Don — Page 164

Elusive Butterfly

August 15, 2014 at 8:09 am by Claudia

I date myself by using this post title. Does anyone else remember that song, sung by Bob Lind (I had to look it up) and released in 1966? I wasn’t a big fan, but I do remember it clearly.

Anyway, during the past few days, I’ve been looking for elusive butterflies around the property. You remember the huge Eastern Tiger Swallowtail that I sort of missed out on because I had Scout on the leash and no camera? Yesterday, I saw two Swallowtails.

swallowtail black

The swallowtail in black – his wings were fluttering so quickly that I could only grab a quick shot. You can see the amazing colors near the bottom of his wings. One of the wings was torn, but it didn’t seem to be slowing him down.

swallowtail full

This one, on the other hand, stayed still long enough for me to click the shutter on the camera. Isn’t she beautiful? She’s not the same one I saw the other day. That swallowtail had blue markings at the bottom of her wings. This one looks to have a little wing damage on the right.

swallowtail two

It must be this elusiveness, coupled with sheer beauty, that makes butterflies so fascinating. Flitting here, there, and then, before you can snap your fingers, soaring above the bushes and the trees and…gone.

I can’t tell you how many times this week that I’ve seen one and run into the house for the camera. Even Don is trained. He was coming out the door to go to the car yesterday. I was trying to snap these pictures. I held up one hand and he froze in place until I was done.

If only Scout minded so well.

And how about this guy?

W - green critter

He was on the outside of the bathroom window. He was rather long – about 3 or 4 inches – and he hung out there for quite a long time.

Amazing.

I’m off to the Apple Store to have the Genius Bar take a look at my computer. I’m pretty sure I know what’s wrong. I only hope it doesn’t cost too much! Have to have my laptop or this blog won’t get written. Cross your fingers for me. I’m hoping I can hang out while they fix it and that I don’t have to leave it overnight.

Forgot to add: new post up on Just Let Me Finish This Page.

Happy Friday.

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I’ll Take a Sense of Humor, Please.

July 28, 2014 at 8:15 am by Claudia

Have you ever watched Jerry Seinfeld’s web series, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee? Each episode is framed around a specific car (often vintage) that Seinfeld is driving while spending time with a fellow comedian. They go out to eat and get coffee along the way. It’s a simple and wonderful premise. The episodes are short-ish – usually around 15 – 20 minutes.

They make me laugh out loud. I saw a link to the latest episode with Sarah Jessica Parker (who is very funny) and that led me to another and another. Then I got Don involved and he was watching episodes on his laptop. Picture both of us in front of our laptops wearing our earbuds, laughing out loud.

monday - purple phlox

In the list of qualities I feel are absolutely essential in a boyfriend, a husband, a colleague or a friend, a sense of humor is at the very top. If Don hadn’t had a sense of the absurd, a streak of funny coursing through his veins, that first meeting I told you about would have been the beginning and the end of our relationship.

It’s that important to me. In all modesty, I’m a really funny person. I can make people laugh. It’s always been that way. And Don, oh my goodness, is he funny! He can make me laugh so hard and long that I end up gasping and begging for mercy, usually ending with “Stop! Stop! I’m going to pee in my pants!!”

And I make him laugh. There’s nothing better than making someone who has a fabulous sense of humor laugh out loud.

monday - white phlox

My sister and I have been known to laugh so hard that we literally – and I do mean literally – fall to the ground. One such situation comes to mind. I was living in Boston and Meredith was visiting with her boyfriend, who I was meeting for the very first time. We were in Fanueil Hall looking at a rack of cards and I said something that struck us both as funny. We started laughing and we couldn’t stop. This went on for several minutes with both of us eventually falling to the floor. John, the boyfriend who ended up being my future brother-in-law, took it in stride and quietly walked away from us while we were causing quite the scene.

Little did John know that was the first of many laugh fests. In fact, one of the first conversations John and I had was about Seinfeld episodes that we loved. We couldn’t stop laughing.

(It might be time to share the Henna from Hell story with you – yet another adventure with my sister. Maybe this week…we’ll see.)

