I had a hard time getting the socks to really look like rosebuds, and making them stay in place. I’m pretty sure I won’t be attempting this one again. It turned out ok but I don’t love it and it wasn’t much fun to make.

Addendum 2/23/11: The shower is today and I forgot the corsage at home. Oh well!

We honeymooned in Bryce Canyon, Utah, during the last week in October. We were only about an hour’s drive away from Best Friends Animal Sanctuary –known as the setting for the National Geographic Channel’s series Dogtown– in Kanab, Utah, and one day we drove down (in terms of both the compass and elevation– it was much warmer there!) for a visit. First we watched a video at the visitors’ center, then hopped in a van to take a tour of the property. I was a fan of the show Dogtown, but once I was there I quickly realized that the show doesn’t do justice to the gorgeous canyon setting. Despite the fact that we’d been enjoying the majestic Canyon for a few days, we were struck by the beauty of the high plateau where Kenab is located.

Our tour included a stop at one of the cat buildings where we got to go inside and pet the cats. Another stop was at one of the dog runs where a trainer showed us some of the work he does with the dogs. We didn’t get to visit any of the other habitats, such as where the pigs, goats, horses, fowl, or rabbits live. The most touching part is the animal cemetery that’s on the property. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the van as we slowly drove past.

Here is a collection of snapshots I took while we were there:

Getting to see the cats certainly made us miss our babies back home, and we were glad to be reunited with them when we returned. We brought back a toy stuffed with catnip from the gift shop at the sanctuary. When we left our suitcase open on the bed, I found Daphne burrowing her way through the clothes to get to that catnip.  Sadly, that’s one of the last memories I have of her being her normal self.

In early November, not long after we got back home, Daphne started acting sick. Earlier on this blog I chronicled our adventures with Daphne’s bladder surgery, so my first thought was that she was having more bladder troubles. She was hiding under our bed and refusing food and water. But when I took her to the vet we found out it was something much worse: congenital heart failure. Probably something she was born with, although I’d never had a reason to believe she had heart problems in her four and a half years. After two intense days at a specialty animal hospital, we brought her home, thinking that with daily medicine we’d have about six more months with her. But it didn’t quite work out that way. It didn’t take long for us to realize she was in really bad shape and not getting better. So as sad as it was, it was something of a relief when we came home on November 19 and discovered that she was no longer suffering.

It’s been three months since we lost her, after she’d been with me for over four years. I don’t think about her every day, but any time I get sad about something else, I wind up thinking about her.

I think Jonathan and I will probably be the parents of many cats in the future, but Daphne will always hold a special place in my heart. Mavro and Daisy are still working on their new two-cat dynamic. Daphne was the alpha and I think Daisy is trying to take over that role. Mavro is much bigger than Daisy but he has a very mild temperament. They will play together and chase each other around the house, but there’s also quite a bit of playful-but-kind-of-serious hissing and fighting. Time will tell whether they become better friends, but at least for now they seem to have a truce.

I haven’t blogged much this year, it’s true. It’s been quite a year. I met a nice boy in February. In June he asked me to marry him. And on October 23, 2010, we became husband and wife.

Now I have to decide what to do with this blog. Is anybody still out there? Want me to start blogging on here again now that I’ve been through a major life change and things are settling back down?

Now I’m trying bedding plants instead. I got some dark pink vincas and planted them in a row in front of where the zinnias should be:

What, you can’t see them?

How about now?

They’ve been in the ground for about three days, and I keep checking to see if they’ve doubled in size yet. (not yet.) I gave them a little water with Miracle Gro when I planted them, but we’re on water restriction here in Nashville so I haven’t watered them anymore. I think it’s going to rain in the next day or two though. And I bent the rules and watered my tomato and petunias today because they were looking wilted. In my defense I haven’t washed clothes or dishes all week!!

Oh yeah. Flowers. I also got these little gems which I’ve never had before. They’re called Million Bells, or calibrachoa. Sort of like tiny petunias.

They’re supposed to tolerate drought well. I got creative and put them in these pots IN the bed. Don’t ask me why.

Dark pink.

Apricot (my favorite).

A cat.

Step 1: Remove surrounding furniture

Step 2: Take the lid off the tank and dive in.

Step 3: Get your hands dirty.

Step 4: Remove the old flush valve seal. Replace with new one. Put everything back together.

It even has a few blooms on it!

I was also amazed to see that the crape myrtle was still standing. I had the pot sitting in the old flower bed but the wind kept blowing it over so I propped it up against the house. I thought surely the torrential rains would’ve knocked it over, but I was wrong.

Before I left on my trip there were only a couple of zinnia seedlings coming up where I planted all of my seeds. Unfortunately it looks like they’ll be the only ones. I planted the zinnias in a row across the front but it’ll just be this one little clump, and no coneflowers or morning glories. I’ll be searching for replacements this weekend.

I made another one last month, and I took several pictures throughout the process so that I could write a post with instructions for how to make it. Is anyone interested in a post with step-by-step directions? If so please let me know in the comments.

Here’s a blurry picture of my front yard “before.”

I also put some annuals in pots on my back patio. They’ll get a ton of sunshine back there. I went with petunias, the old reliable, in a variety of colors, and also got a pink geranium. And I’m very excited about my Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes. I wonder if I’ll be fighting the birds for those!

And finally, I snagged this crape myrtle for $15 at a shrub sale last weekend. My grand plan was/is to have a red crape myrtle in the corner of my back “yard” once I get a fence back there. This one is pretty small, but hopefully it will grow fast. The tentative plan is to put up the fence in June, so hopefully it will be happy in the pot (with lots of sunshine and daily watering) until then.