I mistakenly titled yesterdays’s post as Day Eighty-Four and then realized mid-afternoon that it was Day Eighty-Three so I edited the title. Just in case you’re confused. I guess the seemingly endless number of days in lockdown is taking its toll!
I took this photo this morning. It’s rainy and humid and we’re getting thunderstorms later on. I want to share this, my favorite time in the Secret Garden. The wildflowers (Dame’s Rocket) are blooming, and the wild roses have just emerged (the scent is heavenly.) This week or two when all is in bloom is just gorgeous.
We did next to nothing with this area for about ten of the almost-fifteen years we’ve lived here. Then, during a time Don was away, I gathered a bunch of old cinderblocks that were up in the woods and dragged them, one at a time, to make that little wall between the wild area and the grass. I did it because I was worried that the ‘wild’ might get closer and closer to the house. The next year, I bought those vintage pots from an antique dealer and came up with a choice of shade loving plants; coleus, vines, and little white flowers. This is the third year (I think) that we’ve had the pots. Then, later that summer, I bought the vintage furniture from the same antique dealer. I had already cleared a path to the crabapple tree that blooms in early Spring. This year, Don really expanded that path and cut back a lot more of the brambles and weeds. He put down some stepping stones and some bark, and that’s where we are today.
It’s one of my favorite places on the property. Don has been busy creating other paths and little clearings up in the woods. Eventually, we’d love to find old benches to put in each of the clearings and at the base of the crabapple tree in the Secret Garden. But that will have to wait until we have the freedom to shop and the money to spend.
I worked outside yesterday for about 3 hours; transplanting some ferns that were crowding other plants (fingers crossed that it works,) weeding the big garden bed, weed whacking, edging the big garden bed with large stones that Don found up in the woods, and then I mowed the lilac side of the front lawn. A lot of work, but it felt good – until I came in and sat down and crashed. But isn’t that always the way?
And I finished this. It’s so lovely, this intricate and beautiful piece of art by Mucha. Lush in the way that only Art Nouveau can be. If you don’t know French, these are the seasons: Summer, Spring, Autumn, and Winter.
I’ll leave it up until this afternoon when I’ll break it down and start another puzzle.
I’ve also got three Inspector Maigrets on deck.
Stay safe.
Happy Friday.
The secret garden is certainly in its prime today. Just beautiful.
Thank you, Shanna! Stay safe.
Your garden is coming along beautifully. And it is so inviting.
I haven’t read any of the Inspector Maigret books ( I want to) but I did view the series with Rowen Atkinson as Inspector Maigret. (IMHO I thought he did a good job). It is a shame that there was only one season.
Did you know that there are free jigsaw puzzles online too? I have taken to putting those together than watching tv. There isn’t much on to watch.
Our governor is leading us into phase two today. We will get to enjoy sitting inside restaurants now (Up to 50 % capacity). Though we still must wear masks.
I’m afraid I have to have the 3 dimensional kind of jigsaw puzzle. Same as a crossword puzzle that is on paper.
Gosh, I hope all goes well, though with the uptick in numbers I wonder if Phase 2 is advisable…
Stay safe, Trina.
I am the same way about books. Got to be able to hold it and hear the pages turn as I make progress. Unless traveling.
Me too! xo
I love your pot combinations. I have all of my coleus and snapdragons left from last year as it never got cold enough over the winter to kill them. The downside of that is an over abundance of pesky insects.
The only thing that stayed alive, thought I thought it was dead, was my lavender. I didn’t do anything to it all winter long, the only reason it was still in the pot (on the porch) is because I was too lazy to throw it out! And much to my surprise, some green showed and now it’s doing well and thriving on the Funky Patio. A delightful surprise.
Stay safe, Brenda.
Dear Claudia, Your garden is evolving beautiful way. I find the part of the joy of gardening is curating the space. as e.e.cummings said:
Moving a perhaps
Fraction of flower here placing
An inch of air there) and
Without breaking anything
Unfortunately, these ferns were very delicate and no matter how careful I was, some stems broke. Sorry e.e.cummings!
Stay safe, Leslie.
Everyone needs a secret garden where they can lay down their troubles and worries and let the healing power of Nature work its magic. Yours is magical!
Thank you, Roxie. Stay safe!
