Well, it’s raining. Heavily. Again. And it will rain tomorrow, too,

As I said in the comments the other day: Cue Claudia’s scream.

I managed to grab some time to mow the lilac side of the lawn yesterday afternoon, right after we spent 3 hours dealing with a refrigerator problem. Water has been leaking inside the fridge and we did some research that showed it was a blocked drain line, which seems to be very common. After watching several YouTube videos, we tackled the problem but it involved unscrewing panels and taking things apart and we’re not sure, in the end, whether we fixed it. Fingers crossed. This is an old GE refrigerator that was made in 2000, but it’s been working just fine until recently and we certainly don’t want to have to buy a new one.

It was a crazy sort of day,

But I did get in some reading to help balance the stress and it sure helps. I’m loving Mick Herron’s newest book, The Secret Hours. He is such an excellent writer and I’m riveted to the story. Two more books that I had on hold came in at my local library, so I’m feeling a bit of pressure as, since they’re new, I have them for a limited amount of time. As pressure goes, that’s the best kind to have!

I hear my little Carolina wren chirping away. I’m not sure where he is, but he’s somewhere in the vicinity of the porch.

Comfort doll. There’s something about that face and the sweetness of her expression.

Rest in peace to Michael Gambon, who has was one of my favorite actors. I was able to see him onstage 20 years ago. I was in London and he was in a production of The Caretaker   by Harold Pinter. His performance was extraordinary and it’s seared in my memory. He was blessed with an incredible voice and I could have happily spent several hours listening to him read the phone book. He will be deeply missed.

Yesterday was my dad’s birthday. He would have been 100 years old, had he stayed with us a bit longer.

Happy Birthday, Dad.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

Yesterday, I noticed that most of the petals have fallen off my brown-eyed susans. Sigh. I’m sure that was partly due to the rain, but also to the change of seasons. They hang in there for so long that it almost seems like they’ll be there forever. So now, I have a few roses that bloom again late in September, the hydrangeas, the giant zinnias, and the geraniums that are in tubs by the funky patio. And the porch plants, of course.

But growing season is definitely coming to an end.

This is the pot that holds the geranium. (The frog is not real.) Since it sits next to some potted impatiens, they kindly decided to self-seed in the geranium pot. Not only that, they bloomed! I love little surprises like that.

We’ve had three days of rain and I’m over it. It rained again overnight. I need to mow the lilac side of the lawn, but it looks like that will have to be delayed until tomorrow. Too wet.

I finished the The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons  the day before yesterday. And I’ve started on the newest Mick Herron: The Secret Hours. As always with Herron, I am never disappointed. He writes intricate plots about British spies, with intelligence and a good deal of dry humor. To be honest, I haven’t been motivated to do anything other than reading. Maybe it’s the nesting instinct that comes with the seasonal change?

Although I did clean the bathroom yesterday.

Today, we go grocery shopping, so at the very least, I’ll get out of the house.

This is blurry because I shot it through the picture window in the den. This is the little Carolina wren who hangs out here and periodically perches on the porch railing, chirping repeatedly. With each chirp, his/her head goes to the right and then to the left. I researched it and it’s a definitely a call – either of danger (not in this case) or simply a form of communication. I’ve always felt that this little guy is calling for his mate. Since they mate for life, let’s hope the other little one is okay. He doesn’t call out every day, but at least once or twice a week he lands on the railing and chirps for about 3 minutes.

I think he’s the bird that sleeps on top of the porch light. We’re very happy that he likes to hang out here.

Question: my Rose of Sharons have tons of buds on them but nothing has opened recently. I’m wondering if they stop opening when it gets colder at night? Does anyone know?

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

Goldenrod is popping up everywhere – a late summer favorite. This particular patch is up in the woods. Our maple trees, especially the group on the far side of the house are already turning color and dropping lots of leaves. I suspected this might be because of all the rain we’ve had. It’s been an extremely – and I mean extremely – wet summer and that maple sits in a little mini-valley where water tends to stay for a while. It’s rather like the secret garden. The tree trunk that just fell is in the same area. I looked it up yesterday and sure enough, a too wet summer can cause leaves to drop early. (As can a too dry summer.)

On Friday, our tree guy magically appeared and chopped up the trunk, removing the pieces with a big claw. Then they completely cleaned up that area. I like these guys. I don’t think I’ll like the bill when it comes, but we couldn’t just leave it. There are some parts of the property where we could definitely leave it (and have) but not when half of it falls on our neighbor’s property.

For the first time in a long time, I just couldn’t get to sleep last night. My brain was on overdrive. Long story short, I’m feeling very tired today. This, too, shall pass. So this morning, I spent an hour or two reading The Bullet That Missed,  the third in the Thursday Night Murder Club  series – along with a nice hot cup of coffee.

So far, it’s a rather gray day. We might get a bit of rain.

Pippa is enjoying the last bits of summer before she has to go back to school. Remember those days of running barefoot? When summer seemed endless in the best possible way?

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.