Life – Page 12 – Hydrangeas Blue

Yes, People May End Up Reading Your Blog, So Write Well!

My very first blog posts were horrendous. I began writing at Blogger, and never did get the hang of it. The platform was difficult for me to understand, and then I heard about WordPress. I found it easier to write there, and it’s where my main blogs live. It didn’t mean I could write any better though! That is something I have been learning as I go.

Blabbing on about something on a blank page on a computer screen led me to believe that no one at all would ever even see what I wrote. I knew nothing about SEO or social media or tagging. I just wrote whatever came into my head, and it wasn’t very good, but it was honest and probably a bit unique (maybe not in a good way).

People I knew didn’t read my posts, but absolute strangers did, and they sometimes left comments. Those comments gave me the incentive to continue, and to give my readers something worthwhile to read. I wanted to become a better writer, and I had to learn how to do that. For many years I was too busy raising my kids to read a book much less practice any type of writing!

Screen Shot 2017-03-09 at 2.13.31 PM — Once you write, get the post out to the world by having posts automatically linked to your other online places.

Then, out of the blue, I was asked to be a guest writer at a site connected to (the now defunct) Squidoo writing site. I had to write a review of a Squidoo page of my choice (not my own), and have it ready to post on a specific day of the week. We each had our own day to publish. It was stressful, because I was not a good writer. Over the course of the week eventually I got the short article (300 words minimum) ready to submit. Then I would sort of cringe on the day I knew it would go live.

Eventually I had to stop guest writing because my own online business needed more of my time. But, that stint as a guest writer was very good for me. It honed my writing skills a bit, as I had to try to live up to the expectations of the other writers. I wanted to write well. And I knew for a fact, at the very least, the other contributors would be reading it!

Writing with others also taught me what is expected for search engine optimization (SEO). Each post / article had to be a minimum of 300 words, well written, easy to read, and contain original text. This is what I think about when writing these days. That is not to say that I don’t slip out of that routine every now and then.

Everything I write contains at least one photo or picture to go with the story. Occasionally the photography is the story, but blogs won’t get far without some text as well. At first I used only my own photography when writing, but eventually I learned how to use public domain images to enhance my posts, like the awesome photos in this article (credit: Pixabay.com).

I have been overlooking the “featured image” option which shows on WP’s improved editor posting page. Now I am going back through my blog posts to add a featured image to the top of each one.

Tropical and Common Plants That Are Loving My Florida Room

Now that I live in Florida, I can grow some beautiful tropical plants in my sunroom.

plant in orange pot — Variegated Leaf Plant

In my new house there is a porch which is a little odd. Someone visited and called it a “Florida Room” which reminded me that there are such things. However my porch is not the traditional type that is on a corner or out back. My Florida Room is situated between the dining area and the back bedroom. Only one wall contains screens. It is not enclosed and will get very hot (or cold) depending on the weather outside. More sun comes in during the winter months than will in summer, which is perfect.

It’s also not very big, considering we have a bar height table and chairs in the center, a chest freezer in the corner, and a long wooden table from my northern home along one wall. Amidst all this I have added some new tropical plants to the few I dragged with me from New Hampshire. (By the way, the New Hampshire born plants are loving all this sun and warmth!)

Some of these plants are new to me and some I am familiar with because I have grown them before. In Florida, only certain plants can take the full sunshine. It can be deadly to others by burning the leaves. Light (doesn’t mean direct sun) and warm conditions are what most of these need.

To be honest, growing plants in Florida is fairly easy. It’s almost greenhouse conditions year round. Keeping plants alive was nearly impossible in my New Hampshire home. They had hardly any sunshine and no warmth since I couldn’t afford to keep my house warm. I would set the plants near the wood stove to warm them up! And it was a very dry climate, which didn’t help either.

But I love to have plants inside. They clean the air and add a homey feel, in my opinion.

One of the plants I brought with me is this corn plant. It was not doing well, but has really begun growing like crazy in my Florida room. It’s happy now! It’s hard to see, but there are two stalks growing here in this one pot.

The Corn Plant (as I call it) is easy to grow but it likes sun and warmth. This one can take the full sun for part of the day. Water when the pot feel light weight.

One of the new plants I have is a Ponytail palm. This was purchased in a small pot but I replanted it in a larger, cheap black pot. I had a nice ponytail palm a long time ago. I took it with me when I moved to New England and it died, of course. It was wishful thinking that a tropical plant would survive in a freezing cold climate, but I’d had it a long time and it was really big.
So I am growing one again for old times sake. They are easy to grow. Water when lifting the pot feels light.

This next picture is my rubber plant. I love the unique look of this one. Those big, purple, rubbery leaves are so fun. I’ve grown them before and they can get quite large. They are shade tolerant and don’t like direct sunlight, as far as I know. But I’ve seen this type growing outside in a front yard here in Florida (in the sun) and it looks nice and healthy. My landlady up north had a big one in her front window! I was amazed when I saw it. So I guess up north they will need more sun to stay warm.

For now, this one is small enough that I can take it outside when it needs water and spray the leaves too.

The Peace Lily is also called a “spath” which is short for spathiphyllum. This plant will grow well in a dark corner, but it can take some light too. The leaves will turn obviously toward any light, so it will have to be turned to grow upright and look nice. When the leaves begin to droop it’s time for water!

I take this one outside and spray it down when I fill the pot with water, but don’t leave it out in the sun! This is a plant that will stay bright green without any sun. Mine has a couple of white flowers, and hopefully it will get more. It was recently re-potted.

peace lily spathiphyllum spath — Indoor Peace Lily

The pothos ivy, which is a common hanging plant, loves the warm and humid porch area. My hanging basket broke, so I had to put the pothos in the plant stand. It works out well because I can move the whole thing out the door and give it plenty of water outside when needed. Most plants like to have their leaves sprayed, which gives them a good cleaning.

