jigsaw puzzles — Page 46

Day Ninety

June 11, 2020 at 9:37 am by Claudia

We are in the middle of a torrential rain as I write this. Wow. It’s been humid for a few days and it rained all night long, but this particular line of storms is very intense. Hopefully, on the other side of this, the humidity will drop.

More info about Cheers: one of my readers says the entire series is on Hulu. So if you’re watching it on Netflix and have Hulu, you’ll be able to keep on going. (We don’t have Hulu.) And Don’s episode is in Season 6, Episode 7: The Last Angry Mailman. Don made a couple of appearances on Frasier as well and has known Kelsey Grammer for years. They were in a couple of plays together in Los Angeles, right when Kelsey first started appearing on Cheers, and Kelsey also had a relationship with the Old Globe. Small world. I think it was Cheers – I’ll have to check that with Don – that Don was filming right after we moved in together and the guy who warmed up the audience called me to ask me questions about Don and I was speaking live on the set. Weird, but funny and that was, of course, his goal.

Both Don and I love Cheers, of course, but after watching it in this way – start to almost-finish – we’re convinced that it was at its best when Shelley Long was still on the show. She left after year number five. Another little story: I saw Shelley years ago, live, as a member of the cast of Second City in Chicago. This was before Cheers. That cast was full of people who eventually went on to SNL. I remember thinking Shelley was brilliantly funny.

Did a lot of work on the puzzle yesterday, but boy, is this one hard! (Of course I say this about every puzzle.) But it is true – this one is harder than the previous one, the Mucha. Two more puzzles (from Galaxy Puzzles) are arriving in today’s mail. One is a Van Gogh. Apparently, I’m a glutton for punishment. And the other is a beautiful vase of flowers done by an artist that I can’t remember at the moment.

I’ve been sleeping erratically this week. Last night it seemed as if I didn’t sleep at all, but I must have. It was one of those nights where you wake frequently, so it seems as if you haven’t been sleeping. In the middle of the night, I asked Don to hold me and that helped a great deal. I slept in and I’m grateful that I did. Who knows why? It’s been a momentous and tragic two weeks in this country, we’re in the middle of a pandemic, Don and I are feeling a bit restless as we hit the three-month mark in our self-isolation – all of that certainly takes its toll.

It will pass.

The rain just stopped and I can hear a tree frog in the distance. I think we’re due for more later in the morning.

Hey, I don’t have to water the seedlings today! I may have to check on them, as this rain certainly pummeled them to the ground.

Reading Maigret Defends Himself, one of the later books in the series. I’m not reading them sequentially. Today, more work on the puzzle, maybe some work on the dollhouse – we’ll see.

Stay safe.

Happy Thursday.

Day Eighty-Seven

June 8, 2020 at 9:29 am by Claudia

I was sure it was Sunday when I first woke up. It wasn’t until I was downstairs that I had a suspicion in might not be. One day flows into another flows into another. I know many of you are experiencing the same thing.

We did a lot of mowing yesterday and I watered the pots and the seedlings. Don did some work up in the woods. I started my new puzzle, which is one of the puzzles Terri sent me; a cover from The New Yorker called The Bookshop. It’s an interesting puzzle – the illustration is not as defined as the Mucha, for example – more impressionistic. Unlike the other puzzles, the shape of the individual pieces is much more varied. I’ll try to take a picture of some of them today to show you what I mean. So, it’s a challenge and you know I like that! I also have two more on the way from Galaxy Puzzles.

New York is automatically sending out absentee ballot request forms. Our county sent us one last week and we’re putting them into the mail today. Our primary is June 23rd. I am grateful that I don’t have to stand in line at a polling station right now. Obviously, this is the first time absentee ballot requests have been sent to everyone in the state. I wonder if it will also occur in November?

Brought back to the house after someone’s walk this morning. Daisies! Aren’t they lovely? Cut to Kathleen in You’ve Got Mail: “They’re so friendly. Don’t you think daisies are the friendliest flower?”

He picked them along the roadside. Aw……

Today, I’m taking it easy. Alas, every time I do major work outside at this time of year, my allergies kick in and I feel crappy. So my new rule is: A day working outside, a day staying inside. I have to give myself time to recover. Today is a day to stay inside (except for watering and a bit of time on the glider.)

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Day Eighty-Four

June 5, 2020 at 9:37 am by Claudia

I mistakenly titled yesterdays’s post as Day Eighty-Four and then realized mid-afternoon that it was Day Eighty-Three so I edited the title. Just in case you’re confused. I guess the seemingly endless number of days in lockdown is taking its toll!

I took this photo this morning. It’s rainy and humid and we’re getting thunderstorms later on. I want to share this, my favorite time in the Secret Garden. The wildflowers (Dame’s Rocket) are blooming, and the wild roses have just emerged (the scent is heavenly.) This week or two when all is in bloom is just gorgeous.

We did next to nothing with this area for about ten of the almost-fifteen years we’ve lived here. Then, during a time Don was away, I gathered a bunch of old cinderblocks that were up in the woods and dragged them, one at a time, to make that little wall between the wild area and the grass. I did it because I was worried that the ‘wild’ might get closer and closer to the house. The next year, I bought those vintage pots from an antique dealer and came up with a choice of shade loving plants; coleus, vines, and little white flowers. This is the third year (I think) that we’ve had the pots. Then, later that summer, I bought the vintage furniture from the same antique dealer. I had already cleared a path to the crabapple tree that blooms in early Spring. This year, Don really expanded that path and cut back a lot more of the brambles and weeds. He put down some stepping stones and some bark, and that’s where we are today.

It’s one of my favorite places on the property. Don has been busy creating other paths and little clearings up in the woods. Eventually, we’d love to find old benches to put in each of the clearings and at the base of the crabapple tree in the Secret Garden. But that will have to wait until we have the freedom to shop and the money to spend.

I worked outside yesterday for about 3 hours; transplanting some ferns that were crowding other plants (fingers crossed that it works,) weeding the big garden bed, weed whacking, edging the big garden bed with large stones that Don found up in the woods, and then I mowed the lilac side of the front lawn. A lot of work, but it felt good – until I came in and sat down and crashed. But isn’t that always the way?

And I finished this. It’s so lovely, this intricate and beautiful piece of art by Mucha. Lush in the way that only Art Nouveau can be. If you don’t know French, these are the seasons: Summer, Spring, Autumn, and Winter.

I’ll leave it up until this afternoon when I’ll break it down and start another puzzle.

I’ve also got three Inspector Maigrets on deck.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

Day Ninety

Day Eighty-Seven

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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