garden — Page 204

A Late Spring

April 30, 2014 at 8:35 am by Claudia

I’m thinking that Spring is about three weeks behind this year. If I didn’t know what date it was, I would assume it was the beginning, rather than the end, of April. A long, hard winter and a late-in-coming spring. Yesterday? Rain. Today? More rain. I do take comfort in the fact that we will reap the benefits of all that moisture, whether snow or rain, in lushness of growth.

wedbiggardenbed

This is the large garden bed. I took this photo yesterday. Last fall, when I was away in Hartford, a huge maple limb came down in a storm and fell on the garden. It stretched all the way across the middle of the bed.

wedsawadust

You can see the sawdust that still remains – a remnant of all the chainsaw activity the day after the storm. It was late September when I returned home, so I had no idea what plants might have been destroyed because of the damage. This perennial bed has been lovingly established over the past eight years and the thought of losing any of the plants made me very sad.

The good news is it looks like all is well. I can see the beginnings of most everything that was in the path of that limb. Time will tell, but it looks better than I thought it would.

wedhyacinths

The hyacinths (mystery bulbs that I found deeply buried in one of the other garden beds) are gorgeous this year.

wedhydrangea

My Annabelle hydrangea, ever reliable, is leafing out.

wedsedum

Sedum Autumn Joy, long established when we moved here, is blessing us with its beauty.

wedlilacs

The lilacs are ready to open. (The blue tarp around our chimney is protecting us from leaks until we can scape together the money to repair it.)

wedmysterytree

We’ve been doing a lot of bramble clearing and we have the wounds to prove it. What a pain in the tush – and the arms and the legs! We were clearing some of the brambles that are near the shed when I noticed this young tree, which was about to be overwhelmed by those pesky, thorny branches. I’m happy to say it has been freed. Does anyone know what kind of tree this is? The leaves are the maroon color of a Japanese or Norway Maple, but it is neither. I have a tree book somewhere around here and I’m determined to solve this mystery!

wedweigela

And the weigela bush (it’s not a tree), like clockwork, has beautiful buds ready to open. I love this bush.

wedweigela2

Aren’t they beautiful?

I spent most of the day on Monday outside, clearing out garden beds, cutting back lavender plants near the kitchen, neatening up the stone edge that surrounds all the beds, pulling weeds.

I am passionate about gardening. I love it all, but I especially love perennial gardening. It takes patience. It’s not an instant garden. But one of the great joys of living here after years and years of apartment living and/or house renting has been the opportunity to create my very own gardens. The only bed that was established when we moved here was right next to the house and that area had only a few hostas and sedums. Everything else I’ve added over time. The beds now stretch from the driveway to the far side of the house, from the chicken wire fence to the shed. I love my gardens and I’m proud of them.

I wrote a post in 2012 called: Why I love Having a Perennial Garden. You might find it interesting.

Gardening, that meditative and peaceful process, takes me to another place where I lose all sense of time, which makes it the perfect activity during this period of mourning. It offers some respite from my grief.

It’s too early to plant seeds – that is at least another week away. But we did plant some wildflower seeds in an area to the left of the shed. I hope they take root. Our plan is to call it Shirley’s Wildflower Garden in honor of my mother. Cross your fingers.

On another, seemingly endless, note: Those of you who subscribe to this blog may have noticed a lack of posts lately. But in reality, except for Friday and Saturday of last week, I have been posting every day. This problem is due to Yahoo and AOL making changes in an effort to stop spam or spoof emails. I subscribe to this blog via Yahoo, AOL and Gmail and the only consistent delivery lately has been through Gmail, though I did get the post via AOL yesterday. I’ll say it again. Bookmark the blog. Visit directly. (Quite frankly, when you visit the blog directly, it helps my ad income.) Or subscribe through Bloglovin’. I’ve seen a few posts on how to fix this problem but the jury’s out as to whether it will work. So I’m not doing anything until I know, for sure, that the problem will be solved and that I’m not creating another problem in the meantime.

I’ve written about this several times but I’m still getting messages from some of you saying you haven’t received my posts lately. I can’t make you bookmark the blog’s URL or subscribe through Bloglovin’ but if you don’t, you probably won’t receive any updates. It’s up to you, my friends. I would sure hate for you to miss anything!

And finally, the winner of a copy of My Boyfriend Barfed in My Handbag…and Other Things You Can’t Ask Martha is Janet in Rochester. Congratulations, Janet! I’m sending you an email.

Happy Wednesday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Sunday

February 23, 2014 at 8:54 am by Claudia

gardenhat

Oh gardening hat, you look charming. It’s been a long time since you’ve been worn by the mistress of this cottage.

