Claudia — Page 335

Wild Roses

June 1, 2022 at 8:53 am by Claudia

Blazing hot yesterday, over twenty degrees cooler today.

I snapped this quickly this morning. It’s my favorite time of year in the Secret Garden; lots of wildflowers everywhere and off in the background, you can see the wild roses beginning to bloom. It needs to be mowed, but my goodness, it’s magical.

We’re going to attempt some mowing today, but it might rain this morning with storms in the afternoon. I’m definitely going to head out to weed after I write this post.

Today would have been my parents’ 76th wedding anniversary. They lived to celebrate 66 years together before my mom passed away. Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad.

Since it was so hot and humid yesterday, except for watering all of the plants, I stayed inside. I started a jigsaw puzzle, but I was very careful. I worked for 15 minutes at a time, then I’d get up and do something else. Just a little bit of work here and there. I’m very conscious of my back and I immediately correct if I find I’m leaning too far forward.

I couldn’t do any work on the dollhouse as there is no air conditioner in our office. We used to have one, but it died, and we haven’t felt the need to replace it.

I had a little job offer yesterday. My former colleague from Hartford Stage is the new Artistic Director of the Geva Theater Center in Rochester, NY. Or will be soon. She was Darko’s Associate Artistic Director for several years. You might remember that my last coaching job right before lockdown was on her production of Jane Eyre. She is remounting that production (which closed early due to COVID) as her opening production in the new season. So I’ll be doing the dialect coaching. Much of it will be done via Zoom, but I’ll work at least two days in Rochester, presumably for a run-through and a preview. Anyway, it’s a modest amount of money, but we can sure use it. And it’s a job! It will start sometime in August.

Now we need to get Don an acting job. It’s been close to three years since he’s had any work. He needs to act. He needs to know he is still viable at this age. His confidence could use a boost. Cross your fingers for him.

Okay, my friends. I have some work to do outside.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

Flowers, Imogen & Dove Cottage

May 31, 2022 at 9:34 am by Claudia

More clematis this morning. They sure do add a jolt of color to the green of the boxwood.

Hot, hot, hot here today. Tomorrow should be much cooler.

Yesterday morning found me pulling most of the forget-me-nots out of the ground. They were going to seed. I also wanted to clean the edges of the garden beds, so I fetched the lawn mower and mowed in front of the beds so that I could see the rocks that define the beds. Then I pulled anything that interfered with that border. And then, in true Claudia fashion, I also mowed the lilac side of the front lawn.

And then…I was tired. But it felt good to be out there after feeling under the weather for a few days.

Meanwhile, Imogen was on the porch enjoying the flowers.

(I love the cleft in her chin.)

Slowly finishing the front of the dollhouse. There are one or two elements to add, but here is where we are as of today:

I want to age that big pot on the left. The chair arrived in the mail the other day, all the way from Milan. I love the look of these bistro chairs; they remind me very much of the chairs in the Luxembourg gardens. I searched high and low until I found one.

I may make some stepping stones leading to the door. This area was to be a porch on the original house. Most of the porch elements were missing when I found it at the dump and I wasn’t inclined to replace them as I had a different idea of what I wanted it to be. So I’m left with this raised area. I’m going with terraced levels. I’ll probably add some of the ballast that I’ve used on the area just outside the front door on the lower terrace as well. Though, it’s messy and a bit of a pain in the tush.

And then we’ll move on to the Beacon Hill.

Stay safe.

Happy Tuesday.

Ladybug

May 30, 2022 at 8:21 am by Claudia

I watched this ladybug explore all of the petals on the clematis.

Then, while I was trying to take another picture of her, she took off.

These beauties are blooming in the bed in front of the porch.

I hope you’re having a lovely three-day weekend. Nothing special on our docket for today – we’re just hanging out. We’re starting three very hot days in a row, so part of the day will be spent with the air conditioning on.

But it’s a lovely, sunny morning and I’m going to go yank some of the forget-me-nots that have gone to seed. I’m still feeling a bit under the weather, so I’m not going to overdo it. I promise.

Have a lovely day.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Wild Roses

Flowers, Imogen & Dove Cottage

Ladybug

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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