pencil on hot press watercolor


I don't think I've posted this picture before. I try not to post pictures of my great granddaughter, otherwise that's all this would be...her picture album.
Anyway, this is the first time she was placed on a saddle and I love her cowgirl grip...haha. Two crossed fingers. Obviously this child inherited no cowgirl genes....(or else she's destined to be a talented trick rider) Well, her mother warned me she would be raised as a city child.

I just got in from wading in my little fishpond, scooping out the pine needles, which are still falling so hard they were hitting me on the back as I worked....but, I couldn't wait any longer...pond was getting choked. These are the three prong, long Jeffrey pine needles which invariably get hooked on things...all the greenery in the pond....so it was a hand picking operation.

Jeffrey pine needles

I got my soil analysis back. Soil is too acid for most flowers...low in potassium...and lacking compost and fertilizer. But it's not that simple...flowers which shouldn't be blooming are, and visa versa...Good grief. I'm not going to start pouring good money into this plot of soil. This was supposed to be a fun little hobby. So, I'm going to plant only what grows well. If I really want a certain plant that doesn't like it here, I will plant it in a container with potting soil.

I would love to be spading in chicken or cow manure for compost but my dogs would dig every single plant up, sure there was a dead animal down there somewhere.

Decisions, decisions. Today is the first day I've said to myself, ok, I'll get a new knee. I had a left knee put in several years ago, but now I need a new right knee. I'm tired of walking in pain. I hate the idea of the risk of an operation and infection, death and worse, and also the painful therapy...but, I'll bite the bullet and do it. Just not yet...haha. The idea has to soak into every gene in my body.