garden — Page 64

Insects, Former Students, & The Overstory

August 8, 2019 at 11:17 am by Claudia

I took a little walk around the gardens yesterday in between massive thunderstorms. We had two days of big, prolonged, and loud thunderstorms. Huge cracks of thunder which shook the house, torrential rain that seemed to go on and on – what I think of as summer storms.

Anyway, sometimes I wander around just to see if I can spy some insect life on the flowers.

Look at this guy! Miniscule!

I looked for the yellow garden spider. The web was still there, but no spider. When they leave, they usually dismantle the web, so I figured he was still around somewhere. Then I noticed him on top of one of the nearby coneflowers.

He was expanding his web. You can see part of it on the left. This guy is like a major property developer. If you could only see how large this three-sided complex is, you’d be astounded! By the way, one of my former students commented on IG that I should name him Edward.

So Edward it is.

I was chatting on Instagram with a former student, Brian Hutchison, who is currently out in Los Angeles filming The Boys in the Band, along with another former student, Jim Parsons. They were part of the cast of the Tony Award-winning Broadway production about a year ago and now it’s being recorded on film. Anyway, apparently Jim and Brian were talking about me the other day and that made me smile. I’m so proud of both of them – truly nice guys who have done well. Brian sent me a picture of the two of them on set. We’re all still friends and I’m so grateful for that.

It’s always nice to hear from former students – both from the Old Globe/USD and Boston University. My extended family, I suppose. Thankfully, most of them keep in touch via Facebook or Instagram or email. I can follow their careers, their marriages, babies – quite frankly, that’s the only reason I remain on Facebook. It connects me to hundreds of former students.

I finished the Kate Atkinson yesterday and dropped it off at the library. I’ve started The Overstory by Richard Powers, which won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It’s rather extraordinary, unlike anything I’ve read before. I don’t have the words to describe it yet, so I’ll use the words from the publisher’s blurb on the back of the book.

“National Book Award winner Richard Powers’s twelfth novel is a sweeping, impassioned work of activism and resistance that is also a stunning evocation of – and paean to – the natural world. From the roots to the crown and back to the seeds, The Overstory unfolds in concentric rings of interlocking fables that range from antebellum New York to the late twentieth-century Timber Wars of the Pacific Northwest and beyond. There is a world alongside ours – vast, slow, interconnected, resourceful, magnificently inventive, and almost invisible to us. This is the story of a handful of people who learn how to see that world and who are drawn up into its unfolding catastrophe.”

So far, I’m completely enthralled and I expect to feel even more so as I delve further into the novel. He is a beautiful writer. I’ve had my eye on it for a while, but it just came out in paperback and that clinched the deal.

My back is getting much better. It’s still sore when I first wake up and begin to move around, but on the whole, I’ve turned a corner.

Happy Thursday.

Books, Back & Sugar

August 2, 2019 at 10:44 am by Claudia

The spirea always has a second bloom. It’s not nearly as full as the first, but seeing those little pink blossoms again makes me happy.

I finished Knife by Jo Nesbø this morning. I’ve read a few of Nesbø’s books before and, for some reason, I always feel a bit distanced from the protagonist, Harry Hole. That may be because I haven’t read the entire series, in order, and haven’t given myself a chance to really get to know him. I’m not sure. Nevertheless, it’s an excellent read. I stuck with it and found myself applauding Nesbø’s skill. He writes honestly. All of the recurring characters have flaws and secrets. He is a true storyteller and knows how to plot an intricate mystery. I found myself reading non-stop this morning as I realized we were headed to the denouement of the narrative. I was riveted.

So, I suspect that the ‘distance’ had less to do with the story and more to do with me. It’s a wonderful mystery and I recommend it highly. Now, it’s on to Kate Atkinson’s newest, Big Sky.

I’ll be doing a lot of reading today as I’ve tweaked my back again. I don’t know how, something relatively minor of course, but it caused a fair amount of pain yesterday and last night. So I’m forced to take it easy. I’m convinced that it’s the same initial injury from last spring, not fully healed. Frustrating.

That’s Lonesome Dove at the very top of a very tall (and dead) tree across the street.

