flowers — Page 251

Saturday: Alarms and Musings

September 6, 2014 at 8:37 am by Claudia

The peaceful calm of an early Saturday morning after a night of not-quite-enough sleep has been shattered twice by the sound of a smoke alarm.

The first time, the piercing sound came and went very suddenly. Don woke up and came to the head of the stairs and we both acknowledged that we had no idea where it was coming from.

The second time, Don discovered it was coming from our bedroom and he dismantled the alarm. When he took it apart, a dead fly fell out as well as some other stuff. We’ve had the bug flying into the alarm problem before and maybe this is a repeat of that problem.

So far, so good. It’s clearly one of our alarms, rather than the ones we have that are wired into our security system, because we didn’t receive a call from the security company. Sometimes they are a bit too overzealous about immediately calling the local fire department without checking in with us first.

Oy.

SAT m glories & Scout

Early morning. Ten morning glory blooms. Wowza! And Scout, of course.

Don’s leaving tomorrow and I got a call from Hartford Stage yesterday asking me if I could come in sometime this weekend to listen to the dialect work in their current show, which is in tech rehearsals. So I’m going to take Don to New Haven, help him unload, and then drive to Hartford for the afternoon. Then back to New Haven, where Miss Scout will be spending some quality time with her dad.

It adds a bit of hectic activity to the weekend, but doing it all in the same day without having to worry about Scout seemed like the best approach.

SAT m glories_

Totally unrelated thought: Why do I hear people referring to California as Cali nowadays? It irritates the h*** out of me. I lived in California for eight years and never once heard anyone refer to that state as Cali. Don lived there for the vast majority of his life and has never heard any of his friends or acquaintances or business associates say the word ‘Cali.’ We suspect it’s something that has emerged in the dialogues and lingo of the younger generation.

Note to them: Please stop.

And in keeping with my random thoughts: If you’re currently reading The Long Way Home by Louise Penny, please do not spill any of the plot beans, as it were. I am backed up and holding with books to be read and reviewed, so I am not going to get to it for a while. When I read it, I want to have the time to savor it. Which means I probably won’t be reviewing it, either. (We all know it would be a Huzzah! kind of review, anyway.)

Oh, and same thing for Personal by Lee Child.

No spoilers, okay?

Happy Saturday.

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Worth the Wait

September 5, 2014 at 9:21 am by Claudia

FRIDAY morning glory old new bud

I can’t get enough of the beauty of morning glories. Every day, I am treated to a new feast for the eyes.

They really are the most wonderful last-days-of-summer treat. The day lilies are gone. The coneflowers are drying up. A few roses are blooming, as well as the rudbeckia. The morning glories have taken over center stage, thrilling us with their magical, ephemeral beauty.

FRIDAY morning glory pollen

I never get tired of them. It always seems to take forever for them to grow and produce buds, but they are well worth the wait.

And my hyacinth bean vine, also slow-growing this year, has produced some flowers.

FRIDAY hyacinth bean vine

I existed for so many years without a garden. I lived in dorms and apartments and all sorts of rentals that either didn’t have the space for a garden or where planting anything was a no-no. It wasn’t until we rented our Craftsman bungalow in San Diego that I made my first stab at a garden. It was in the backyard – a little plot right by the back door. (The same door that I walked out one day, only to trip and fall and break my left ankle, which resulted in my wearing a cast on that ankle for my wedding. Oh, yes.)

Then we moved out east and lived in a rental cottage. After a year or so, I asked the owners if I could put in a little strip of a garden alongside the house and they said yes. It was quite lovely. I wonder if it’s still there? I also planted a lot of pachysandra under the big pine tree right outside the front door. I hooked a hose up to the bathroom sink and snaked it outside through the window in order to water the plants. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

When we bought this house and moved in – nine years ago on August 30th – I knew I would finally be able to plant and nuture my own gardens.

I was in my fifties.

It took a long time, but it was worth it. And I treasure every minute of it.

I’ve written about my favorite bookstore, the Strand, on Just Let Me Finish This Page. Stop by to see just why I love it so.

Happy Friday.

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September

September 1, 2014 at 9:19 am by Claudia

September.

That came up rather quickly, didn’t it?

I remember when summer seemed to last forever; a long stretch of endless days of reading, riding bikes, playing outside, camping. Ninety days turned into 1000 days. Three months were more like six months.

As we get older, not so much. A summer seems to fly by. A blink of the eye and suddenly leaves are on the ground and the bright light of summer is beginning to turn into the golden light of autumn.

How grateful I am that this spring and summer were the first in a long time where I wasn’t away from home for several weeks. Only two and a half weeks in Chautauqua. I got to see the gardens in all their stages of growth. Usually, I miss either the beginning or the last couple of months of the gardens. So, I’m grateful.

garden and fallen leaves

It may be September, but the Chicken Wire Fence Garden is thriving. Leaves on the ground. Flowers blooming.

Sort of perfect.

3 morning glories

I finished The Heist by Daniel Silva yesterday. I’m now reading The Marco Effect by Jussi Adler-Olsen (an author you really should get to know) and a wonderful book by Pat Conroy, My Reading Life. Conroy writes so beautifully that I’d even read his grocery list. He’s that good.

I also had a 2½ hour phone conversation with a wonderful friend of mine – a fellow voice/speech coach. Lovely. Don was away on a gig, so I took advantage of a chunk of quiet, undisturbed time in the house. It was so great to catch up with her.

And I mowed the whole front yard yesterday! That’s a workout, my friends, and I was exhausted afterward. It was more humid out there than I had thought. I was trying to beat out the rain that was coming (we really need it) and I managed to finish about ten minutes before the first drops fell. And then it rained quite a bit, which the gardens and trees and plants are clearly appreciating this morning.

My husband is a proud member of three unions. Unions gave actors fair pay, regular hours, protections of all kinds, and health benefits; things they didn’t have for years and years. Happy Labor Day.

Happy Monday.

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Saturday: Alarms and Musings

Worth the Wait

September

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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