Scout — Page 68

A Weekend At Home

August 18, 2013 at 9:20 am by Claudia

zinnia

Home. The gardens are overgrown, weeds are everywhere. Though some plants are blooming in a rather spectacular fashion, others are fading. I’m seeing that mid-August decline that means autumn is around the corner. I planted lots of zinnias in the spring and this is the only one that has bloomed, though the others are not far behind.

I yanked a few weeds yesterday evening, but I have lots more to pull. When I asked Don during our drive home if he had weed wacked, he said no, even though I had told him all about the batteries being fully charged and ready to go before I left. Oy.

When Don pulled into the parking lot at the apartment in Hartford, I ran down to meet him and Miss Scout was in the back seat looking out the window. When I walked up to the window, she was so excited to see me that she was trembling. We had a little adventure; she rode in the elevator, pounced with joy as she explored the apartment and the three of us took a walk in the park.

Oh, how I missed her.

mygirl

Isn’t she a beauty?

Today’s agenda involves lots of the aforementioned weed wacking, weeding the garden beds, and some mowing. Yay! And, like a kid home from college for the weekend, I have to do my laundry.

This is where my girl is stationed at the moment. In the ‘tunnel.’

scoutietunnet

Happy Sunday.

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I Really Don’t Know Clouds At All

August 17, 2013 at 7:25 am by Claudia

hartfordsky

I was going to insert a little poetry here, as I have the last two Saturdays, but I cannot look at a cloud without hearing the words of Joni Mitchell and then the voice of Joni Mitchell. Or Judy Collins.

I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now,
from up and down, and still somehow,
it’s cloud’s illusions I recall
I really don’t know clouds at all.

And so it goes. The melody, the lyrics, endlessly looping through my brain.

Do you have an ongoing bit of music playing in your head all the time? I do. I hear snatches of melodies, a bit of this, a bit of that, all the time. If not music, it’s dialogue of some sort. It used to be when I had to transcribe lots of text into a dialect using phonetics, I would have a running transcription session endlessly playing in my brain. I would dream transcription. Same with typing on a keyboard. But it’s mostly music that is always there in the background and I’m often unaware of it until I focus for an instant and realize the same tune has been repeating itself over and over like the soundtrack to a movie. Or the soundtrack to my life.

I can’t be the only one this happens to, can I? I bet not.

In other news, I was looking at my hastily pinned up row of strips,

stripsart

and thought how like artwork they are. I pinned them (with sewing pins) to that wall just to see how they might look bordered by white fabric. But I’ve left them there because their bright colors make me happy and enliven a bland corner of the room.

Sort of a neat idea for a graphic splash in your home, don’t you think? Pin some strips of fabric to a wall and presto – you’ve got instant art.

I’m rather liking them here in this temporary living space. Such a wonderful punch of color.

Glory be, I get to go home for two days this afternoon! I have a morning rehearsal for Macbeth, then Don will arrive around 2 pm and we will make our way to the cottage. I have to be back on Monday night for a Tuesday morning rehearsal. That’s okay. I just need 48 hours or so with my little family.

I told Don to bring Scout along on the ride here because I simply cannot wait to see her. My plan is that Don and Scout will arrive, she can briefly come up to the apartment (she stayed here for 3 days in January and she loves the elevator) and we will take her for a walk in the park, which she really loves. Then we’ll pile in the car and head for Mockingbird Hill Cottage, where I will reacquaint myself with the now, I’m quite sure, overgrown garden, immediately decide that I need to weed-wack and, upon entering the cottage, see every surface that needs cleaning.

Happy Saturday.

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Somewhat Random

July 23, 2013 at 8:49 am by Claudia

T minus 6 and counting.

I’m off to Hartford in less than a week. I can’t linger on that thought for too long or I get sad. The garden is looking pretty gosh-darned abundant, my husband is about to return home and my little girl will once again be confused and sad. So what’s wrong with this picture?

Two months away from the cottage this time.

I’ve got a lot to do between now and Monday. Finish work on the scripts, get my hair cut, find a new pair of shorts that isn’t torn, mow, figure out what to pack (don’t have a project in mind yet,) write up an extensive list of the chores that Don has to take over, and there are many; most of them to do with watering potted plants, filling birdbaths and watering the seedlings. Oh, and a reminder (again) on how to empty the canister on the vacuum which he simply ignored last time I was away. Plus I have to drive up to the Berkshires on Saturday to watch a run-through of Much Ado About Nothing, followed by attending the closing performance of Pygmalion and packing Don up to bring him back home.

The latest visitors to check in at the birdbath:

catbirdfinch

A catbird and a male house finch. Finches sit on the edge of the birdbath and sip the water. Catbirds plunge in and dunk themselves with great exuberance.

finches

Sort of blurry, sorry, but I wanted to show you the elusive yellow-colored finch. I have tried to photograph this little guy so many times I’ve stopped counting. He always flies away before I can haul out my camera. According to my research, he’s another adult male house finch, yellow variant. Some males are yellow rather than red. Unless it’s a pine warbler. Or a goldfinch. Or a yellow-throated vireo.

I clearly have no idea.

This guy is often at the birdbath solo. Seeing him with another bird is a rarity.

liatris

The liatris is just starting to bloom.

dayliliesbeauty

More daylily beauty.

bench

A bench on the porch. The porch on which it’s been too hot to sit for more than a minute or two. Still humid here. Scout does not do well in humidity so I’ve had to turn on the A/C. But I leave it off for a while in the morning – just because I’m so sick of it. And because I’m dreading the next electric bill.

scoutgatebark

Miss Scout. She’s barking because she does not like it when I disappear, camera in hand, while she’s outside. She’d like me to let her back in the house, thank you very much, and where am I? Taking more pictures of my gardens.

The nerve.

One of you commented on that tarp that lies on the ground, just to the right in the photo, saying it looks like a dead body. It does. But in reality, it’s a pile of hay we use to cover the ground in the dog corral in the muddy, rainy days of spring. The tarp keeps the hay under control so that it doesn’t fly all over the property.

Today: Shorts shopping. T-shirt shopping. Perhaps a summer dress shopping.

I do not like shopping for clothes. No sir. The combination of a body that no longer looks as thin and svelte as it used to, fluorescent lights, and very little patience for the whole thing makes for a potentially frustrating experience. I used to love shopping for clothes. But my life out here in the country calls for T-shirts and jeans. And comfortable shoes. What have I become?

Ah well.

Happy Tuesday.

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A Weekend At Home

I Really Don’t Know Clouds At All

Somewhat Random

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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