you were wise to hide
winter’s storms proved autumn’s threats
spring bids reappear
The Daily Post daily prompt: Purple
comeback
1
Author Archives: Maggie C
Weekend Coffee Share 3/25/17
If we were having coffee… well, we wouldn’t be able to make it to the kitchen right now, but I’d invite you around back. I’ve got the hose set up, so I can offer you water. I could wash out that cute little flower pot for a mug.
No? Okay, well come around back anyway, and I’ll show you what I’ve been up to.
Remember that little concrete countertop I poured a couple of weeks ago? Well, I worked on grinding and finishing it this week. And now it’s going to be a very shiny stepping stone for the yard somewhere.
Apparently there’s a kind of sweet spot with concrete finishing, right when it gets that nice smooth sheen, and before it begins getting really shiny and starts revealing even more pits than what one has already sanded out. I was going for a shiny look, and managed to polish my way right past that smooth sweet spot.
With proper training, experience and equipment, I suppose there are subtler nuances between finishing stages, but I lack all of the above. Hey, it was fun, though, and I haven’t given up!
Today, I gave it another go ‘round with a pour-in-place top. Same size as the first one, but this time instead of doing all the dirty work in the garage and then bringing it into the house to install, I built the mold right onto the counter surface and poured the concrete directly into its final resting place, doing all the dirty work in the kitchen.
Hence the inaccessibility. It’s a small space to begin with, but once you’ve pulled both the fridge and the stove away from the walls, and have slopped impromptu concrete speed bumps all over the floor, well… I guess I’ll be going out for my morning coffees this coming week.
I’ll likely remove the forms on Wednesday, and assuming it’s functional, I’ll begin grinding and polishing. This time I’m going for that smooth sheen. Let’s hope I get it right. A girl can only use so many stepping stones.
Have a great week! Maybe I’ll see you at the coffee shop.
P.S. — If you notice that Chules looks a little straggly, it’s because he chose to take on the water hose while I was rinsing off my tools in the back yard. Despite what he tries to claim, I did NOT start a water fight! (I did win it, though. 😉 )
#WeekendCoffeeShare is hosted by Emily at NerdintheBrain.com. Head on over to see what others are sharing this weekend. They probably won’t make you drink from the hose.
equinox
winter slipped away
like snow from a thawing roof
finally it’s spring
The Green Green Glass of Home
Have you hugged your water today?
Yesterday, we observed the International Day of Forests, and I posted some lovely photos of forests to show my appreciation of nature’s beauty.
Today is World Water Day. And while I am posting photos of beautiful water scenes, I want to acknowledge that today is not so much about appreciation as it is about preservation and protection and working to make clean water available for the survival of life on this planet.
This morning as my coffee was percolating – well, dripping – I was running the water in my kitchen sink, waiting for it to turn hot so I could fill my mug to warm it up before pouring my first cup of coffee for the day. I was thinking about what a waste of water this was and thinking about places in the world that are experiencing major droughts right now. But there was a disconnect between watching the clean water swoosh down my drain and finding any way to help those lacking such luxury.
This was before I read that it was World Water Day today. That was before I realized that issues surrounding clean and available water are so much more complex.
The theme for 2017’s World Water Day is “wastewater,” but I’m not going to post photos of that. I worked for a short while at a wastewater treatment plant, and believe me, it’s not pretty.
The World Water Day website states that:
“Globally, over 80% of the wastewater generated by society flows back into the ecosystem without being treated or reused.”
You can check out this fact sheet for additional deplorable statistics, and for the good news of how that can be turned around.
Food for thought today. Or water for thought, I guess.
Have you hugged your forest today?
It’s International Day of Forests today. Here are some of my favorite forested areas. Enjoy:
Lacamas Lake, Camas, WA
Cathedral Tree Trail, Astoria, OR
Mill Creek, WSU campus, Vancouver, WA
Ochoco National Forest, Central Oregon
The kinda big Reveal
Last year I took part in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge using a secondary blog that I was maintaining at the time. The challenge, as described on the A to Z site, is,
“Can you post every day except Sundays during [the] month [of April]? And to up the bar, can you blog thematically from A to Z?”
In other words, on April 1st, the topic for a post would be something beginning with the letter A, and so on ‘til the end of the month when you reach Z. Some bloggers use themes to tie their posts for the month together. I didn’t do that last year, since I only learned of the challenge on April 1st, and was scrambling to come up with the requisite posts, let alone something thematic. But this year…
I decided that if I’m going to barrage readers with daily posts, I’ll keep them short and sweet – well, short anyway. So my “theme” is to write a 5-7-5 poem each day (a poem in the form of three lines with corresponding syllables per line of 5, 7 and 5). Some would call it haiku, and haiku purists would be aghast if you called it haiku. So I’ll just leave it at 5-7-5.
And in keeping with the alphabetical theme, each day’s poem will be on a topic beginning with the assigned letter, AND — just to make it even more challenging — each line of the poem will also begin with the letter of the day.
Confused? Yeah, me too. But with April just around the corner, it will all become clear. I hope.
Bottom line: One month (April), short posts, alphabetical, haiku-ish.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I must
attempt
being
competently
diligent
effecting
future
gaity
here
in
jovial
keeping
like
many
notable
other
posts
quite
recently
such
that
understandably
visitors
won’t
eXit
yawning
Zzzzzzzzzz’s
#Weekend Coffee Share 3/19/17
If we were having coffee, you might notice that the path into my house is ever-so-slightly clearer. As the kitchen makeover progresses, some of the overflow materials, tools, odds and odders are thinning out a bit. Just a bit, though.
Pardon me while I squeeze past the stove that’s been pulled out of place and now sits in the middle of the kitchen, find you a clean coffee mug and try to remember which space of countertop was clear enough to hold the coffee maker this morning.
I poured one of the concrete countertops – just a little one; 24” x 15.5” – and set it in place yesterday to see how I like it. It seems rather thick at two inches, especially for such a small top, but I’ll leave it there for a while to see if I warm up to it. If nothing else, it will make for a good practice piece as I try to get the hang of filling the air holes, polishing and finishing the concrete.
Painting, more painting, resizing cupboard doors to fit around the new range top vent, ripping up old flooring, pulling staples… it’s slow going for me, but mostly because I’m in no hurry. I spend a lot of time just standing in the middle of the kitchen, surveying my “progress,” and alternating between a sense of pride and a sense of panic as the thought, “What was I thinking when I decided to take this on?” runs through my mind.
It makes my eskie Chules anxious to see me just standing there. He thinks if I’m in the kitchen I should be fetching him a snack, and if I’m not going to feed him I should stop staring at the walls and go play with him. Or at the very least, sit and watch him as he naps.
The sun’s actually out today, a rarity that I should probably take advantage of. I’ll let Chules take me for a walk and then consider doing some yard work.
Thanks for stopping by. I apologize if I bored you with my kitchen update. As the weather moderates I can begin regaling you with stories of my landscaping projects (something about which I am equally clueless as I am with the DIY kitchen project).
I hope you have a great week!
#WeekendCoffeeShare is graciously hosted by Emily at NerdintheBrain.com.
fogged in
foggy morning thoughts
I hope that as the day clears
my mind follows suit
What Rhymes with Stanza? 