow? Somewhere in between?

I was really hoping I could find some sort of marker, either temperatures or an idea of what else will be going on in the plant world at the appropriate time. Or maybe it doesn't matter that much? I'm trying to decide whether to wait to plant my ismene and sparaxis bulbs outdoors or whether I should go ahead and do so indoors now or maybe wait a little longer, say, 6 weeks before the last frost date. I never seem to have much luck with bulbs. It seems like it should be easy, but somehow something always goes wrong.

Maybe I'll just have to be scientific. Plant some now, wait a bit, plant some more later, do some inside, some out and just observe what happens. But it irks me that I can't find a straight-forward answer to what seems to be a basic question after a half hour of search. Surely there was something more productive I could have been doing with this time!

Gardening Notes: Indoor Seed Starting

vrya — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 02:22:50 GMT

I can't believe it's almost time to start planting indoors again. Seems like
a good time to look back at last year's methods and make a few plans for this
year.

My big innovation last year was a jury-rigged heat mat. I had some very
low wattage Christmas lights sitting around, so I thought I would see what I
could come up with. Tried a bunch of different things before settling with
some trepidation on stuffing them in a double-sized strawberry
container. On that I placed a metal cookie sheet and then on top, more
recycled containers with peat pellets in them. Fire hazard, you say?
Yeah, like I said, nervous. But to my amazement those lights barely put
out any heat. Even after they'd been on for a couple of hours, you could
open the container and touch one and it barely felt warm. Certainly not
hot enough to melt any plastic or otherwise cause any shorts. But just
warm enough to raise the temperature in the enclosed containers on the metal
tray by 5-10 degrees. And that was apparently just what the seeds wanted,
because they sprung up a lot faster than I'm used to. Signs of germination
in 3-ish days in most cases. Nice!

Ah peat pellets. I love how easy they are to deal with indoors.
Just soak in water and done. Considering how not-thrilled I am about
having potting soil on my kitchen counter, falling on my floor, clogging up my
sink, etc, it's almost a no-brainer.

And if I was just going to put plants this size out, they would be perfect.

But our season is short, and I need to put out bigger plants. Which
means before it's warm enough to chuck them outdoors (or do any potting
outdoors, not that I think my downstairs neighbors like dirt raining down
through the cracks in my deck to theirs any more than I like it in my
kitchen) I've got to mess with dirt anyway. A little dirt in the bottom of
a cup then plunk a peat pellet on top, not a big deal, but still.

But before you know it, they're starting to outgrow those cups too.
Sigh.

So this year, I'm leaning towards just going with the bigger 6oz yogurt cups
to begin with. Maybe this will also stop me from overplanting, and
resulting in a vast tangled jungle of overcrowded plants (see above!).
Because if I start with the big cups to begin with, I will know exactly how much
room I have available for good sized plants. As opposed to the boundless
optimism about my ability to bend the laws of time and space when starting out
with wee little peat pellets. I'm considering putting regular potting soil
with fertilizer in the bottom of the cup and then seed starting mix at the
top. That way, as the plants grow bigger and start needing the fertilizer,
they'll be able to reach it. And I won't have to repot 3
times. Sounds good in theory. We'll see if my patience for dirty
tasks in the kitchen is up to it.

The other thing I did last year for the first time was winter sowing. I only had a 25% success
rate, but I think that was largely due to my choice of seeds. Also, I
found that slits cut in the top of the strawberry containers and even the big
vent holes that come built in where not sufficient to let in water. It
would be raining like crazy, and that soil would be bone dry. I guess the
slits were not wide enough, but you would think the vent holes would have
worked. And because they were just set on the deck, the water didn't stick
around long enough to be absorbed up through the drainage holes. So I had
to do a lot of manual watering in the cold, which I didn't like too much.
Still, it's a neat idea and I'm game to try again. I had my first sprouts
(golden alyssum) on March 15th last year, so I better get on that. I have
a few out already, but I'm not confident about the design. I used the 32oz
yogurt cups and then cut off the bottom of a soda bottle and stuck it on the
top. The bottle neck might let in enough water, but then again, maybe
not.

