June Blooms

I wandered around my garden yesterday taking a few photos of what was blooming. The hydrangeas are looking lovely...

as are these petunias that LOM planted in the hanging baskets and several pots around the yard.

We have about 40' of star jasmine along our driveway and it is in bloom right now, so the whole garden is full of its sweet perfume.

And this pretty blue flower is on the endive that I let go to seed. It started out as a spring salad mix, but I left some of them too long and this huge flower stalk developed from the endive. Its blue flowers remind me of bachelor's buttons.

The Making of a Wall Dog

I recently volunteered to paint a wall sign for a local teen music venue and today was the day to make good on my promise. So I dug out these OLD brushes and cleaned two of them. These brushes are called "fitches" and some of them are probably 30 years old. I can't tell you who they really belong to, because in a sign shop no one really owns the fitches; they just belong to the shop. (Now quills are a different story; NOBODY shares their quills. In fact I used to put a dab of pink paint on the end of mine so none of the men would want to use them.) I can't remember the last time I even painted a wall sign - that's what it's called when you paint letters directly on someone's building - but it had to be a long long, time ago, because those brushes were filthy.

Next I made a paper pattern and perforated it. In the old days we would have hand drawn the letters on the paper, but I used the computerized plotter.

Then bright and early Teen2 and I got to the jobsite and hauled our stuff up onto the canopy of the building. Working on a canopy is pure luxury - you have a wide stable work area and you can drip paint and no one knows! We taped the pattern up on the first side, pounced it, and got to painting by 8:00am. My helper looks happy, doesn't she?

The making of a "Wall Dog" typically starts with the helper doing the heavy lifting and filling in behind the journeymanwoman. Teen2 is good with a brush and caught right on to the painting, but she's a little nervous about moving the ladders around up there. But here it is 8:15 and she's still happy!

We were really hot even though it was only 9:30 when we finished the East side. Thank goodness the other sign faced North.

On the second side we decided to work from right to left; it doesn't make any difference when you have an exact pattern, so here she is finishing up the last letter at 11:20 and she still looks happy! I guess my little "Wall Puppy" could turn into a "Wall Dog" someday; I'd be so proud.

Here's the finished product. Not exactly the font I would have chosen, but the customer is always right, even when the sign is donated.