garden — Page 45

Day Three Hundred Eighty

March 28, 2021 at 10:30 am by Claudia

Heavens, was this one fun! I really loved working on it. There’s so much activity going on, so many wonderful characters. I was sad to see it end.

I’ve ordered another one, as this next week’s temperatures are going to be on the cold side so that means no work outside. But it doesn’t arrive until tomorrow, so I’m starting another one – a botanical chart – that I already had in my puzzle stash.

It’s very, very rainy today with – yes, you’ve guessed it – high winds developing later in the day and tomorrow.

Do you hear that? That was me, screaming.

Thankfully, we have a roof over our heads and lots of activities to keep us entertained. There are also, of course, chores – like washing the sheets, vacuuming, swiffering, watering the plants, etc.

The daffodils are getting ready to bloom and I hope the cold snap doesn’t mess with them. More day lilies and other plants are starting to show themselves. But I’m not clearing the leaf cover from the beds for at least a couple of weeks, if not longer.

Soon, but not yet.

Stay safe.

Happy Sunday.

Day Three Hundred Seventy-Nine

March 27, 2021 at 10:06 am by Claudia

We were doing some chores right by the porch the other day and I happened to look down and saw this:

Emerging from the gravel, these sweet grape hyacinths made me smile, so much so that I grabbed my big girl camera and knelt down on the uncomfortably rocky ground in order to capture their beauty.

Little miracles.

Oh my heavens, was it windy yesterday! Relentless. Today is cooler, but sunny and beautiful Tomorrow? Heavy rain. And so goes spring. Next week, there will be two days where it’s quite cold – in the thirties. Basically, the weather is all over the place.

We might take a drive today.

Next week is rather busy for us. Don has an eye appointment across the river in Poughkeepsie on Monday. And on Wednesday, we get our second vaccine shots. We’ve decided that two weeks after those shots, we’re going to drive to our favorite bookstore on the other side of the Hudson River – we’ll be masked, of course. But we’ll feel better about going into a store. We’ve already marked the day on the calendar.

Rest in peace to two literary giants: Larry McMurtry and Beverly Cleary.

McMurtry is most famous for Lonesome Dove. He loved writing and was prolific. He also loved books and reading. He loved books so much that he owned a bookstore in his hometown and a vast collection of books. There’s a section the book Biblio Style that shows his home and shop.

Beverly Cleary. What can I say? I wrote about her when she turned 100. I can’t imagine my childhood reading experiences without her. I loved her books. I loved her good and kind heart – shown clearly in everything she wrote. I think I checked Fifteen out of my elementary school library at least twenty times. Cleary passed away the other day at the age of 104.

The puzzle is going swimmingly. (I’m using that word on purpose, as you shall soon see.)

We’re watching a series called Fortitude on Amazon Prime. Anything that has Michael Gambon and Stanley Tucci in it is a must-see, though we didn’t know either of them were cast members when we started watching. I saw Gambon onstage in London years ago. My profession is based on the actor’s voice and speech and I’ve never heard any voice more powerful and more beautiful than Gambon’s deep, resonant, and wonderfully caramel-y tones.

Okay. Time to have some oatmeal.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Day One Hundred Fifty-Eight

August 18, 2020 at 9:35 am by Claudia

Despite the destructive efforts of the deer, I have a least one flower on the Rose of Sharon. I might get two or three more. (I could have had 20 of these beauties, darn it!) Anyway, I’m grateful for this one. I opened the blinds in the bedroom this morning, looked outside, and saw this gorgeous lavender flower. So excited! Next year, it will be protected, you can be sure of that.

We watched the Convention last night. I thought it was incredibly well done. In fact, I would go so far as to say that I prefer it this way. There’s a sense of intimacy that you don’t get with a huge audience of delegates. I felt that each speaker was talking directly to me.

Michelle Obama. That’s all I need to say. Such a powerful speech. I love her.

Since we usually start to get ready for bed at 10 pm, we were up later than usual, which means I slept a little longer than usual. My schedule is sort of all over the place lately. But it was worth it.

Dear reader Kathy in Iowa has sent me a couple of gift certificates for The Mysterious Bookshop and Oblong Books. Thank you so much, Kathy! I so appreciate your thoughtfulness. The perfect gift for this book lover.

And Barbara sent me a package yesterday containing a book, a face mask in Liberty of London’s tana lawn fabric along with some squares of the tana lawn, a mini version of our “Life is very short”…sign that we have hanging on our staircase wall (it’s going in Don’s mini studio) and this:

Eeeek! I had admired this refrigerator when Barbara posted it on Instagram. It’s made by an Etsy seller, TinyfrankMiniatures. It’s carved out of wood. I searched high and low for a realistic retro refrigerator for Hummingbird Cottage and never found one. The few I found were made of plastic, weren’t to scale, and looked cheap. I finally made one myself out of a wooden box and I was quite pleased with it. So now, the question is: do I change it out with this one or do I use this one in a different project? Not sure, yet. I just know I love it. That curve at the top! (I wish we had one like this in our cottage.)

Thank you, Barbara!

It’s a beautiful day here. Low humidity and 80 degrees. Perfect summer weather.

Stay safe.

Happy Tuesday.

Day Three Hundred Eighty

Day Three Hundred Seventy-Nine

Day One Hundred Fifty-Eight

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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