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You are here: Home / Archives for flowers

No Frost, Please, and No to The Politician

October 4, 2019 at 10:54 am by Claudia

A pretty scene, but we have a Frost Advisory for tonight.

I’m not ready, thank you very much. I’m especially not ready to haul my plants inside or try to protect all the porch plants with tarps. I’ll keep an eye on the weather forecast as the day goes on. Hopefully, it will change.

That being said, sometimes I think: Just let them be. What happens, happens. But so many of the porch plants, including the hanging plants are so healthy right now and I know they have at least a few more weeks of warmish weather ahead of them. So, I’ll cave, I’m sure.

This little zinnia, though a bit ragged, is so adorable! Completely unexpected and a delight.

Warning: Spoiler alert. If you’ve at all interesting in watching The Politician  on Netflix, skip ahead.

We gave up on The Politician  last night. I almost threw a shoe at the screen (but I’m not that crazy. I did, however, throw Gone Girl  across the room in disgust.) It’s done by the same guys who masterminded Glee  and the only thing, in my opinion, that Glee  had going for it were the musical talents of the actors. It’s done in a highly stylized manner and it’s a parody of politics today. I get that, but it involves high school students who speak in a rapid-fire, very adult manner that I’ve never seen from anyone that age, including myself (and I was known for speaking way too fast). Most of the characters are unlikeable, save one. They’re self-absorbed to an intolerable degree.

When a show becomes all about the self-perceived cleverness of the writers and loses any depth of character and heart, I’m gone.

And there you have it. There’s only one actor who is completely real on the screen. Maybe it’s written that way. Ironically, it’s the role of the student who commits suicide, and keeps reappearing in the story.

Our quotes about it this morning:

Don: It’s not as good as it thinks it is.

Claudia: It’s too full of itself.

End of sort-of review.

It’s sunny and windy today. I may clean the windows. I may not. I find it a frustrating task around here, because no matter what method I use, there are always streaks. And the weather is so windy when it rains that they get dirty again almost immediately.

I finished Down in the Woods. It was very good. I’ve now started The Treatment  by Mo Hayder, the second in the Jack Caffery series, checked out from my local library. I also spent several hours looking at miniatures on eBay and Etsy yesterday, so there’s that.

Happy Friday.

Filed Under: books, flowers, garden, media, movies 24 Comments

Butterflies, Flowers & Books

October 3, 2019 at 10:43 am by Claudia

One of our late season caterpillars turned into a butterfly. Don noticed it first, yesterday morning. Then I saw it flying around the big garden bed later in the day. There aren’t a lot of viable flowers around the property, but there are phlox and zinnias so I hope we were able to provide some sustenance. Of course, I don’t know absolutely that it was one of our caterpillars, but I’m pretty sure it was, as it hung around for most of the day yesterday.

It was 84 degrees yesterday and quite humid. Today, the high will be 50 degrees, the low 49. Only one degree separating the high and low in a 24 hour period. It’s also raining and the rain will continue all day long. Quite the weather change!

This is a New England Aster.

We finished watching all of Luther, including the four episodes released this year that I hadn’t yet seen. I’ve always been a fan, having watched it from the beginning, but Don is now a fan as well. I had a few quibbles with the last episode which I won’t go into in case you haven’t seen it, but overall, it’s excellent. Incredible work by everyone, from starring to supporting actor to art direction to cinematography to direction.

Now we’re watching The Politician  on Netflix, which just started streaming this week. It’s good, but geared more toward a younger audience. Ben Platt is wonderful, and it’s good to see Gwynneth Paltrow again, as well as the always wonderful Bob Balaban. We’re not over the top about it, but we like it – it’s quirky.

What else? I picked up two books that I had ordered from our library system, the next two books in the Jack Caffery series by Mo Hayder. But first, I have to finish Down in the Woods  by M. J. Arlidge. I have about 80 pages to go.

My husband is currently playing his guitar in the living room, I can hear the rain falling, I have a shawl wrapped around my shoulders, and after I hit ‘publish’ I’m going to read some more.

Happy Thursday.

 

Filed Under: books, butterfly, flowers 14 Comments

Morning Glories

September 26, 2019 at 11:16 am by Claudia

There are six morning glories blooming today. Not bad considering I thought we might have none!

The morning glories that are closest to the side door have interesting slashes of a reddish-purple. Hmmmm.

There are four blooms in the chicken wire fence garden and two in the memorial garden.

A lovely sight to see first thing this morning.

I thought I’d take a picture of the blooms in contrast to the clear signs of autumn all around them. I always plant them from seed during the first week of May and this is how long it takes for them to finally bloom. In the above photo, you can also see that there aren’t nearly the amount of morning glory leaves as there usually are. They were eaten by deer.

Nevertheless, this hardy morning glory thumbed its nose at the deer and produced beautiful flowers. So there!

We due to get rain this afternoon, which is a good thing. We need it. It’s been very dry around here lately.

We’re watching Luther  on Amazon Prime. It stars Idris Elba (I have a crush) and is a fantastic British series. I’ve seen all the episodes before (must have been when Don and I were apart because of work) and I’ve been trying to talk him into watching it for years. It finally took. The timing ends up being perfect because I don’t remember all that much of it, so it’s like new. Excellent series. It used to be on Netflix, now it’s on Amazon.

And I’m reading Paris to the Moon  by Adam Gopnick, who writes for the New Yorker. It’s all about the time he and his wife and son moved to Paris for 5 years, from 1995 -2000. I’m really enjoying it. This is yet another example of Instagram, specifically the hashtag #Bookstagram, exposing me to books I wouldn’t know of otherwise. I’ve seen this book mentioned more than once lately, even though it was published almost 20 years ago in 2000. I finally bit the bullet and bought it.

My favorite city, you know.

Happy Thursday.

Filed Under: books, flowers, garden 20 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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