I’ve been meaning to mention that I’ve lost 12 pounds in the past 3 months or so. And that is because of two things: being more physically active in the spring and summer, yes, but mostly because I stopped eating any sugar over 2 months ago. I quit cold turkey, just like I did when I stopped smoking in the mid-eighties. I’m not dieting. I’m still eating the same meals I usually do. But I have cut out all sweets, all sugar. If I have a craving, I eat raisins or grapes. Raisins, especially, seem to help with any cravings. This isn’t to say it’s always been easy. When I’m down, or tired, or – like now- I’m in pain, I want some comfort food and for me, that’s chocolate or a piece of pie or cookies or hot chocolate. But I haven’t succumbed to the temptation.

Don, of course, is as supportive as the day is long and for a long time he didn’t want to eat chocolate in front of me, but that truly doesn’t bother me. I usually have some grapes while he’s having a couple of pieces of chocolate.

I did this several years ago and the weight dropped off then, as well. I’m convinced that sugar is not good for me. That’s where I gain my weight. And for the past few years, Don and I were apart a great deal of the time. We were lonely. We both ate sweets as comfort food. It took its toll on me. I couldn’t believe how much weight I had gained! I knew some of it would come off when the weather was better and I was out and about and mowing and gardening, but I knew I had to do something else, as well.

So far, so good. I’m just letting it happen. I don’t have any fixed goal in mind, but I’m very pleased with the results so far. Despite Don telling me that he could tell I was losing weight, it wasn’t until this week when I caught a glimpse of my face and upper body in the mirror that I realized I was looking thinner. And healthier.

So I’m determined to stick with this and since it’s been a while now, I’m past the detox part of the process. It’s all good.

Happy Friday.

Thursday Potpourri

August 1, 2019 at 10:29 am by Claudia

• The limelight hydrangeas are opening. They’re in front of the porch. We have hydrangeas at both ends of the porch, one of my gardening dreams come true.

• After some thunderstorms yesterday and a bit of torrential rain, we woke up to a beautiful day. Sunny and not so humid, which is a good way to start the month of August.

Three little “Claudia’s life in a nutshell” stories.

• The other day, we stopped at the library so I could pick up a book that been reserved for me. Don stayed in the car while I went inside. Got the book, thanked the librarian, and exited through the door to the lobby. As I walked, I caught a glimpse of someone close by on my left and I automatically began to say “Excuse me.” Except for the fact that I quickly realized that the person was a potted plant and there was a young woman sitting on the floor to my right so I stopped at “Excu…” and quickly tried to turn it into a cough.

I don’t think I fooled her.

When I told Don about it, he couldn’t stop laughing.

• And then yesterday: I went to another B & N (don’t ask, just as dreadful as ever) that required driving on the thruway. When I got to the exit and had to pay my 75¢, I counted out the money from the center console. As I handed it to the woman working the booth, I realized – too late – that the coins were covered in melted chocolate. I was mortified and apologized profusely. As I left, she was wiping off the coins.

I figured out that it was chocolate from a candy bar Don was eating when we drove back from the concert last week. I remember thinking a piece of it had dropped somewhere. Now I know that the piece fell in the cup holder and proceeded to melt all over everything.

• Also, from Barnes and Noble: I seem to always have to use the restroom immediately upon arriving at a store, and yesterday was no different. As I was sitting in the stall, I heard the occupant of the stall next to me having a conversation on her phone. She was on the toilet. As I washed my hands and got ready to leave, she emerged, still talking on the phone. I saw and heard her a few minutes later out in the store – still talking on the phone. And about 15 minutes after that, she pushed open the door to exit the building – still talking on the phone. And she did it all quite loudly. I wonder what could have been so important that we all had to share in her conversation – even in the bathroom?

• The yellow garden spider is still there. The web is even more elaborate now. It now covers a large triangle where the day lilies were once blooming.

• And some sad news. I walked by the sparrows’ nest in the clematis last week and saw only one egg, rather than the three that were there originally. It looks abandoned. I have been keeping tabs on the nest about once a day and there was no way that anything hatched and fledged during that time period. We had a couple of days last week with heavy rain that surely would have impacted that nest. I don’t know if that had anything to do with it or if the eggs weren’t viable.

Happy Thursday.

Insects, Former Students, & The Overstory

Books, Back & Sugar

Thursday Potpourri

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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