flowers — Page 129

Trees, Wildflowers & Ferns in Unexpected Places

October 4, 2018 at 10:15 am by Claudia

It’s a beautiful morning. It’s so lovely to actually see the sun shining for more than ten minutes at a time! Golden light, leaves falling, the beauty of autumn.

The top of the big maple.

The house this morning:

These wildflowers are growing everywhere on the property.

Those specks are falling leaves.

This is one of those longed-for spectacular fall days. We deserve it, if I do say so myself.

I have errands to run today. 4 days until we leave! There’s so much to do in that time but I have to say this: I am so happy to be leaving this country for a couple of weeks. I’ve had it with the corruption running rampant in Washington and I desperately need a break from it all. And yes, if it was at all economically feasible and/or practical, I would jump at the chance to stay there for six months. I don’t know my country anymore and it’s always a good thing to experience another culture. Hopefully, it will help put things in perspective.

If I could curse on the blog as I do in real life, I would.

I was worried about the big Boston Fern on the porch. I expect the other potted plants to die, as they’re annuals, but the fern isn’t. I wanted to bring it in for the winter, but the only place I could see it working (it takes up a lot of space) was on the kitchen table. So, yesterday, while I was waiting for deliveries, etc., I brought it in and plopped it on the table. I had to raise the hanging lamp, as well. Fully expecting Don to hate it, I waited for him to come home.

He loved it. Actually, he was initially more enthusiastic than me! But now, we both love it.

Yes, it’s huge. No, I don’t know how it will do in the kitchen. But we’re going for it. We never eat at the kitchen table, it just becomes a repository for mail and sunglasses. We eat on trays in the den. And you know that we like eclectic and funky. We like putting our own stamp on our house.

As I said on Instagram: At the very least, it’s a statement.

Excuse early morning kitchen view.

Okay. Have to get a move on.

Happy Thursday.

Have We Got Gravel!

October 2, 2018 at 9:49 am by Claudia

What a day yesterday!

Once the gravel was delivered and there were four huge piles of it on the driveway, we looked at each other and gulped. We started in with our shovels and outlined the parking area and we worked hard, but it soon became evident that, though we still think we’re about thirty, we’re not. So Don called a guy who had been recommended to us and he said he’d come by between 2 and 3.

We came in the house and took a break for a couple of hours but, as it was a day where we were stuck at the cottage (our cars were parked across the street at our neighbors and we had to wait for Emilio) we went back out and did some more shoveling. Finally, Emilio arrived and he and Don worked for about 3 hours. By that time, my back was complaining, as was my right hand, so I came inside. Emilio was great and we tipped him generously. He saved our butts.

Because of the uphill nature of our driveway, along with the catalpa tree right next to it, it is impossible for large trucks to get in there and slowly release the gravel as they would on a standard flat driveway. The truck driver could only back up to the top of the driveway and release a big pile of gravel and then slowly drive down, releasing a few more piles. He mentioned something about the downward slope and the danger of the truck tipping over. Yikes!

That means we have to do the work. The last time we did this was about 12 or 13 years ago, not long after we moved in. We were younger then! Hopefully, we won’t have to do it again for a long time.

We also couldn’t afford to have someone roll it down, so we have to tamp it down ourselves, partly by driving up and down repeatedly and also by good, old-fashioned stomping (courtesy of me.) It’s never simple around here.

As you can see, we’ve redefined the parking area. It’s much more like it was when we first moved in, maybe even a bit bigger, but time and erosion wore away the gravel and grass grew and it became much less defined. We also covered the area near to the corral where there were ruts and built up the side nearest the big garden bed so that we have better water drainage in the winter. Fingers crossed.

Don was very achy at the end of the day (he did way too much, but he said he couldn’t let Emilio do everything by himself.) I was actually a bit worried about him. But he’s much better this morning and aside from cleaning out the gutters one more time before we leave, that’s the last of the physical labor. Oh, and I have to mow the front lawn towards the end of the week. I mowed the back forty and the corral over the weekend.

All day long we kept saying, “A week from today we’ll be in Paris!”

The rose as it looked yesterday. So beautiful!

Our big maple and its yellow leaves. It is full-on Autumn here and leaves are everywhere. I wanted to get the gravel done now before a freeze hit, causing the catalpa to dump all of its giant leaves on the driveway, which would have been a major hassle.

I was on a roll yesterday. Even with all the work on the driveway, I cleaned both bathrooms and did two loads of laundry!

Today: things around the house that need to be attended to, lists, and rest.

Happy Tuesday.

Percolating

September 30, 2018 at 9:39 am by Claudia

Surprise rose in the midst of an increasingly fall-like landscape.

Three new babies on my monstera. I was thrilled to see them as there had been no new growth during the summer. I know many of you think I have a green thumb and I guess I do, but I’ve had problems with certain houseplants this summer. My schefflera keeps dropping lower leaves – lots of them – but there is new growth as well. I can’t tell whether this is some sort of natural shedding or if something’s wrong. This particular plant has always been a bit touchy, but over the winter it did really well. I also have a few succulents that have bit the dust. So – I have my successes and my failures, just like everyone else.

Dollhouse renovation idea:

This is a small dollhouse. The rooms are not spacious and the kitchen is downright tiny. The stair placement is troublesome because it takes up so much room in the center of the house.

Not much can happen in this area. So now, we have an even smaller living room.

When I put the hutch in the kitchen, I realized how little space I would have there. One of the things I dislike about Hummingbird Cottage is the narrow, dark kitchen. Impossible to photograph, I did everything I could to lighten it up, but wasn’t very successful. In retrospect, I wish I had opened the wall up in some way.

So….

That’s what I’m going to do with the downstairs. I’m going to take the wall out, put a couple of columns in to support the floor above, take out the stairs and add something I found in a miniature catalogue – set of pull-down attic stairs. If this is a funky English stone cottage, why not? I thought about a spiral staircase, but they take up a lot of real estate.

Or, since it’s my dollhouse and dollhouses can be anything, maybe I’ll dispense with stairs altogether. I’d really like to open up this floor with a kitchen island where the wall is.

Those are my thoughts at the moment. I’ll let them percolate a bit while I’m off on my European adventure.

Your thoughts, my friends?

Happy Sunday.

Trees, Wildflowers & Ferns in Unexpected Places

Have We Got Gravel!

Percolating

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

Archives