We had a huge storm yesterday afternoon, which sent some of these blooms down to the ground, but thankfully, there are still lots of flowers on the catalpa tree.
What a wild storm – rain and wind and a crazy intensity. It lasted about 30 minutes.
Here’s Maeve examining a catalpa blossom. She was quite taken by the size of the flowers.
I finished the puzzle:
It’s another Mucha and it’s called Reverie (Dream.)
I have run out of Mucha puzzles as I’ve done all of them, Sigh. So I ordered a Klimt and that should be arriving today.
We are now attempting to live without a microwave. I’ve never cared for the look of them and we were using the smallest and least instrusive one we could find, but it started to rust inside and then it misbehaved and smelled funny and we felt it was no longer safe. We really only use it rewarm coffee and make oatmeal, both of which we can do with Stella, so we added it to our pile of crap that needs to go to the bigger dump in the next town and we are now microwave-free. And we have more counter space, which we love.
I’m headed into the last section of The English Girl. by Daniel Silva. I’m not sure what I’ll read next. I have three books on hold in our library system that are being released this month but it usually takes a while to get them.
After so much groundhog activity last summer – remember all of the babies? – we have seen one groundhog a few times. Once, near the house, and once by the shed. And another time scampering across the back forty. That’s it. Maybe they had enough of life on this property and needed to move elsewhere. We do see bunnies and birds and chipmunks – and deer, of course. I loved those groundhog babies, but wrangling them all day long was a bit of a pain.
Okay.
Stay safe.
Happy Friday.
dear Claudia/Don–sorry tp hear re MW — only use ours to reheat coffee but if it goes, would think really hard about replacing it — glad you stopped using yours as it does not sound good, especially re smell, hope you unplugged it. those catalpa blooms are so pretty, glad Maeve is enjoying her bloom–love seeing her. so discouraging to read the news these days — some stuff can REALLY raise my BP but then I realize that orange crook is worthless no matter what sen/rep “a–kissers ” say BUT sane people MUST use the vote to express their opinions — BUT are there enough ‘sane’ people in this country??? hope your wkend is good. stay safe/healthy
There are enough sane people in this country. They elected Biden.
Stay safe, Linda!
glad the storm didn’t last any longer than it did, and that you still have some blossoms on the catalpas.
your first photo looks a bit like some of the trees we see on our rides in the countryside. not often and always from a distance and beautiful, especially in bloom. i am going to do a bit of research to see if we have catalpa trees here in iowa.
pretty puzzle. glad you have another one (and books) on the way.
love the combination of little maeve’s hair color and outfit. nice to see your girls around.
good luck on going without a microwave. my first microwave was a gift from my parents and i loved it (love them). the top and sides were brown and made to look like one of my favorite things, metal made to look like wood grains. worked great for nineteen (!) years, then just stopped. took it to the one recycling place available east of town, but kept the glass plate for serving things and putting under plant pots. like you, i now have a microwave that’s acting up so it’s unplugged and i will likely get a new one. they are great for heating up leftovers, for me, and thankfully not horribly expensive. just don’t feel like adding anything else to my list right now … haha, but true.
am onto the fourth “little house on the prairie” book (out of nine) and am glad to read them. my mother read them, alternating with “hardy boys” books, to my brother, sister and me when we’d go home for an hour lunch when in grade school … very happy memories about that. :)
hope you and don are feeling better, that everyone here is and that you all have a good, easy day.
xo
kathy
Thank you, Kathy.
Stay safe.
I love seeing your catalpa tree every spring. It brings back wonderful memories of playing under my best friend’s grandma’s tree in the 50’s. We were fortunate little girls in that both our grandparents lived on the same block as us in our small town. I lived next door to grandma and grandpa and Barb’s grandma lived around the corner and up the block a bit. We used those catalpa blossoms in every imaginary way we could think of in our playing.
Wow, kudos for going microwave free. Unfortunately, I’m addicted to nuking stuff. I use the one that replaced the 30 yr old built-in model during our kitchen reno 5 years ago to bake (it has a convection element) and heat up all manner of stuff. I do understand your not wanting to give it counter space since you and Don find it non-essential. I also shun appliances that hog counter real estate and I only have my mixer sitting there.
Take care,
Kay
Those blossoms are so beautiful, but when they fall, that’s it. I’ve tried saving them inside but they fade very quickly.
I’ve always been a little uneasy about microwaves. We’ll see if we can get by without one!
Stay safe, Kay.
Your catalpa tree is lovely. There are white blossom trees all over in Madison…but I don’t know if they are catalpas or not. Guess I should find out. Maeve looks lovely posed with that blossom.
You are brave to decide to give up your microwave. Not sure I could…but mine is built in over our stove. I use it too much mainly to reheat leftovers, cuz I can’t seem to only make enough food for just two. And we just eat less these days.
Wonder where your groundhogs have moved to, and why? Wouldn’t you just love to know? Enjoy your day! ;)
Groundhogs move out of their dens as winter approaches and hibernate in a new den. I suspect they also find new dens when they come out of hibernation. They fascinate me!
Stay safe, Donnamae.
Maeve is so sweet looking at her pretty catalpa blossom from your gorgeous tree. Wise choice for you and Don re the microwave. We had our first microwave for 30+ years and it stopped working. Gee, I wonder why. We replaced it and there was a learning curve. I do use mine for more than reheating. I bakes cakes in it, make peanut brittle, cook salmon, cook individual eggs in a mug, make strawberry/rhubarb pie filling, among other things. Oh, don’t forget popping corn. I think I’d be lost without it. Your puzzle is lovely. Hugs, Elaine
We didn’t cook in our microwave. We just reheated. In reality, I prefer using Stella. It takes a few extra steps, but what else do I have going that’s so important, right?
Stay safe, Elaine.
Well, Rick has never had a microwave. When they were teens the boys wanted to get him one for Christmas but he was adamant! I use mine for quick things — making chex mix, doing bacon and heating up beanbags for my back. I never really “cook” in it — I don’t think I’d know how.
That puzzle might be one of my favorites of yours. It looks easy to subdivide the pieces by subject and probably hard getting them all together in the right place. Maeve is adorable.
It was easy to subdivide, but the dress was definitely the hardest part.
Stay safe, Jeanie.