flowers — Page 269

On Sunday

March 16, 2014 at 9:04 am by Claudia

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You had to know I’d be taking pictures of the flowers I bought the other day. I’ve been deprived of that pleasure for several months.

Ice Station Zebra, meet some wonderful things called ‘flowers.’

Yes, they do exist. I’m not kidding.

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They look especially pretty against the white of the snow that has become a seemingly permanent part of the landscape here at Ice Station Zebra.

But wait. The snow has actually been melting. That’s a wonderful thing.

But wait again. Hugs amounts of melting snow = Mud. Lots of it. The kind of mud you slip and slide in. The kind of mud that gets all over Scout’s feet. And that has to wiped off her feet every time she comes in the house resulting in a struggle as she tries to elude my grasp. Yesterday she tried a move to the side and I barely managed to catch her.

There is mud everywhere, along with the snow still on the ground. Yesterday I grabbed some straw and covered some of the paths with it. I still have more to go.

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It helps a little.

As someone who tries to steer away from 24 hour cable news, I have to admit I have been mesmerized by the disappearance of Flight 370. The mystery seems to deepen every day, with some clues that seemed promising fizzling out and new clues taking their place. I cannot begin to imagine the agony the families of the missing are going through as more and more time elapses since the plane’s disappearance. It’s a real-life mystery that I can’t put down. Have you been following this story? It seems impossible that they are still alive, but there is always the faint chance that the plane landed somewhere. I hope that is the case.

And since I have been watching so much cable news, I have to once again say how much I dislike pharmaceutical commercials, which push a drug while including an endless list of possible or probable reactions from taking that drug – including death. Every time we hear one of these lists, Don and I roll our eyes: Really? This is supposed to make me want to take this drug?

And now they’re trying to be hip. Low testosterone is called “LowT.” Hepatitis C is called “HepC.” Medical conditions have become the equivalent of a rapper’s nickname.

What??

Another head shaker from yours truly.

The winner of a copy of The Accident is Kathy. Congratulations!

Happy Sunday.

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An Escape from the Cottage

March 15, 2014 at 9:16 am by Claudia

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Smile.

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Another smile.

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And another big old smile.

You’ve probably gathered that I did indeed make my trip to Trader Joe’s yesterday. Yes, I bought some food but the first thing I did was grab three bouquets of flowers. $3.99/each. You can’t beat their prices and the bouquets aren’t skimpy, like many I see. At this time of year around here, a bouquet like the one above would easily be $15.00 or more. Hello. It’s a no-brainer.

Driving to either of the Trader Joe’s that are closest to our house takes about an hour. This time I was adding in IKEA which is in the same area as TJ’s but a bit further south (both are in New Jersey.) So that means I have to calculate a driving time of 2 hours round-trip, Scout’s mealtimes and, ahem, elimination needs, and I have to move quickly once I’m in those stores. If Don was here, I would have been able to be quite a bit more leisurely about the whole thing. But…I did it. It was so good to get out of the cottage and on the road. And I clocked in at just over 4 hours. Excellent job if I do say so myself.

IKEA kept cropping up in my head because I had seen a lamp that I liked – you guessed it – on several blogs. I thought it would be perfect for my sewing table. I’ve never been thrilled with the one I’ve been using (also from IKEA) and I have plans to transfer that one to the desk in the guest room/studio/office. But I was unsure of the dimensions and, for some reason, IKEA didn’t include that information online. So I just bit the bullet and went there. I always have fun at IKEA, but there were the usually crying toddlers and big groups of people taking up the whole aisle so that I couldn’t get past them. And my eyes started to sting from the lighting.

I digress.

Here’s the lamp.

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It’s powder coated in white with neat darkish brassy looking accents and a fabric covered cord. I really love the look of it and it seemed perfect for the sewing table. I figured that if I didn’t like it there, I would use it on my bedside table. (It’s called the Ranarp, if you’re interested.)

I really like it. And, like everything at IKEA, really inexpensive, which suits my budget rather nicely.

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I suppose it would be a good idea for me to actually do some sewing after all of this work in the studio.

I also got a couple of cooking pots for the kitchen and two sets of these:

towels

I need them and the color is self-explanatory, don’t you think?

Then I came home, accidentally knocked over Riley’s Dish Garden, which now needs some work, put something in the refrigerator overnight that should have been put in the freezer, and dealt with an insanely hyper Scout for about 4 hours. She pushed every last one of my buttons.

Ah well. If you play, you pay.

Or so they say.

Happy Saturday.

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In The Midst of Winter: Flowers & Scout

January 26, 2014 at 9:10 am by Claudia

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Believe it or not, my impatiens are still blooming.

They are a little leggy, yes, and not every plant has a bloom. But most of them do. I had a wild thought: will it be at all possible to keep them going until spring?

That would be a first. Whatever happens, I am enjoying the blooms in the midst of this trying winter of 2014. We had snow yesterday and more is expected tonight. The temperatures are frigid. The drips from the faucet are going much of the day.

This is when I call our house The Bunker. It feels like we’re in some outpost, far from civilization, sort of like the movie, Ice Station Zebra. Even getting to the mailbox is a battle with the wind and the falling snow and the ice.

I imagine many of you feel exactly as we do. This has been a tough winter and it ain’t over yet.

The scene outside at the moment is quite beautiful, with blue skies and the sun shining on the freshly fallen snow. I do love the light of winter, that special light that comes from sun and snow. And, of course, Scoutie loves the snow. Yesterday she was outside for a while and when she was ready to head back to the house, she loped along the path we had shoveled, a big old smile on her face.

So when I complain about the snow, I remember my little girl who has arthritis and groans with the effort it takes to lie down. But when she’s out in the snow, she’s like a puppy again. She’s transformed.

That makes me very happy.

A reminder: Tomorrow is the Linky Party for the January edition of our Christmas Critter Felt Along. The links will remain open for five days. We’d love to have you join us. I will have the party post up and active by 6 pm (EST) tonight. Hope to see you there!

Happy Sunday.

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On Sunday

An Escape from the Cottage

In The Midst of Winter: Flowers & Scout

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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