Since getting over the flu I have been rather depressed. It is spring her and time to begin all those outside projects and yet the budget isn't able to handle the deck I would like to be building for the studio, or the cobblestone walk to the door, or a third raised bed for growing things. And it is as if the flu just underlined this for me.
I pulled myself away from the computer yesterday to sit in the sun on my stoop that will just have to do until the economy picks up and art sales return to former levels or beyond. I had a pen and a sketch book and my goal was to make a list of things to be done around the house that did not require money or at least very little of it.
Weed flower beds is at the very top. Not my favorite of tasks frankly but it does get one in the sun, make things look better and require no money. In one of those flower beds is a low evergreen that would lend itself to being trimmed into a Bonsai. Thank you Bekkieann for that idea. And while I got the studio sign painted I need an Open sign. Plenty of scrap lumber around to do that. And maybe I cannot do the cobblestone walk yet but I could level the playing field as it were and get it all prepped.
And there is buff and fluff both dogs. I found the old trimmers to do my standard poodle. Did her all the time till I found Audrey. Well, I cannot afford Audrey right now and Mardi does need trimmed. Somewhere there is a nail clippers too for them.
And last year I began a rock garden around a small pond. I got the liner in place and a pump on a shelf somewhere. I had an ideal but it got abandoned for finishing the tile in the studio. Rocks are everywhere. It is just hauling them and placing them and filling in spaces. I can even dig up wild plants and shrubs to put in the crevices.
Then there is my plant stand idea. Just a minor amount of wood to buy.
The list goes on. Dad always said if you had the time you didn't have the money and vice versa but I do have the time right now if not the money. And now I have a list of projects that don't require money. I think progress on any level can lift our spirits. In these trying times we just need to be more creative.
Note on Photo: the Cholla blossoms above were from last summer. On Chats with Charley I have another view posted. Digital photography is another of those no-cost projects. And the wildflowers are just beginning to bloom around here.
Love the photo, Jacqui. Your dad was so right. With a good job right now, money is not a big problems, but time and energy are for me. My list of things to do looks much like yours. I prefer to do these things myself, but I'm finding this year I'm slower at it and not getting enough done. I fear that hiring someone will admit to the fact that age is slowing me down. Hard for me to face, but I do need help now. My kids are coming over on the weekend to help with a few things, thank goodness. Good luck, Jacqui, as you tackle all those things. I hope things pick up with the summer tourist season.
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