life — Page 231

In the Mail

August 21, 2016 at 10:25 am by Claudia

Red and I have problems. I love red, but photographing it is always problematical. Whether it’s a red rose or a red sofa (as you will soon see) I can never quite get the tint/shade right.

I got a package in the mail yesterday – all the way from Australia. Gabrielle, who made the sofa for Don’s mini studio, made another one in red. For me, not Don. It’s a deeper red, but heck if I can get it to register, no matter how much I tweak it on Lightroom.

So just know that the sofa has less of an orange tint and more of a deep cherry tint.

8-21 sofa

Not quite right. But enough of that. Isn’t it beautiful?

8-21 sofainhouse

Here it is in the loft. It might be a bit too long for this house, but I’m currently saving up for another house, so it may move around. Trying to photograph the loft yesterday was equally frustrating. Maybe I’ve lost my mini photography mojo? It needs some pillows, so I just might have to trot over to Brae’s Etsy shop.

Also in the mail on Friday: some wallpaper for the newest project, the half-scale Fairfield.

8-21 wallpaper

These are William Morris prints in half-scale, along with a tile I might be using (lower right hand corner.) ItsyBitsyMini, where I get all my mini wallpaper, has most of their designs available in half-scale and quarter-scale as well as 1:12 scale. And their customer service is great. These arrived with a slight crease/wrinkle, which limits what I can do with them. ItsyBitsyMini promptly responded and is sending new sheets next week. Thank you!

And to top off my ‘packages in the mail,’ a big, heavy box arrived yesterday. I wasn’t expecting anything other than the sofa so I was, to put it mildly, quite curious! It was from my friend Donna and her daughter Amanda – Amanda designed the Bedrooms coloring book, remember?

Inside was a thank you card and a gift for hosting the giveaway. It was my pleasure to host it, since I’ve known Donna for such a long time. And Amanda sent me my own copy of the coloring book, so I was quite happy.

Here is what I unwrapped:

8-21 shakespeareboxset2

A vintage set of Shakespeare, illustrated and in three volumes, and edited by well-known Shakespearean scholar, A. L. Rowse. Oh, my heavens!

8-21 shakespeareboxset

It’s beautifully illustrated and includes photographs from various productions. I never see this set in any shop or used bookstore. But Donna and Amanda have serious junking/thrifting skills (Donna has an Etsy shop) and somehow she found this.

Thank you, dear Donna and Amanda. I’m thrilled to have this in my library and will treasure it always.

Two brief-ish book reviews on Just Let Me Finish This Page today. Stop by!

Happy Sunday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

A Monarch & Mr. Robot

August 18, 2016 at 9:36 am by Claudia

Patience is a virtue that I don’t always have. But I do seem to have it when trying to capture flora and fauna on my camera. I’ve noticed that butterflies tend to come to the butterfly bush in the late afternoon/early evening. Around 6 pm I ventured out to the porch and peeked around the corner at the butterfly bush. Aha! A monarch! (And a hummingbird moth, I might add.)

I ran into the house grabbed my camera and then proceeded to contort myself into a position that entailed leaning out over the porch railing and then torquing my body to the right with camera in hand. For a long time.

Here’s what I got:

8-18 monarch1a

8-18 monarch2

8-18 monarch3a

8-18 monarch4

And, in flight:

8-18 monarch5

There’s more, but I picked the ones I thought were the most interesting. I like to think this one emerged from our very own milkweed plants.

This butterfly bush has been a joy. I planted it a few years back and now it grows very tall each year, with blooms emerging in August. I love its graceful lines. It draws small, beautiful moths, all sorts of butterflies, hummingbird moths – and hummingbirds. If you don’t have one, consider planting one next year. The bloom time isn’t all that long, but boy, is it worth it!

The morning glories and moonflowers are lush with green leaves and are climbing all over the place. Still waiting on some flower buds….

We mowed yesterday and it was exhausting. Since the grass was so long and wet because of the humidity, the mower kept clogging and we’d have to repeatedly stop and scoop up all the cut grass from underneath the mower.

Just under two weeks until the newest Louise Penny is published on August 30th. I will be at the bookstore that day, that I can promise.

Don was on Mr. Robot last night and we kept flipping back and forth between the Olympics and Mr. Robot to try to catch his scene. We were successful! He was wonderful in a scene with his daughter; heartbreaking, sad, bewildered, angry – very real, which, on film, is much more difficult than you might imagine. I’m very proud of him. We haven’t actually watched any episodes in the second season as of yet. We will. So we didn’t try to understand what the heck was going on with the rest of the show; we just caught his scene.

By the way, we didn’t find out that his episode was airing last night until mid-afternoon. I edited this post to include that information and mentioned it on FB and IG. Sorry if you missed it!

Happy Thursday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Limelights, Finches & Scout

August 3, 2016 at 9:00 am by Claudia

I’m writing this post on Tuesday afternoon, since we’re picking my best friend and her husband up from the train station on Wednesday morning – right around the time I’m usually writing a post!

A few things:

8-2 limelighthydrangea

The limelight hydrangea is blooming. Actually, it’s even further along after all the rain, but I haven’t been out to take a picture yet.

8-2 finchesinbirdbath

Two finches clearly admiring my car.

8-2 scoutmarker

And this surprise, which arrived in Monday’s mail. It is a gift from my dear friend, Linda. A marker for our Memorial Garden. I was completely surprised and both Don and I had tears in our eyes.

It’s from the Etsy shop, Secret Garden Herbs, and was made by Cecilia, who blogs here. It’s perfect. I’m going to order two more; one for Winston and one for Riley. I love it.

Thank you, Linda! And thank you, Cecilia! We are thrilled with this memorial for our little girl.

If you want to know more about my best friend, read this post: On My Best Friend Laural.

Happy Wednesday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

In the Mail

A Monarch & Mr. Robot

Limelights, Finches & Scout

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

Archives