Book Club at the Cape and an Update on the Swimsuit Sarong

Every book club should have a getaway meeting--especially if one of the members has moved to a lovely beach town on Cape Cod.

I had to show you the osprey nest on top of what they tell me is a insect control box. I do love an over-sized home.

We spent about ten minutes discussing books and hours and hours on the beach, eating seafood, and trying out all the different wines everyone brought along. 

Some of the ladies of the club at a nursery that had a fairy garden with these sweet stone pieces.

See the little fairy door built into the stone?

We squeezed in several nurseries including the Cape Code Lavender nursery and also managed a short but expensive trip to the Scargo Pottery store.

And as for the swimsuit sarong update--I don't know whether it is that I'm too lazy to tie a knot or my present obsession with putting snaps on everything.  I decided to update last year's sarong with some pearl snaps.  I put two sets of snaps on the top to make it a wrap-around.

Love how the fabric drapes on the side showing a swirl of the black backing fabric.

The fact that I think this way makes me look thinner may have something to do with the snap decision.

But the Vinegar Weed Killer DID Work

I pinned something about a home-made weed killer solution using regular, grocery store vinegar.  Then I read another post that this could not possibly work. 

Off I went to remove the pin.  Yet, I seemed to have a memory of accidentally killing off some grass with vinegar.  Instead of deleting the pin, I went to the pinned post.  There were before and after photos of a brick patio much like mine--lots of green weeds, then, lots of yellow ones.  Gotta try it, right?

First time I didn't take pics of the before.  I just tried it on the worst section of my patio. (Yes, the patio is a mess.  We are just barely hitting "use the patio weather" here!).  Here is a shot of the after.

That is freakin' great!  So, then, I did this little experiment on clover to show here.  This is the before pic with three little patches of clover in the brick.  I sprinkled the first two with the vinegar solution.

 

Here they are less than 24 hours later.  If you look close, you can see the shriveled up remains of the first two.  Even the last one seems to have suffered from sprinkling some of the small ones that were close by. (Good reason not to get too close to the good plants.)

No before pics for the following, but they show that it worked on different weeds and grasses

Maybe the point of the naysayers is that this will not be killing the roots.  Still, if I have to sprinkle this much safer, cheaper stuff a few times I'm still ahead.  There may be a few hardy weeds that will keep coming back--dandelions and such, but most root systems need those leaves to stay alive in the long run. 

I used a solution of one gallon of vinegar, one cup of salt, and 3 tablespoons of dish detergent.  The pinned post called for less detergent, but I decided to go for more. I think I've mentioned my inability to follow directions before. I'd like to say I'm working on that, but I'm not.

 My experiments continue, however.  Once a home schooler, always a home schooler--even when the kids are gone.  I'm trying straight vinegar on a few of the really large weeds in another section of the garden beds (or I probably should say weed beds to be perfectly honest) and some of the mixed solution on others.  I shall let you know how it goes in the long run.

Update:  The straight vinegar worked just as well on the weeds in the garden as the mix.  Large weeds including a very large dandelion were completely shriveled and brown.  I'll see if they come back and let you know.

The New Birdbath

I made another birdbath!   Love it!  My new squirrel-proof bird feeders are working so well I needed another birdbath for all my feathered guests.
 

I could not find a matching plate and vase in "my price range" (aka cheap).  Sooo, I got a blue decorative plate for $5.99 and a clear vase for $7.99.  I used food coloring to get the water to the same shade as the plate.  (Don't use too much food coloring.  A little goes a long way.)  Blue with just a couple of drops of green got the water to match the plate almost perfectly.  I put this together the same as I did this one last year.

 
You can read about that here. I used the E6000 glue and clear silicone caulk same as last year, although a more permanent glass epoxy might be another way to do it.

The red one doesn't have water in the base, and moisture got in before I sealed it with the silicone caulk last year.  That wasn't a good look.  With the blue one being filled with water,  I sealed this one with silicone to keep the water clean and clear.  I left an inch of space in case the water needs some room to expand or something.  Science is not my strong suit.  I might be wrong with that need for expansion.  It may not be necessary to leave the space. Maybe some reader can let us know in the comments. 

I shall let you know how the birds like it.

Update:  Two things I'd like to mention here.  First, Duckyzgal asked about the water getting contaminated in the comment section.  If you have concerns/questions, I've added some info in my reply to her comment below.

Second, I  probably should have reemphasized some things about using the E6000 in this post.  You really have to use it according to the directions and sparingly.  If you put on too much it will run down the glass.  While you can cut off run lines on the outside, you can't on the inside.  That said, E6000 dries to a rubbery finish that can be cut off.  It's not a big deal to take off the old glue and try again. 

New Birdbath and Garden Ornament

Someone had a post in which she used small glass vases and other dishes to make garden ornaments.  I loved them, but I have none of that kind of stuff hanging around. BUT, the local Marshall's store has all kinds of inexpensive glass things that I've always loved looking at but had no reason to buy.  While wandering I found two small orange vases that turned into this:

Then I found an enormous red glass vase and and equally large platter that I thought would make a great birdbath.  The combination was a bit wobbly so I glued another piece to the bottom to make the base wider.

I hope the birds like this as much as I do.  I used E6000 sparingly and according to the directions after globbing on too much the first time.  I also put a thin clear silicone caulk line around the joints to keep moisture out.  ( Learn from my mistake.  If the pieces have any openings between them, moisture will get in and may show through.

As for the cost,  all these pieces were very inexpensive.  The three pieces of the birdbath in descending order were $7, $9, and $6.  The E6000 and silicone caulk were already here from other projects.

Update:  Check out even newer birdbaths and garden totems here, here, here, and here.