Giant Tumbleweed and Back to Blogging

I've lived around tumbleweeds most of my life.  So, when I got a big response on my blog and Instagram from the photo of tumbleweeds in a field near my home, I was surprised.  I didn't realize there were so many people who'd never seen them before.  It's exciting to share something that some people haven't seen.  So, I made sure to get another photo on my next bike ride to show one of the large ones.

This huge tumbleweed is up on it's side and against a fence.  We pulled it down after the photo and roughly measured it to be about 7' wide by 6' tall!  Crazy, huh?!  And, it's just one of many this year.

I haven't been posting on my blog for a while because I've gotten much more enjoyment lately from Instagram.  It's so much fun!  And, unlike blogging that takes me hours to create a post that I get very little feedback from, Instagram takes minutes to post, feedback is immediate and I get a lot more of it.  

I've been blogging for years and have enjoyed it a lot but I have to admit that the slow pace it's taken to grow my followers and the small amount of feedback I get is disappointing sometimes.  I've participated in two "Grow Your Blog" parties that grew my blog from around 25 to almost 150 followers.  That's great!  But, after all these years and all the blogs I follow and have commented on, I'm baffled.  Especially when I see newer blogs that have many times the followers and comments.  Even when I've been good at posting a minimum of three times a week for long periods of time it hasn't helped.  But, on Instagram the followers grew fast.  And, that's even with all the ones I deleted/blocked because they were spammers(?).

I just can't figure out the secret to blogging success.  But, I love it enough that I won't give it up for good.  So, here I am, back at it and with lots to catch up on.  I hope you enjoy what I post!  I appreciate every one of my few followers and, especially, those who take time to leave comments.  That means a lot and always brightens my day!  Thank you!

Happy blogging...and Instagramming!  ;-)

A Week on Instagram

I thought it would be fun to post my most recent Instagram photos today.

So, here it goes...

One of my favorite antique shops, Cottage Charm, has a monthly event called,

"Vintage Market".  It's always on the first Saturday of the month.  So, that means today was the day!

I headed down to see what I could find.  I'm sure glad I did!

I found this at a little shop next door...an inkle loom for just $15!

I've been wanting one for a while but didn't want to pay $60-$100 to buy one.

Now, to learn how to use it!  I'm so excited!

(Ooops on the pink background!  I didn't realize I'd done that until I loaded it on here.)

One of the outside vendors had this old oil heater.  I've been wanting one of these for years

but I haven't wanted to pay the prices that are usually on them of around $100.

I was surprised and happy when they said this one was only $20!

The color is perfect for my house.  And, there are no dents on it.  

I like the flower shaped cutouts on it.  So cute!

I created a new version of "egg salad" this week.  

It's gluten free waffles, arugula/rocket, eggs, and salsa.  Yum!

I take so many pictures of my adorable Penelope.

I can't help it...she's so darn cute!

Here, she's waiting near my pillow for me to go to bed.

She likes to sleep up against me most every night.

 A little bit of silliness one evening on her felted bed.

Trying to wake up after sleeping allllll day!

She loves to hang out on the top of her kitty tree that's by the window.

It's warm in the sun and has a great view of the birds in the yard.

Lazy and adorable!

She likes to play in the bathroom sink.  

And, now, she seems to like laying in it.

I'm continuing to work on de-stashing my yarn.

I bought this yarn in Sedona a couple of years ago.  I love it so much and have been 

trying to find the "perfect" pattern for it.  I thought I might have found it but

I'm not quite sure I love it now that it's started.  It's a cowl.  I like the texture and the

pattern but I wonder if it will block out enough to show the pattern. Hmmmm?

We found little eggplants at the market and tried a new way of cooking them.

I drizzled olive oil on them; sprinkled them with salt and pepper; and roasted them in the oven until they were tender.  Then, I sliced them in quarters from the stem down so they could grab onto the sauce.  We dipped them in some homemade marinara.  They were so creamy and yummy!  

We ate them all!

Three X's in the sky!

I love Instagram!  I can't wait to see what pops up to post on there this week!

Have a wonderful weekend!

A Week on Instagram

I was quite busy with Instagram last week.

I thought it might be fun to share the photos I posted.

I had an errand to run one day near where my daughter lives.  So, I picked her up and we spent the afternoon together.  We decided to visit Roger's Gardens.  We wanted to see what they had in their Easter section.  Plus, it's always a fun place to spend some time.

Here are some of the photos from our visit...

We loved the colors in this flower arrangement...

This was an interesting idea they had near the entrance.

It's fabric bags that were filled with soil and plants and attached to the wall. 

I love Hydrangeas!  So pretty!

They look like they have a little bead or pearl in each center.

Just a couple blocks away is a shopping area called "Fashion Island".

I'd never been there and thought it would be fun to check out.  They have lots of fun stores to browse through...lots of expensive and pretty clothing.  And, it's outdoors instead of being a mall.

It was a gorgeous day!  We could even see the ocean from one side of the shopping center.

They had lots of really cool water features throughout the shopping center.

We had a lot of fun watching the giant Koi fish.  They were friendly and we could even touch them!

Ewwww!...slimy!  I like how this Instagram photo turned out...looks kind of like a painting.

I enjoyed a lot of tea last week.  I even made some chai tea lattes.  Mmmmm!

I like Yogi brand tea a lot and their tea tags are fun to read.

This was a good one....so true!

I made some refrigerator dill pickles.  I put a little cauliflower in the top part of each jar.
I hope they survived the death of our fridge.

They're in an ice chest right now.  The new fridge arrives tomorrow.  I can't wait!

I'd just gone grocery shopping the day before.  It turned warm really fast...almost like it changed from being a cold making box to a heat making box!  So, we lost quite a bit of food.  Oh well!  That's life!

I made a couple batches of lemonade last week.  I used Meyer lemons from the tree in our back yard.

Mmmmm!  I like mixing it with green tea sometimes too.  More yum!

Sadly, I had to throw out a large pitcher of lemonade when the fridge died.  Just couldn't drink it fast enough and there wasn't room in the ice chest.  We tried to eat a lot of the food that night too.

Can't wait to make some more lemonade when the new fridge arrives.

The recent rains have transformed the landscape around us.  It's changed from brown to green.

It's gorgeous!  We're soaking in the sights as much as we can because it won't last long.

In fact, the weather is in the 80's and 90's this week.

So, I bet the green will go back to brown within a week or so.

It always amazes me how fast it can change one way or the other.

I did an experiment of trying to make my favorite recipe of cheddar/ham chowder but without

any dairy ingredients.  I can't eat dairy anymore.  I used cauliflower to make a creamy base.

It was a success and SO delicious! 

That's my week on Instagram!  I just love posting on there.

The effects are fun too but I don't always use them.

Do you use Instagram?  If so, you can find me there under the user name, "acorntooak".