- Playing by the rules

Sometimes the day's patch is the last thing I do ...

Patch #62

Today I settled for a simple purple patch to recall this beauty ...

Anemone, possibly heterophylla

because earlier attempts at a reverse appliqué homage to this flower ...

False Garlic aka Crow Poison (sorry Mo)

didn't make the cut (so to speak) ...

All in all, it was a wonderfully full day ... a trip to the thrift store yielded two ceramic pots (Don's finds), a $3 Sibley bird book (originally $39.95), and a Mirro cookie press (also $3).

After our usual salad lunch, the afternoon was spent whacking cactus. However, when I find one like this, it ends up in a pot rather than the compost ...

Prickly pear, with a curved pad like I've never seen before

and I made time for a picture walk, spotting this flower for the first time this year ...

Probably a variety of bitterweed,
but for sure one of many LYFs aka "Little Yellow Flowers"

and a riot of goldeneye phlox, now well-established ...

I also made my own ricotta for the first time (harder than I expected), which went well with homemade pasta and sauce to make a pretty darn good lasagna.

Oh, and we FaceTimed with both daughters and respective grandchildren this morning and this evening.

Which led me to reflect on the task I've set myself of making a mere two patches a day. How hard could that be, right? But today brought home the realization that there isn't always time to do experimentation and embellishment while ending up with an acceptable (to me) piece at the end of the day.

So I'm hereby giving myself permission to bend my rules a bit from time to time, because this is supposed to be fun after all. Therefore, stay tuned for the removal and replacement of that dratted sunset patch from last week. I can't wait!