Love it…have good weekend
Brenda B
You, as well, Brenda. Stay safe.
Love the paths – to me, they look like invitations to a magical kingdom.
I think that’s why we both love paths. And Don is having a field day with them! Thanks, Anne. Stay safe!
Your secret garden is lovely. I could see the path stones that Don laid to the left in the picture. Makes me want to go beyond the stones, and see what’s back there. I think another secret garden would be fantastic!
As I was reading about your moving the ferns around, I was reminded of all the plants that I have moved from one place to another, especially this year. Some plants have gotten too big, others need more sun or shade. I have a picture in my mind, of how I want my gardens to look. I keep tweaking it. My Hosta garden is just about complete…but, will I ever truly be done? I think it’s all in the details. Your secret garden has just the perfect pots…and the perfect seating. I don’t have a secret garden….but I do have a patio garden that’s hidden away from neighbor‘s eyes. It’s not quite how I envision it yet. But, it’s getting there.
Stay safe! ;)
Having a little hideaway – whether it’s a patio or a garden – is so important. Where you feel completely private!
Thanks, Donnamae. Stay safe.
Your secret garden is taking shape beautifully! Do you find that areas in the landscape kind of tell you what they need? Then step by step such beauty is revealed. You have a keen eye for what plants to combine and the right pots and accessories too. Just lovely!
Yes, I guess I do. We also don’t have money for a landscaper or big changes, so the changes we make are of the ‘gentle’ variety. The Secret Garden took years to reveal itself, and I guess I took years to see the possibilities back there. Stay safe, Elizabeth!
Hi Claudia,
That puzzle, it’s amazing!
Day 84, wow, I am glad you chose to title each day this way because I would not even know how many days we have been under the “stay at home” order, so thank you for that! When it began I thought you might get to eleven or twelve. I had no clue. Some days, I have to think about what the date is or what day of the week it is.
Our state is slowly opening up, but I am not yet comfortable venturing out to far or being around many people so I will continue with my quiet home. I am pretty sure I won’t run out of weeds and brambles needing some attention!
Take care and enjoy your weekend!
I certainly never thought it would get to 84! It’s extraordinary.
We will do the same. I’m in no hurry to do anything other than hang out here. Stay safe, Kelly.
all the hard work, time and other costs (like sore backs) you and don put in this year and in the past have paid off … your funky patio and secret garden are beautiful (it all is)! and whether you try to follow the sun or avoid it or not, how nice for you to have choices about where to spend time outside. hope you can enjoy some morning coffee and afternoon lemonade (or whatever you like) out there every day and soak in some summer! and i’m glad you have books and puzzles when the weather keeps you indoors.
going to take it easy tonight. been an edbd week for going back to work as of wednesday (part-time, still grateful and still ugh), having to go to the dentist yesterday (scary, but it went okay), george floyd, breonna taylor (and all together too many others … one was, of course, too many), the pino and barr using tear-gas on peaceful protesters …
… and there was looting after a huge protest here. a friend’s business is right across the street so i called to see if she was safe and not at work. she was home … and had just learned her son was killed a few hours earlier (not at a protest). if anyone is so inclined, i would very much appreciate prayers for her and her family … thank you very much.
on a brighter note, tomorrow i get to see (from a safe distance) some members of my family … i am so excited for that because it’s been three weeks and more!!!! and for now, i am safe at home, showered (anti-bacterial soap is probably ruining my hair, but i feel better for using it) and there are still no peanut m+m’s here!
stay safe and well, everyone.
kathy in iowa
Thank you for letting us see that beautiful puzzle that you finished before you take it down. I have never seen these paintings, and it was fun to see them. Can’t wait to see what you are going to put together next.
You’re welcome, Tana. Stay safe!
Oooo. Peanut M&M’s! My favorite. I have them hidden in the slow cooker. I haven’t had a problem finding them, thank goodness. The candy isle seems to be well stocked!
prayers indeed to you, your friend and her family, kathy
hej, vicki …
thank you very much.
hope you are safe and well.
kathy in iowa
I am so sorry about your friend’s loss, Kathy. Certainly sending prayers. Heartbreaking.
I know I sound like a worrywart, but please take it slow, okay? Don’t rush into anything until you are sure you are well.
