#WeekendCoffeeShare: Last of 2021 Gardening and Weird Numbers Nightmares


Hello and welcome. Come on in and let’s talk but first, we must have drinks. I’m in the mood for a mug of hot chocolate, how about you?

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#WeekendCoffeeShare: So much for getting off work early


Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Hello and welcome. Come on in. What do you fancy today? Tea, coffee?

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#WeekendCoffeeShare: Front Yard Project Update


Hello and welcome. Come on in. Can you believe it’s the last weekend of October?

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#WeekendCoffeeShare: Update on Rose Propagation


Hello and welcome. Come on in. It’s once again a wet chilly October morning. There will be rain in my neck of the woods today and you know what it means? Hot drink!

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#WeekendCoffeeShare: The Million Stresses of Life


Hello and welcome. Come on in from the cold and have a hot drink with me.

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#WeekendCoffeeShare: Garden Update and Front Yard Transformation So far


Good morning or afternoon and welcome. Coffee? Tea?

If we were having coffee, I would tell you the one word I would use to describe this week – unmotivated. Why? For so many reasons which I detailed in my Friday Thoughts post. Oh, and unfortunately, I’m working today. I can usually get things done with some overtime during the week but this is urgent matter, apparently, the boss wants all September invoices done ASAP and I’ll just work the weekend to get it all done.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you it looks like winter might be arriving early this year. There’s been heavy rain this week, rain we desperate need. Unfortunately, it’s accompanied by wind. It always is. Thankfully, there weren’t too much damage this time.

According to the weather forecast, first frost of 2021 might be arriving next week. I’m nervous about that and it’s got me ordering frost blankets for my plants and I even got one for my 7-tier planter, which, if I might say, is not doing too bad. I have some seedling that should be ready to transfer today or tomorrow, granted if it stops raining.

My 5-tier planter might be done for the year next week when the temperature dips below 32 degree-F (0 degree-C). The only thing left in there are marigolds, cosmos, tomatoes, and sunflower. I pulled out the cucumbers and overwintered my peppers this week. This 7-tier planter has my cool weather plants – lettuces and other leafy greens – which should survive a little longer with the assistance of a frost blanket.

If we were having coffee, I would show you the before and after of my front yard.

It’s been a ride with this front yard – full of hard work, anger, and frustration. This is definitely not what I had planned in the beginning. This is more of mom’s vision than mine. I had never envision so many red bricks nor did I imagine red bricks planters. Once again, mom took over but then it was the only way to get help as her family will only help her, not me. It’s never me.

Mom is feeling like a hero right now. She keeps saying, “If it weren’t for me, you’d never get it done. It’d never look so pretty.” The way she says that makes me not want to help anyone. It’s all one-sided anyway. I help them, they’d never help me in return, not unless mom’s present.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you I know what you’re thinking. The yard is missing something – rocks. I’m waiting on it. The 17 tons (no joke) of rocks will be delivered on 20th of this month. So I’ll have an update on this soon.

I do hope it stops raining though so I can go out and plant some spring flower bulbs in the planters.

I would thank you for joining me in this edition of #weekendcoffeeshare and hope we’ll both return next week.

#WeekendCoffeeShare: Caution: Rough Seas Ahead


Photo by karl chor on Unsplash

Good morning or afternoon and welcome. Coffee? Tea? It’s either or for me but I’m leaning toward coffee these days, so…

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#WeekendCoffeeShare: Hellish Week


Good morning or afternoon and welcome. Coffee?

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#WeekendCoffeeShare: Lush Planter No More


Good morning or afternoon and welcome.

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#WeekendCoffeeShare: To the Rescue…


Good morning or afternoon and welcome.

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#WeekendCoffeeShare: Fruits of my Labor


Good morning or afternoon, if you’re here in my house, I would offer you something cold and icy because guess what, my neck of the woods is under another heat dome. The high is going to be 97-degrees-Fahrenheit again today (36-degree-Celsius). It’s the middle of August, aren’t we past the hottest part of summer?

I finally got enough cucumbers to make myself two jars of pickles yesterday. These aren’t ready yet. They have to ferment in the fridge for 2 days. I can’t wait to try them. It’s my first time making pickles and my brine consists of apple-cider vinegar, white vinegar, water, sea salt, sugar, black and white peppercorns, and dried thyme. I hope it comes out okay.