ETA: After re-reading the overwintering tips on-line, I'm reconsidering. The point of the holes at the top seems to be more about letting moisture out than in, so maybe the problem was that I had too many holes too early. In which case the soda bottles should be fine. I guess we'll find out!

Now if Target and Dollar Tree would just set out their seed displays so I
don't have to make a separate trip to Home Depot...

craftiness

vrya — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 13:08:51 GMT

A few weeks ago, a friend introduced me to
oneprettything.com. I don't know whether to thank her or shake my fist angrily, because wow. This site is seriously dangerous to someone like me who never met a craft she didn't want to try. So far I seem to be spending more time obsessively saving links to projects to try in the near future than actually crafting. Yay? But I suspect this is only temperorary, because I have now finished a round of baby-shower projects and only have a few more Isabel pre-trip projects to get through this month. And then, who knows? Anyway, I thought I'd share the link in case anyone else is looking to kill a lot of time...

On last night's events

vrya — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 13:16:15 GMT

I think Isabel summed it up best: "You ate all the superbowl!"

And then we put her to bed at half-time, and, well, there were no more snacks and no more stomach room to put them anyway, so we didn't get around to going back and watching until the last 2 minutes. The commercials are fun, but really, it's all about the snacks...

Garden Notes: Garlic Chives

vrya — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 02:16:41 GMT

Heady with the success of my first over-wintering of regular chives the
previous spring, I planted garlic chives in the summer (2009) that overwintered
and bloomed this summer. The show was not spectacular, just a half dozen pretty
little flower heads nodding in near isolation, but hopefully when they are a
little older they will look more like the established clumps I've seen.

I planted the seeds in little folded paper pots made out of standard copy
paper. It was hard and messy to fill them, but I liked how they looked, and it
worked well. Maybe someday when I have some place other than my kitchen counter
for playing with dirt...

They started poking out in mid March, and a month later they were already
looking pretty robust:

Still, they spent most of the summer as a pretty minor, but
nice, vertical element amongst the mixed plantings.

The flower heads did last quite a long time when they did come, in late
August and September, and they were pretty resilient in the face of marked
Toddler Interest. I never actually got around to EATING any, though, I
realized when it was too late, so I cannot atest to their garlickyness, but if I
had an in ground herb garden, I would certainly make room for a nice big patch
of them just for the flowers alone.

Garden Notes: Agastache

vrya — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 13:04:38 GMT

Agastache (labelled "Korean Hyssop" on the seed packet) was another new plant
for me this year. I'll tell you this: this is a toddler-approved and
toddler-tough plant. Not only did Isabel love saying "agastache" (once she
finally decided to start talking, anyway!) she adored batting the flower heads
around. Which I did not mind, because (A) they could take it and (B) her hands
always smelled delishiously minty afterwards.

Now these flowers are clearly not anything to write home about visually
speaking, but they did provide a much needed vertical element in the spots I had
them, so I'm not going to knock their less than runway-ready looks.

The plants themselves grew to be on the spindly side, with long gaps between
the leaves as they got older. However, I think this was an artifact of my
balcony lighting situation (full sun from sunrise to around one-ish, then deep
shade from the building) as I saw several patches growing in the ground looking
very stocky and quite nice. And when they were younger (above, with first flower
in mid June) they were denser. The leaves with their scallopped edges are
quite pretty, and they were cute perky little seedlings way back when:

As the flower stalks gradually dried up, the heads fill with seeds that fall
pretty easily with said toddler batting, so I'm expecting a whole crew of
volunteers next year. They're not the most spectacular dried flower heads, but
they are not bad looking either, and again, vertical element, always nice.

Gardening Notes: Basil

vrya — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 13:05:32 GMT

The older I get, the more I enjoy cooking, and the more I like to experiment
and learn new things. One thing I'm interested in doing more of is working with
fresh herbs, but if herb plants are going to insist on being as pretty as my
basil was this year, that's going to have to wait until I have room for more
than a few pot-fulls! I could never convince myself to harvest more than a few
little stalks here and there, and I certainly didn't want to stop them from
going into flower!

