flowers

Flowers, Wallpapering, and Rearranging

June 3, 2026 at 7:58 am by Claudia

Isn’t that a beauty?

It’s a strange spring around here. Some plants are more prolific and lush than ever, but others are not. The Annabelle hydrangea is not doing well. I’m going to have to cut it back at the end of the season. The climbing hydrangea is also not doing well. And the bridal veil spirea is flowering, but very sparsely. I wonder if all of that has to do with the very harsh winter we just went through? I suspect it might. Oh, and the rose bush is also a problem. Lots of dead branches.

There’s lots to be done.

The wild roses always do well!

Okay. It took me two days to wallpaper the bedroom in the Beacon Hill. It was stressful and frustrating and that was because I had to work around all the trim that was already in place. That’s something I haven’t had to deal with before. So, it had to be pieced together. Ideally, each wall would be one continuous piece of wallpaper, but that was impossible.

On Monday.

On Tuesday around noon. It’s definitely a test of my patience and a reminder that rescuing a dollhouse involves all sorts of challenges. I love this wallpaper, by the way. Papyrus Floral by Cobblehill Minitatures.

I turned the dollhouse to get better light and look what showed up in the window? Dove Cottage. It almost looks like a little neighborhood.

It turns out the daybed works perfectly in this room. That wasn’t planned, but I’m sure happy about it.

Now for the floors…

I moved my sofa that had been in the miniatures cupboard down to Hummingbird Cottage.

I really love it in here and it picks up the colors in the rug.

But now, the blue and white easy chair looks out of place. Hmmm. I’d like to keep this sofa in the mix because I think the living room needs a shot of a different color. Everything was “lots of shades of blue.” And this is such a gorgeous piece (by Emma of Croft House Miniatures in England.)

I’ll be keeping my eye out for another chair.

Okay, my friends.

Some weed whacking is on the docket for today.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

Checking In on a Wednesday

May 27, 2026 at 8:47 am by Claudia

The clematis is about to bloom like crazy. Over the years, it has moved from its place in front of the boxwoods and is now weaving its way in and out of the boxwoods. This shot is from my perch on the porch, looking down.

Looking toward the front lawn:

You can see all the buds coming up from within the boxwoods. More buds than I can ever remember seeing!

I yanked lots of poison ivy yesterday. The clematis is lush this year, as is the poison ivy – also more than I can remember seeing. It’s impossible to get to all of it, of course, but I managed to eliminate quite a bit. Then I pruned the brambles, and the picker bushes, and carted lots of buckets of cut branches to the pile by the shed. Lots of chores were attended to inside the house, as well.

(Don’t worry, I’m careful with poison ivy: I have special gloves and special pruners and they are kept in a box marked “Poison Ivy.”)

The wallpaper package still shows as “not received” by the Washington DC post office. I think this particular facility has its problems. It seems to take them a couple of days to actually scan the label. I’m used to a quicker turnaround in my neck of the woods. Anyway, it’s frustrating. Lord knows there’s plenty of work that needs to be done around here, including mowing the lawn again, but I try to space that out because of my allergies. In the meantime, I’d like to be working on the dollhouse.

Grocery shopping is on the docket for this morning. We’re out of everything.

Exciting, right?

I’ve changed my browser and search engine. Google is now 100% AI and I want nothing to do with that. It you’re not aware of the danger of the huge data centers associated with AI, you should research that. And AI is essentially theft of others’ work, not to mention the amount of people who have lost and will lose their jobs because of it. They’re really trying to shove it down our throats. Nope. I stand firm.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

Prettying Up the Porch

April 25, 2026 at 9:17 am by Claudia

I am tuckered out today. I did a lot of work outside this past week and much of it involved bending over repeatedly. Back aches, along with a major allergy flareup, have resulted in my surrender today. I need to take a break. Fortunately, it’s going to rain all day today, so I will not be tempted to “just do do a little something.”

I went to the nursery and, hurrah! – the impatiens had come in. I put together a flat, found some more lobelia in a paler purple, and the geraniums I grow in the barrels by the funky patio. And more potting soil. I still have to buy a certain kind of hanging plant that I use every year, and some coleus for a pot in the secret garden. I’ve decided that I’m only going to use one or two pots out there this year. That will save some money.

Came back home and started in on my porch project. I had to retreive the pots I use from the shed and then I proceeded to happily pot flowers for the next 3 hours. I swear, I was so happy! Nothing makes me happier than working in the garden and adding flowers to the porch. Don came out on the porch after I was done and thanked me for prettying up our favorite place. We sit out there a lot, Don plays his guitar there, I sometimes go out there with a cup of coffee very early in the morning and listen to the birds sing. We love that porch.

Nothing surprising here, it’s my usual setup. Hey, it works, so why mess with it? I want dependable at this point in my life.

The impatiens will begin to fill in pretty quickly. Before you know it, they will be quite lush.

So that’s pretty much done, save for one more hanging plant.

Hurrah!

Then to make it an even better day, I walked down to get the mail and decided to check out our culvert – the section that always has water. As I neared, I saw something jump in. It was a frog! A large frog. Has Phileas come back, or is this Phileas Jr.? I immediately went inside to tell Don and he was so happy. Unfortunately, when he ventured down to the culvert later in the day, the frog was MIA. But I reminded Don that that often happened last year. I hope Don can see him soon.

Okay. Time to rest.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Flowers, Wallpapering, and Rearranging

Checking In on a Wednesday

Prettying Up the Porch

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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