garden — Page 237

Autumn

October 18, 2011 at 6:00 am by Claudia

Our Maple tree is losing its leaves at a fast pace. I fear that the endless rains and wind we have had over the past few months have left their mark on our Autumn. The colors are not as vivid as usual. I do love the crunch of leaves under my feet as I walk through the yard.

Monday was a beautiful day, with a slight breeze and that brilliant fall light that is so distinctive.

Because I was ill during the summer, I didn’t plant my zinnia seeds until rather late. Much to my delight, the zinnias have provided some welcome autumn blooms (although some critter has been munching those leaves.)

How is Autumn in your neck of the woods?

Tiny Treasures

September 19, 2011 at 10:40 am by Claudia

Two of my former students won Emmy awards last night. Jim Parsons won his second Emmy for his great work on Big Bang Theory and Abraham Higginbotham won for Modern Family – he is a writer and producer on that wonderful show. Truthfully, both of these guys were favorites of mine who also became my friends. Couldn’t be prouder of them. I just talked with Jim today. Though, wait a minute, I don’t think I heard my name in the acceptance speech…. hmmm.

What do you think of Gladys? Gladys is either a salt or pepper shaker. She was part of that wonderful package of goodies Vintage Sue sent to me. I am so taken by anything that is tiny. And I love this particular style of figurine with the rosy cheeks, cupid’s bow mouth and vintagey look. I believe Miss Gladys is a maid and it looks as if she just took a visitor’s hat.

This guy was also in the package – another salt or pepper shaker. Love, love this face.

What is it about teeny, tiny, miniature things? They call to me. I have little things like this all over the house. Of course, I have my dollhouse and all the miniatures that go in it, but the little things that I’m talking about today aren’t that kind of miniature. They’re not to scale. They are just wee little treasures that pop out here and there amongst all the ‘big’ things around the house. They are unexpected pleasures. Are you a tiny treasure lover?

Speaking of tiny, I used the macro setting to get this photo yesterday:

He’s spun his web in my rose bush. Amazing.

Have a great Monday.

Natural Beauty

September 13, 2011 at 7:21 am by Claudia

The garden is past its prime. I have a few zinnias coming up; the seeds were planted a little late because of my surgery. Only one has flowered so far.

So I craved and needed some flowers for my living room. Lately, the flowers I’ve seen for sale looked too saturated, as if someone had gone into a photo editing program and set the ‘color saturation’ dial a little too high. I’m sure these flowers were all dyed. And they were expensive. I even considered driving to Trader Joe’s for cheap, pretty flowers. However, since the nearest Trader Joe’s is an hour away, the price of gas would defeat my purpose.

Enter the dreaded Walmart. Five dollars.