Naturally I started these indoors, where the color was not nearly as intense:

It didn't take long out in the sun for them to turn a rich purple.

I really liked the pink flowers against the dark leaves. And of course
the smell!

Here they are in a mixed planter, poking up behind the sweet potato
vine. Good pairing, I think. Behind them I had a few green leaf
basils. These happened to grow a bit taller, so it worked out
perfect. The seeds for those came from (of all places!) a cracker box
(Triscuit, I think?) where they were embedded in a piece of cardboard as part of
some sort of advertising campaign. There were only maybe 10 seeds, but
they grew beautifully too and now I have envelope full of seeds for next
year. Thanks, Nabisco!

I think my only note-to-self on the basil this year is: more! Maybe then I'll be able to convince myself to actually try cooking with some. Though I think the green is better for that anyway than the pretty pretty purple, so maybe I'll have some success. Especially if I plant a few pots of JUST basil so that it will feel less like I'm spoiling the view when I harvest.

Garden Notes: Lobelia

vrya — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 02:18:53 GMT

I am a big fan of annual lobelia. Last season was my 2nd year growing
them, and I would be surprised if there's ever a year I decide to take a
pass. Such a great filler plant. This variety is Crystal Palace. I'd like to try some other
colors just for variety, but I really love this intense blue.

I also love how tiny tiny these little seedlings start out before sprawling
everywhere as they grow.

Last year, I started them on February 20th, which in retrospect was a
bit early. Here they are a month later, already starting to look like
themselves:

By the 7 week mark, I had to coral the peat pellets in yogurt cups to
stop the roots from growing into each other:

By 10 weeks (which was about the time the weather outside was ready to start
hardening them off) I had a jungle on my hand. A pretty jungle, but a
mess, nonetheless.

I had to resort to bundle the plants up with a bit of string to try to keep
them from tangling with their neighbors too much and getting all ripped up
everytime I needed to rearrange them under the lights.

Although, a few weeks later when I was ready to put them out, I did have some
good sized plants ready to get off to a good start. If I had more lighted
space indoors, this would be great, but I think I'm going to have to be a little
more patient this year and start later. I do have a couple that have been
doing okay on the windowsill all winter, so there's a little room for a few
bigger plants, but not all of the ones I want!

I also have to do a better job of trimming them after the first
flush of bloom. I dawdled and there was some scraggliness towards the
middle and end of summer.

Gardening Notes: Alternanthera (ficoidea?)

vrya — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 02:10:16 GMT

I'm afraid I shamefully stole this plant. 2 years ago, the fall frost was coming, and there was this gorgeous red-leafed plant in the planter outside our condo building, and I did not in fact bother asking the condo president if it was okay to take a little cutting from the back of all this lush foliage before I did it. So I don't actually know what kind of alternanthera it is, though it really looks like ficoidea "red threads" to me.

It rooted easily enough, limped on through the winter, and then got tucked in the back of a mixed planter and quickly overshadowed by its companions. I was surprised to see how big it had gotten when I finally did notice it, and promptly took several more cuttings for overwintering last winter. This time I did much better indoors, and by spring time I had quite a few attractive plants to put out.

I tried them in a mixed planter with a black sweet potato vine, and also with the afore-mentioned candytuft, both of which were okay, but I still don't feel I've found the right companion for them. When they get enough sun, they are a beautiful, brilliant red, and they grow and self-layer like gangbusters. I took a lot of cuttings in fall, and now they are all over my windowsills and doing just fine. Last year I kind of let them get out of hand by not trimming them, and by the end there was a lot of long long stems, all tangled up and hard to deal with.

This year I've been trimming them back to a manageable size, and they are looking good. Now I just have to figure out what to pair them with...

Gardening Notes: Annual Candytuft

vrya — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 02:22:24 GMT

Candytuft was a new plant for me this year. Every description I’d read said “Easy to Grow!” and “May Be Started Indoors!” They failed to mention that those two statements, though they might well be true individually, where NOT true in tandem.