I think you have to be able to filter life through a lens that sees the humor in things, that captures that sense of the absurd, the silly, the farcical, the satiric. Lord knows, it’s saved my sanity more times than I can count.

Is there anything better than laughing so hard you have tears rolling down your face? It’s cathartic. It cleanses. It releases.

I’m going to go watch some more episodes of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. There’s a few I haven’t seen yet.

New post today on Just Let Me Finish This Page. It’s a book review of Cop Town by Karin Slaughter. (Loved the book.)

Happy Monday.

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Flowers, Old Movies, Coffee & Books

July 27, 2014 at 8:22 am by Claudia

You know I love my deer. They share this property with us and I do everything I can to protect them. But just like beloved children, sometimes their behavior makes me a bit unhappy.

Like when they chomp on my plants.

Part of that is my fault. I was away in Chautauqua and totally forgot about spraying the flowers with a natural deer repellent that I use. By the time I got home and realized that, it was too late. So, they dined on some day lilies and ate 99% of the leaves from the hostas that are planted in front of the shed.

But my hostas are sturdy little things and they had something up their sleeve.

take that

Take that, deer! They aren’t going to let a little de-leafing get them down. Not when they can deliver flowers like these.

We’ve been watching some old black and white films (my favorite.) Friday night was Random Harvest, starring Greer Garson and Ronald Colman – a great love story that takes place right after WWI. Colman’s character has amnesia, Greer helps him and the story goes on from there. Simply beautiful and, at times, heartbreaking. Then Don watched another movie, one of our favorites, Waterloo Bridge. (I’d seen it recently and it was late, so I went to bed.) But just as we did the first time we saw it, Don and I ended up talking about it for an hour the next day. It stars Robert Taylor and Vivien Leigh. Another love story with a WWI backdrop and a heartbreaking one, where you find yourself saying “If only she had said something,” or “If only she hadn’t let her pride get in the way.” It haunted me for days after I saw it for the first time. It’s a beautiful movie – I recommend it highly.

Then last night: the great 1927 classic, Metropolis. Simply stunning. A visual triumph with a powerful story. If you haven’t seen it, you should.

There’s nothing like a great old movie. We’ve hit the jackpot lately.

pink zinnia

I also just finished Cop Town by Karin Slaughter, which I’m going to review on Just Let Me Finish This Page tomorrow. Now I’m reading Deadly Assets by Wendy Tyson. I’ve reviewed some of Tyson’s books on this blog, so I’m looking forward to this one. It will be also be reviewed on the book blog

Today is rainy, which is just fine. The gardens need a little rain. Scoutie is in the tunnel, I’m sipping my Peet’s French Roast (no little K-Cups for me, thank you very much, I brew a pot of coffee.)

By the way, what is with the K-Cup craze? I know a lot of people use them, but they seem expensive to me and rather like a fad. Suddenly everyone is using K-Cups and buying a special coffee maker just so they can use them. If you limit yourself to one cup of coffee a day….maybe. Or if you and your mate have different tastes in coffee? But if I were going to go with one cup of coffee, I’d go with a filter cone. Much better result. We have one here and my roommate in Chautauqua had a collapsible filter cone made out of silicone that she used for traveling and she won me over. She spooned some of my coffee in the filter, boiled some water, poured it into the filter and oh my goodness! Was that coffee great! Much cheaper than K-Cups, obviously, and much, much better. I’m going to buy one for Don and one for me. We both have out-of-town gigs coming up.

Don’s late father, Lee, loved his K-Cups. He proudly showed them off to me when I visited him in San Diego. I think he liked having a variety of flavors on hand and would treat himself to a different one every day. That’s when I can understand the K-Cup thing. That’s when it makes sense. Anyway, just my opinion – I’m very serious about my coffee, as you know. If you love K-Cups, tell me why – I’d love to know.

There. I’ve gone off on a tangent. Don would tell you that kind of thing is rather routine around here.

The phlox have started blooming.

phlox

Oh, that scent is heavenly!

Happy Sunday.

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Elusive Butterfly

I’ll Take a Sense of Humor, Please.

Flowers, Old Movies, Coffee & Books

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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