gardening — Page 3

Day Fifteen

March 28, 2020 at 10:00 am by Claudia

Current reads. I find it isn’t necessarily easy to make a choice these days. My last book, Eight Perfect Murders, was disappointing. So, do I go with more fiction? Or nonfiction? Or pretty pictures? Yesterday, I reread Biblio-Style, that gorgeous book about the way people live with books. I needed to experience it once again. Last night, I started in on Pride and Prejudice, a true comfort read. And this morning, I dug into Derek Jarman’s Garden.

Do you find that you’re juggling more than one book at a time? I rarely do that, but I have definitely been reading a few books at once during this period of isolation.

I’m just grateful that I have them. Books are always a precious gift, but never more precious as they are now.

We watched more episodes of Cheers last night. It’s fun to chart the course of the characters in that very first season. We can see the writers beginning to figure out who is who and just how the characters will function within the framework of the ongoing story. It’s amazing how excellent it was from the very beginning.

I was up earlier than Don this morning – a rarity – and after making coffee, I went online to our grocery chain’s site to see if maybe there might be a delivery slot open at the end of next week. To my surprise (and I was barely awake) there was an opening available next Wednesday on April 1st. I grabbed it and then started to add a few things to our already long list. I only had an hour in which to do it before I would lose the slot. Don came downstairs and, poor guy, I immediately pestered him for any ideas he might have. Anyway, it’s done. I cannot tell you how relieved we are that we don’t have to go inside a store. They deliver the bags of groceries and leave them outside near the door. Don is very happy. It turns out he was very wary of entering any store and it had been weighing on him.

We’re in for a very rainy weekend. It hasn’t started yet, but it will. I think I’ll go out to the edge of the property and clip some forsythia. We don’t have any fresh flowers at the moment and it would be nice to see the bright yellow flowers in our kitchen.

Rain is on the docket for the next week or so, so heaven knows when I will be able to get outside to start garden cleanup. In the meantime, I’ll be watching episodes of Gardener’s World on Britbox – I didn’t watch all of last season, so it’s time to catch up.

I learned a new word: Sitzfleisch; literally ‘sitting meat’ but in reality, sitting on your tush. Heaven knows, I am doing that more than ever. (Found in an article in The New Yorker.)

Lonesome Dove is hanging out on the telephone wire in front of our house as I write this. I love him.

Happy Saturday.

Saviors: Reading and Gardening

July 11, 2019 at 9:25 am by Claudia

This is a kind of sedum that I planted in the memorial garden. (I can’t remember the name.) I’m always surprised when it blooms. Bonus points: it spreads.

I mowed a lot yesterday and then I spent even more time outdoors pruning things in the big garden bed, trying to get at those white flies. I was happy because I love being outdoors and working on the property, but I’m paying the price today as my allergies are especially troublesome. Every time I check the weather I see this: “The pollen count today is high.”

I know. In fact, I knew that without checking the weather app.

So for today, I’m going to stay inside except for watering the porch plants and shooting water at the white flies. This afternoon we’re supposed to get thunderstorms, so hopefully, they will take over the role of ‘water cannon.’

I’m reading my next Kate Atkinson, When Will There Be Good News? Dang, I like her writing style! An absolute pleasure to read. There are two more in the series to read, as well – whoops! – make that three, as a new Jackson Brodie mystery has just been published.

Next month: the new Louise Penny, A Better Man, comes out on August 27th. Huzzah! On the same day, the newest in the “The Girl Who…” series, The Girl Who Lived Twice, will be published. Originally written by the late Steig Larsson, they are now being written by David Lagercrantz, and I have to say – he’s doing a bang-up job of it.

Deborah Crombie’s newest, A Bitter Feast, is being published on October 8th. And Michael Connelly’s newest Harry Bosch, The Night Fire, is being published on October 22nd.

All of the above authors are favorites of mine.

I like the idea of all sorts of books written by authors I love lined up, ready and waiting for me. It’s like a secret stash of good things to come.

And reading saves me in these times. Truly. I don’t know what I’d do without it.

Gardening, too.

Happy Thursday.

Garden Cleanup, Egg Cups & A Gift

April 17, 2019 at 8:10 am by Claudia

Now that the endless wind has died down, I’m going to work outside today and tomorrow. Rain is coming on Friday and throughout the weekend, so I have to grab some time while I can.

Meanwhile, in the yet uncovered big garden bed:

The hyacinths are blooming.

I’m tackling that bed today. Wish me luck.

Egg cups for today: Four double egg cups in the Harlequin pattern by Homer Laughlin. (Apparently, I forgot to remove the price tag on one of them!)

I received a lovely package in the mail from Kate, a reader of this blog. Kate asked me if she could send me two egg cups that she had in her home. Of course, I said yes. When the package arrived there were additional surprises!

First of all, two lovely lustreware egg cups.

Then two beautiful knives – my grandparents had a set of flatware like this.

And 4 cups/saucers made by Arabia in Finland. Are they demitasse? They’re on the small side. And this photo isn’t capturing the color, which leans a bit more toward green/yellow. They’re lovely – such simple and beautiful design. (I’ll try to capture the color in a future photo.)

Thank you so much, Kate! I’ve already made room in the kitchen china cabinet for the cups and saucers! The egg cups are in the cubby cabinet. And the knives have joined my stash of bakelite.

I’m blessed.

The winner of a copy of The Eighth Sister is Marilyn! Marilyn, I’ve already sent you an email. Just send me your mailing address and I’ll forward it on to the publisher.

Happy Wednesday.

Saviors: Reading and Gardening

Garden Cleanup, Egg Cups & A Gift

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