garden — Page 3

Muggy and a Monarch

July 15, 2024 at 8:41 am by Claudia

Wouldn’t banning assault weapons be a good thing to do?

Just thinking.

Heavens! I’m either completely lethargic, like I was Saturday, or I’m on overdrive, as I was yesterday. Maybe yesterday’s energy was due to my not venturing outside until later in the day. The a/c was on and I dusted, vacuumed, did a load of wash, straightened the slip cover on the sofa in the den (always a pain,) took many photos of the things I wanted to add to my Etsy shop, listed all the items (which means measuring, weighing, etc.) and then watered everything outside.

I wish I had that kind of energy on a daily basis.

It’s completely crappy out there; hazy, hot, and humid. I am doing my best to stay positive. Gratitude: working a/c units, my husband, who keeps me laughing, and the knowledge that this will break on Wednesday. Hopefully.

The day lilies on the far side of the house are blooming. As we sat down for the evening last night, Don said “Oh look! There’s a deer right outside the window!” I knew that meant trouble, and sure enough, he was ready to chomp on the day lilies. I knocked on the window and he took off. Sweetheart, you’re beautiful, but stay away from my day lilies! This property is full of green things you can eat. Head on up to the woods.

My first Monarch sighting was yesterday.

I followed him around as he dined on every one of the coneflowers. But he was skittish and it was hard to get a clear photo.

At this point, I was on the porch leaning over the railing trying to catch that second when he would open his wings. A bit blurry, but I got it. I take that back – ‘she.’ She doesn’t have the black dots that the male has.

Don’s gig on Saturday was cancelled at the last minute. The owner of the bar (which apparently has a terrific menu) called Don because she hadn’t had any customers the night before and she was panicked about money. (She pays the performers, unlike a lot of other venues where the only money comes from tips.) She was very apologetic. Bless her heart, she’s trying to make a go of it and that’s very hard these days. I hope things pick up for her.

And, yesterday, I reached the point where I could I could not stand my hair any longer, so the team of Don and Claudia whacked 3 inches off. So much better!

There are a few new items in the Etsy shop.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Flowers in the Garden

July 13, 2024 at 9:22 am by Claudia

One of the Rose of Sharon bushes is full of blooms. The other is a bit behind. I got the cuttings from my friend Noble at the same time, but “Junior” was not quite as big a cutting, so he’s grown more slowly. I actually like this because I’ll have blossoms on the other bush when this one is fading.

Thank you, Noble, for these sweet little cuttings you gave me several years ago. Noble and Tina have since moved to another house, but in their former garden he planted several Rose of Sharons flanking a path and they were magnificent.

I weeded for quite a while yesterday, mostly by hand, because the battery died on the weed whacker. I didn’t get to mulch this year, so the big garden bed is full of weeds and I’m just now able to ruthlessly pull them out. The mulching didn’t happen because of my hand injury, as well as a flat tire on the much needed-for-mulching wheelbarrow. So the weeds are a bit of a pain. I’ll weed whack a bit more this morning and then, on Sunday through Wednesday when we’re hit with another round of heat and humidity, I’ll stay inside. The long range forecast shows temps dropping into the eighties after this next blast. Fingers crossed.

The gift that keeps on giving. I have to say it: right at this moment, our gardens are darned charming. And now that the brown-eyed/black-eyed susans are flowering, there’s a wonderful splash of yellow and brown, along with the red of the bee balm.

I contacted my friend who has Wren. She said the delay for the replacement body will be 8 months! So we chatted about the broken finger, which she had glued back on, and I decided I was fine with that. So I’m going to sell a few more things on Etsy to help with the funding – have to work on that today – and I should have her within a month.

I have to help Don with a self-tape audition this morning. He’s got a gig tonight.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Hydrangeas, Books, and Babylon Berlin

June 29, 2024 at 9:14 am by Claudia

My Endless Summer Hydrangeas are really providing a show this year! It must be because of all the rain we’ve had, because the previous two summers yielded about 2 or 3 blooms. This year? Lots and lots! The soil pH must be changing as well. The colors of the flowers are very striking.

These are in the garden bed that adjoins the memorial garden. So they’re just outside the kitchen door.

I’m going to do some weed trimming today, but not too much, as I think it’s going to rain later this morning. Don is going to recycle at our transfer station. He just served me some eggs, bless him. (I’ll have some oatmeal – my favorite – later.)

I finished a great book by Rob Rinder – a British author – yesterday. Thank you to reader Dee Dee, our resident librarian, who recommended him. He’s, among many other things, a barrister who has written two mysteries involving a young barrister. He’s a fabulous writer and boy, was this first book – The Trial – great! I ordered it from Blackwell’s in Oxford/London and it arrived very quickly. I’ve started the first book in Elizabeth Jane Howard’s Cazalet Chronicles: The Light Years. (Also from Blackwell’s, but a couple of years ago.) I’ve heard raves about this famous series for years. In fact, here’s the blurb from this edition: “If I were sent to a desert island with one book this would be my choice” – HRH The Duchess of Cornwall (now Queen of England.) She is a strong advocate for reading and books and I read her recommendations often.

And speaking of Dee Dee, if you’re reading this today, I’m happy to say we’re going to begin the 4th season of Babylon Berlin tonight. I know you watched it a couple of years ago, but we couldn’t see it because Netflix had some issues with the distributors, When I learned last year that Netflix had given up on Babylon Berlin, I was so, so disappointed. Periodically, I would do a search to see if anything had changed and this year, I learned that MHz – a streaming service – had acquired the rights to stream all four seasons, though they just released the 4th season this week. Babylon Berlin, as I have written on this blog in past posts, is simply one of the best series I have ever seen. We’re so excited!

I just learned that the brilliant Martin Mull passed away. I loved his work, hearkening all the way back to Fernwood Tonight so many, many years ago. I still watch clips from that series on YouTube and laugh out loud. Rest in Peace, Martin.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Muggy and a Monarch

Flowers in the Garden

Hydrangeas, Books, and Babylon Berlin

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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