flowers — Page 35

Sunlight on Roses

October 16, 2022 at 9:03 am by Claudia

Sunlight and roses. That only lasted a few minutes while the sun was fully rising this morning.

Don is going to the farmer’s market this morning to take photos. It’s the first time he’s been there in quite a while. He thinks he can handle it since he had that cortisone shot. If it becomes painful, I’ve made him promise to leave early.

I have a lot of laundry to do today. Exciting, right?

I was going to attempt to make a dress for my girls yesterday, but my skills need a great deal of improvement. It’s quite difficult to sew on such a small scale. Plus, my sewing machine is not working right, so that was frustrating. I haven’t tried the Featherweight because I know the tension needs adjusting and the last time I tried to do that, it didn’t work. A very frustrating morning. Plus, I tried to replace some eye chips on one of the girls and I couldn’t get the original chips to come out.

The only thing that did work was an adjustment on Lucy. She has a neck joint that I’ve never liked. It worked for some positions, but every time her head moved backward, it became very wobbly. So I thought I’d take her head apart again and see if I could fix it. Nope. Just as bad. Then I remembered that I had an extra neck joint on hand, so I unscrewed the ball joint from her neck and replaced it with the new one and Lucy is a very happy camper.

So, the score is one success, two sort-of-fails. I’ll try again on the sewing and the eye chips, but maybe not for a while.

BUT, I do have a new puzzle to start today, so that’s exciting.

Stay safe.

Happy Sunday.

Roses

October 13, 2022 at 9:36 am by Claudia

Surprise roses from Don. They’re really beautiful! It’s so dark here this morning that I had to resort to lots of editing in order for you to see them. We’re going to have some rain today.

We had a low-key day. Don made an apple pie for our little celebration. We toasted each other with sparkling cider. It was just perfect.

And now, on to 25!

Don’t forget, by the way, that the January 6th Committee hearing is today at 1 pm! We will be watching.

I’m officially done with my coaching now. That’s it until January, when I’m supposed to work with Darko, though that has yet to be worked out. A Man of No Importance is so inventive, so wonderful and funny and beautifully staged by John Doyle, the director. The cast is excellent. It’s filled with love. It’s one of the best shows I’ve seen in a long, long time.

The dialects aren’t exactly where I’d like them to be, but the director is quite pleased, so that’s good. There’s only so much I can do in the amount of time I’m allotted and that’s something I always struggle with – I want them perfect and perfection is a foolish goal.

Mae found an acorn. She’s wearing a hat made by Hilary of Moshi Moshi Studio in Cornwall, England.

Mae was customized by my friend Natalia of VegaDolls. She is so beautiful – she sort of takes my breath away.

What am I going to do for a background when winter comes along? This setting , on the porch picnic table, has been ideal. Do I want the bleak background of winter? Do I want to stand on the porch, shivering, while I take a picture? I’ll have to experiment and see.

Okay, my friends. Thank you so much for your lovely messages yesterday. I appreciate every one of them. As we were getting ready to go to sleep last night, Don said that he thought our parents would be proud of us, of our 24 years of marriage. He’s right. They would be. I hope they’re smiling down on us as we move into our 25th year of marriage.

Stay safe.

Happy Thursday.

Fading Gardens

October 7, 2022 at 9:17 am by Claudia

Bits and pieces of the David phlox are still hanging in there, bless them. It’s clear, though, that they’re preparing to leave for the winter. We had a sunny day yesterday – so welcome after several dreary and rainy days – and I took some time to look at the gardens. They’re overgrown, of course. I haven’t been weeding because of my back. Come to think of it, I probably wouldn’t have weeded them anyway. I usually lose interest in weeding by August.

Once again, I have a morning glory climbing the chicken wire fence that is lovely but has no flowers. Do you remember the days when I routinely had tons of flowers on the vines? Now, they seem to bloom much later, if at all, and it’s always just before a frost hits. Climate change? Soil problems? I don’t know. I’m reluctant to give up on them because I’m ever hopeful, I guess. I loved the look of those beautiful morning glories. Sigh.

Truth be told, I sort of gave up on everything after the drought. I spent hours watering the garden beds, especially the chicken wire fence garden. And some of the beds revived and did well. But others suffered.

I finished The Ink Black Heart yesterday. Excellent! I’ve never had 1000+ pages move along so smoothly and effortlessly. It was completely engrossing. Sometimes after a particularly wonderful read, I need a brief palate cleanser before I make a decision as to what to read next. I’ve found that Georges Simenon’s shortish Maigret mysteries are perfect. I chose Maigret and the Man on the Bench which was on my TBR pile. I suspect that I’ll start Maggie O’Farrell’s newest, The Marriage Portrait, after I finish the Maigret.

Today, I’m going to mow. I’ll be careful and I’ve made a vow not to take on too much. I’ll start with the back forty where the grass is very long, then, the corral area. But right now, it’s too wet with morning dew so I’ll have to wait until it dries.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

Sunlight on Roses

Roses

Fading Gardens

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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