Stay safe!
hej, claudia …
you’re not being a worrywart … you’re being a friend! thanks.
i am taking it slow … worked only a few hours each wednesday and thursday. did work a full day yesterday, then came home, showered and conked out for hours. i will take it easy this weekend … visit family members from a distance and then drop off art (i bought before getting sick) for a friend to frame. excited about those things… especially getting to visually see some of the people i love! i like to be clean so it’s kind of embarrassing to say i still see the dust around here and it will still be here a while … i need to get more energy back … so no worries! i am taking it easy.
thanks much for prayers for my friend and her family. her son was shot while in an if-fy part of town at 8:30 in the morning. sad.
hope you and don are well and stay safe!
kathy in iowa
xoxo
I love a pretty garden – something that is so appealing to your eyes. Your garden is so pretty and so was the photo with the coleos ????? yesterday. (Not sure about the spelling.) (It looks wrong.) I’ve always loved coloured leaves. Green is always such a calming colour too. No wonder Nature is coloured green.
I think it’s coleus, Robyn. I never used to care for them one way or another, but now I love them, especially in the Secret Garden. Stay safe!
I love your hideaway spot, Claudia. I don’t know anything about thick woods and trying to tame it; sounds like a lot of work. I just hope you don’t pick up a tick. You’ve made it so pretty with the perimeter of potted plants, and I can see Don’s stepping stones off to the side, reclaiming the space. Lovely.
Another lovely; that puzzle. I wish you could enjoy it for a few days before having to take it apart. It’s really just stunning. But I’m sure another puzzle is calling you.
I was a one-woman brigade Friday afternoon, moving every single potted plant I had on the side of my house to ‘way out back where there’s more space to work with them, good air to breathe and a ready garden hose. At present, my side yard is a small/narrow, shared space with a neighbor I don’t like much, and their one bedroom window there is so close to my back steps off the kitchen, that I don’t feel it’s safe for me to be in that area of my property (since these people don’t physically/social distance and never wear masks, plus they have paying tenants which makes for too many people in one not-so-large house [so anything about them…like standing at the window and sneezing or coughing in my direction…seems a target for Covid and I want to keep MY distance]). Nothing’s over there on the side now but our city trash cans just inside the gate, which we reach from the far end away from those people’s open windows, so I do feel better about re-positioning us and the plants. Mission accomplished (til I can afford to build a separator fence; not in the cards for awhile yet).
But I’m tired. My husband was doing something else, so I just plowed ahead. Since I was so close to these other people’s window, I had my mask on the whole time, and it was really humid out, so I got a bit out of breath. I guestimate I moved 15 heavy pots, as they were all terracotta/clay or glazed pottery. Mostly geraniums and ‘Christmas’ cactus. It felt like a longer trot back and forth between yards with each load and I’d wished I’d had access to a wheelbarrow or wagon because that was a lot of manual labor to which I am NOT accustomed; I’m soft, not Claudia-strong! Tired, sore, my hands hurt and I did something to wrench my neck and shoulder. Oh well. The job got done. And, while I was doing it, my husband got my vintage car out for a spin, after not having driven it and taken it out on the road since December, then re-tarped it to protect that upholstery and paint from harsh summer sun/heat … and possibly rain, as we had a wee bit on Thurs nite and more slated for overnight hours to Saturday; rather unusual for SoCalif where I live but, at this point in the year, if we even get drizzle it’s a blessing. Cloyingly muggy, though; 70 degrees outside at 11:45pm on Friday night.
I’m glad you got those plants moved, Vicki, but I well know how tiring that can be. I have to have Don carry the vintage pots that are in the Secret Garden. They’re too heavy for me! Very humid here, as well. It should break a bit by tomorrow, but in the meantime, we’ll turn on the air soon. xo
I love that you saw the baby deer out there; brought a smile to my heart.
Thanks, Vicki. Stay safe!
So, the mask thing.
