Pick a Pack of Purple Peas

Pulled down all my Hyacinth Bean vines today and plucked the seed pods off.


When they are all good and dried out I will shell them and save the seeds for next year. I think I'll have enough to cover our whole block in vines!

What is a Hyacinth Bean vine you ask? It's a hearty annual climbing plant that produces lovely purple & white flowers and large shiny royal-purple pods that turn magenta-hued with time.
It's a very strong vine but needs support to climb; it can't climb up a wall on its own like an ivy would. We grow them up around the columns of our front porch, adding twine as necessary to support them, until they reach the top where we string more twine and let them grow horizontally 'til they meet in the middle.

I love our purple pea vines.

Say It Ain't So!

I ordered an old issue of Polymer Cafe magazine because there was a specific article in it I wanted. So it came yesterday and I'm doing a quick browse through it and see this iguana, a runner-up in the True Color challenge.

Wow! That thing is excellent! Such details - the toenails and scales and eyes and spikes ... Just wonderful I think. Maybe with years and years of practice and a brain transplant, maybe I could make something that good someday.

Then I read the caption.

WHAT?? "One of my first attempts at sculptures". Are you kidding me?!
I threw the mag down in disgust. MY attempts so far at sculpture have not been good. Other-Half says, don't be discouraged, you just need to find a class to take where they'll teach you the basics and start you off with something simple, like a snake. A snake? I tried a snake, I says. They'd need to start me off with something really simple, like a marshmellow.

With a grunt I pick the magazine back up and continue reading. It gets worse. Much worse. Did you read the last sentence? "I'm 13 years old ...".
Say it ain't so! Put to shame by a 13 year old's first attempt. Sigh.

Kim, if you're out there, GREAT job.