That, my friends, is a Maxfield Parrish sky.
Don called me over to the door, where he had been checking on Scout while she was outside, because that sliver of moon was so beautiful in the evening sky.
Lovely, simply lovely.
Still coughing, still feeling under the weather, but every day I feel a little less so. So that’s good.
We have a friend coming on Sunday to spend the night, so I’ve been cleaning. A little here, a little there, nothing too taxing. There’s nothing like an impending visit to make you see all the dust and crumbs and dirty grout, is there?
I’m still reading The Girl in the Spider’s Nest. Normally, I would have finished it by now, but I haven’t always felt like reading or concentrating for any length of time. This morning, however, I read a nice big chunk. It’s really well written.
I had been planning on working on the Top Secret Project when Don was in the city this week for auditions. Those plans were scuttled when I got sick. Darn it! So there’s nothing new to report there. I plan to find some time this week to do some interior painting and flooring.
I forgot to pick a winner for the Coercion giveaway. So sorry! The winner is Karen. Congratulations, Karen! I’ve sent you an email.
Must include a flower photo, as it won’t be long until I have no more flowers to share with you.
My surprise hollyhock is still blooming. What a gift this plant has been! Hollyhocks aren’t annuals here and this one was self-seeded, so I’m not counting on seeing it next year. But who knows? Some seeds may find their way into another garden bed. That’s the wonder of gardening, isn’t it?
Happy Friday.
I know what you mean about cleaning, etc because a guest is coming. We have a family (4) of missionaries coming to stay for the weekend. Our second bathroom’s tub has never drained well, and the past few years has been virtually unusable. Well, we didn’t really need it and funds were short, so needless to say, we decided we needed it in running condition. It is now, but nothing is simple, of course. $400 later, we have a tub! At one point it was going to be $1000 but I realized that it was on the same line as the dishwasher (it shouldn’t be, but there it is). That made the whole thing easier. Easier, not easy. ;)
It somehow all spirals out of control doesn’t it? Glad to hear you save some money on the bathtub!
Definitely a painting-like sky.
My housekeeping is never an issue, but my sleepwear always is. I favour much-washed, faded long t-shirts which I find comfortable, but am told are “disgraceful”. Anytime we have company that stays over I have to make a trip to the department store.
I hope you feel better this weekend.
When you live in a 120 year old house, housekeeping is always an issue! Older houses somehow are much harder to keep clean. Especially older homes in the country. Believe me, I’ve lived in new and old and old is just plain more difficult. Though I wouldn’t trade my house for anything new (most of the time.)
Just as long as you don’t have spiders (major phobia of mine).
A friend of ours lives in a very old Tudor house in Stratford, England. He has the occasional spider which I swear are authentic to the original build. Very big and scary!
Have to be honest here. We love spiders and we don’t kill them. So there are often spiders around here, especially Daddy Longlegs!
The flower photo just made my day! So pretty and I love how nature surprises us. Glad you are feeling a bit better. I’m going to be busy today with errands and then hope to have a slow and restful Saturday.
hugs,
Linda
I know how busy your life is now, Linda. I hope you have a restful Saturday, too!
Oh, that sky, Claudia and then the hollyhocks! Happy to hear you are recovering.
Thank you, Hedy! Slowly but surely.
Thank you again, Claudia, for the book giveaway. I always love anticipating the arrival of a new book! xo
So happy you won, Karen!
Fabulous sky and beautiful flowers. What more :-) can we ask for in life?? Seriously, they are wonderful. We got some rain last night and the temps are finally cooling off a bit. yay!
I am glad that each day you are feeling a bit better. I have heard that there is a lot of “crud” going around. ugh.
My husband says we should schedule company every couple of months so we get the big cleaning done. Otherwise, with just the two of us, I know we do over-look a lot!! As long as the kitchen and bathroom are clean, I tend to not get crazy about the dust bunnies and the other small piles that seem to grow on all flat surfaces in our house!! Wish some of my flowers grew as nicely as these piles seem to grow.
Hope you have a great weekend!!
I’m the same way. I hate cleaning the bathroom and the kitchen gets wiped up and dishes washed and put away, but that’s about it until it’s time for a big clean!
