View of the rocks from the bathroom window. I had to resort to taking this photo because the groundhog (not sure which one) was dining on the grass and I didn’t want to scare him.
Another day in an endless series of days in this strange and unsetting time. I mowed the back forty, the corral, and the area around the shed yesterday and it was much hotter and more humid than I had expected it to be. Of course, I mowed more than I had planned to, as well. So there’s that. But boy was it overgrown out there! It needed it.
Needless to say, I didn’t accomplish much else for the rest of the day.
Today is grocery pick-up day. We’re really down to almost nothing, having made a vow to use what we had for a span of two weeks. We did it, I’m happy to say. So today’s pick-up is much needed!
Because of the aforementioned mowing, I didn’t get to the dollhouse yesterday. I just have a bit of stonework to finish on the back of the house and then it’s on to my experimentation with ‘grout.’ Wish me luck!
I’m currently reading another book from my TBR pile, Death at La Fenice, by Donna Leon. I’m enjoying it. She writes well and I love reading her descriptions of Venice. Beautifully plotted, as always. The fiction TBR pile is almost gone, so I’ll have to decide what to order or re-read. The nonfiction pile is still pretty high but, for me, nonfiction is not an automatic choice. I have to be in a certain mood to read it, as my preference is always for fiction. I really want to order Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell, which has been published in Great Britain to great acclaim. And I also want to read Michael Connelly’s newest, as I never miss one of his books. And then, on September 1st, Louise Penny’s newest, All the Devils are Here, will be published. Gamache will be in Paris!
Wish I was.
Stay safe.
Happy Tuesday.
How true…one day seems so much like the other, doesn’t it, I seem to distinguish them by the weather. Too hot? Inside day. Cooler…outside day. Every day does consist of daily watering of my containers…unless it rained. Cooking…endless cooking at home, with the occasional takeout. There’s always laundry to do…cleaning. So many times, I have to really try and figure out what day it is. Yesterday was shopping day, but now it’s all done. Today…a couple of curbside pickups, then a quick stroll around the yard to pull weeds. Excitement abounds!
Your picture today is very serene. It begs the question as you look at the rocks…what lies beyond? Enjoy your book. Stay safe today! ;)
We seem to do so much laundry – a combination of outside work and also doing laundry every time we pick up groceries and touch them.
Stay safe, Donna!
And dishes! I am so, so sick of scrubbing pots & pans, loading and unloading the dishwasher, etc. One thing I definitely can count on once a day is a load of dishes in the sink. Blech. In all our decades of marriage, we’ve never been home this much THIS LONG together where we cook in and never do takeout or eat in a restaurant, with absolutely ALL cooking being done at home for well over four months. (And my husband, bless him, is a good cook [if he’s the cook that day, I clean {and vice versa}, so it’s the deal we’ve struck, but … oh my gosh …]. Yet he doesn’t work efficiently and uses up far more cookware and tableware than is necessary [AND the largest utensils; the biggest knives; the heaviest cutting boards], not to mention every square inch of counter space with multiple splatters and spills!)
I would love a doing-dishes day off. When Covid is ever over, I want to dress up and go to a really lovely restaurant for a celebratory, nice, sit-down/dine-in dinner (with all the courses … and where somebody else does the dishes!!).
(That is, if any restaurants around here survive. Saw a big one today on our mini road trip; has been around ‘forever’ and I used to eat there in the early 1970s when I lived and worked in that town. Is now empty with a Property For Sale sign in the window. Saw the same thing with two small shops back in my hometown; one a nail salon and another a hair salon. Completely vacant buildings with no fixtures or equipment; businesses apparently gone for good. I guess they didn’t survive the first lockdown, or else reopening proved too impossible for them. So sad, due to the Covid killing machine [not just finishing off people, but also our remaining Mom & Pop shops and even the younger entrepreneurs who just haven’t built up enough financial resources to stay afloat].)
” View of the rocks from the bathroom window. I had to resort to taking this photo because the groundhog (not sure which one) was dining on the grass and I didn’t want to scare him ”
and THAT is why you’re loved! at least by me anyway. and the picture is so beautiful.
we’ve had day after day now of temps in the high 90’s and 100’s. and no let up in sight.
it’s dangerous heat. so I don’t go out. therefore your pictures of GREEN and shade make me so happy! it’s just normal summer here. I work on my inner patience with it! guess who’s winning.
LOL!!! xoxo
Aw, thank you, Tammy. Glad you’re staying in that way too hot weather. We have some of that headed our way this weekend. Stay safe!