All my other little seedlings are chugging along with vim and vigour, and what do I have to show for 6 weeks of patience? This:

I had initially planted them one seedling to a peat pellet, but quickly saw that they needed company and combined them into yogurt cups. The stems got so long and spindly that a harsh word would cause them to snap. And since they were overflowing their cups in a crowded environment, they were constantly getting mangled. I managed to stem the damage a bit with the drinking straw & twist-tie arrangment shown above, but the survivors were just barely limping on.

I started some more in a peat pot on the windowsill 6 weeks before the last frost date and was very careful to move them as little as possible and give them plenty of space, and these did much better, but they were still fragile for my taste. But somehow I managed to have 4 pots worth to set out.

Once they got themselves established in a windowbox, they actually did surprisingly well. They are in the center in the pictures below, flanked by alternanthera.

Late June:

Late August:

They had a fair number of flowers, mostly this purpleish color. I had been hoping the white from the mix would dominate, but no such luck. Still, this wasn’t bad, and the leaves were quite nice once they’d filled out, and not nearly as fragile anymore. I thought the seedheads were quite interesting looking.

In the early fall, I tried planting some of the seeds I’d collected from the plants indoors to see if they would germinate, and they sat and did nothing. Having read they needed cool temps, I tried just chucking them outdoors. I think at that point the nights were in the 40s and the days in the 50s, and in a few days SPROING! Up they came. So, I think if I try to grow these again next year (which I probably will, because I’m stubborn like that) I will be sowing outdoors.

and while we're blathering on about gardening...

vrya — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 20:44:07 GMT

Now here's a level organization I can respect, if not emulate. Talk to me again when I have an inground garden to work with, though...

Gardening Notes:

vrya — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 20:36:03 GMT

Behold, the humble marigold! As you might expect, I had no problems growing these little 10 inch dwarf marigolds from the 4/$1 seeds at Dollar Tree. They sprung right up and dutifully started pumping out yellow flowers 2 months from planting and kept right at it until the cold got to be too much for them.

Every once in a while I see a mass planting that I like, but for the most part, every time I walk by a business or house with tidy little rows of marigolds (or petunias) like a bunch of fake flowers poked into a sea of mulch, I cringe. It’s a shame, because really, they’re very pretty flowers, and I hate to feel myself being prejudiced against them just because they are involved in so many landscaping abuses.

It turns out that mixed in with other plants, I really like how they get along and add a nice spark of color. I think I would have preferred the single kind, but for 25 cents, I’m not complaining.

They did a good job taking over from the Dwarf Morning Glory when that petered out, and Isabel loved looking and poking at them. I showed her how to open up the dried heads and look for the “baby marigolds” inside and she was very interested.

Gardening Notes: Hyacinth Bean

vrya — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 20:01:48 GMT

I accidently planted these fast-growing, heat-loving plants inside in January. How do you accidently plant seeds? I had bought them from Park Seeds a couple of years previously, and had them not do much of anything, but I wanted to give them another try so I thought I would see if they would still germinate. So I did a viability test in a paper towel, and they all sprouted. The seedlings were so robust and perky that I didn’t have the heart to trash them, so I put them in my bathroom window and hoped for the best.

It looked just like those grade school projects where you germinate a dried supermarket bean. They did really well for a long time, beautiful green leaves and lots of them, and they even provided some April flowers for my table.

But no amount of root trimming and top trimming would keep them happy in soda bottles forever, and by the time it was warm enough to set them outside, they were looking pretty shabby with mottled, worn-looking leaves.

I planted a few more later on, and even managed to root some cuttings off the first plants, so in the end I had about 7 plants, divided between the two pots. For a long time I didn’t like looking at that corner of the balcony, because they were not doing all that I had hoped they do to block my view of the air-conditioning unit.

And then I guess it finally got warm enough for them, because they started to grow.

And grow.

And grow! Grow! Grow!

The flowers are beautiful, abundant and very fragrant. I don’t have a refined sense of smell, so I can’t tell you what they smell like, but it’s good! They last a pretty long time, too, and then you get these beautiful shiny purplish-red seedpods.

