Suddenly, the brown-eyed susans are blooming everywhere – even in some new places in the garden. They self-seed just like the coneflowers and the David phlox, which is also blooming.There’s lots of striking color everywhere; lavender, purple, white, pink, yellow-orange and brown. This particular patch of brown-eyed susans wasn’t planted here. But there’s been a lot of self-seeding over the past three or four years, and now they’re ensconced in the back of the big garden bed, right where we can see them from the house.
I’ve seen some monarch butterflies in the past few days. They love the flowers, but they’re also stopping at the milkweed and laying eggs. Unfortunately, every time I’ve seen one, I haven’t had a camera nearby. I’m always so happy when they start to appear around here.
Don update: He’s doing better, but he’s really, really tired. Today is his last day on antibiotics, so that should start making a difference in his overall energy. He’s sleeping a lot. He’s frustrated and impatient. I can’t say as I blame him. I’m still sleeping downstairs, but I expect to move back upstairs in the next couple of days. One thing: he cooked dinner last night. I don’t know whether that was because he was sick of my cooking or because he needed to feel like he was doing something. Probably a little of both!
I’m doing my best to stay upbeat but the state of our country along with Don being very ill last week has left me feeling very sad and depressed. I’m not motivated to work on the jigsaw puzzle – it’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve done anything with it. I am reading a lot, which helps a great deal.
We ordered some face masks from a vendor on Etsy and they shipped out on Friday from Indiana. Monday, I checked the tracking number and the package had ended up in San Juan, Puerto Rico. What the ???
I have no idea how that happened but when I sent an email to the USPS about it, I was immediately contacted by the supervisor at our local post office. And then, this morning, he called me again to say it had arrived there (he couldn’t believe it got here so quickly) and would be delivered today. I have to say these little glitches are rare and I am so impressed by the customer service. Support the USPS! The Trump administration is trying to bring them down and privatize the whole thing. That cannot happen.
Okay, end of public service announcement.
Stay safe.
Happy Wednesday.
This time is very hard, I know. Worrying about sick loved ones is much harder than being sick yourself, it seems. And then the state of the country, state of the union, ugh. I’m glad to hear that Don is improving.
So is my sister. It will be slow, but it looks like she’ll make it. (Her husband posted that she “knew who was president” and that he was “kickin’butt”. So, mixed feelings abound. It is certainly possible to love someone and yet not like them at all.)
Trump was ‘kickin’ butt?’ Oy. I get it. You can love but not like someone. I love my estranged sister but I don’t like her. I don’t like what she’s done to our family. But I’ll always love her.
The main thing is I’m so happy to hear she’s slowly recovering, Shanna. That is very good news.
Stay safe.
My ETSY order last week of the 5 bands to use with around-the-ear masks (ordered from a 13 yr old who started making them for his parents, both essential workers, who wear masks 12 + hours a day, who charges minimal amount and ships from CA & there were lots of GREAT reviews) , shipped USPS, claimed delivery to ‘mailbox’ on Saturday 7/18 at 6:24 PM. Unfortunately, it was not delivered to MY mailbox at that day & time. I ended up contacting USPS to let them know they delivered to wrong address, somewhere, and I had not received at all. My local USPS responded at 12 noon yesterday that they are ‘investigating’ but no more contact yet. I also notified the seller (who was actually seller’s dad who responded) who asked me to wait 2 days and then let him know Thursday as he said he would kindly resend me the order again, this time to my WORK address :) at no charge. So I wait and see…
Sounds like the seller and her father will make sure you’re satisfied, Dawn. That’s good business!
Stay safe!
I look forward each day to your posts and beautiful pictures. It helps me to forget how the country is these days but I also like the fact that I agree with you when you do say something about how things are in the current day to day living. Prayers for you both for better health and well being. God watches over those who believe and we sure do need God in our lives today and every day. Take care, stay safe.
Thank you, Barbara. Don is doing even better today. We’re inside the house, staying cool and counting our blessings.
Stay safe!
hej, barbara dunnigan …
ditto on everything you said!
hope you and your family are well, happy and safe.
kathy in iowa
All the activity in your garden sounds so wonderful.
Woo-hoo to Don for pushing through this.
I hope you find some relief from all the trials and tribulations, big and small.
Routine is everything, I find. One slip and sometimes I lose my north.
I don’t dare say anything about the weather – I don’t want to scare it into changing right now. It’s the only thing that is really helping my sanity.
Best to all and keep safe.
Boy, isn’t that the truth? If our routine changes, we’re more than a bit lost. I think that’s what Don desperately wants, a routine to his routine.
Thanks, Martha. Stay safe!
