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You are here: Home / Archives for flowers

Day Three Hundred Seventy-Nine

March 27, 2021 at 10:06 am by Claudia

We were doing some chores right by the porch the other day and I happened to look down and saw this:

Emerging from the gravel, these sweet grape hyacinths made me smile, so much so that I grabbed my big girl camera and knelt down on the uncomfortably rocky ground in order to capture their beauty.

Little miracles.

Oh my heavens, was it windy yesterday! Relentless. Today is cooler, but sunny and beautiful Tomorrow? Heavy rain. And so goes spring. Next week, there will be two days where it’s quite cold – in the thirties. Basically, the weather is all over the place.

We might take a drive today.

Next week is rather busy for us. Don has an eye appointment across the river in Poughkeepsie on Monday. And on Wednesday, we get our second vaccine shots. We’ve decided that two weeks after those shots, we’re going to drive to our favorite bookstore on the other side of the Hudson River – we’ll be masked, of course. But we’ll feel better about going into a store. We’ve already marked the day on the calendar.

Rest in peace to two literary giants: Larry McMurtry and Beverly Cleary.

McMurtry is most famous for Lonesome Dove. He loved writing and was prolific. He also loved books and reading. He loved books so much that he owned a bookstore in his hometown and a vast collection of books. There’s a section the book Biblio Style that shows his home and shop.

Beverly Cleary. What can I say? I wrote about her when she turned 100. I can’t imagine my childhood reading experiences without her. I loved her books. I loved her good and kind heart – shown clearly in everything she wrote. I think I checked Fifteen  out of my elementary school library at least twenty times. Cleary passed away the other day at the age of 104.

The puzzle is going swimmingly. (I’m using that word on purpose, as you shall soon see.)

We’re watching a series called Fortitude  on Amazon Prime. Anything that has Michael Gambon and Stanley Tucci in it is a must-see, though we didn’t know either of them were cast members when we started watching. I saw Gambon onstage in London years ago. My profession is based on the actor’s voice and speech and I’ve never heard any voice more powerful and more beautiful than Gambon’s deep, resonant, and wonderfully caramel-y tones.

Okay. Time to have some oatmeal.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

 

Filed Under: books, flowers, garden 28 Comments

Day Two Hundred Eighty-Four

December 22, 2020 at 9:31 am by Claudia

I spy paperwhites! The first two blossoms have emerged on the plant in the kitchen. This makes me very happy.

Let’s see. We went shopping yesterday. Always exhausting. It was warmer during the day and the snow and ice were starting to melt. I went outside to get the mail and noticed that part of our gutter was hanging down. Yikes. Went inside, got Don and after an hour or so, Don managed to reattach it. The weight of the built up ice was just too much for it. Whew. Glad we could fix that.

Interesting note about the weather. There’s still a lot of snow on the ground, but each day up to and including Christmas will be warmer than normal, with heavy, heavy rains on Christmas Eve and then a combination of rain/snow on Christmas. The high on both days will be in the low fifties. What the??? Then it plummets 20 degrees on Saturday. I just hope that after all we went through with that winter storm last week that we have some  snow on the ground on Christmas. We really did earn it.

The simple tree that lives in Don’s mini studio at Christmastime. I had to point it out to him. He’s completely into his music right now. Speaking of which, Don and Dan released a new single. Go to this link, and read the Dec. 19th post, which provides a link to the song. She Saves Me  was inspired, in part, by our beloved Scoutie. A wonderful arrangement of the song, with Dan playing the mandolin.

The Beacon Hill kit is arriving today via UPS.

Still awaiting actual Christmas presents, though. Don is waiting for one package for me. I am waiting for one package for him. I’m also waiting for my 2021 planner, which was shipped on December 10th from a state that is not far from me. Sigh.

Tonight’s movie is one of my all-time favorites, The Shop Around the Corner  with Jimmy Stewart, Margaret Sullivan and a cast of terrific character actors.

Oh, and I’m driving Don to the eye doctor today for his shot.

Stay safe.

Happy Tuesday.

Filed Under: Christmas, dollhouse, Don, flowers 34 Comments

Day One Hundred Fifty-Eight

August 18, 2020 at 9:35 am by Claudia

Despite the destructive efforts of the deer, I have a least one flower on the Rose of Sharon. I might get two or three more. (I could have had 20 of these beauties, darn it!) Anyway, I’m grateful for this one. I opened the blinds in the bedroom this morning, looked outside, and saw this gorgeous lavender flower. So excited! Next year, it will be protected, you can be sure of that.

We watched the Convention last night. I thought it was incredibly well done. In fact, I would go so far as to say that I prefer it this way. There’s a sense of intimacy that you don’t get with a huge audience of delegates. I felt that each speaker was talking directly to me.

Michelle Obama. That’s all I need to say. Such a powerful speech. I love her.

Since we usually start to get ready for bed at 10 pm, we were up later than usual, which means I slept a little longer than usual. My schedule is sort of all over the place lately. But it was worth it.

Dear reader Kathy in Iowa has sent me a couple of gift certificates for The Mysterious Bookshop and Oblong Books. Thank you so much, Kathy! I so appreciate your thoughtfulness. The perfect gift for this book lover.

And Barbara sent me a package yesterday containing a book, a face mask in Liberty of London’s tana lawn fabric along with some squares of the tana lawn, a mini version of our “Life is very short”…sign that we have hanging on our staircase wall (it’s going in Don’s mini studio) and this:

Eeeek! I had admired this refrigerator when Barbara posted it on Instagram. It’s made by an Etsy seller, TinyfrankMiniatures. It’s carved out of wood. I searched high and low for a realistic retro refrigerator for Hummingbird Cottage and never found one. The few I found were made of plastic, weren’t to scale, and looked cheap. I finally made one myself out of a wooden box and I was quite pleased with it. So now, the question is: do I change it out with this one or do I use this one in a different project? Not sure, yet. I just know I love it. That curve at the top! (I wish we had one like this in our cottage.)

Thank you, Barbara!

It’s a beautiful day here. Low humidity and 80 degrees. Perfect summer weather.

Stay safe.

Happy Tuesday.

 

Filed Under: dollhouse, flowers, garden, miniatures 32 Comments

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Welcome!

Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating, I love gardening. My decorating style is eclectic; full of vintage and a bit of whimsy.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

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