Those last a while too, and then they shrivel up and get hard and you can pick them and in theory plant anew next season. Lots and lots of sources I checked said the pods were edible. One source, however said they became poisonous at some point, and while I doubt it, I didn’t feel like being adventurous. I understand that in warmer climes they are perennials and can grown really super massive. Mine made it a good 8 feet, which was plenty for me!

I kept my eye out on my walks around the neighborhood, and I did eventually find one other house with hyacinth bean growing visibly. It was even more robust than mine, climbing on a fence, and it lasted longer too. I think we can chalk that up to “trying to grow a big plant in a little pot” again, but I’m still pretty happy with the show I got. It looked lush and pretty for a good 2 or 3 months. Next year I think I will put the pots near the edge of the balcony and get it to grow on the railing rather than up to the light fixture. And of course, I will not plant so early! 4 weeks before the last frost date ought to do it for inside, and then maybe some outside as I would if I were doing regular edible beans.

Gardening Journal 2010: Morning Glories

vrya — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 01:53:25 GMT

Next up: Morning Glories, Heavenly Blue

I started my morning glories indoors at the same time as the Dwarf Morning Glories, but unlike the latter, they really took off running. I planted them in soda bottles, cut in half with the top half inverted and resting in the bottom half, and it wasn’t long before I was worried about them toppling over because they are none to stable with long stems flopping out of them.

By the time planting time came 6 weeks later, there was several feet of stem to contend with, and it was not easy getting them planted on a windy day.
I’m still considering my options for next year: (A) plant at the same time, but keep trimming them back to a manageable size (B) plant later (C) winter-sow (D) sow outdoors early under plastic in a cheapie approximation of a cold frame. I may well try all 4…

I don’t have a good picture, but I put these 2 or 3 plants to a smallish pot. 8 inches? Something like that. I wedged them behind the larger pots, right next to the balcony rail, to which I have attached 3 metal trellises from Jo-Ann.

There were a lot of days in June where they boasted a dozen or more blooms.
As you can see, not many leaves, and while the flower show was spectacular for a while, it did not last.

Meanwhile, on ground level all around the neighborhood, I got plenty of examples of what they could look like. Lots of leaves, lasting through the summer, etc. Part of it may be that the Heavenly Blue variety is not as robust as the purple varieties that dominate around here. Part of it could be all the wind up so high where I am. But I think the biggest problem was too many plants in too small a pot. I tried to compensate with lots of Miracle Grow, but I guess it wasn't enough. So next year, will try to find them more roomy accommodations and see what happens. I also snagged a few seeds from vacant lots boasting pretty white versions. Okay, they're weeds and if I was inground gardening, I'd think twice. But I want to see how they do way up high...

Plant journal

vrya — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 02:34:54 GMT

I had every intention of journalling up my spring gardening experiences this summer before all the details dribbled out of my brain, in the hopes of incorporating what I learned into the next round. Today I received my first spring seed catalog in the mail and realized that, uh-oh, it's now or never! So I'm going to try to do a little bit every few days here on LJ, in attempt to summon up some motivation.

A brief summary: I garden on a 3rd floor balcony, eastern exposure, in zone 5. Since it's so high up and exposed, I suspect it's more like zone 4, at least in winter. This year I grew everything from seed, except for a few plants overwintered outdoors and a few cuttings overwintered indoors.

Today, we are starting with: Dwarf Morning Glory (Convolvulus Tricolor, Blue Enchantment)

I planted these indoors in peat pots 6 weeks before the last frost date. They were nice, sturdy little seedlings, but they took their sweet time getting bigger, and then it felt like I was waiting forever for that first flower, about 10 weeks later. I guess in retrospect it wasn't that long, but next year I will start these earlier.

This is what they looked like just before planting out at 6 weeks:

When they did start blooming, however, they looked fantastic with the blue lobelia, white/purple allysum and yellow marigolds.

The problem was that as they aged, the bottoms of the stems got really unattractive.