We’ve had butterflies around our yard, and bees all over the oregano, and one day a hummingbird on the salvia. I like that. One thing, we had birds singing all over the place until all the fireworks on the 4th and now they have been much, much quieter. Finally a break in the heat for us.
If anybody is bored, they can have my 48 year old daughter who yells at us and needs her diaper changed several times a day. She looks like a cute little girl but is never cooperative if she wants or needs something. Keeps us hopping, I can tell you!!
I don’t know what to say in response, Jan. I can only imagine how hard your life must be. I truly admire you and know you must need to vent sometimes. Feel free, my friend.
Stay safe.
hej, jan …
praying for you and your family to have peace and ease every day. and safety, wellness and whatever you need and want.
kathy in iowa
It’s been hard to get through these days…and there seems no end to it. It is very depressing. Well…there is an end, I sincerely hope. But, that’s months away. Thank goodness for gardens, books, puzzles, movies, and tv shows to distract us.
Your brown eyed susans look great…and they’re all self-seeded? I’ve been impressed by your coneflowers, too. I’ve been thinking of adding them to my patio garden next year. It gets lots of sunlight, and I do need more color there.
I’m glad Don is making progress, I bet dinner never tasted so good, eh? Take care….Stay safe! ;)
Yes, I’ve found brown-eyed susans and coneflowers to be perfect plants for a cottage garden. They’re sturdy, they self-seed, and I love them.
Stay safe, Donna! (Dinner tasted very good because I didn’t have to make it!)
You’re having a floral explosion, Claudia! Lovely. We’re having a butter lettuce explosion. Last year, my daughter had bought two “living lettuces” from the grocer’s…heads of lettuce with roots still attached…and planted them after we ate most of the leaves. They ended up thriving and giving us many more salads then they bolted in the hot weather and apparently self-seeded. Over two dozen lettuces popped up this spring! We’re just about out of lettuce, as these plants have bolted and we’re letting some self-seed.
Glad Don is getting stronger and stronger. His body should tell him if he’s overdoing, but I know you’ll be there to remind him, Claudia.
Sorry you’ve been stressed and stretched mentally to the max. Take heart that there is much goodness out there, not only within your cottage.
Oh, I know that. Sometimes, in the midst of all of this, it’s hard to see. But often, just one story that is positive can make a difference. After all, there’s all of you! And you are good people.
Stay safe, Wendy!
You do have such lovely flowers!
I am so very glad to read that Don is on the mend.
Quick question – is your post office open at present?
Yes, it’s open, Barbara. Tiny…but open! I visited that shop, but Frank is on a break ‘for the season.’ (A lot of my favorite shops are on a break. xo Stay safe!
My Brown Eyed Susans are bursting in blooms right now along with the Phlox, and the Bee Balm is ridiculous this year. Oh-so pretty!! Going through this time is not easy, but I am so glad to have the flowers and our veg garden to look at. March and April were a lot more difficult for me when it was so cold and dreary. Right now these days are truly diamonds. I have taken a lot of pictures to help sustain me in the cold winter months ahead. I have resigned myself to accepting this will be our reality for a while. Trying to figure out how one does Thanksgiving & Christmas celebrating as driveway visits… in Wisconsin. Ha!! Probably FaceTime experiences again with Flu and Covid in our future around that time.
My bee balm came and went – it’s just been so dry and hot here that the blooms didn’t last very long. Same with the hollyhocks. We have a severe thunderstorm warning for this evening, so we should get some rain.
Yes, Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc., are going to be very different this year!
Stay safe, Chris.
I have a friend who is already worried, understandably, about Thanksgiving and Christmas. Lives alone and works from home; senior-aged. I haven’t been able to see her since January. She always goes away on these holidays to family in other places but feels they aren’t social distancing (being as careful as she is) the way they should be doing (a niece in her 40s with teens in one house; brother and nephew, sharing a home about an hour away from the niece [guys who have resisted face masks]) nor does she really feel secure about being on the road (traveling in these times of Covid). She doesn’t do the face-timing so only has the conventional phone.
Personally, I’ve spent holidays alone (not everybody gets the Hallmark/Kodak/big-family moments) and I got through it okay, but it’s harder for some and she’s one of them, so I’m concerned. Have been trying to offer her ideas, that she’s worth it(!!), to have her own special holiday at home alone, lots of time, so pull out the works, making sugar cookies with green and red sprinkles, getting some gifts for herself now, wrapping them, and then rediscovering them again in December; enjoy the Christmas movies on TV; gather together all her Christmas music to listen to; decorate a tree (she’s got an artificial one; very realistic); get a neighbor to help her trim the house with outside lights; decorate her home interior festively with other Christmas decorations; pick up a poinsettia plant at the grocery store; make a list of everybody she can call over the holidays (lots of love; lots of “Merry Christmas”); go ahead and make a Thanksgiving and also a Christmas dinner with all the trimmings so she’ll have good leftovers and all the flavors to which she’s accustomed to with a holiday meal; write out Christmas cards this year with a good, long note on each one; etc.