I know you’re Uber-careful on grocery days, Claudia, but stay safe from those who don’t practice what they should! I have to pick up Mom’s prescriptions today. I wish she’d let me set up auto-delivery but she doesn’t think the meds will fit through her mail slot. Arghh! The pharmacy she uses doesn’t have drive by or curbside pick up so I have to go in. Hope I don’t have to wait around.
Otherwise it’s another day of cataloging the stamps my brother gave to my daughter, from his collection to hers. These hundreds of stamps from all over the world have been in glassine envelopes for decades and he thought since they’ll continue to be at his house, may as well give them to my Daughter. He knows I’m OCD enough to catalog and place them in proper storage. I find it fun and educational to research stamps. I’ve gone down so many historical tangents!
We are. Don wears a mask, has virtually no contact with anyone when he picks up, uses hand sanitizer, comes home, we unload everything on the porch and wipe it all down with Clorox wipes, then go back after enough time for the wipes to do their thing, wash our hands, wipe them down again with water, take them inside and put them away and wash our hands again. We also wipe down the door knobs and the counters. Then we take off our clothes, throw them in the wash and take a shower.
I bet you’re enjoying cataloging the stamps, Wendy. Stay safe!
I think we are all working on our inner patience this summer for reasons of heat and oh-so-many other things. I keep losing, too. It is back to heat and humidity and a chance of storms tonight into tomorrow. The village trucks just came by to collect and chip all of the branches and debris from the storms last week. Hopefully this one won’t be so bad. They said it will take them a couple of weeks to finish this round.
Hubs went to the hardware store this morning where he rented an edger. They had it ready curbside for him. He gets bored sooooo easily!!! It is keeping him busy, I guess. I still don’t see what was in need of edging today, but, oh well!! On the way he stopped at the library where one of my books had come in, so that was curbside as well. He will edge and I will read. It all works. Take care, kiddo!!
Don gets bored easily. Luckily, he’s writing some music and learning a new program to record it, so it’s keeping him busy.
Does your library quarantine books that have been returned?
Stay safe, Chris.
Yes, they do for 2 weeks right now. Then I put them in a corner in the garage for several days (it has been pretty hot out there) and wipe them down before I bring them in. I have to have faith it is safety to the best degree that I can do. If I didn’t have reading, I’m not quite sure what I would do.
I understand. Our library has re-opened but I don’t think I’m quite ready to order from them. xo
Claudia, the rocks look like they are telling a story of a long time ago and just imagine what future generations will think when they happen upon them! I love it! That angle could not be captured from anywhere else and I guess it’s funny that my garden designing was done from inside so that if I ever couldn’t go outside, I would have something lovely to look at. Some days I go into each room just to see what needs to be tweaked, usually several things!
Take care…
I like looking at the gardens from inside the house, too, Kelly. I can see the rocks from the bathroom window, the secret garden from the kitchen window and the other gardens from the living room and den. It’s a good thing.
Stay safe!
Claudia, I forgot to ask about Don’s back, is it feeling better?
I think it is, though he tells me he feels ‘sore.’ Part of that is from playing the guitar. I think he has arthritis in his hands.
Thanks for asking, Kelly!
Hello, Friend I’ve Never Met: I am glad that I am not the only one who feels depressed. Every day I have a knot in my stomach and this nagging feeling that all is not well. Like you, I rarely watch the news any longer. I used to enjoy watching Rachel Maddow . . . but no more . . . only rarely. I go to work and go to the market once a week. The idea that I really can’t do anything else is frustrating. You write what I feel . . . only much better. Cannot wait until the village idiot has to be DRAGGED OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE, followed by his horrible, corrupt, rotten family. (Shame on me, but I felt hopeful when the idiot son’s idiot girlfriend tested positive for the virus; however, it appears that she simply infected a bunch of other idiots who were partying and without masks. SHAME ON ALL OF THEM.) Watched part of an interview with the WP reporter who wrote the just-released book on the village idiot’s wife. Seems that what she and the rump have in common is love of money, love of expensive things, and connections to wealthy and well known people. A lid for every pot. And because it’s been a while, LOCK HIM UP, LOCK HIM UP, LOCK HIM UP.
I want to see them all in jail for the many, many illegal things they have done.
Stay safe, Chris!
You are a lean, mean, mowing machine! Well done!
