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You are here: Home / Archives for garden

September

September 1, 2014 at 9:19 am by Claudia

September.

That came up rather quickly, didn’t it?

I remember when summer seemed to last forever; a long stretch of endless days of reading, riding bikes, playing outside, camping. Ninety days turned into 1000 days. Three months were more like six months.

As we get older, not so much. A summer seems to fly by. A blink of the eye and suddenly leaves are on the ground and the bright light of summer is beginning to turn into the golden light of autumn.

How grateful I am that this spring and summer were the first in a long time where I wasn’t away from home for several weeks. Only two and a half weeks in Chautauqua. I got to see the gardens in all their stages of growth. Usually, I miss either the beginning or the last couple of months of the gardens. So, I’m grateful.

garden and fallen leaves

It may be September, but the Chicken Wire Fence Garden is thriving. Leaves on the ground. Flowers blooming.

Sort of perfect.

3 morning glories

I finished The Heist by Daniel Silva yesterday. I’m now reading The Marco Effect by Jussi Adler-Olsen (an author you really should get to know) and a wonderful book by Pat Conroy, My Reading Life. Conroy writes so beautifully that I’d even read his grocery list. He’s that good.

I also had a 2½ hour phone conversation with a wonderful friend of mine – a fellow voice/speech coach. Lovely. Don was away on a gig, so I took advantage of a chunk of quiet, undisturbed time in the house. It was so great to catch up with her.

And I mowed the whole front yard yesterday! That’s a workout, my friends, and I was exhausted afterward. It was more humid out there than I had thought. I was trying to beat out the rain that was coming (we really need it) and I managed to finish about ten minutes before the first drops fell. And then it rained quite a bit, which the gardens and trees and plants are clearly appreciating this morning.

My husband is a proud member of three unions. Unions gave actors fair pay, regular hours, protections of all kinds, and health benefits; things they didn’t have for years and years. Happy Labor Day.

Happy Monday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: books, flowers, garden, morning glory, reading 28 Comments

Zinnias

August 26, 2014 at 7:52 am by Claudia

saturday-zinnia with aphid

Don has decided that zinnias are his favorite flower. He loves to wander over to the Chicken Wire Fence Garden to see the new blooms. He’s fascinated by all the different colors and designs. He asks me a lot of questions about them.

tuesday zinnia 1

The other day, I found him researching them online.

He knows a lot about them now. More than me.

tuesday zinnia 2

Truth be told, zinnias fascinate me. The endless variety, the never knowing what color or shape is going to come out of the ground. The tall sturdiness of them. This one, with its candy cane petals, took me completely by surprise.

tuesday zinnia 3

They are immensely cheery flowers. And here in the Northeast they bloom later in the summer, which makes for a welcome sight in an otherwise tired garden.

I can hear the Canada Geese honking as they fly over the house. Another sign of Fall. Leaves are on the ground. The light is more golden.

Hold off a bit will you? I’m not ready for Fall. Morning glories are blooming, roses are blooming, zinnias are opening daily. The temps today are going to be just shy of 90 degrees. We’re still in the midst of summer, thank you very much.

I’m off to Manhattan today. I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow.

Happy Tuesday.

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Filed Under: Don, flowers, garden 15 Comments

Weekend Thoughts

August 24, 2014 at 8:25 am by Claudia

The weekend so far has been nicely slow, an unhurried pace of a weekend that suits me fine.

I talked Don into making his Vegan Blueberry Pancakes yesterday morning. Need I say more?

We went to the grocery store and to our little library where a copy of The Heist by Daniel Silva was waiting for me. I had been in a long queue for this book so I was surprised and happy that it was now available. Since I had barely started The Marco Effect by Jussi Adler-Olson (which is on my Kindle) I made a U-turn and started The Heist. I also checked out two other books which I will probably talk about on Just Let Me Finish This Page. Two books written by writers about their love of reading – I love books about books, if you know what I mean.

I watered all the potted plants and The Chicken Wire Fence Garden. I read. I did a NY Times crossword puzzle (a tough one, I modestly say.) I scrubbed the bathtub. We watched Marty on TCM.

Today? More of the same. Reading, writing, a little cleaning.

Work will soon begin on Hamlet, the show I’m coaching next, but I think I’ll wait until next week.

Currently blooming all over the property:

yellow beauty

Beautiful Goldenrod. It’s right alongside some Purple Loosestrife and the combination of the yellow and purple is gorgeous. (I’m not worried about the Purple Loosestrife, it isn’t invasive here. It just blooms in the wetter parts of the property and it’s beautiful.)

I was watering plants on the porch and I saw this beauty on the Butterfly Bush.

giantswallowtail 1

Yes, it’s blurry, sorry, as the butterfly was moving its wings very quickly. The butterfly was very large in size, so I did some research. It’s the Giant Swallowtail. I had to crop this photo down from one I took from a distance. Right after I took this, I cautiously walked around the porch to the bush and got this view:

giantswallowtail 2

Stunningly beautiful. Nature is stupendously wondrous and amazing.

I don’t understand why anyone would ever capture a butterfly. They should be magical and elusive and free. I should try to take a photo and be frustrated because the butterfly moves and flits and then disappears. That’s the way it should be. Those moments, those seconds in time, where the butterfly appears and then soars into the air and over the trees, those moments make me smile.

Today is my last day on the antibiotics. Tomorrow? I can have coffee with half and half first thing in the morning. Cannot wait. And we can start hiking again this week – no more worries about the sun.

Happy Sunday.

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Filed Under: books, butterfly, flowers, garden 28 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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Scout & Riley. Riley left us in 2012. Scout left us in February 2016. Dearest babies. Dearest friends.

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