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Day Eighty-Seven

June 8, 2020 at 9:29 am by Claudia

I was sure it was Sunday when I first woke up. It wasn’t until I was downstairs that I had a suspicion in might not be. One day flows into another flows into another. I know many of you are experiencing the same thing.

We did a lot of mowing yesterday and I watered the pots and the seedlings. Don did some work up in the woods. I started my new puzzle, which is one of the puzzles Terri sent me; a cover from The New Yorker called The Bookshop. It’s an interesting puzzle – the illustration is not as defined as the Mucha, for example – more impressionistic. Unlike the other puzzles, the shape of the individual pieces is much more varied. I’ll try to take a picture of some of them today to show you what I mean. So, it’s a challenge and you know I like that! I also have two more on the way from Galaxy Puzzles.

New York is automatically sending out absentee ballot request forms. Our county sent us one last week and we’re putting them into the mail today. Our primary is June 23rd. I am grateful that I don’t have to stand in line at a polling station right now. Obviously, this is the first time absentee ballot requests have been sent to everyone in the state. I wonder if it will also occur in November?

Brought back to the house after someone’s walk this morning. Daisies! Aren’t they lovely? Cut to Kathleen in You’ve Got Mail: “They’re so friendly. Don’t you think daisies are the friendliest flower?”

He picked them along the roadside. Aw……

Today, I’m taking it easy. Alas, every time I do major work outside at this time of year, my allergies kick in and I feel crappy. So my new rule is: A day working outside, a day staying inside. I have to give myself time to recover. Today is a day to stay inside (except for watering and a bit of time on the glider.)

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Day Eighty-Six

June 7, 2020 at 9:29 am by Claudia

Some years back, some yarrow that I’d planted long ago in one of the beds disappeared, so I thought it was a garden plant fail. But it started to appear elsewhere. Once near the little plot where I sow seeds. Then, a few other places. And for the past 2 or 3 years, it appears in abundance in the corral. As you know, we walk up a little incline to the corral and just past the entrance, the yarrow blooms on either side of the path we walk. I don’t know how it happened, but it’s as if it made a group decision to form a walk way or allée. It’s now coming into bloom with beautiful and tiny little white flowers everywhere. Yarrow’s leaves look like the leaves of a fern. It’s quite tall, by the way, at least 3 feet tall.

This is one of the things about gardening that I love. You never know what’s going to pop up, especially if 99% of your garden is filled with perennials, some of which self seed. This just happened, out of nowhere, and I love it. It’s especially lovely in the corral; almost like a floral tribute to our beloved dogs, who spent a lot of time in that corral over the years.

On the other hand, I have an over-abundance of milkweed this year, which I may have to thin out next year. It’s too late now, as it’s growing by leaps and bounds and is about to burst into bloom. And the bee balm is out of control. I yanked a bunch of it early in spring, but I didn’t pull enough of it and I should have done it earlier. Lesson learned – hopefully. Next year, thin out the milkweed and the bee balm.

It’s an absolutely beautiful day today with blue skies, big, fluffy clouds, and no humidity. Truly gorgeous. We’ll be mowing the large part of the front lawn – we purposely waited until today because we knew the humidity would be gone.

Stay safe.

Happy Sunday.

Day Eighty-Five

June 6, 2020 at 9:31 am by Claudia

Wild Roses – their scent is everywhere this morning.

Nature stories, all of which happened this morning:

• The other day I noticed that one of the ‘entrances’ that Henry used to go under the shed no longer had leaves blocking the opening. Some little creature had been cleaning up. I showed it to Don and said ‘Let’s keep an eye out.’ When one groundhog vacates his home, another often moves in. This morning, Don opened the door to make his trek up to the back forty to see the sun rise and there, on the ramp of the shed was a groundhog. Both of them were startled and the groundhog ran under the shed. When I got up Don told me about his encounter, saying it was a big, fat groundhog. Later, as I was sipping coffee, Don called out to me to look out the window and there was the groundhog, eating the grass. At one point he got on his hind legs to munch on some plants (thankfully, by the shed instead of in my garden, but it’s clearly time to keep a vigilant eye out for mischief.) He was last seen on the lilac side of the lawn. We’re pretty sure this isn’t Henry as he seemed a bit too spry. We’re not saying that definitively, but I think Henry would have made an appearance before now. This guy might be our new tenant. I also saw a deer running through the woods beyond the shed.

• Don went for a walk and after I finished what I was reading, I went out to the front porch to sit for a bit on the glider. I heard a loud whirring noise, couldn’t figure out what it was, looked up, and there was a hummingbird dining on my hanging plant.

• I got up, walked over to the garden and a big fat bumblebee was dining on the catmint. One of the biggest I’ve ever seen.

• Don came back. I made our second cup of coffee. We sat on the sofa in the living room. Don said that he saw something running up on the back forty. Maybe it was a cat? A fox? I got up to look, and saw a flash of something running – maybe a dog? If so, it was just a bit bigger than Scoutie had been. I went outside to the Secret Garden to get a peek, thinking if it was dog, it might need rescuing. I saw a large deer standing there placidly, staring at me. That was when I realized that the little animal running was a very young fawn. The fawn was running back and forth, very fast, just like a puppy does. We’d see it tear around a corner, disappear, then switch directions. Don used the word ‘gamboling.’ It was extraordinary. I’ve seen lots of young deer around here, but I’ve never seen one that young playing like that, gleefully running back and forth while Mom waited nearby. Oh my heavens, it just made my day. I’ll treasure that image for a long time.

I am always appreciative of where we live but never more so than on a morning like this. It’s going to be hot and humid later today, but this morning has been a gift.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Day Eighty-Seven

Day Eighty-Six

Day Eighty-Five

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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