2015 wrap-up

Mozzie really didn't need his coat. The pots are soda-fired
made by John Thies and myself. 

It's December 13 and they are predicting temps in the high-60s, unreal. Heading to Rhode Island this week for a quick visit to my 93-yr.-old aunt and with this El Niño weather, there is no fear of getting snowed in there. With this mild weather I could have still been harvesting kale, carrots and leeks had I not cleared out and Tim leaf-mulched all the garden beds.

Before the year's end I thought I'd mention some of this past year's highlights in and around the home. It was a good garden year for some vegetables, the containers and perennial beds. As for the tomatoes, onions and garlic, I have had bigger yields in the past. I battled with the squirrels who ate my tomatoes, who dug out onions and garlic just because they could, and the new raised bed lacked the sunlight for some of these as well. However, the peppers, kale, leeks, carrots, pickles, beans and herbs were mass-producers. Made lots of pickles, garlic dill and sweet refrigerator kinds, several times this summer and many jars were handed out. The garden season ended with freezing herbs and beans, making a couple of batches of potato leek soup (not my potatoes, I don't have the space) and enjoying my sweet carrots, glazed and also in stew.

Living room ceiling, before

Living room, after

This year Christopher completed a lot of projects both inside and outside the home. My favorite one has to be the modified coffered ceiling in the living room. It had been on my wish list for some time. The ceiling had a sprayed texture (not quite popcorn) and it bugged me. I also scraped this texture off the dining room ceiling so Christopher also ended up working in that room as well. Other projects he completed were a new Pella sliding door for the family room, backyard privacy fencing, roof gutter guards, a hood vent over the stove, and ceramic tile flooring in the enclosed breezeway area. There were some little projects he did as well, too numerous to mention. The one project we had done that Christopher did not do was to replace rolled roofing that didn't last eight years with a rubber roof on our large, flat dormer. It was an expensive but necessary expense that pained me. The roofers had to take a photo so I could see it.

We sure won't be moving anytime soon.

Here's wishing everyone a merry Christmas and a wonderful 2016 full of great yields of anything you desire.

The backyard and pottery studio, early summer 2015