20 degree shift

Look at the crazy weather forecast! A blazing 93 degrees today and then a drop of 20 degrees by Sunday, and a lovely 73. What the heck is that?!?! 

This does not bode well for our neighborhood party, this evening.  The screenshot you’re looking at above was taken last night (Friday) at 10:00 PM, and it was still 82 degrees outside, at 10 PM!! That is seriously hot when you’re planning on wearing black polyester bell-bottoms and a long-sleeved polyester disco top!  And when you have made a lovely hanging flower arrangement consisting of delicate roses and ivy.

Since I have no idea how long my arrangement will last in the blazing Arizona heat, I will show it to you before it shrivels up, wilts, and suffers an ugly death.

Isn’t it beautiful?  I have had the wire hanging basket for years. It was shoved away in the shed… until I saw this next image on Pinterest.

As soon as I spied this photo, I yanked that basket out of the shed.  The Pinterest basket is fuller and lusher than mine, but I bet that wherever it was that the Pinterest basket was hanging, it was not 93 degrees!

The thing was a bit of a challenge to put together. Since the bottom isn’t flat, it is not exactly stable.  And with all that moss – it’s a bit messy.  I had to find just the right place to balance and assemble it.

I was scrounging around in the garage for a large crate or box when I spotted a big rubber trash can. Perfect!  An added bonus – the can has wheels.  So I wheeled it into the kitchen and began assembling the contents next to the sink.

First I filled the glass bowl with ice-cold water and about a teaspoon of bleach.  Next, the ivy went in.

And then some of the roses. I put in the remaining 2 dozen roses and the six candles and then wheeled the entire thing out to the back patio.

Hanging it was the hard part. The darn thing is heavy with all that water.  Then I lit the candles.

Finally, I blew out the candles and took the whole thing back down, returned it to the top of the trash can, and wheeled it back into the air-conditioned house. 

I’m keeping it in the dining room, not only because this is where I’m “staging” everything for the party, but because the ceiling in there is dropped and the A/C vent can blow directly on the arrangement until I wheel it back outside and hang it up in the scorching heat.

Crazy &@%# Weather!!!