Soon, soon.

I write this accompanied by the honking of Canadian Geese flying overhead. I love that sound. Many, many of them hang out on the river that’s just down the road. They honk and talk to each other, then some will suddenly take off and fly in a V formation. Others will stay behind. I find them fascinating. Sometimes I’ll see just a few on my walk by the river. At other times, it looks like I’m sneaking into a Convention of Canadian Geese. So many!

Yesterday the temperature topped out at over 50 degrees. The sun was shining. A tease, for sure, as temperatures will plunge again this week. But it was so nice. Tina and Noble stopped by and we chatted at the top of the driveway, feeling the sun on our faces. I can’t say with any honesty that I felt spring in the air, but I definitely felt a momentary sense of relief. It will take a long time to completely melt the huge amount of snow around here but I can see less snow on the roof and hear the drip, drip of melting ice in the gutters. The cold will return tomorrow.

Don was walking home from rehearsal the other night with some fellow cast members and there was a sudden heavy rain, out of the blue. His iPhone, which was in his pocket, got wet. Uh oh. He’s tried to dry it out in a bag of rice, which is the usual recommendation, but it’s still wonky. There is no landline in his apartment so we skyped the other night. It was so good to see his darling face! In the meantime, he bought a temporary phone and has an appointment at the Apple Store tomorrow. Let’s hope the phone can be saved.

My recommendations: 1. Get an umbrella. 2. In the future, stash the phone in the inside pocket of your coat, right next to your Kindle.

scoutiesnoozing

Scoutie snoozing. She gets up on the sofa in the den and noses that flowered pillow out of her way. Sometimes it lands on the floor. This time, it ended up in this position. Note folded ear on the right. My tired girl has had a hard time of it lately.

The big news can now be revealed. Please visit my sister’s post for today entitled Beautiful Blessings. I’ve stayed silent about this miracle until my sister decided it was the right time to post about it. We’re over the moon about this news! I will write more about little Z later; for now, let Meredith tell you this story. I cannot tell you how much I love and admire my sister and how thrilled Don and I are to welcome this sweet child to our family.

Tomorrow is our monthly linky party for the Christmas Critter Felt Along. I will be putting the post up at 6:00 pm this evening. So stop by tonight or tomorrow and link up your February creations. See you then!

Happy Sunday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Acceptance: On Feeling Blue

October 28, 2013 at 10:01 am by Claudia

rosehips2

I woke up yesterday morning feeling blue. I didn’t feel like talking very much. I was very quiet. I wasn’t motivated to do anything but read. And all day long it continued until the late evening.

Sometimes you just feel blue. There isn’t always an obvious reason for that sad, quiet, keep-to-oneself sort of feeling that can shape an entire day. You can try to snap out of it, of course. You can try your best to be sunny and bright and energetic. But I am convinced that we all need days like that; days where you can’t necessarily explain why you feel this way, all you can say is that you do feel this way.

I try not to back away from my blue days. I try to remain open to that mood change. I try to embrace the slower pace, the quieter day, the sometimes unsettling feelings that are evoked. It is what it is. And while I certainly know there are people that suffer from a kind of depression that is all-enveloping, even crippling, and often require some kind of medication, the occasional ‘down’ day is entirely different thing.

The occasional blue day is a sort of rest for the weary. A day to be a bit more introspective than usual. A day to think and ponder and be still.

rosehips

There is an element of mystery in a blue day. It isn’t always easily explained. But after some thought, I had an idea about what might have contributed to that blue feeling. It was a predominately gray day, with periods of sunshine, the heat was on, there was a sense, to me, of winter’s impending visit. Despite my attempts to protect it, my garden had officially died that morning and all my flowers were brown or black or wilted.

Flowers, plants, green growth – they were disappearing, saying goodbye. Their season was over. I saw a Monarch butterfly about five days ago and last night I found myself wondering where he was now. Was he flying to Mexico? Was he already on his way south? Have the Canadian Geese left for good?

No more flowers for the bees, for the butterflies. All gone.

And it was, as it often is, rather abrupt. One day flowers, the next – none.

I am passionate about gardening, about growing things, about seeing my gardens all around me. They fill me with joy. Coming to this inevitable point of the year means that all of that is over for a long while. It means shorter days. It means winter is on its way and I find that I like winter less and less the older I get. I need light and flowers.

So there you have it. I needed that blue day to come to terms with a seasonal change that I have no way of stopping. I have to allow myself a period of mourning. Mourning will give way to acceptance. All is well.

Happy Monday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

A Late Spring

Sunday

Acceptance: On Feeling Blue

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

Archives