Well, January is nearing an end. It’s been an eventful month filled with dozens of things to blog about, and yet… no blogging has occurred.

So here is a summary of all the things I considered blogging about but didn’t.

1. My son, Brandon, and his family became “location independent” and moved to Costa Rica this month. It’s been fun reading about their adventures on Brandon’s blog. And my 6 1/2 year old granddaughter just started her own blog this week – EmilyInTheJungle.com.

2. Crazy Sarah Palin’s *shocking* (sarcasm) announcement that she’ll be a political commentator on Fox News. I burst out laughing when I heard her say how proud she is to be with the network that is ‘fair and balanced.’ Actually, hearing anyone refer to Fox that way makes me laugh. The not funny thing about this is how many Americans will actually tune in an listen to this idiot. WHY????

3. The earthquake in Haiti. Make a donation to the humanitarian organization of your choice.

I gave to Save The Children.

4. Pat Roberston’s idiotic comments about Haiti – Kristin handled this one quite nicely.

5. I still love living in the northwest.

In the middle of January I was outside doing gardening. Primrose in bloom, daffodils and tulips several inches tall, and buds forming on many of my spring and summer plants.

6. Both Project Runway and Psych are back!

7. The Supreme Court’s radical decision to throw out 100 years of precedent and allow corporations to spend as much as they want on political ads really made me mad. Go ahead, hand America’s elections over to the drug companies, insurance companies, big banks and other wealthy corporations. Certainly they’ll have the public’s best interests at heart. Morons. Something else to thank GWBush for.

8. Ashley introduced me to my latest addiction – iPhone app Words With Friends. If you have an iPhone and like to play scrabble, look me up and let’s play. My game name is allihays.

9. My trusty old 1996 Camry had a melt down. Heater broke, then engine light came on… running very hot. Thought I’d have to replace her. But happily found a good mechanic who replaced her broken radiator and thermostat without trying to sell me on a single unneeded repair.

10. Obama’s State of the Union address. He inspired me again. You can watch it here.

So, how has your January been?

Every night I take a little stroll through my little garden, listening to the crickets, frogs and bubbling fountain. Keeping an eye out for slime trails so I can dispose of the giant slugs that invade my plants, and curse the obnoxiously bright “safety light” on the back of the building that illuminates the rock wall and my garden with an unnatural peach colored glow. Safety, schmafety. It’s nearly as bright as day in the areas where it shines. I hate light pollution – and it seems to follow me wherever I go. I like night to feel like night!

“Darkness is as essential to our biological welfare, to our internal clockwork, as light itself.” -Verlyn Klinkenborg, “Our Vanishing Night,” National Geographic magazine, November 2008

The horrible light was off for the first year and a half I lived here – and then, all of a sudden there it was. No amount of objecting or begging moved the property manager to turn it off.. Since then I’ve been plotting ways I could destroy it, but it’s simply been out of my reach. if I had access to a 15 foot ladder I’d have climbed up and pulled out the bulb long ago. I’ve also been petitioning the condo manager to turn it off…. going so far as to get signatures from other residents in my building that they wouldn’t object to it being dark out there.

Well. as I opened the door to take my nightly stroll this evening I was greeting by the most wonderful sight. DARKNESS. It’s so dark that I can barely see anything but the stars! I’m so happy I could cry.

Next week I’m going to hang up my orange twinkle lights on my patio – which I haven’t used for almost two years (useless with that bright light shining). So drop by and sit out on my patio with me at night… it’s going to be great!

And keep your fingers crossed that the darkness is permanent!

How do you feel about the lighting in your area?

While out watering my extremely thirsty plants in the 90° heat this evening, I happily saw this little guy – the first frog I’ve seen this year.

Isn’t he cute?

Yes, I giggled and chased him around til I caught him, and then watched as he hopped (more like leaped) put of my hand into the into the big fern.

Frogs make me happy.

It’s been too hot here the past week or so… hovering in the low 80s. I know, I know, I’m a weather wuss. But that’s (one of the reasons) why I moved here!

My iPhone has a handy, dandy feature where it shows me the current temp in whatever cities I have selected to check. It frequently reminds me how glad I am I live here, rather than in the parched desert. Here is where things stand at 12:56pm on Sunday, July 19th.

• Mill Creek, WA: A perfect 64°
• Salt Lake City, UT: 94°
• Kennewick, WA: 83°
• Princeville, HI: 80°
• Phoenix, AZ: 110°

The high today will be around 74°. And if that weren’t enough to make me love living in Washington, take a gander at what’s been happening in my garden the last while. Those tall pink and white foxglove just sprouted from seeds that blew over from the field behind my condo. Cool, huh?

How are you enjoying the weather??

It feels like it’s been a long time since I posted and, for some reason, the thought of doing to has been a bit overwhelming.  To break myself back in, here are some random thoughts that have occupied my mind since I last posted.

Was thrilled with the $5 delphinium bouquet I picked up at the local farmers market Friday.

Yes, $5.00

I think I’ll drop by every Friday and pick up a fresh bouquet of flowers.