I finally had my first and second harvest of cucumbers this week. As of yesterday, I’ve harvested 5 (large) Marketmore 76 cucumbers and 7 (small) Sumter pickling cucumbers. I find I’m not liking the Marketmore 76 cucumbers – its skin is too prickly – while the skin of the Sumter pickling cucumbers has little bumps like the ones you find on the mini-pickles.

And let’s not forget this big guy – 3 pounds 12 ounces. That’s a big zucchini.

I actually procrastinated at picking this guy. I watched this guy grow for 3 days straight and kept telling myself, “Let’s wait one more day.” I need to stop doing that.

Meanwhile, my sweet peppers are doing fantastic in the 5-tier vertical tower. It looks like it likes it there. It’s been such a thrill watching it grow bigger everyday.

I wonder, is this what a mother feels like? Watching her baby grow bigger and bigger each day?

You might think I’m trying to make you jealous, showing off my garden but the truth is I’ve never had a thriving, successful garden like this, ever. So I’m just trying to document it for myself so I can look back in the future and see the fruits of my labor.

I better get going, got a Toastmaster club meeting to get to this morning. I would thank you for joining me in this edition of #weekendcoffeeshare and hope we’ll both return next week.

Stress Talk #9: Just Trying to Do Good


It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these because I haven’t had much time or reason to do one until now.

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Stress Talk #8: System Malfunction


It turned out this past weekend was that time of the year again – tax filing time. I hate that time of the year, right after the health insurance buying period (November 1 – mid-December). Even though she claims she knows more about taxes than me, my mom cannot file a single tax return without calling me over to help.

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Stress Talk #7: Deja Vu


Here we are, number 7 in this series. The last one was right before the new year. I didn’t think I’d do one this week but here we are – first week of 2021 – and I’m already stressed. Surprise, surprise. I almost sleep-walked two nights ago so that’s a sign.

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#WeekendCoffeeShare: Babysitting Duty


Good Monday morning! Welcome to the first #weekendcoffeeshare of 2019! If you will please follow me into the elevator, we will take this little chat up to floor 9. Continue reading “#WeekendCoffeeShare: Babysitting Duty”

#WeekendCoffeeShare: Short Week


Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Good Sunday morning! Thank you for joining me for another edition of #weekendcoffeeshare. Come on in and enjoy a cup of instant coffee with me. Continue reading “#WeekendCoffeeShare: Short Week”

#WeekendCoffeeShare: It’s been a while…


Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Good Sunday morning! Thank you for joining me for another edition of #weekendcoffeeshare. Come on in and enjoy a cup of instant coffee with me. Continue reading “#WeekendCoffeeShare: It’s been a while…”

#WeekendCoffeeShare: So Much to Tell…


Good Saturday morning! Thank you for joining me for another edition of #weekendcoffeeshare. Come on in and enjoy a cup of coffee with me. I have so much to tell you! Continue reading “#WeekendCoffeeShare: So Much to Tell…”

Photo of the Day!


I was experimenting here in this photo. I have been watching YouTube videos, trying to learn photography technique. One of the many photographers I’m following on YouTube suggested instead of taking a general landscape or a macro, why not shooting a photo from a certain perspective? So there I was, attempting to capture the view from the flowers’ perspective.

What do you think?

Please do check out my Instagram profile.

Technical Details

Sony NEX-5T v. 1.00 (f/5.6, 40 mm, ISO-100, 1/160 sec)

Photo of the Day!


Can you believe this? I started planning a road trip more than a month ago and the day has arrived.  Continue reading “Photo of the Day!”

Around the Corner


Since my mom is leaving on a business trip, I’m going to spend the day to help her pack. Please enjoy my selection for this week’s photo challenge and I will catch up when I have time.

Daily Post Photo Challenge

My Top Picks for Cee’s Which Ways #1


As I mentioned in my previous post, I’m exhausted. Continue reading “My Top Picks for Cee’s Which Ways #1”

Photo of the Day!


Today, I decided to post an old (throwback) picture from August of 2015. Continue reading “Photo of the Day!”