books — Page 161

Let’s Hang On

October 17, 2015 at 8:59 am by Claudia

10-17 zinnia

Do you remember that old Four Seasons song?

Let’s hang on to what we got
Don’t let go, girl, we got a lot
Got a lot of love between us
Hang on, hang on, hang on to what we got.

That’s what I’m singing to my plants today and tomorrow. Yes, the dreaded hard freeze will be here for two nights, not one. Crap. I followed Janet’s advice and watered everything at dusk yesterday. I’ll have to cover everything with sheets around 5:30 pm, as I have to get to the CD Release Party by 6 or so. Earlier than planned, but better to be safe. And I have to bring in all the plants from the porch and there are a lot of them.

And then I’ll have to do it again tomorrow, if all goes well tonight.

10-17 beebalm

The only bee balm blossom that’s still going strong – the others are long gone. Will he make it through the freeze?

Don and Dan (who stayed the night with us) are on their way to the radio station, which is in the Catskills. They’ll be on live from 11 -12 this morning – if you’re interested in listening to them you can catch the program streaming live here.

Tonight is the CD Release Party, with lots of friends coming to celebrate. Some of them will also be performing along with Don and Dan. I wish you all could be here, too! I know we’d have a lot of fun.

Quandary: what does one do when one has a stack of books from the library, among them All the Light We Cannot See, which said person knows she should read but for some reason isn’t very excited about, and an email arrives informing that person that after weeks of waiting in a long queue, Make Me by Lee Child is finally sitting on a shelf reserved under said person’s name at the local library?

(Quite a long and awkward sentence but you get the picture.)

Answer: One drops everything in her own personal ‘queue’ and runs to the library to check it out, which she will be doing as soon as the radio show is over.

I mean, come on, it’s Lee Child. It’s Jack Reacher. End of story.

10-17 wildflowers

Dad is being transferred to rehab today and it is the one we wanted him to be in all along. He had a rocky day yesterday. We finally figured out that he’d been given a sleeping pill in the middle of the night and he was out of it for most of the day. By the time I spoke to him a second time later in the day, he sounded better.

We’re grateful that everything has worked out in the end. Now to rehab and, hopefully, back home in a couple of weeks. Fingers crossed.

Okay. To those of you battling the hard freeze, I wish you luck! Wish me luck, too.

Happy Saturday.

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The Defiant Ones

October 10, 2015 at 9:43 am by Claudia

Throughout the garden there are signs of the inevitable decline that comes at this time of year. Flowers have stopped blooming; in many cases, there are dried up stems where once there were beautiful, green plants. I’ve been looking at all of it through the camera’s lens for the past couple of days.

There are, hidden among the fallen leaves and debris, a few defiant ones – flowers that still bloom despite the disarray around them.

All of the purple coneflowers look like this:

10-10 dried up coneflowers

But, almost hidden away in the side garden, I saw this:

10-10 coneflower

The last man standing. So beautiful.

10-10 brown-eyed susans

A few defiant brown-eyed susans.

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The last of the roses.

10-10 butterfly bush

A bloom hidden deep within the butterfly bush.

10-10 catmint

There are some catmint flowers here and there.

10-10 spirea

The spirea is giving us one last burst of flowers.

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And the phlox isn’t giving up without a fight.

My goodness, there is such a beauty in this decline, these flashes of color amid the fading greens and browns of the Autumn garden. It’s easy to focus on what was, instead of what is. And what is, is completely gorgeous in its own right.

Oh, I saw a Monarch Butterfly the other day! I didn’t have my camera and it was flying quickly around the property. It was gorgeous. Sadly, I don’t see them much anymore, so when I do, I stop and watch it until it fades out of sight.

Today is another beautiful, sunny fall day. I’m lapping all of this up. Tomorrow, I head into the city again to watch a run-through of the show.

I stopped by the library the other day.

10-10 library haul

I’m pretty sure the Sue Grafton books I’ve missed reading are S through V. Fortunately, my little local library had them on the shelf. I’ve heard a lot of good things about Ace Atkins but have yet to read any of his books. This one was on display, so I grabbed it. I had been in the queue for All the Light We Cannot See and it finally came in.

Just as it did when I was a little girl going to the bookmobile every week, a stack of library books makes me very, very happy.

Happy Saturday.

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Don’s Very Own Nirvana and Other Things

October 8, 2015 at 9:14 am by Claudia

Because miniatures are fun and moving them around is just like playing house when you were a kid:

10-8 don's nirvana

I call this: Don’s Very Own Nirvana.

This chair, a guitar, and all things Beatles? Heaven for my husband.

10-8 nirvana2

Oooh, setting up this studio is going to be a lot of fun!

Last night, we were watching Frasier and he remarked on the furniture in Frasier’s apartment, saying that he’d read all of the pieces were made by famous designers. I said that the recliner was an Eames chair. He had no idea about the designer’s name, but I could tell he liked it.

He also has no idea that he’s getting his own Eames chair – albeit, in miniature.

It’s been sunny and warmish around here; simply beautiful fall weather.

10-8 my girl

My girl enjoying the sun.

10-8 wildflowers&bee

A bee savoring the wildflowers that are all over the property at the moment.

I forgot to share two items that were in the box of minis that Barbara sent to me.

10-8 mini games

Two games. Aren’t they great?

I think some lawn mowing is on the docket for the day. It’s grown pretty long from all the rain we had about a week ago. I’m halfway through Her Final Breath by Robert Dugoni. I reviewed the first book in this excellent series here on the blog. This is the second.

I also stopped by my local library yesterday and brought home four books. There’s always a little pressure when I check out library books – especially if they’re new and have a limited checkout time. Oh boy. One of them is All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. I’ve heard nothing but wonderful things about this book, so I figured it was high time I took a stab at it.

Happy Thursday.

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Let’s Hang On

The Defiant Ones

Don’s Very Own Nirvana and Other Things

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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