garden — Page 171

I’m Not Looking Out the Window. I’m Not.

April 4, 2016 at 8:58 am by Claudia

I won’t even share a photo of what’s happening today.

No, I won’t. The shades are drawn, allowing me to live in a fantasy where everything is green, it’s warm outside and there isn’t 4 inches and counting of wet snow on the ground.

I’m not kidding. I worry about my plants as there was a hard freeze last night. Late yesterday, I saw icicles hanging from my climbing hydrangea; caused, no doubt, by water dripping from the shed roof. I ran outside to break off as many of the icicles as I could without damaging the plant even more.

I stressed much of the evening over my garden and the lilac buds and the leaves on the rose bushes and the daffodils and then I just had to let go. There’s nothing I can do.

It’s friggin’ April 4th and there’s snow on the ground!!!

Okay. Deep breath.

4-4 office

I’ve been slaving away up in my office, working on the Russian names and pronunciations, chomping on no salt potato chips, drinking lots of water because Don is always on me to keep hydrated, stopping every so often to look at my pottery…

4-4 cabinet

because it makes me happy. The wind was relentless yesterday. It was gusting up to 50 mph for over 12 hours. This little hideaway on the second floor is beautiful, but it is in the same place in the house as the den and that means that the winds whip across the front of the house, rattling the windows and generally making me feel like I’m in a wind tunnel.

After several hours of this (and this is part of a string of days where the wind has blown like this for hours and hours) I cried uncle and came downstairs.

What would calm me down, I wondered?

4-4 colored pencils

Aha!

So, I grabbed all my coloring paraphernalia, and went at it. Coincidentally, Don was doing the same thing in the living room. (He’s sick of ‘elevating his leg.’ I don’t blame him.)

4-4 coloring

Finished. I just do the basics, you know. Some of the coloring I’ve seen is incredibly intricate, with subtle shading and layering of colors. Gorgeous work, believe me. But I have basic skills and the whole idea is to relax, right? So I don’t allow myself to feel any pressure to expand my skill set. I just color.

It’s for me, after all. I quite like it.

I still haven’t heard from the book giveaway winner. I’ll give it a couple more days before I pick someone else.

Happy Monday.

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Sharpening

April 1, 2016 at 8:46 am by Claudia

Please, no April Fool’s jokes. I’ve never been a fan. I just find them annoying.

That being said, it’s sure nice to see April on the calendar. April brings the promise of spring rains, green grass, and budding plants. April is bringing me coaching work. (It also brings the second anniversary of my mom’s death, so there is a strongly bittersweet element to this month.)

4-1 hollyhocks

The hollyhock is most definitely back for the second year. If it blossoms, I’ll be thrilled.

4-1 sharpeners

I seem to have a sharpener problem.

I started out with a couple of sharpeners that I had on hand. But they didn’t work well with colored pencils. Then I purchased the little green sharpener made by Milan. It works pretty well. I also placed an order for two more sharpeners via Amazon. In the meantime, I discovered the silver sharpener on the left – made by Faber-Castell – which, as it turns out, is pretty great. It has three holes – one especially for colored pencils. I found it by accident at one of my local art supply shops in a display by the cash register.

And then the other two sharpeners arrived in the mail; one by Prismacolor, maker of wonderful colored pencils, and the small metal sharpener, made by Staedtler, maker of colored pencils and Triplus Fineliners.

Now I have four. The only one I haven’t tried yet is the Staedtler. (I ordered a two-pack and Don has the other.)

Maybe I’ll do a post about them – Official Test Results or something of that nature.

One more thing to share with you, a bookmark that Don brought back from a bookstore in New Haven. I’ve absconded with it.

4-1 atticusbookmark

How could I resist? It’s now tucked in a corner of my bulletin board in the office.

Last chance to leave a comment on Wednesday’s Book Review – you may win a copy of Beneath Still Waters. Deadline is 9 pm.

New post on Just Let Me Finish This Page.

Happy Friday.

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Checking in on the Garden

March 31, 2016 at 8:22 am by Claudia

Oh Spring, you are wonderful. However, the havoc you wreak on my allergies is not wonderful. I’m not a happy camper.

This is the time of year in the Northeast when every gardener checks the garden beds once or twice a day to see what is emerging after the long winter. I am no different; I walk outside and peek under leaves, each new green shoot duly noted in the unofficial garden notebook that is floating around in my head.

It’s only March 31st – too early for this gardener to remove all the leaves that are currently covering each bed. Especially since I saw, to my horror, that we might get 3 inches of snow on Monday/Tuesday.

What? Ever hopeful, I am trusting that the forecast will change.

3-31 sedum

Trustworthy Sedum Autumn Joy, planted here before we took up residence.

3-31 leavesontheroses

Leaves are emerging on all the rose bushes. Last year at this time, there was nothing, which led me to worry that the brutal winter had killed them off. Do you remember that the tulip and hyacinth never really appeared last spring? Well, the hyacinth leaves appeared – with absolutely no flowers. This year, I see one tulip leaf already emerging from the ground, as well as healthy looking hyacinth leaves.

Thank goodness for the relatively sane winter we just went through. Oh – did you know that Don never used the snow blower this year? Not once.

3-31 lilacs

Lilac check-in: I see baby flowers!

The truth is, I am longing to get out there and do some massive garden clean-up. I have to stop and remind myself that it is too darned early. There are certainly other areas of the yard that need some work and I think I’ll start in on that when I’m taking a break from research for Anastasia and taking care of Don, who has something wrong with his ankle. We ended up going to our local urgent care yesterday to get X-rays. No break. It’s all rather strange – the doctor said it’s either a sprain or a skin infection. Since Don doesn’t remember doing anything to the ankle, we’re wondering whether it’s the latter. He is now on antibiotics, is wearing a splint and has crutches.

What’s with the Hill/Sparks clan and their ankles?

Needless to say, it’s been my turn to wait on Don and take care of him. Meals aren’t nearly as exciting as they are when Don is cooking. But he’s getting fed, I promise.

The whole thing is very frustrating and a bit mysterious and we are – officially – over the whole ankle thing.

Don’t forget to leave a comment on yesterday’s book review if you’re interested in a chance to win a copy of the book. You have until tomorrow evening.

Happy Thursday.

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I’m Not Looking Out the Window. I’m Not.

Sharpening

Checking in on the Garden

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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