social distancing

Day Sixteen

March 29, 2020 at 9:42 am by Claudia

A rainy weekend. But when I look at the lawn, thank goodness it’s raining! We need it. Thankfully, it didn’t start raining until the afternoon yesterday and I was able to get outside for a bit. I took my pruning shears with me and headed for the forsythia which grows in the woods beyond the shed. Technically, it’s not on our property, it’s on our neighbor’s. But they don’t mind. On the way back, I noticed a bloom on a clump of periwinkle – it grows in our woods.

Oh, what a welcome sight!

On my way back to the house, I noticed some tiny birds flying in and out of the bush that is part of the big garden bed. I noticed them the day before, as well. But this time, I stopped and watched them. A bit of back story: last fall, after a big storm with very heavy winds, I noticed that a portion of a limb from the maple tree had landed inside the bush. Right in the middle. I tried to free it several times, but it was too heavy and I was afraid I would seriously damage the bush.

See? When I decided to leave it there, I did so knowing that once the blush had leafed out, the limb would be masked.

As I stood there, quietly watching the two birds who kept flying in and out of the bush, it dawned on me that one of them was disappearing into the interior of the limb. I could hear a tapping sound, not unlike you hear from a woodpecker far off in the distance. One would fly in and tap repeatedly, while the other bird kept watch. Then the bird would fly out, the other would go in, and on and on. Each time a bird departed the hole, he would drop wood shavings that were in his beak.

They are making a nest.

I ran in to tell Don. We both started watching them. We were completely entranced. We had to do a little work outside – just about ten minutes worth – and they warily watched us, stopping all nest making until we went back in the house. But we kept on watching them from the window. I did some research; they’re nuthatches.

It’s the perfect place for a nest. Big birds can’t get inside. They will be safe. And as the bush leafs out, they will be hidden from view. Isn’t it amazing? I wanted that limb removed from the bush, couldn’t get it out, and now it’s the future home of these birds.

I told Don that I felt ‘alive’ for the first time in a long time. Don’t take me literally. I have a full life, even in the winter. But walking into the woods, cutting flowers, discovering tiny blooms, and watching these birds? This is the first time that I felt that quickening, that heightened awareness that I get when spring arrives and I can be outside tending to my gardens and watching my birds and groundhogs and deer and bunny rabbits.

This morning I awoke to lots of bird song. Lonesome Dove has been cooing. I can’t do any work in the garden yet, but I know it’s coming. During this surreal time, I can’t tell you how much that means to me.

We FaceTimed with my sister and Little Z yesterday. Then we FaceTimed with Rick and Doug. Much, much needed. It was a good day.

It’s pouring out now as I wind up this post. I just finished reading Derek Jarman’s Garden, which I loved. Another gardening book next? I think so. It will be the small and lovely book We Made a Garden by Margery Fisk. I bought it last year and it has been sitting on my TBR pile. Time to dig in.

Happy Sunday.

Day Fifteen

March 28, 2020 at 10:00 am by Claudia

Current reads. I find it isn’t necessarily easy to make a choice these days. My last book, Eight Perfect Murders, was disappointing. So, do I go with more fiction? Or nonfiction? Or pretty pictures? Yesterday, I reread Biblio-Style, that gorgeous book about the way people live with books. I needed to experience it once again. Last night, I started in on Pride and Prejudice, a true comfort read. And this morning, I dug into Derek Jarman’s Garden.

Do you find that you’re juggling more than one book at a time? I rarely do that, but I have definitely been reading a few books at once during this period of isolation.

I’m just grateful that I have them. Books are always a precious gift, but never more precious as they are now.

We watched more episodes of Cheers last night. It’s fun to chart the course of the characters in that very first season. We can see the writers beginning to figure out who is who and just how the characters will function within the framework of the ongoing story. It’s amazing how excellent it was from the very beginning.

I was up earlier than Don this morning – a rarity – and after making coffee, I went online to our grocery chain’s site to see if maybe there might be a delivery slot open at the end of next week. To my surprise (and I was barely awake) there was an opening available next Wednesday on April 1st. I grabbed it and then started to add a few things to our already long list. I only had an hour in which to do it before I would lose the slot. Don came downstairs and, poor guy, I immediately pestered him for any ideas he might have. Anyway, it’s done. I cannot tell you how relieved we are that we don’t have to go inside a store. They deliver the bags of groceries and leave them outside near the door. Don is very happy. It turns out he was very wary of entering any store and it had been weighing on him.

We’re in for a very rainy weekend. It hasn’t started yet, but it will. I think I’ll go out to the edge of the property and clip some forsythia. We don’t have any fresh flowers at the moment and it would be nice to see the bright yellow flowers in our kitchen.

Rain is on the docket for the next week or so, so heaven knows when I will be able to get outside to start garden cleanup. In the meantime, I’ll be watching episodes of Gardener’s World on Britbox – I didn’t watch all of last season, so it’s time to catch up.

I learned a new word: Sitzfleisch; literally ‘sitting meat’ but in reality, sitting on your tush. Heaven knows, I am doing that more than ever. (Found in an article in The New Yorker.)

Lonesome Dove is hanging out on the telephone wire in front of our house as I write this. I love him.

Happy Saturday.

Day Fourteen

March 27, 2020 at 9:40 am by Claudia

I don’t know about you but I have no idea what day of the week it is. I actually thought today was Monday.

The craziness that is the kitchen china cabinet. Or hutch. Or whatever. I’m never sure what to call things. What makes one piece a hutch, another a cupboard? I’m sure there’s an actual definition, but I’d love to find something that works for all my free-standing cabinets. There’s one in the kitchen, one in the den, and one in the office.

Suggestions welcome.

We watched Cheers again last night. I finished Eight Perfect Murders. I felt manipulated – and not in a good way – just as I felt when I read Gone Girl. I didn’t have as strong a reaction as I did with GG, as I will dub it, but I felt curiously empty of any feeling. Surely that’s not what an author wants from a reader? So if you want my official recommendation? Meh. Don’t buy it. If you’re curious, reserve it from your library or wait until it’s out in paperback. My only consolation is that I purposely bought it online from Oblong Books to help them out during this time so I don’t regret it.

I have limited funds, but I just placed an order with John Sandoe Books, in support of my favorite bookshop in London – they’ve had to close. I ordered three books that are not yet published here in the U.S. I feel it’s my little mission to place at least one order from all of my favorite independent bookshops during this time. I can only do it once, and now I have. I would order from Shakespeare and Company in Paris, but they aren’t doing mail orders. At least, I’m pretty sure they aren’t. I’ll check that again later today.

We tried to reserve a home delivery spot with a local grocery store, but they are booked for at least the next six days. I have a feeling I’ll have to stay up until midnight in order to grab the next open slot. We really don’t want to visit a grocery store and we still have food, but we’re running out of a few essentials. I’ll keep you posted.

It’s a beautiful, sunny day – the high will be 61. Then a few days of rain will follow. Very grateful for some sunshine today. I’m seeing robins and woodpeckers and cardinals and bluejays and all sorts of little birds. I can tell the birdbath is being used (hurrah!) and Don saw a bunny rabbit run by our kitchen door. The peepers are serenading us every night. All is well.

Note: At the end of yesterday’s book review, I made sure to say that only comments made directly on the blog post would be counted; not via email. But two of you sent your request via email anyway. I cannot count those. If you’re serious about being entered in the giveaway, come here to the blog and leave your comment on the post. Thank you.

Happy Friday.

Lambs Like to Party

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