I also have some succulents scattered around the house and two orchids. I have managed to kill some beautiful succulents by overwatering. Certain types can’t be watered very often. If you are tempted to water them, set them someplace out of the way. It’s best if you can forget about them for a while! Believe me, you must be strong and NOT WATER THEM. Some succulents only need water every few MONTHS.
More on growing succulents in my next post.

Spring Home Fixes For the Handy Woman, Part 2, Replacing a Screen

Here I will continue with my handy-woman Spring fixes list. If you missed the first article, you can read it here.

When I lived in the northeastern United States the spring season couldn’t come soon enough. Watching all that snow melt away meant the flowers would be growing soon and the sun would be up higher and longer. It also meant the Black Flies would keep me indoors throughout the month of May. I’d prefer to be outside getting my gardens ready, but once the weather warms up it’s a good time to clean the windows, and clean the screens too if they need it. If screens can easily be removed, take them outside on a nice warm day and spray them with the hose.

Some window and door screens may need to be replaced. If you have naughty cats that like to climb up the screen door (yes), or generally tear at them for no good reason (yes again).

Go to the local hardware store and buy some animal strength screen, (or regular screen if you have good kitties, or no kitties), and a roll of spline. Spline is that black stuff that holds the screen in the frame. Also a spline tool which will be needed to hold the new screen in place once the old stuff is removed. To get the old screen out, you will need a screwdriver.

I have done this, but with help from my son. It may be tough to do alone. But after watching this You Tube video, I’ll bet you can do it alone if you have to. This is not a super expensive fix, but it will take a little time and effort. First you must take the door off the hinge, or the window screen out of the window. Pay attention to how you do that so putting it back will be easy.

FYI, when I replaced my back door screen with animal strength screen my naughty cat would climb up to the TOP OF THE DOOR using the screen, and it didn’t damage the screen at all…. It’s totally worth it. The screen is darker than normal screen, but I didn’t mind it at all.

When the weather warms up it’s a good time to get some indoor painting done. With my daughter’s help I painted my bedroom, bathroom, stairs and hallway. My next article is about painting a whole room, or doing some touch ups.

A Little Salad From My Backyard Winter Garden

Just made myself a salad with ingredients from my (very) small backyard garden. In fact it’s really just a few pots with lettuce, parsley and scallions / green onions. I added some flaxseed meal and a side of potato salad, but the greens came from the yard!

When there is fresh food growing just outside the door, it’s hard to choose NOT to eat it. After all, it took work to plant it and care for it, so why not enjoy it as often as possible? Plus I am lucky enough to still have food growing in January! I am in Florida now, and I have to constantly remind myself that it IS winter…. in other places.

Floridians believe it is winter here. When the temps plummet to 60 degrees they put on their heavy hoodies, tied tightly around their heads as they head out to walk the dogs. What? I wave to them as I stand there in my capris and t-shirt and then I turn and laugh. My blood will thin out again too, and one day I will think 60 is cold… I guess. For now, the icy cold of a January day in New Hampshire is still fresh in my mind.

Back to garden talk. I know that planting season is coming soon down here in Florida, and I am stressing a bit because my raised bed is not filled with dirt. BUT, a friend made a suggestion, which I may do because it seems easier than trying to buy a load of dirt and move it into the container. I also have a sprinkler system to worry about crushing. If I decide to try the “new way of gardening” I’ll share it in a soon-to-come post.

For now I am enjoying my greens. I can’t wait for the citrus (lemons and limes) to grow. Fresh lemonade would go well with this meal!

Alone at Christmas? You’re Not Alone

I’ve written before about how little family I have, and how holidays equal family. I mean, after all, isn’t that what the holidays are all about? Except for Easter. Which is all about the Easter Bunny. (Just kidding.)

This is what I have done to get ready for Christmas. Nearly nothing. I have not bought one gift. I bought two cards to send to my kids whom I won’t see. I bought a small turkey breast yesterday which my son may smoke on his grill, like he did on Thanksgiving.

For the first time in my life, the only tree I have is the same small one I bought years ago when we had lost our home and everything was packed away. It was the first year we had no money, and I can’t even remember what I was able to buy for the kids. I liked that little tree and it came with me from house to house as I moved around New Hampshire.

After that first poor year, I was on my own and bought a larger fake tree because of my son. I still tried to make Christmas Christmassy for the sake of my kids, but I have never really been able to feel the same excitement I used to have. And eventually it simply became a dreaded chore. Continue reading “Alone at Christmas? You’re Not Alone”

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Because I took ideas from more than one recipe, I need to write it down here. Thanksgiving Day 2016 was spent in Florida, in my new home, with my two sons.

Because I didn’t have any cranberry sauce, but I had a bag of fresh cranberries, I made my own sauce. Here’s how I did it.

Rinse cranberries and pick out defective ones.

Dump them into a pan. Add 1/3 cup of water or cranberry juice (I used juice – real, not sweetened). Add 1 cup of sugar. I would cut down on the sugar, or use real Maple Syrup in it’s place. One recipe called for syrup. How I wish I was in NH where the syrup is plentiful.

Cook over medium heat and bring to a boil. Cook until it looks mushy. Add orange juice – how much?. (I had an orange so I squeezed the juice and added that.)

I also added some cinnamon.

The sauce came out very tasty, if chunky. I could strain the chunks out, but don’t have to. I plan to use this new recipe each Thanksgiving, even if I am the only one who will eat it.

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for sharing!