There is...

No excuse for letting such a long time lapse between posts.  My apologies.  Things have been happening so quickly... the beginning of the Mardi Gras season, the pausing of the parades for the duration of the Super Bowl XLVII (which will be happening on February 3rd - for those not in the know - like yours truly).  Husby left to go to St. Louis on business on Monday (driving) and the poor bastard will be getting back into New Orleans on Saturday, February 2nd.  Just the traffic is making me shudder and I *love* living in a city.  I have NO plans to go NEAR the French Quarter until at least a week after Fat Tuesday.  From what I've been told, it will probably take that long just to clean the city up...

So what have I been up to??

I'm working on my deck/courtyard area off of my kitchen.  It's a mess.  So far, I've gotten it raked, picked up, pruned some of the elephant ears, and picked up a gem of an "ashtray" (in a city where smoking is pretty much still the norm, it's near IMPOSSIBLE to find a good ol' ashtray - I'm thinking I might have to hit up the flea mall, because the Doll-ah Store didn't have any).  So, I'm using some crystal looking bowl-thing (tackiest I could find) as an "ashtray" for my patio.  Please, enjoy the stunning photo:

And, please... don't let the crappy iPhone photo fool you.  It is, indeed, fugly and it's already been used once (why bother washing it out??).  I figured the ridges would help to keep a burning cigarette in place - and if it holds up to muster, I just might spend an additional $1.00 (+ the 9% sales tax) on another one just like it.

Also, I'm trying to find some smaller palm trees, ferns, and greens to do some container gardening and liven up the space.  The problem is, I have the "black thumb of death".  I look at a plant and it just withers away.  So, if anyone has any suggestions for hearty outdoor plants that might survive my owning them, please send them along.

x0x0