garden — Page 200

The Garden & A Walk in the Woods

July 14, 2014 at 7:15 am by Claudia

white coneflowers plus a purple one

Gosh, I love coneflowers. I deliberately planted white ones in the big garden bed, but as you can see a purple coneflower snuck in there this year. The more the merrier, I say. This is the part of the bed that was impacted by the falling of a huge limb from our maple tree, so I am very grateful that these beauties came back. I was sweating that one.

purple coneflower & hydrangea

There are lots more in the garden beds at the side of the house.

annabelle hydrangea

I took this photo of the Annabelle Hydrangea yesterday afternoon. We had a severe thunderstorm last night, so these beauties are drooping from the barrage of water. Same thing with some of the milkweed. I ran out and tried to straighten them, but I couldn’t get some of them upright again. Makes me sad.

Yesterday, Nancy said in a comment that the photo of Don next to the mullein had a timeless quality. That got me thinking. Here it is in black and white:

don and mullein b & W

What do you think?

Continuing in my current video vein, I managed (after three tries) to film a little video of our woods. I kept having to delete some photos and old videos in order for there to be enough storage to film the new video. Again, some jerkiness to the film quality. It isn’t easy to keep an iPhone still while you walk, especially in the woods.

As you watch, keep your eyes open toward the end for the bunny rabbit that I didn’t even see when I was filming! He’s to the right of the mullein. I was so busy trying to get everything in that I didn’t notice him until I played the darned thing back. Life in the country.

Enjoy.

A Walk in the Woods from Claudia Hill on Vimeo.

There’s a new post up on the book blog, Just Let Me Finish This Page. Stop on by!

Happy Monday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

French Toast, Birds & A Little Movie

July 12, 2014 at 9:18 am by Claudia

My husband has put in a request for French Toast this morning.

Since he cooks dinner every night, I suppose I should honor his request.

I make really good French Toast. Also, scrambled eggs like you wouldn’t believe – incredibly fluffy. And really tasty baked goods.

I say all this only because there is so much I can’t do in the kitchen. I like baking because it’s precise. Don is more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants cook, which makes for some imaginative and tasty dinners. My brother used to cook that way, too, and I stand in awe of that talent.

Meanwhile, at the birdbath:

little red bird1a

little red bird on birdbath

I just happened to be coming out the kitchen door, camera in hand, when this house finch decided to take a little sip of the water.

I shot a quick, and I mean quick, little video this morning. The traffic on this road can get noisy, so I ran out in my pajamas in the early morning hours. It’s basically just a quick visit to the front of the house: porch, big garden bed, hostas, etc. If you blink, you’ll miss it. I’ll try to do a couple of others – maybe a walk through our woods, and also the garden beds at the side of the house. I definitely need to work on my walking and filming skills. Talk about jerky! Yikes.

Try not to get too excited.

a walk in the garden from Claudia Hill on Vimeo.

Happy Saturday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Life Around Here

July 11, 2014 at 7:11 am by Claudia

We had a tree fall in the back forty the day before yesterday. It had been dead for a while. Earlier this spring I mentioned to Don that it was really leaning at a sharp angle and I thought we might lose it this year.

Yep. I was right.

I was sitting in my blogging chair and heard a soft Whoosh. I heard that same sound a few years ago when another tree fell. Sure enough. There it was on the ground. And there it will sit until we can get someone to clear it. It’s not in the way of anything, thank goodness. It’s been awfully rainy and stormy here for about two weeks. I’m sure the saturation of the ground contributed to its demise.

yellow flowers on friday

The garden is doing well. The roses have finished their first bloom. And the Japanese Beetles are worse than ever! I can’t keep up with them. I don’t like Japanese Beetles, but then again, I don’t like killing them, either. And I don’t use pesticides. I feel very strongly about the use of pesticides. Pesticides have polluted our environment and our bodies for far too long. We have a well on this property. I am not about to pollute the ground water. I certainly don’t want to see birds and bees and bugs suffer from my use of pesticides. The end result is that some leaves have holes in them. The roses may not last in their flowery state as long as I would like. That’s okay.

coneflower on friday

So, you won’t always see photos of perfect flowers here. You’ll see some holes. But since I have never aimed for perfection on this blog, I think we’ll do just fine.

lantana on friday

There’s another blog post up today on Just Let Me Finish This Page. This new thing of having two blogs is rather tiring! My approach to each blog is very different. This blog has always been a journal of sorts, so I write each day’s post that day, never quite knowing what I’ll talk about. The book blog, on the other hand, involves some research, some information gathering and some fact-checking. So, I write those posts ahead of time. Either way, it seems I am always writing some sort of blog post and/or responding to comments.

I like it. A lot. It’s just a wee bit of an adjustment.

daylily on friday

Anyway, stop by Just Let Me Finish This Page. I love it when you visit.

Happy Friday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

The Garden & A Walk in the Woods

French Toast, Birds & A Little Movie

Life Around Here

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

Archives