On Thurs, out in my front yard briefly, with my mask on, as we’d had an early errand where I just sat in the car but at least ‘got out’ and, before I went back inside the house, just looking at my roses, went back to make sure my husband had locked the car on the street, and this obnoxious neighbor I have who lives down the street was taking a morning walk. Haven’t probably seen her for four or five months and instead of saying hello, the first thing she says to me as she approaches is, “Why are you checking the door handles of your car?” Like it’s any of her business. Then the next thing, out of the blue, “How old was your mother when she died?” (Is this a conversation starter? [At one point, before I lived here, she was a neighbor to my mother from about 4 doors down, although they were never tight.]) I kept trying to inch toward my front door and here she goes again, in a challenging way I felt, saying “Why are you wearing a mask? You don’t need to wear one outdoors.” I shoulda just given up but I found myself defending myself, which annoyed me later. (She did go on her way, wishing me a wonderful day. Still, a head-scratcher.)
Then I had a conversation with my across-the-street neighbor on Friday afternoon (he’s one of the NICE ones!) and the subject of masks came up where it segued into me saying, “I should be able to wear a mask in my own front yard without having to explain it; it’s nobody else’s business!” And he agreed.
(Wow, can’t help but worry for him; his parents [my age] retired to another place, so he’s got their house, but he and both of his adult sisters [they’re in their 20s & 30s] are all out of work and on unemployment. That’s a total of 5 adults in one extended small family out of their jobs, including spouses/ex’s [four separate households]. And he’s got two little kids. I just don’t know what some people are going to do; like, what happens when their unemployment checks run out? He had a big load of groceries in the back of his truck but it made me wonder if that’s his last trip to Costco for awhile. He doesn’t have to pay rent, but what about the people that do?)
I imagine that Don and I will also have people wonder why we’re still wearing masks a month or so from now. F ’em. We shouldn’t have to explain and anyone with a lick of common sense will understand why! Stay safe, Vicki.
Well, Claudia, I’m try’in to stay safe — from idiots like that woman, who was derisive in tone. I don’t understand WHY masks are such a hot button. This woman herself has recovered from breast cancer and has rheumatoid arthritis (for which she takes a ton of potent prescription medication, as self-stated in our brief conversation), well into her 70s; this equates to an immune system compromise. Where is her brain?
Thanks for the support.
I can’t figure out why people are so threatened by masks. Until there’s a vaccine – a mask.
xo
Your garden is beautiful, it reminds me of Frederick Law Olmsted’s style; he liked to created paths and secret places too. What a lovely spot to sit for a bit!
Thank you so much, Janice. Stay safe!
My favorite spot on your property, too! As with everything you and Don do, a partnership symbolized (to me) by the table for two, and beautifully curated for the mood of magical wood fairies. That puzzle is beautiful! I never knew the name of that artist but every piece I’ve seen of his I’ve adored! It’s a humid morning but outside the window a little bird is singing her heart out–I don’t know what she is, but her song sounds like chick-a-DEE in a beautiful soprano range. I am going to do my best to find/make a peaceful, calm place today. Like most of us, I feel the need to heal, take a breathe, just be and try to clear my mind of the torment of recent days. My bad dreams are making rest difficult. I will (with your permission) imagine myself in a vintage garden like yours with the scent of old roses and rosemary and thyme and lavender (whew! what a mix) and a few fat bumble bees motoring from flower to flower while I sip a tall glass (don’t ask me why I see it as one of those wacky gaudy aluminum cups of old) of sun tea with lemon. Ahhhh! I feel better already. Stay safe and healthy!
You are free to ‘visit’ our little secret garden, Nora. (I well remember those aluminum cups!) Stay safe, my friend.
Hey, we’re all confused with dates and days.
Love the finished puzzle. My Galaxy order is on the way. Maybe after this one (only 500 but I LOVED the image on the front — a library of theatre books with three orange cats!).
Your secret garden is no secret anymore. It’s just a beautiful haven. I love every photo and imagine those wonderful moments there!
It’s beautiful right now. If it gets too humid we have to avoid it in August because of mosquitoes. Last year, when we had an extremely rainy spring, they were an issue. Hopefully not this year.
Stay safe, Jeanie.
I read your posts every single day and seldom comment, but they are lovely words and pictures. May I ask where you purchased your puzzle board? It looks so nice and I suspect it can be moved so my table wouldn’t be occupied until I finish.
Ah, that’s not an official puzzle board. In fact, it’s an antique bread board that I purchased several years ago. It used to be on our old kitchen island. I had it stored upstairs and when I realized it might be a perfect puzzle board, I brought it back downstairs again. Maybe you can find something like that? Or a drawing board would work as well. Stay safe, Carolyn.