Homemade garden art

A year ago my daughter gave me a 4x4 for Mothers Day.  How can I not love someone who knows me so well?  We had been admiring “art poles” at a local nursery, and threatening to make something similar ourselves.   So she bought a 4x4 for each of us to jump-start the creative process.  As usual, she had a group of three posts--painted in bright colors and adorned with birdhouses--installed in her yard within a couple of months, whereas I dragged my feet and only got mine put up last week.

It was great fun painting them but I didn’t know how well they would stand up to rain and wind, especially with a plant on top of one of them and a “bird bath” on another one. So far so good, even with two thunderstorms.

Now I’m inspired to get back into furniture painting, because it is so relaxing and uses a different part of my brain from the writing/editing work I still do part time.

Finally, it froze!

Loquat in bloom December 2.

In keeping with the weird weather trend, we got our first freeze on January 9 — pretty late in the season. It was a long, mild fall. In early December our loquat tree bloomed. We’ve lived here for 12 years and only twice have we gotten fruit from that tree.  Don't like loquats, so both times I put a notice on our neighborhood list and somebody came and picked them.  Anyway, according to Aggie horticulture, if temperatures stay above 27 degrees we will probably get fruit in late winter/early spring.  The tree itself is a nice tropical looking landscape plant that survives down to 10 degrees.

Loquat blossoms attracted butterflies and bees.