I ventured into the butcher shop to get something special for Rick’s bday. The sign on the door said you must wear a mask unless medical conditions prevent it; the two people in there had none. (The vendor did). I said something to the vendor after they left and he said he isn’t allowed to ask them why not. He’s probably afraid. Today in my home town a guy pulled a knife on a fellow customer who asked him why he wasn’t masked and stabbed him; then drove away. Police apprehended him in his drive and shot him when he came at them with a knife. He died. Now, I’m all for enforcement but they shot him 20 times (video was online). This is so out of hand…. And haveyou heard, all hospital medical info will now go to HHS rather than CDC to “clean things up and make reporting easier.” That’s not the only thing that’ll be easier. It will be easier to manipulate that data, too.
I digress. I think I’m not the only one melting down — judging by the comments so far on my current blog post, I am far from alone.
I really enjoyed Death at La Fenice and now I’m on a mission to read all of the Leons. I’ve read two so far (I have six in my stack to date) and number three will probably be soon. I love the descriptions of the food! I’ll be curious to hear what you think of the end…
PS — How can I find Meredith’s blog? I couldn’t find a link connecting to hers from you and can’t connect from clicking on other readers’ comments as I can with some. Thanks!
It’s mereknits-mereknits.blogspot.com
She blogs about once a week because she works such long hours. xo
I read about that earlier today. It’s tragic. I’m so sorry.
I wonder about that – can the WH do that? Can they order hospitals to do anything when the WH has abandoned the pandemic? I know it’s to manipulate the data, but something tells me the data will also be released to the press (by the hospitals) and the nefarious plans of the WH will be foiled.
Thanks, Jeanie. Stay safe!
oh, ladies! My husband said the same thing “they can’t do that”. I laughed and laughed, and asked since when is there ANYTHING the maniacal idiot can’t do? Who will tell him he can’t do that? They are all so afraid of him. To be so afraid of stupid~~ I just don’t get it. There must be more that we don’t yet know as to why he is able to manipulate all of these people so easily. He doesn’t know history. Has absolutely no understanding of the Constitution or of the law. He can’t complete a sentence. He needs assistance holding a glass. What in the world are they all so afraid of that makes them line up behind him with his assinine statements and salute him? I don’t think they have a full sized brain to share between them.
Well, they need to make sure the numbers are published as well. We need a trusted alternative to the Trump ‘ignore the numbers’ policy.
Such a serene photo; the rocks remind me of a dry creek bed amid all the green.
I was sorting thru some stuff last night and came upon one of my cookbooks (with stories) about how people ate and coped during The Great Depression of the 1930s U.S. and I was grimacing when reading about people trying to survive as vegetarians when it wasn’t their preference (meat seemed to be a ‘necessity’ in that era, their diets of choice at the time), but there just wasn’t meat for people struggling with no money (so of course they looked at other protein sources and stuff that could fill up a tummy with hunger pains, even a potato). Depending upon where they lived (my grandpa fished off the Los Angeles ocean piers a lot), they’d hunt of course (deer, squirrel, rabbit, raccoon; wild fowl). There was a recipe (horrors) for cooking groundhog, which made me glad that YOUR family of groundhogs in 2020, particularly darling-chubby Henry, need not worry about such a fate!
I could have done without the image of cooked groundhog. I can’t even imagine it.
Stay safe, Vicki!
Oh, I’m sorry I was insensitive, Claudia! Just so shocking what some people had to resort to doing when starved for food. Glad that wouldn’t be a norm in today’s world. I get much more enjoyment from scanning thru the old dishes they’d cook that had to do with veggies from the garden, pies with fruit from their trees (or how to make a sweet treat out of nothing); the cook of the family, usually the woman of course in those days, had to get very creative but the amazing thing is that some of the recipes would work for me right now and is really a lot of comfort food.
One woman writing in with stories for this book said that the kids would chew the soft tar of a road that had just been resurfaced, pretending it was licorice; good grief; I don’t think they swallowed it but it was just balled-up ‘gum’ (she lived to an old age to tell the tale).
And to make a pacifier for a baby, cut up a clean white t-shirt, a tablespoon of sugar in the middle of the cloth, twist the ends/pull together to form a rounded end and tie it; dampen the sugar part thru the cloth with water, let the baby nosh on that (and rot his teeth!).
I found my mom’s ‘succotash’ in this book; could never recall how she’d make it, but little green lima beans, corn; with milk & butter. And a ‘Sea Foam’ dessert is described, with sugar, butter, vinegar, egg, baking powder and vanilla (if I guess you were lucky enough to have access to eggs and those basic ingredients; so many did NOT). But, yum, a lot of rice pudding and bread pudding (and custards) although apparently milk was hard to come by if you didn’t have a cow and, if you did have a cow, you often had to sell the milk & cream instead of getting to enjoy it for yourself because, of course, that was cash you needed for other things. Mom grew up in the city where nobody had a cow, so milk and butter were indeed scarce. She would tell me how white margarine had to be a sub for butter, and you’d mix/knead this little capsule or bead of yellow coloring into the margarine to try to make you feel like it was real butter (pressed into a ceramic or stoneware mold which I think had a design; I’m sure today those must be antique pieces!). One person said, “If we had flour, we had everything.”