Indeed a lot of people this year will be in the same ‘boat’, it’s temporary but we have to adhere to safety, and next year will be different; just don’t be bleak and instead plan it and try to fill your life with as much cheeriness as possible for these time-honored 2020 holidays toward the year’s end. Just gotta take the first steps and get into it. It’s what I plan to do! (In my friend’s case, she usually saves so much of her vacay time from employment for the holidays, so I said maybe not so much time off this year; save some of those vacay days for when we’ve got a vaccine and can be ‘normal’ again, doing all those things we’ve been thinking about, once we’re set free!)
Yes. I’ve also spent holidays alone and survived quite nicely. But it can be very hard for some, so I understand her feelings.
For us, it will be pretty much the same as always. xo
I feel similarly about the USPS. Small town; I’ve known the people there ‘forever’. Longtime, loyal employees. Ever since I began to shelter in place, some four months ago as is I guess the case for many of us, they continue to help me by stashing all my post office box mail (we have two) into one large storage locker for me, including packages (so that I never have to go to the counter during business hours, lined up in a tight space with too many people); I am so grateful to them for taking those extra steps for me. They are the BEST.
Husband went to the dentist today. Worked out well. Dentist has lost a lot of business. Usually has three hygienists going at one time besides his own patients that he’s working on. Now, only one patient in the building at one time and only one hygienist at one time, staggered patients so that you never cross paths with another patient. Took all the furniture out of the lobby/waiting room except for two chairs spaced 10-12ft from each other. Front door locked; they let you in only after they take your temperature (after you’ve called from the car that you’ve arrived). We are very fortunate right now in SoCalif to be getting a spate of unbelievably cool weather for July, and it’s barely 80 degrees as I write this after 2:30pm PST, with a strong-coolish seabreeze coming from some 15 miles west of us (VERY pleasant!); so, the doctor has no air conditioning on and instead the windows are thrown open for the outside air although he also has a new filtration system and air purifiers. They’ve taken amazing steps at considerable expense to protect themselves and their patients although they are very backlogged from having been closed for three months to get all this in place (PPE was a stall; receptionist is now enclosed in plexiglass, though, and the hygienist is suited up head-to-toe and with a double face mask AND a face shield – – another dentist in town closed his doors permanently because he couldn’t work things out unless he moved his location or remodeled [tighter, smaller office], so he took early retirement although he was sad about it and said he didn’t want to nor had he planned to retire).
I guess no matter what we pick up at this age now, we’re gonna be like Don in trying to overcome an illness as quickly as we used to do a few years back. It’s a good sign he cooked dinner, returning bit by bit to his normal activities. My own husband is always a very impatient patient to where, more than once, I’ve just thrown up my hands (in, ‘I give up’ trying to do anything to help in terms of his frustration). One of my doctors reprimanded me last week about something I’ve been supposed to be tracking, saying: “Vicki, all you have is TIME.” (So, like, no excuse!) In Don’s case, if he can just settle into that (of us/many of us at home indeed having nothing but ‘time’ right now while we stay sheltered in place), he will mend if he just doesn’t try to do too much too soon. All in the balance, right?! Just have to respect the body in these older years (it moves a little slower to healing, just like sometimes we move a little slower in our activities!).
I wonder if someone filmed me, how many eye-rolls, exclamations, grimaces, tears, etc. they might capture as I sit and watch the TV-news shows in the evenings.
Just spoke with someone this morning and I feel so sorry for her although I wish they’d done things differently, but her mother decided to get out of SoCalif-virus some six weeks ago and flew to another (lesser-affected) state, to stay at least 6-8 weeks with another adult child. Well, that adult child is a hospital nurse and he was exposed to Covid (when the physician [with whom he works closely] contracted the virus last week). The mother has been tested, but she’s now come back to SoCalif (multi-generational living in one house) and this person telling the story, who’s my acquaintance, still isn’t feeling great about it, not to mention that her college-age daughter may have gotten exposed thru some friend-of-friend she should have distanced from. So, it’s a double-hit for my friend; and, now, here you’ve got a scenario of middle-aged daughter (sandwich generation as they call it, in the middle of two other generations), tomorrow, taking both elderly mother and college-age daughter to a testing unit, prepared for the long lines, and hoping she, too, hasn’t been exposed by her near kin. She’s got the daughter hole-ing up in one bedroom, the mother in another; but, again, good luck with that (this, after she-herself has taken immense pains to protect THEM, ever since February, since she is a front-line worker). Her stress is palpable; I could feel it over the phone. All it takes is just one slip-up, like with this young-adult daughter, and a whole family could be affected, which is what I pray won’t be the case (literally, prayers for her and her loved ones; this is a good, thoughtful, wonderfully-kind and nice gal).
