Well if this isn’t the most riveting blog update in your feed, then I don’t even…
The cucumber plants are still alive, and they’ve been transplanted (3 of them anyways) and are starting to curiously grow up their vertical cages! wahoo! I thought I might come home to dead cuke plants after being away for the long weekend, but apparently we still continued to get rain in DC while we were gone… and so they survived. HOORAY.
Matt and I are tackling a little project this weekend, some “DIY” if you will. We’re moving our daybed frame (formerly in the back bedroom) to the backyard, with the end goal being something like this pretty picture. So we already have the basic base, but we’re going to waterproof and paint it green, then add the little trellis part floating above. And then reconfigure our string lights around it somehow. I started priming the bed pieces last night and ended up with approximately 54 mosquito bites… so hopefully the rest of the process goes smoother. So the next main question — what to do about the mattress. It’s apparently impossible to buy a waterproof matress cover that will transition and indoor piece to outside, believe me I’ve scoured the internet, including the bedwettingstore.com. How has no one ever done this before? So the options include using the current matress with waterproof sheets for a season, knowing it will likely mildew and need to be tossed… or just lose the matress and get a new outdoor futon mattress and cover from the get-go. Decisions, decisions…
On Sunday evening, after returning from the beach, we finally got around to cleaning up our sad little tree box in front of our house. It had been full of little pieces of trash, leaves, old mulch, out-of-control weeds, and ripped up pieces of soil liner. We stopped at Home Depot and picked up some soil and some flowers, begonias I think, but I’m not good with plant names… And thanks to the two gigantic green potters from Kristy and David, we had a quick little fix to the ugly tree box problem. Matt drilled some small holes in the bottom of the pots for drainage, and we dug out some shallow little holes in the dirt to make the pots sit better. The kids across the street helped with the shoveling part, so we can’t take all the credit! But yeah, we are slowly turning into The Lime Green House. woo hoo! thanks for the pots Kristy! Now we can tell people how to get to our house. Growing up, it was “turn into the driveway with the two white wagon wheels.” Now, we can tell people to “turn when you get to the two neon green pots.”
I’m feeling lucky today! Not sure why though, I haven’t got any Irish in me (that I know of anyways) just some Polish, Hungarian, and a (new-ish) Dutch last name. I am, however, wearing my green bicycle-love shirt from Kookai, that I bought while in Paris, and that just makes me feel happy and lucky today. So that might explain it.
Unrelatedly, this photo was taken at the Florida Ave Market on 4th St NE and it’s about as green as it gets, and so see how I tied all those things together in one blog post?
It’s been somewhat difficult this morning searching for a photo to post. For one, all our photos from the last month are wedding or Paris related. And second, it’s just hard to get back into the regular swing of things. Setting alarms, packing lunches, commuting, figuring out what to make for dinner… there’s got to be something more, right? So anyways, here’s an old shot of some flowers on the hill at Dumbarton Oaks in Georgetown. It’s kinda summing up my mood right now.
Lots of backyard greenery going on here… I love this little oasis! Especially the flower boxes on the very upper railing. Good place to sit and have a cup of morning tea.
Taken on Saturday, October 24th, the worldwide International Day of Climate Change . In our neck of the woods, that included a gathering in Malcolm X Park followed by a mass bike ride to the White House. There were over 5200 similar events around the world. Check out the rest of the photo set here .
On Saturday we checked out the Solar Decathlon houses on the National Mall. Impressive! The lines were long, so we only waited long enough to tour through the interior of the Virginia Tech house (pictured), and yes, it’s as innovative as it looks. There were custom kitchen drawers that folded out to create more counter-space, iPhone controlled home settings, and fold-out privacy panels for the bedroom — they revealed the flat screen TV behind them. Design was in the details! But more importantly, the goal of all the houses was to be energy neutral, meaning no electricity bills! They are being judged on numerous other points, too, like architecture and marketability. The total cost of each house was to come in under $160,000. With more time, I would have liked to see the inside of Cornell’s silo-inspired house. Check them out if you have a chance, today and tomorrow, or the 15th-18th. They are closed for judging on the 14th.