I really don’t think any of us can imagine how HARD life was in 1930s America. My great-aunt used to tell me that, just shaking her head; of what you wouldn’t do for a penny. I was thinking of my folks having to endure those times as children, then world war, polio; and then their adult sons getting drafted for Viet Nam. They went through a lot. With all the doomsday news, especially this last week, about Covid and what may hit us come Sept-Oct, even as bad as it is right now (at least where I am, in SoCalif), I have to keep reminding myself that those who came before us faced pestilence (The Dust Bowl) and plague (and politics). ‘Hard times hurt. They also bred independence and self-reliance.’ They got thru it, with determination; and, when you made it, ‘not a lot could ever scare you again’. (I should credit the author, Emily Thacker.)
We have no idea how hard it must have been for them! XO
you have such a pretty view there … but all i kept thinking was “wow! that window is super-clean! are all her windows that clean?!!” … ha. and good job on that and all that mowing!
good luck with the grout. i have confidence you’ll make it look great.
and that you and don will get back to paris. just not soon enough, huh? you will! in the meantime, i’m glad you have a good book and other interests to enjoy.
hope the grocery pick-up went safely and smoothly and you are having a nice night.
stay safe!
kathy in iowa
My windows are anything but clean. I rarely clean them as they just get dirty again in a millisecond!
I don’t know about Paris. We hope to go back, but unless one of us gets work, that isn’t going to happen.
Stay safe, Kathy!
I agree with you. Every day I think another same old same old day. What have I achieved? My life is flying before my eyes and I have to think of new ways to achieve things. I can’t afford to be lost in so much repetition……… Grocery day for me too today, but luckily I won’t have to buy much as there is still some stuff left, so it will only be the basics which I need today. Each day I try to go for a long walk and that is helping my sanity. Miss my friends and family so much.
Walks help a great deal. Don does that almost every day. We have to find ways to vary our daily life. It isn’t easy. Stay safe, Robyn.
Such a pretty view from your bathroom window. But then, from what I’ve seen from your pictures, you have pretty views from most of your windows. Our new bigger kitchen windows bring our back garden in the house and I spend lots of time leaning on the counter gazing out at it.
Today we had the sound of hammers coming from beyond the trees on the other side of the driveway. Virtually everyone in the neighborhood has gotten a new roof in the last few months An awful hailstorm blew through in April and did some damage. We’d planned on doing a new roof anyway this year and were interviewing contractors when it happened. Now they’ve finished haggling with our insurance and the bulk of what we thought we’d be paying for will be covered. So, something good actually happened in 2020.
Take care and take it easy after all that mowing.
Kay
Good news about the roof, Kay! Glad it isn’t going to cost you too much.
I’m back to mowing today, having taken the day off yesterday. And then we’ll be done for a while.
Stay safe!
I hate going to the dentist; I think I have a dentist phobia. But today I had my regular cleaning appointment, and it felt “normal.” The hygienists have always worn shields and gloves. Sitting there, having my teeth polished, listening to really bad pop-radio, I could pretend that things were “normal.” To me, that’s really sad, that something I have always dreaded would actually feel peaceful. I would rather go to the dentist than go back in my classroom.
I like the view from your bathroom; our bathroom has the best view in the house too! We can watch the hummingbirds take baths in our fountain. If I keep reading your blog I am going to end up getting a dollhouse!
I definitely have a dentist phobia, Linda!
I hope you do get a dollhouse! They’re an awful lot of fun!
Stay safe.
Beautiful view of the stone project you guys have been working on. Your property is a lot of work, but you keep it up so nicely. I hope you’ve had a few days in between weather extremes to use the Secret Garden and your porch swing. I found a groovy yellow Art Deco chair for my imaginary dollhouse. I had envisioned a red/back drama in the living room, but then I saw a beautiful “inlaid” door panel and I thought, hmmm, maybe oranges and browns with this standout chair. (So far, it’s all just playtime, but who knows? One of these days I might spring for a room box and let the party start!). Hope you found some lovely produce at the market, and maybe a bouquet of day Lillies. XO
Look like you’re accumulating a list of ‘must haves’ for your future dollhouse/room box! Yay!
Stay safe, Nora.