flowers — Page 209

Missing

June 19, 2016 at 10:08 am by Claudia

dadme

You’ve seen this photo before; it’s one of my favorites.

Missing my dad on this, my first Father’s Day without him. Thinking of my sister who is feeling the same sense of loss. And of all of you who miss your fathers.

And of my husband, who is missing being a father to Scout.

A bittersweet day and a day where every post in the blogging world and on Instagram and Facebook seems to be about fathers. So I’m going to lay low.

I’ve not been sleeping well this past week. I wake up in the middle of the night and then I stay awake for hours. It’s very frustrating.

All that being said, we have to have a least one pretty flower picture, don’t we?

6-19 yellowdaylily

The first daylily to open up in the side garden bed. A cheery yellow daylily.

Happy Sunday.

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Hijinks

June 18, 2016 at 9:51 am by Claudia

Late afternoon animal hijinks at the cottage.

Baby bunny was munching on the grass in the memorial garden.

6-18 babybunny

I have to shoot these pictures through our windows, so they are not the best quality. But oh, is this one a cutie.

I looked up and saw Henry slowly walking towards the shed and disappearing into the entrance to his home. And then about 5 minutes later, I saw a groundhog near the garden. I don’t think it was Henry because this one didn’t look quite as big, but I can’t be sure – Henry sightings have been few and far between this summer.

6-18 henry?

6-18 henry?2

Hmmm….what is he thinking, I wonder?

6-18 henry?3

And he’s going in.

Which prompted an opening of the front door on my part in an attempt to dissuade him from chomping on my garden. What he loves, I think, is the crown vetch that you can see everywhere in these photos. Crown vetch can be invasive and I regularly yank it when it threatens other plants in the garden.

But it also spills over the edges of the garden. So I don’t mind him eating it as long as he doesn’t decimate it – it comes back very quickly.

Nevertheless, I’m keeping my eye on him! I could see evidence that he’d been there before.

6-18 crownvetch

The crown vetch is in bloom at the moment and it’s quite beautiful. Remember yesterday’s post where I said I hadn’t seen very many bumblebees? Well, I did yesterday; apparently, they love these blooms.

6-18 crownvetch2

Don is really enjoying Instagram and is taking a lot of photos, so I gave him my old Canon to play around with. Early evening found us both outside taking pictures. He has a great eye.

Essential reading from yesterday’s New York Times. Absolutely essential.

Enjoy your weekend, my friends.

Happy Saturday.

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Glider-Grateful

June 17, 2016 at 9:32 am by Claudia

6-17 beecatmint

At any given moment, there are dozens of bees swarming around each of the catmint plants in the garden. They move so quickly, it is almost impossible to capture them via the camera. But if sheer luck decides to grant me a favor, I manage it. I wasn’t sure I actually succeeded until I cropped this photo. Hello, bee! Lots of bees in the garden, honey bees in the Catalpa. That’s a good sign, though I haven’t seen many bumblebees. I love bumblebees.

6-17 rosesatlast

Yesterday’s view of some of the At Last roses. Today, I spy many fallen petals on the ground.

6-17 elsiemay

6-17 newdawn1

Some bug is eating the leaves on the coneflowers over in the side garden. And another coneflower has been chomped on by, I suspect, a little bunny.

6-17 newdawn2

Don and I sat on the glider yesterday for a couple of hours and it was so lovely. A perfect weather day, with birds chirping, the perfect view and every time the gentle breeze moved the blossoms, the scent of the catalpa flowers came our way. It doesn’t get much better than that.

We read, we talked, we reminded each other of what everything looked like when we first moved in to the cottage in 2005 and how far we’ve come in the past almost-eleven years. We talked about the tough times when we’ve struggled to make ends meet. They still occur. But somehow, we’ve managed to make it- sometimes on a wing and a prayer. You have no idea.

There’s never a time when we aren’t grateful for this patch of land that is ours. After years and years and years of renting, we found our little paradise and we never take it for granted.

T-minus one week and counting, my friends. Don’s birthday is one week from today!

Happy Friday.

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Missing

Hijinks

Glider-Grateful

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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