weather — Page 2

Winds and Gifts

October 18, 2019 at 10:39 am by Claudia

The sky as the storm moved out.

The wind was truly insane yesterday. All day long. At one point, I had to go out on the porch and rescue many of my potted plants; some had fallen to the porch floor, the hanging plants were in danger of falling – it was crazy. While I was out there, I thought I was going to get knocked over. The limelight hydrangea would bend over to the south, then immediately the wind would move it to the north.

We were lucky, we never lost power, though the lights flickered a bit. Many, many people did.

My plans to rake and mow are now out the window as I’ve lost two days and we’re leaving in two days. Also, we have a frost advisory tonight. I’ve looked over the weather that lies ahead and it’s going to start getting colder. It should be okay while we’re gone, but right after we get back it’s going down to freezing on Halloween. We won’t be here between Sunday and the 29th. So. I’m not going to bring the plants in tonight. If they survive, great. Rick will come by every few days to water them. If they don’t, that’s okay, too, as I know it will get very cold right after we get back. There are many buds on the morning glories. I’m already mourning them.

Sigh.

Lots to do yet. We’re trying to stay in the moment, so we don’t get too anxious. Especially me.

I want to share a couple of things with you.

First, this soap that I found at Oblong Books. I couldn’t resist.

Perfect.

Next, this beautiful gift from Verna. She made these for Don and me.

Bookmarks. Aren’t these beautiful?

And this little book.

There are several pages. Here is but one example of its beauty. It ties shut with a lovely ribbon.

Verna, you are so talented! I will treasure the beautiful handmade book and bookmarks. This is so thoughtful of you. Thank you!

I’m blessed.

Happy Friday.

Rain and Wind

October 17, 2019 at 11:03 am by Claudia

First: I’m shocked, as is everyone, at the loss of Representative Elijah Cummings today. He was a true patriot, a civil rights leader, and a man of great integrity. May he rest in peace. I’m deeply greatful for his service to our country.

A profound loss for our country.

________________________

Thank you for all of your incredibly supportive comments on yesterday’s post! I’m glad you understand and you clearly do. We’re very excited, of course, and have a lot to do before we leave, but it will all work out and we’ll soon be in our favorite city.

We had torrential rain yesterday afternoon, evening, and throughout the night – along with winds. There are a lot of catalpa leaves on the ground this morning and we have a wind advisory for the rest of the day. And maybe tomorrow, as well.

You know by now that I do not like high winds. Especially winds that go on all day long.

Looks like I can’t rake or mow the lawn. We’re due for more rain today. I’ll try to do both before we leave but whatever happens, happens. We did get the gutters cleaned out yesterday; in fact, it started raining heavily while Don was still on the roof. I told him to come down and he did. We also ran a couple of errands. I needed a new handbag that was big enough for the trip. Does anyone else still call it a purse? I do and I feel like I have to stop myself and say ‘bag’ or ‘handbag’ instead. But they’ll always be purses to me.

I also needed an ‘in-between’ jacket. Not winter-heavy, not early fall light. We found a nice one that was on sale. And there you go!

Now I have to do things like hold the mail, buy some travel sizes of things we need, find the timers for the lights, do laundry, decide what to pack, etc.

Thank you again. Love you all.

Happy Thursday.

Sheltering From The Heat

July 21, 2019 at 10:53 am by Claudia

Greetings from the Heat Dome. Yikes, it’s hot out there! We watered everything twice yesterday. We’ll do the same today. With temps reaching 97 degrees here with a heat index of over 107 degrees, we are happily inside the house for the day. Well, until about 3 pm, when we have to get on the road. We’re going to a concert in NJ, not far from Manhattan. Yes, we’re driving in these temps! But it’s a one-night only appearance. So off we’ll go. (It’s a concert by Australian Tommy Emmanuel, an incredible guitar player. His mentor was Chet Atkins. He’s charming and funny and it will be a lot of fun, especially for Don who is a huge fan.)

Thankfully, all this heat will be gone by tomorrow. The high will be 77.

I watched this monarch go from coneflower to coneflower yesterday. Since there are about 100 blooms on the property, he hung around for a long time!

My dear friend Donna messaged me on FB today. She was a member of the cast of what she reminds me was “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” the musical we were doing scenes from 50 years ago yesterday. She remembers “running over to the TVs on every break from the stage to see how they were doing and finally seeing Neil Armstrong step on the surface.” I was assistant director on that production. Donna, by the way, has a gorgeous singing voice and is beautiful inside and out. We were in plays and musicals together, both in the summer and in high school. We also were in choir and vocal ensemble together. She was and is a good friend. So good to hear her thoughts! I read them and was immediately back there at Camp Dearborn with her and the rest of the cast.

I’m still waiting for the newest Kate Atkinson to arrive in my local library. I finished Case Histories last night, and I’ve started on Chris Pavone’s latest, The Paris Diversion. You get a lot of reading done in weather like this.

Happy Sunday.

Winds and Gifts

Rain and Wind

Sheltering From The Heat

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