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Coneflower Crazy

July 25, 2012 at 7:30 am by Claudia

I’m wearing a rayon skirt right now because my shorts are in the wash. The darn thing is so slippery that my laptop is sliding toward my stomach! It’s not easy to type on a laptop that is sliding, let me tell you.

I love coneflowers. They are old-fashioned country garden flowers and they’re are all over my garden. By the entrance to the porch:

Extra-tall coneflowers are on the other side of the porch:

There are various other patches of coneflowers that have self-seeded. Don’t you love when that happens?

I was looking at the big garden bed the other day, trying to figure out what to do with the relatively bare patches in the middle of the bed. Ding! Why not some hardy coneflowers? So I trotted off to my favorite local nursery to see if they had any left.

Am I the only person out there who visits a nursery at this time of year and gets sad? Everything is picked over, dying, root-bound and generally neglected looking. I wandered around, talking to the plants. I was the only person there, so there was no one to observe this behavior. What happens to them? Do they get tossed on some pile of trash? I want to find homes for them. I did see a very neglected New Dawn rose that would need severe pruning. I didn’t buy it, but now I’m thinking twice about that decision. Should I go back and get it?

Anyway, I managed to find two “White Swan” coneflowers and two coneflowers that are part of a “Cone-fection” series, called “Milkshake.” They are also a creamy color and very pretty, though they haven’t bloomed yet.

Today, in the sweltering humidity, I planted them.

There’s another milkshake coneflower to the left, on the other side of the stepping stones. While I was there, I fixed some of the stepping stones that had moved out of place – the garden has a sharp slope and they tend to slide downward.

I know it will take a few years, but my hope is that they will fill in those bare spots and add a dash of white to the garden. Just like the David phlox that is blooming right now at the far end of the big garden bed:

Their scent is heavenly.

Should I go back and buy that bedraggled New Dawn rose?

You Are Now Feeling Cold, You are Now Feeling Cold

July 24, 2012 at 9:02 am by Claudia

For those of you struggling with the dry, hot weather that seems to be everywhere this summer:

Gaze into my Necco Snow Globe. Think winter. Think snow and cold temperatures. Think of a wintry, white landscape. Think of shoveling snow…

Er…no. Don’t think about that.

Feel better?

This little scene remains the same as it was when I created it at Christmas. I was going to change it out for summer but Don said that summer might be the perfect time for viewing a snow globe.

Perhaps I need to change the scene to gardens and green things for the winter? Hmmm……

Happy Tuesday.

Do You Play an Instrument? Monday’s Question.

July 23, 2012 at 7:46 am by Claudia

This particular Monday is dark and stormy. Riley woke me at 6 am with his barking and thank goodness for it. I managed to get him outside before he peed. A little victory, but a victory nonetheless. Picture me: bleary-eyed, hair a mess, coffee-less, trying to lift Riley and head him on out the door.

You can stop laughing now.

Anyway, lots of thunder, lightning and all-around stormy pleasure. I love sitting in my cozy living room, the crack of thunder and flash of lightning all around me, Scoutie in the ‘tunnel’ and Riley on his bed, a nice mug of Peet’s French Roast in my hands. I hope it storms all day long. (Just as long as the dreaded roof doesn’t leak.) We need the rain and I love the atmosphere.

One of my very favorite things in this sweet cottage is this sign. My friend Lori, of Vignettes, had a post on her blog with several photos of shop displays and I spied this beauty in the background of one of the shots. Fast forward a few days and it found a home here at the cottage.

Oh my goodness, how I love it. Sitting here in the living room, at my laptop, I can gaze upon it all day long. The piano was my grandmother’s, then my mother’s and now it’s mine. I took piano lessons starting at the age of 8 and they continued into my high school years. At that point, drama and the theater had become my passions. After a few too many practice sessions that consisted of me playing only my favorite pieces and neglecting anything new, a decision was made by my mom and me to cease and desist piano lessons. I sort of wish I had continued. But hindsight is always 20/20.

Learning to play the piano taught me to sight-read, sharpen my musical ear, learn all about tempo and key signatures and major and minor and scales and staccato and all sorts of wonderful things that served me well when I sang onstage in musicals, in choirs and, later, professionally. I’m so grateful for all of those lessons and my mother’s relentless reminders that it was time for my daily practice session.

I was a bit jealous of my friends who played in the school band and orchestra. They got to carry instruments in cases. I thought that was the neatest thing.

You can’t carry a piano in a case. We didn’t have electronic keyboards in those days.

Here’s my question on this rainy Monday morning: Do you play an instrument? What instrument do you play? I love learning things about all of you; goodness knows you know a lot about me. Tell me all about your musical background.

Happy Monday.

Coneflower Crazy

You Are Now Feeling Cold, You are Now Feeling Cold

Do You Play an Instrument? Monday’s Question.

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A Note

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