Talk about gorgeous! I planted this day lily last year and it is chock full of buds this summer – all that rain helps. I walked outside this morning to see that two of the lilies had opened. It’s funny, I sometimes forget what I planted and how it looked from year to year. This was a lovely surprise this morning.

We mowed like crazy yesterday. We were tuckered out. There’s still more to go but the front of the property, along with the corral, looks lovely.

I’ve never seen the gardens this lush. Even Don was commenting about it this morning. The hydrangeas are plump and gorgeous. There is more bee balm than ever, maybe a little too much. The day lilies have more blooms than normal and their bloom time is longer than usual. The peonies were better than ever, as were the lilacs. The endless rain that we had from April on was depressing at the time, but the payoff – and don’t we need one? – is the look of the gardens. Don was crediting me and, yes, I planted everything, but I quickly gave credit to the rain for the current abundance of blossoms.

I’m dithering between two books right now – not sure which one I want to read. Maybe I’m coming out of my long stretch with non-fiction and am heading back to my longtime love, fiction. I feel a change in the air!

An early morning shot of the living room and part of the kitchen. The sunlight is softening the edges of everything, so it looks a bit impressionistic.

I watched The Moon-spinners on TCM On Demand the other day. I remember loving that movie as a kid – I was a huge Hayley Mills fan. I also quickly developed a crush on Peter McEnery, her co-star. He was also in a Disney movie called The Fighting Prince of Donegal, another favorite. It was fun to watch it again. I snuck it in during the day as I knew Don would have absolutely no interest in it. Anyway, I read every Mary Stewart mystery when I was a a teenager. I still have many of those paperbacks, read over and over again. I was struck by the Disney take on the novel; the casting of younger actors, the decision to eliminate the sophistication of the characters (who smoked!) and the editing of the story down to a basic Disney plot that didn’t involve too much complexity. The book is far, far better. I’m now in the mood to re-read all my favorite Stewarts: The Ivy Tree, Nine Coaches Waiting, The Moon-spinners, Madam, Will You Talk?  and This Rough Magic. She was such a wonderful writer and I must admit I miss those cocktail-drinking, cigarette-smoking, sophisticated British heroines.

Don’t get me started on the Disneyfication of Broadway. That’s a subject for another day.

After the movie, I walked around the house talking like Hayley Mills. I think I’ve got her line delivery down. Lots of enthusiasm and a certain way of punching the final word of a line. It worked well for her when she was a child actor, not so well as a young adult. But oh, how I loved her at the time! I wanted to be  her!

Happy Tuesday.