nature — Page 23

Blue on Blue

October 21, 2010 at 4:31 pm by Claudia

Thank you for the compassionate responses (I expected nothing less) to my last post. If I learn anything more about the mystery, I will pass it on.

I was standing in the kitchen the other day, after touching up the kitchen island with paint, and I realized that my seashell finds from Florida could no longer stay on my cake plate. Yes, they were under a glass dome….but the whole thing had somehow lost its appeal. I was on a mission to find some sort of jar to put them in. Enter Home Goods:

Timing is everything, isn’t it? There was only one glass container left in this beautiful blue. Hello! You need to come home with me. I think it was about $5. And doesn’t it go perfectly on my little table?

And there’s plenty of space left for more shells. That means I have an excuse to gather some more next time I’m down in Florida. Which may be sooner than I think. I will update you on my Mom in a future post. Suffice to say, things are complicated.

More blue, in the form of a bird:

The little nest I found the other day seems to have found a home. It seems entirely appropriate for a bird to carry her nest on her back. Maybe she’s moving and doesn’t want to go to the trouble of rebuilding?

We’ve been raking, carting tarps full of leaves to the woods, cleaning gutters, cleaning the house, getting our furnace cleaned, having the chimney experts check on our aging chimney (this house was built in 1891). Today they were here to clean the chimney, install a liner and make everything safe and sound until we someday rebuild the base of the chimney. Oh, and get a new furnace. Our old one is sadly energy inefficient.

Maybe I’ll win the lottery.

Flora and Fauna Around MHC

September 6, 2010 at 10:26 am by Claudia

Do you see the dark brown clump of leaves in the center of this photo? This morning, I let Scout outside and she took off like a bat out of hell because she thought these leaves were a bunny rabbit. Granted, they were outside the ‘corral’ where bunnies often can be found munching. She did the same thing 2 more times. The irony is that on the other side of the fence on the far side of the corral there was a real bunny, cottontail and all, munching on the grass. Scout was oblivious.

Let’s take a little tour of the grounds:

These are the honey bees that live in our Catalpa tree. They appear every year and never bother us. This year, there are more than ever – I’ve never seen so many. No colony collapse here and that’s good news.

Goldenrod is appearing all over on the edge of our property. Beautiful…but ah-choo!

The bees sure like it.

I think this might be purple loosestrife. It’s pretty and is not invasive in our yard, thank goodness. Do you see the heart shape?

Poke Weed – its growing everywhere. The birds love it.

Stitching update: I’m finding this very relaxing and goodness knows I need some of that right now. I took a cue from Rebecca Ringquist, who uses a piece of fabric to back the sampler. So I added a piece of the fabric shown and then added to strips to the sides. I might add more or I might add some lace or crochet on the top and bottom. We’ll see.

Autumn is almost here. I’m more than a bit sad to see summer leave, probably because I missed spring and part of summer here at the cottage. The crisp, cool air the last few mornings and the spiders appearing with regularity inside the cottage tell me it’s time to say goodbye to Summer 2010. I hope you’re enjoying summer’s last hurrah!

NOTE: Garden of Daisies just left a comment that enlightened me. Goldenrod is often confused with Ragweed as a cause of allergies. But it is Ragweed, not Goldenrod that is the culprit. I can breathe easier – thanks!

A Serving of Seashells

August 21, 2010 at 4:16 pm by Claudia

Don suggested I use the cake stand to display some of my seashells….good idea! I carefully packed each and every one in plastic containers surrounded on all sides by cotton balls. I am proud to say they all made it home safe and sound. Oh yes, I forgot to tell you, I’m home. I love looking for shells. There is a zen-like focus and relaxation involved. Seriously, I could have gone out each and every day looking for shells. Even now I wonder what little treasures are lurking in the sand, just waiting for me to swoop in and rescue them.

I love all the varied textures – some have taken quite a beating in the ocean waves – I like them all the more.

I’d like to take a vacation at the shore and just look for seashells and antiques. That sounds heavenly. Last week’s visit to Florida was all things: wonderful, fun, emotional, exhausting, draining and touching. I’m sure I’ve left some adjective out of the list. I arrived back home yesterday afternoon. I’m tired.

Today I was mowing the lawn and guess what? I encountered another yellow jacket nest. I got stung twice last year by the little buggers. This time, one of those devils stung me on my thumb – through my gardening gloves. Now I’m sitting here with a swollen, itchy thumb. I did do three things immediately: scraped a credit card across the wound to make sure the stinger was out, held a copper penny to the wound (and watched the swelling go down!) and applied a baking soda/water paste to the sting. I think one of my readers suggested the penny in a comment. Everything worked. The swelling around the sting went down, although there is still swelling at the base of the thumb. The pain has diminished. I had just taken a Benedryl right before it happened because I am allergic to grass pollen. Perfect timing.

Finally, a photo of Max and me, taken by my sister.

Read her post about Max – that boy is a sensitive soul. (My hair can look brown or gray, depending on the light. Boy, it sure looks gray here….)

Blue on Blue

Flora and Fauna Around MHC

A Serving of Seashells

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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