I get grumpy when I’m too warm.  Anything over 80 degrees is too warm.

I’m glad I have access to a pool when it gets over 80 degrees.  I love swimming – or at least exercising in swimming pools.  And preferably the water won’t be ice cold next time!

Unlike most people in Seattle, I was happy when the heat wave passed and cooler days returned.  I spent much of yesterday planting in my garden (a garden post coming soon).

Hummingbirds make me happy. Don’t have a pic of them, but here’s where they comes to dine every day.  Last night one came by while I was sitting on the patio, and he hovered down at eye level and looked straight at me for several seconds.   I love him.

On the other hand, snails, slugs, spiders and  mosquitoes – still not a fan.

Also not a fan of the California Supreme Court’s decision to uphold mean-spirited Prop 8.    Also still not a fan of Sarah Palin and Dick Cheney.

Still happy that Obama won the election and am pleased with how he is engaging internationally.

I’m eagerly awaiting the release of Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince movie!

I think I’ll go see the new Star Trek film this afternoon. Have you seen it?

While I’m gone, please share a few of your random thoughts.

I had plans Saturday.  Things to do, places to be, people to see. 

 However, before I started into that, I decided to spend a moment trying to create a floral graphic for the “Growing Gifts” application in Facebook.  Big mistake.

I should state here that I don’t really like Facebook – I don’t take the funky tests, I don’t join in all the hearts and hugs and hidden egg applications.   I mostly just check in now and then, because it has enabled me to reconnect with a few friends from the past.  

But there is one Facebook application I really like – Growing Gifts.  Basically, you choose from a selection of graphic flowers (using seeds you earn by tending to others gardens) and send them to your friends.   I like this app…   because I love gardens and flowers.

They have some lovely flowers to choose from - but also some very boring ones.   I decided to try my hand at designing an interesing offering to submit to Growing Gifts, and created the blue honeywort plant (aka blue shrimp plant) in the purple pot.   And after finishing that one, had an idea for another… and then another… and another…..  and I never made it out of my house. 

(Acutally I did – but just to the garden where I planted a few real flowers).

So I completely wasted my day obsessing and making garden graphics. But I was pleasantly surprised at how they turned out, and submitted them for review/acceptance.  They’ve been getting a good response from the design team and I think they’ll be accepted.  But I have no idea how long it will be before they show up in the application, could be months…. 

So I’m sharing them with you now.   Enjoy your flowers from me.

Do you have a favorite?

Oh… and Happy Mothers Day!

I saw something today that was kind of cool, but also kind of creeped me out.   It was this cluster of yellow dots on my siding.  When I got closer, I saw the dots were moving….  and when I got even closer, realized they were baby spiders.   You can click the pic for a closer view….

I did some online searching and discovered this:

In late summer or early autumn many spiders mature mate and produce eggs. The common Garden Spider lays from three to eight hundred yellow eggs that she cements together and covers in a dense layer of coarse protective yellow silk and detritus. When spring comes the following year, bundles of tiny yellow spiderlings with a black spot on their rear end can be found.

If disturbed, the bundle of babies will ‘explode’, with individual spiderlings dispersing away from each other on tiny silken safety lines. Once the danger has passed they climb back up the web and form a clump again. Before emerging from their egg sac, the spiderlings moulted once. Once emerged, they remain together until they have moulted yet again and grown big enough to be independent.

I know they are only garden spiders – but I have more spiders than I need in the garden.  I disposed of the little critters.

I love spring rain. Or summer rain.

Basically, I just love rain.

I love the way it sounds, the way it smells and the way it makes the colors in my flowers come alive.

I’m on Day 4 of this happiness theme…. 

Today, I’m really, really happy that I get to go have a 90 minute massage in a few hours.  I need it badly and am really looking forward to it.

There’s also a lot of happiness eminating from my little garden.  Bright red azalea in bloom, aubretia tumbling down the rock wall, splashes of blue forget-me-nots, all my perennials growing nicely….  and the Sluggo I used seems to have negated the slug problem… at least temporarily.

Happiness abounds.

What’s making YOU happy today?

Kauai is known as the Garden Isle – for good reason.

Here are some of the beautiful (and sometimes strange) flora we have encountered…

Hibiscus is everywhere.

I love Bouganvilla… particularly this salmony/pink color. But the deep fuschsia is awe inpiring as well.

Bouganvilla creates fantastic bursts of color along the roadside, climbing walls, pruned into trees, arching over walkways.

Plumeria is just coming into season. We continue our quest to find pink plumeria blooming on a low enough branch to photograph…

I LOVED this funky looking blossom below… we found a tree covered in them. I believe it is called Ohi’a Lehua.

It looks like it belongs in a Dr. Seuss book, doesn’t it?

Along with a bottle brush tree.

(weird, huh?)

This tree looked like it was covered with big yellow rananuculus.

There are many red ginger plants around, but I prefer the pink.

An orchid growing in a plumeria tree.

I love blue flowers…

OK, enough for tonight. Tomorrow is our last day in paradise….