garden — Page 45

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 One Hundred Forty-Two

August 2, 2020 at 9:50 am by Claudia

I have to say, having written this blog for well over 12 years, my decision to do a day count of lockdown/social distancing as the post title has been a welcome break from having to come up with something new every day. I want this virus to be gone, of course, but I’ll miss the ease of my current post titles.

Do you remember the other day when I predicted we wouldn’t get the rain that was forecast for that day? I was right. Nothing. Today, however, we supposedly have 100% chance of rain and thunderstorms, with a few inches of rain expected. I hope that is so because our rivers are the lowest I’ve ever seen. We really need rain. It’s very humid and cloudy out there, so fingers crossed!

I just finished Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee. Excellent. Excellent. It’s non-fiction that reads like a novel and by that I don’t mean like historical fiction which involves a lot of guessing and supposition (I’ve mentioned before that I’m not a fan and I know that many of you are, so we’ll agree to disagree!) No, I mean the ease with which Casey Cep writes, the way in which she weaves the various elements of this true story together. Far from dry, it’s completely compelling. The case is fascinating, the people involved fascinating, and as someone who has read everything there is to read about Harper Lee, I learned so much more about her. I recommend it highly.

Yesterday, I went outside to walk around the big garden bed and I noticed a hummingbird moth. Then I noticed another. And another. Turns out there were four hummingbird moths buzzing around my phlox. I’ve never seen more than one at a time. I had my phone with me, thank goodness, and I just kept snapping away. Here are some photos: