The Art Of Dying Things

 My Mother's Day Arrangement has started to slip away into wilted, dying flowers, and photographing them during this stage of their 'floral life' is my favorite way to photograph.

 I saved the wasp nest from a month or two ago that my husband took down from their large paper nest at the top of our porch eave prior to having the re-screening of the porch done.

The men doing the screening fully appreciated it being gone while they worked,

but the beauty of it, well.... I simply could not bear to have it dashed to the ground without keeping a portion of it.

 Wasps, I have to say, are NOT my favorite creatures on this earth, but their handi-work is somewhat floral in appearance...

hence....

I saved it.

And so....

a dying floral arrangement

next to an already dead wasp nest seemed appropriate to me.

It's been cloudy and rainy a few days now and more of the same are on the horizon for us.

Perhaps that sunshine we were having has moved on into your world, and if so, we hope you are enjoying it as we did.

Goings On On The Porch

 First let me say, that even if we did nothing right now to change our screened porch, I would still be ecstatic that we even have one.

We use it so often, sit out there nearly every day for morning coffee, lunch, and also evening meals when weather permits.

The pups are thinking the porch is pretty cool also.

 Morning birds, afternoon warmth of the sunshine, and a few mountain views peek through the trees.

 I spent a bit of money last year on new seating for the porch after we decided NOT to spend 40 to 50K on having it enclosed to a four season porch.

 The thousand dollars spent on furniture felt oh so much better on the bank account than pulling all of that 401k money out.  The only thing we are giving up is getting to spend the winter months out there.

This year I have added a few kitschy solar toys simply because they make me smile.... and they are super cheap.

Guess that means I am super cheap.

 The porch was added to the house by the previous owner and the screens have now seen their better days with numerous holes that allow for the entry of bugs.  Wasps!

 And, since the screeners are going to start tomorrow, by building a scaffolding to get to two sides of the porch which is at the second level of our home, my husband had to take action over the week-end.

 The paper wasp nest was hanging from where the screeners will be working, so it simply had to go.

 You can't tell from these photos just how bad the screens are, but the wasps knew it and having them inside the porch just didn't work for me.  Did you know that wasps are carniverous?  Yep.  So they smell that chicken barbecuing on the grill, and they smell it on your plate, and getting inside the porch is something they REALLY want to do while you sit there dining in fear that they will locate one of those holes in the screen.  

Definitely NOT my idea of fine dining.

 The nest was hanging just to the left of where the right hand rain spout meets the eave.

 My husband knocked it to the ground and the only resident was the Queen.... she evidently meant to set up shop there this year. 

 If you ever get the opportunity to hold a part of a paper wasp nest, you will be surprised at the fine quality of paper they make for their nest.  And the striping is quite beautiful.

 

 Here is our last night's dinner, which we had on the porch.

A cucumber salad,

 and grilled asparagus and chicken breast.

 My husband adds LOTS of tomatoes to his salad.

 This is the inside back wall of our porch.  As you can see, the previous owner used UGLY BROWN VINYL SHINGLE SIDING to the back of the house.... and my husband is looking to remove these and give this porch wall a more refined look. I'll let you know what comes of that idea, as we continue to make this porch a more appealing space for us, without spending that hard earned 401k money.

Stay tuned.