What a lovely greeting this morning!
This little rose bush usually has just two flower buds, but boy, do they develop into magnificent blossoms! The color is extraordinary. By the way, this bush was a gift from a reader of this blog. It’s in the memorial garden.
It looks like we had a light shower overnight. You can see the water drops on the leaves.
My little Buddy appeared off and on yesterday, eating grass, sitting on a rock, running back under the tree when something frightened him. At one point, I saw him come through the gate and make his way through the secret garden and up the hill on his way to the family’s burrow. I thought: oh, he’s gone for the day. About 30 minutes later, he was back. Unless he was another of the kids. But I’m pretty sure it was Buddy, who likes to hang out here during the day.
Just want him to remain safe. Thankfully, I haven’t seen him go in the direction of the street. He seems to be happy up here.
Over the past three days I did three video tours of the girls. I don’t know why, but I had the idea one day and there you go. I posted them. I thought they might be a dud, but people seemed to really like hearing my voice and learning more about the girls. I simply highlighted a few of the girls each day and shared their stories. Anyway, if you’re at all interested, they’re on my IG Blythe feed which is, after going to instagram: (at symbol)sophieandherpals.
I did a lot of weed whacking yesterday and Don mowed the trails up in the woods. I leave a certain amount of weeds near the funky patio, etc., for the groundhogs and rabbits. Just saw our rabbit – maybe the mama of the baby bunnies? – this morning.
Today, I’m going to start working on reorganizing my office/studio. There’s so much STUFF there: dollhouses, dollhouse supplies, my easel, oil paints, mail, scripts, a mini printer, and on and on. Plus, we just took the kitchen a/c unit out of the closet in our office so I have some space available again. It’s time to be ruthless and sort through everything.
Stay safe.
Happy Tuesday.
Wow, that rose is beautiful …not a flaw anywhere! Sounds like the groundhogs and rabbits are enjoying your property…fun to watch! I need to do some reorganizing, too… I’m always amazed at how much I throw away and wonder why I saved it in the first place!
I didn’t get to it today, but I’ll start in on sorting things tomorrow.
Stay safe, Barrie.
glad you can see buddy and the bunny at least occasionally. i find it hard to not worry about all creatures, especially babies and once i’ve seen them (no matter their age).
love the colors in that rose … beautiful photo, too! glad you got at least a bit more rain.
best wishes on the reorganizing. i keep paring down here, bit by bit. going on round two(?) of everything, one category at a time.
i need to be more ruthless in this culling … not at all a character trait of mine (i am not a hoarder, but i am very sentimental), but i have to … there’s only so much room!
hope you, don and everyone else have a great day. stay safe!
kathy
I need to be ruthless as well, but unfortunately, I didn’t get to that chore today. Hopefully, tomorrow.
Stay safe, Kathy.
What a beautiful rose, Claudia. I need to do a ruthless sort also!
Thanks, Susan. It’s already very different than it was this morning. The flowers last about two days. Sigh.
Stay safe.
I think I’m going to have to fire my family’s longtime gardener. Unless he has some pathetic excuse, like helpers who didn’t know better, my husband and I arrived home yesterday to find that he or his crew had pulled 90 percent of our flowers from the beloved meadow patch which encircles our front yard to the delight of us and our neighbors. The reason I have to get tough is that we’d already had the conversation to leave them alone; that they are NOT weeds to be yanked. What we have left now is soft, dry dirt and that was also NOT the plan.
I was so upset over this yesterday that I almost put myself in a physical danger zone, like it’s not worth having a heart attack over. But I think he’s toast. He needs to follow basic instructions. We hardly ever mess with what he wants to do but this was out of line. He filled up not one but two oversized City trash cans to the brim. All my lovely rainbow-colored flowers; they were so sweet, so fragrant, a haven for butterflies and bees and hummingbirds. Yesterday evening I watch a hummer buzz around in confusion, like ‘Where are my honey-nectared flowers?’
My husband keeps saying to me, “It’s a thing, Vicki; it’s just a thing.” But he’s angry, too. We’re the boss; not the blow & mow guy. Yep, he’s toast. Just like Orange Man.
Sorry for the rant. I love your photo yesterday about the yarrow. I’m about to go over right now to the instagram about the Blythes; thanks for mentioning it. Hope you’re having a nice Tuesday.
I feel gutted. My flowers. I’d look at them in awe every day. It was a daily enjoyment and pleasure; calming for me; it would get me out and into the front yard when I usually don’t linger too much there at the curb and street, just coming and going mostly (like from the car); too much neighborhood traffic and noisy kids (they’re allowed; it’s summer vacay; I was loud when I was their age, too). The meadow flowers would change beautifully; even when aging, a little dark pink flower with a pale center would go light pink with a dark center, always lovely to the very end; but the end wasn’t here yet! Amazing combination of colors, all nature’s doing. I know you know, Claudia.
What made me go off was that I saw the photo of your GORGEOUS apricot-pink rose and I was reminded that I have NO color in my front yard without the meadow patch. And that’s because my roses are in bad shape this year. I think we haven’t had nearly enough sun; we’ve even wondered with all the rain if they had gotten too much rain (since they’re accustomed to so little in the past 14 years of drought). It’s just like this year’s jacaranda trees all over town; they are under-performing for mid-June and were slow to bust out. The blooms aren’t full and lush, even on my most-fave trees which I seek out each year; I have my fave locations. Maybe I just need to wait another couple of weeks but it seems too late. My husband said the same thing, “Could the jacs have gotten too much rain when they don’t like a lot of water?” Mysteries.
I’m actually afraid we’re going to lose one rosebush which was grafted from my grandfather’s rose garden in 1914. I know things can’t last forever but my husband is currently consulting with a nursery to figure out what we can do to save it.
Sigh. I don’t think any of us like the idea of something being taken away from us although I need to put the things in better perspective. It’s just that I lead a fairly ‘small’ life, just mostly home, this is my domain, so my surroundings are pretty important to me (my own little corner of The Big World).
It’s your property, your world. This is my property and my world, and I feel much the same as you, Vicki. We count on the beauty that surrounds us to give us some semblance of peace.
xo
sorry you have to deal with the loss of your meadow flowers and with a long-time gardener not doing as you asked.
if i may say so, i would not accept any excuse from him that his helpers didn’t know better (if he says such a thing). because it would be up to him to inform his crew on what to do or not do. argh!
i wish you well with that situation and hope that you soon see signs of re-growth or can plant more flowers soon.
i try to live like what your husband said, that “they are just things”, but i also very much agree with you and what you said in the last paragraph about your life and home. hard.
hold on!
hope everything else is going well. praying for you all.
kathy
I would be devastated, as well. This man didn’t listen to you when you warned him more than once about the flowers. No matter whether he’s new or long time, he disregarded your wishes. That should be it.
I’m so, so sorry, Vicki. Sending you a big hug.
Stay safe.
That rose is just lovely. We only have pink rose bushes on the ground and one red climbing rose that is outdoing itself with blooms this year. I’ll have to see if we can get a bush this color next year.
Well, the fawn was gone when I got up this morning. Around 11 a.m. I was in the front room when I saw a doe (presumably mom) ambling down our driveway and cross the street to the neighbor’s front yard. I immediately went out and walked the back lot line in the trees. There’s lots of places for a deer to hunker down, particularly behind our spreading copper beech tree but I didn’t find any baby. Hope wherever it is now that it’s safe.
Take care,
Kay
I do, too. We worry. It’s the not knowing that’s hard. I hope you see the fawn again, Kay.
Stay safe.