I am pooped but got a lot done. Not as much as I wanted, naturally.

Saturday:
1. Morning yoga
2. Post office: finally found a certain type of Priority Mail boxes I wanted.
3. Lots of yardwork which I found tiring. I just don't have the stamina at 56 that I had in my 30s. Sadly, I also don't really enjoy it as much as I once did. Partly because there is just too much yardwork to do, and I can't ever really get on top of it because of the many invasive things like bittersweet, garlic mustard and nasty pricker bushes that truly threaten to overtake my property.
4. Opened up the porch for the year, moving furniture in.
5. Dragged all my potted plants out from the garage onto the front stairs, cutting away the dead leaves, etc, seeing what survived. Also brought out some lawn chairs from the basement.
6. Replanted 3 or 4 large trays of ground phlox I had to dig up when they put in the new driveway; i replanted it under my large viburnum, alongside the new driveway.
7. Dinner with dad.


Sunday:
1. I pulled up part of the fencing around my veggie garden and shrunk the garden by 50%. Because it was just getting too much to undertake, although I really love my homegrown vegetables. It had become like just another chore, and I found that in the heat of summer I really couldn't keep up with the weeding, and a good portion of the garden was really neglected.

The downsized garden is still a good size for one person, probably about 7 x 9 feet. I just have to find something else to grow that isn't tomatoes or beans, which seem to have built up overwintering pest populations, and any kind of root vegetable, becus i have a real problem with voles.

Maybe I could do onions.

2. I dug up a peony in the wrong place and moved it to a better place.

3. I picked up my mother's 2 art pieces from art association. In another week I'll need to bring 2 to 4 more for the tribute show in her honor. After that, though I may rethink entering my mother's stuff in a solo show this fall. A solo show would require 30 or so pieces, which I've found is a LOT of work. Everything needs to be cleaned and then wrapped carefully, becus the more you move things around, the more chance something could get scratched or nicked and once that happens, most people don't want to buy it.

To do all that work for a show that only lasts maybe a month tops, and that mostly draws people from the art group, maybe not the general public as much (just my hunch) means it's less likely to sell than maybe if I found more high end gift shops where i could leave things on consignment indefinitely. I won't get the gallery prices at a gift shop, prices need to be lowered, but i think i'd have a better chance of selling some of the many smaller pieces I'm not attached to.

This is something i just recently came around to thinking. And so last week I called a local florist which I noticed, when i was there to pick out flowers for my mother's funeral, they had a very nice gift shop. I could see some of my mother's work selling there. So i called them more recently and the woman said the owner does take stuff on consignment but that she was away for a week, so i will call back and hopefully be able to bring some stuff down there for her to take a look at.

There's also a very very nice garden nursery with a gift shop where i was thinking of making the same kind of phone call. One step at a time.

I have sold I believe 5 things now at the first and only gift shop i have mom's stuff at. With her 40% commission, I'm really not making much money on these sales, but again, these are pieces I am less attached to.

4. Went to Home Depot to see how heavy the Ego 56 volt cordless blowers are...too heavy...I may wind up with a less powerful 20 volt cordless blower for just driveway/patios which is just 3.7 lbs.

5. Spent $40 at Trader Joe's.

6. Talked to my neighbor and showed off the new driveway.