All the descriptions I'd read said they were "trailing" but mine wanted to go upright. They just weren't strong enough to pull it off, and so you got all this ugly U-shaped stems and listing tops. I had placed them at the edge of the pots because of the trailing description, but I think next year I'm going to try alternating them with the marigolds in the middlish and see if that will give them enough support to stand tall. The marigolds I used were a bit shorter, so I think I should get a nice effect with the dwarf morning glories floating above. That's the theory, anyway!

misc craftiness and photos

vrya — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 01:52:32 GMT

Happy Holidays! In honor of the occasion, here are some pictures of a toddler who miraculously stood still, and somewhat in the vicinity of our tree, long enough for me to get some semi-festive pictures. What were the odds?

I should be doing any number of responsible things right now, but I thought I'd start the new year off right with some more of the same old procrastination. So, pictures!

A very plain jane sweater I made for Isabel a few months ago. She now owns 3 white sweaters, what in the world was I thinking? Everything should be red (tomato sauce) or yellow (mustard) for maximum stain-avoidance...

More utilitarian, this time, toddler mittens. Which she will sometimes even wear for upwards of 5 minutes. 10 is pushing it, though!

And one last Isabel-related craft, a little barn (about the size of a tissue paper box) for her latest round of plastic animals. Cardboard with fabric glued to it, and surprisingly sturdy. Not terribly popular with the toddler contingent, I'm afraid. Maybe she doesn't like the way the door sashing came out either? Hopefully she will change her mind eventually, because I'd like to make a bigger better one one of these days. And we have a LOT of little animals to house; only 20 on the loose so far, but after the Christmas haul, there are a total of 60, most of which I am waiting to introduce into the wild one or two at a time...

Made this building set for my 4 year old nephew. No reports yet, so I assume it is still buried under a lot of more flashy christmas and birthday presents. Go the idea from Made by Joel, but I wanted to add a double-wide shape to extend the building possabilities, and diamond ones to mix it up visually a bit. Patterns printed on construction paper and glued to cereal boxes.

Cookie wreath made as a gift for my gym instructor. Super fun to make, and so pretty!

And now, for a little segment I like to call spot the 70s photography!

fairy dolls

vrya — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 20:59:35 GMT

As I am about to start the holiday round of crafting, I remembered that I haven't posted anything from the last round. So here's a quick image:

These are Violet & Marina, made for Isabel's 2nd birthday back in October. I started early and it was STILL down to the wire. 20 minutes here and there -- usually when my head was already muddled by almost-bedtime-coma -- doesn't get you very far very fast!

Shopping success

vrya — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 22:25:58 GMT

Today is a red letter day, because today... [dramatic pause] ... I bought 3 pairs of jeans! Normally, I take an armful of pants into a changing room and emerge disappointed and frustrated and this is how it has come to pass that I have not bought a new pair of pants in 5 years. But the situation was starting to get dire. Between the pregnancy, the post-pregnancy and the previous slow melt on the post-college bulge that started when I gradually started to eat better back in 2004, I have been a lot of sizes as I amassed my current collection, so very little fits quite right anymore. But in the last month 3 of my favorite pairs all started getting holes in the knees, so I knew I had put off the shopping as long as I could.

And maybe I'm being a little cocky celebrating after one successful shopping trip, but I think I have found THE METHOD. The one that gets me pants that fit with minimum fuss. And all because I recently found a large chain thrift store nearby (which has been GREAT for toddler clothes), and they don't have fitting rooms. So with no chance to try things on, and little faith in the printed sizes, I had to come up with another idea. Despite mommy-brain, it occurred to me that a measuring tape would probably help a lot. So I took my favorite pair of jeans, and took a few key measurements (across the top/waist, waistband to crotch seam on the back, across the thigh from crotch seam to edge). When I compared those measurements to other pants, they were all pretty close. So I figured I was on to something. I made a little strip of paper marked in inches and noted the measurements on there for quick evaluations.

So today I went to the thrift store, and found 3 pairs that fit my measurements, and took them home, and they all did in fact fit, and they cost me $2 each, so I was a happy camper, and I lived happily ever after, the end.

May all your upcoming shopping trips go as well!