I hope all is well with them. That everyone is safe from COVID.
Stay safe, Vicki.
Happy to hear Don is improving daily. I haven’t had US mail delivery in 3 days now. Post office says there was no one to deliver my route Mon or Tuesday, but out for delivery today. Going on 5:30 PM & nothing. The whole neighborhood is affected. People waiting on payments & packages. Neighbor’s daughter’s friend who works for USPS says they aren’t allowed any overtime now. I have a birthday this weekend. Have no family & will be alone. Looks like any birthday cards won’t be with me either. This country is going to hell, thanks to the GOP & the people who worship the GOP. Especially Texas, where I live. The only way to stay healthy is to stay home. It’s dangerous everywhere else. Thanks for the always lovely photos. Too hot to go to the Arboretum.
hej, mary scott …
i know it’s early, but i want to wish you a happy birthday. it will be different, for sure, but i hope you are pleasantly surprised and get cards in the mail, phone calls and cooler weather. also hope you make yourself a cake and do what you want to do all day long.
and stay safe and well.
kathy in iowa
You bring tears to my eyes. sweet Kathy. Thank you so much for the kind wishes.
… mary! Let this be my birthday card to you! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!
Thank you, Vicki. I didn’t post my comment to receive birthday wishes, only wanted to gripe about the current USPS. You are so nice to take the time to write this appreciated post!
I’m sorry about the mail! I hope you get it soon, Mary! And Happy Birthday!
Stay safe.
Thank you, kind Claudia! I feel sorrier for the ones needing the “checks in the mail” than I do for my most likely late birthday cards. It’s the thought that counts. You stay safe as well!
xoxo
It IS hard to stay upbeat every day. That said, it certainly helps that we have our gardens to appreciate right now. We too have milkweed, tons of Brown-eyed Susans and cone flowers. I was out with my camera taking pictures of a Monarch flitting from cone flower to cone flower yesterday afternoon.
Now we’re waiting for a Covid test result. Our youngest’s partner was exposed at work. Her boss tested positive. She says he hardly ever wore his mask although it’s required there. So, she’s been home almost two weeks and now awaiting test results that she was told will take 2-3 weeks. Much too long this far into the pandemic.
#1 son says the shuttered hotel where he keeps watch is going to open it’s bar and also serve pizza starting next week. What the…?? No guests but, hey, come on in and congregate together while you drink up. And my son is on duty and may have to get closer than he wants if you don’t behave yourself. All I can think when I hear this nonsense is how much longer we’re going to be stuck at home and separated from our loved ones.
Take care,
Kay
hej, kay …
agree about the non-sense by so many people. and sad, worried about how long it will take to get out of this mess.
prayers for safety and good health for you and your family and the partner!
kathy in iowa
Oh that all must be a worry for you, Kay! Thinking of you and yours.
Stay safe!
glad don continues to feel better. hoping and praying for you both to feel better soon.
weird trip for your masks to take, but glad you get them soon. i, too, support the usps and hope it doesn’t get privatized, that pino keeps his hands off it (and everything else).
thanks for another beautiful photo … always great depth of field and focus and beauty … and the light in this one is especially wonderful!
accomplished some stuff today on a day off, plus took a nap. both those things felt good! might do a bit more after dinner, but if not, that’s okay. :)
hope you, don and everyone else here get/stay well and safe.
kathy in iowa
Thank you Kathy! Glad you had a good day off! Stay safe.
It’s been a long time for Don to be ill and no wonder if you’re both depressed along with all the other things going on around us. Reading is my escape, along with too much carbs and sugar. Having cooking relief is a big help. Your flowers are so cheery and it’s nice that Mother Nature is plugging along the best that she can. My husband has been spotting them for days, but only yesterday did I see the very young mother deer and her spotted baby–such loooooooong legs and a bouncy little bum as it hopped around on our driveway. It was a Disney moment. I’ll hang on to that for a while. Take care, stay safe, find some cool rest if you can,
I cooked dinner again last night but Don is feeling much better today, so maybe I’ll be freed from having to do that.
We had a deer right outside the house this morning, munching – thankfully – on some weeds and not on my zinnias.
Stay safe, Nora.