We don’t often have a “hairy” spider in the house, but if we do, dh will get rid of it. They are too spooky looking for me. But if and when I see a daddy-legs, I will carefully pick up the dainty little creature, and take it outside, to live happily ever after in nature.
Daddy longlegs like it inside – at least here – and even if I put them back outside, they’ll find their way back in!
I am a fellow spider lover. Glad to hear that you are feeling a bit better, I am as well. When I woke up this morning and headed out to the kitchen to make some tea I realized it was not as tidy as usual. It’s amazing what I don’t notice when I am feeling sick ;-)
Big Texas Hugs,
Susan and Bentley
Or care about!
I look forward to company coming…just so I will do a more thorough cleaning. And these days…kids coming back home for a visit is company! You know you could always recycle your flower pics…or take extras now to use later….we’d never know! Glad you are feeling a little better! ;)
I bet someone would notice! There’s always one that does!
Beautiful Hollyhock! So glad you are feeling better. So many people have that same thing. It is really going around. Take care.
Beautiful moon.
Judy
It’s the cough that’s killing me now. Lord almighty!
I’m sure that sky would inspire Maxfield Parrish….so pretty framed in the darkness of the trees…I am also pleased with all of the sweet flowers that your free hollyhock has given to you…and to us…Take care…
That hollyhock was the best surprise of the summer, Nancy.
When I’m having company, it seems like I spend most of the prep time dusting and “cob-webbing” because I live at Spider Central. I’m a little famous for it in our family. In my apartment, cobwebs that were dusted away at 9 am are often re-built by their industrious architects, in the same spot, by 4 or 5 pm that same day. And I don’t normally ‘do anything’ about my spiders either because I know they’re the reason I don’t have trouble, or even SEE, any other kinds of creepies around AT ALL. The spider squad here always gets ’em first and I’m grateful for that. One year my middle sister gave me personalized stationery for Christmas and chose to include a tiny black spider motif along with my name. So cute! When it was time to re-order a few years later, I was disappointed to find the spider wasn’t offered and went with a bitty sailboat instead. I think Caroline would love my new stationery! Have a good non-allergic weekend!
We are the exact same way. Cobwebs everywhere that I don’t really notice until I know someone is coming. They’ll be back again within no time. In fact, I may have to de-cobweb again before our guest arrives. We love our spiders. I just rescued one that was in the kitchen sink this morning.
I love it. It absolutely does look like Maxfield Parrish reached up there and colored the sky. So lovely.
That perfect time of the evening before the sky becomes very dark.
Glad you’re feeling better, especially when company is coming. Sounds like you have a cold, but I am now swearing by Flonase for allergies. Takes a couple of days to truly kick in and you have to use it every day during allergy season (seems to be especially bad for me right now), but I have never been this clear in my sinuses and head in years! My aunt recommended Flonase to me last year, but I thought “yeah, yeah” and just kept taking Allegra as needed. Which didn’t work 100% for me. Flonase is a little pricey – around $25 – but it has been well worth it.
I just read your previous post about the magazine. That has happened to me before too, and it really ticked me off. Too bad you can’t get your money back on magazines!
Have a great weekend.
I am going to try Flonase, Melanie. I don’t think it’s a cold. More like allergy/sinus or sinus itself. I never can figure it out.
The thing is, Claudia, that you always find something interesting to photograph, even is the depths of winter.
Oh, Nancy, that’s nice to hear. I tell you, though, there are times where I’m completely at a loss!
You have made invasive weeds look spectacular. Case in point: pokeweed, my nemesis. Thank you for reminding me to see the beauty in just about anything.
Well, it is invasive – I have lots more of it this year than last year. But it has a sort of beauty.
Cleaning up for company. Always makes me chuckle. Thank goodness for company!
I know! The guest room/office/studio is also the room where we throw everything we don’t know what to do with. That had to be remedied right away!
The Parrish sky is beautiful, and reminds me of the blue hour sky…you can google the time of day for the best time to photograph the blue hour where you live, and there are lots of sites with info and best way to get great pictures.
I’m sure that Parrish was an expert on the blue hour sky – you can see it in his paintings!