We have a partly cloudy day today, but there have been some stretches of sunny. Hurrah! In fact, I’m going to post rather quickly so I can go outside and get some work done in the sunshine. As we have learned around here this particular spring, sunshine is fleeting. And true to that, tomorrow will bring thunderstorms. With sun such a rarity, I’m vowing to lap it up whenever I can. I’m also hoping there will be another dry day this week because we need to mow the back forty.
I took a quick picture of one of the vintage pots. I can’t get very close because the ground in the secret garden is so waterlogged that you can hardly walk back there. The secret garden is at the back of the house, at the foot of a hill. That makes it lush, but it also makes it very wet, especially this year.
Anyway, here is one of the pots:
Just the beginning. As you know from last year, the coleus and the vines will grow and grow. These vintage pots are made of cement and, let me tell you, hauling them back and forth to the porch is tiring. In better weather I would have done all of the potting back in the secret garden, but it was too wet back there.
Today, some weeding and mulching – hopefully, the last of it – and whatever else seems indicated. I’ll try to take some more pictures today.
We watched Ninotchka last night. Don had never seen it. The combination of Ernst Lubitsch (director of my beloved Shop Around the Corner ), Garbo, and Melvyn Douglas is perfect. Also, one of my favorite character actors, Felix Bressart, appears.
That’s all. Our days are low-key nowadays. With Darko leaving Hartford Stage in June, Anastasia closing, and of course, the closing of Margaritaville last year, work has been a rare commodity. We’d both like to be working; it keeps us sharp, is satisfying, and we need the money. But that’s the way it is right now. Hopefully, there’s something exciting on the horizon for both of us.
Happy Birthday to my dear brother David, who died in 1991. I miss him.
Happy Monday.
hope you both get what you wish for … sunshine, jobs for the love of what you do so well (and having some more money, too) …
happy birthday to your brother up in heaven.
lovely old pot, especially with the contrast of green growing things.
going through files here on a much-needed and appreciated day off. not how i’d like to spend the day, but it needs to be done and i’ll be happier for having it done.
hope everyone has a great week ahead.
kathy in iowa
You have the week off, right? Enjoy!
yes! :) and hopefully these projects won’t take all week. :)
and that it rains. :)
and that the rain doesn’t come your way.
kathy in iowa
Oh, we have rain coming every other day this week. Tomorrow. Not Wednesday. Thursday. Maybe on Friday. And on it goes.
and thanks, claudia. :)
xoxo
Claudia, enjoy your time out in the sun doing what you love with your plants. Hope some work comes up for you and/or Don during the second half of this year. It’s overcast here too, and even rained a little last night. Heading into San Francisco to visit my parents and do my Mom’s grocery shopping, as usual. I held off on my grocery shopping so I can do mine at the same time. Then a foray with Mom into Japantown, I think, for dinner. There’re a bookstore and stationery store there that I love to browse through. The last two times we visited, we ate dinner at a new to me burger joint…Mom loves a good hamburger, and I was excited to know that any of the burger combinations could be made with the Impossible Burger.
Have a lovely time with your Mom, Wendy!
We too have some lovely sun today. I do enjoy seeing your old pots with fresh plants. One of our doves that hang around the feeders died last night. We saw him struggling and he went to a corner of the house. John put some protection around him so no predator would get him and let him go in peace. The cycle of life. Wishing you a good day. Hugs.
Oh, I’m so sorry! That’s so sad. I know it’s the cycle of life, but these things are hard, aren’t they?
I’d forgotten how lovely that pot is in the secret garden. Looks like it’s been there for ages.
It was so nice all weekend, we managed to get some quality yard work done finally. It was raining this morning…but appears to have cleared up…at least for now.
In birding news…I’m happy to say that my hummingbirds and my orioles are back! And yes…they are mine, lol.
Hope you get lots of yard work done. And…I hope that there are more opportunities for you and Don…just waiting in the wings! ;)
Donnamae, we had 2 Orioles on Easter night and haven’t seen them since. No Hummers yet, either. I’m thinking you are a bit south of us, so maybe in a day or so….. haven’t heard the wrens yet, and they sing my favorite songs ever! But, I guess I wouldn’t sing much with all of this gross weather we have been having (minus the nice weekend!!) Patience!!
Everybody seems late to dinner this year. When the cranes came back….we had just gotten 3-4 inches of snow. Haven’t spotted any wrens either come to think about it. The woodpeckers are driving us nuts…pecking so at the rain gutters of all things! ;)
We’ve had lots of woodpeckers, too. And a mass amount of Black Birds. The woodpeckers are probably as bewildered as the rest of us with this weather! I am really waiting for that first wren song!!
Lovely! So glad your birds are back, Donnamae. I got a lot done today and now I’m pooped.
You are having much the same kind of spring as us here in IL: mostly rainy and cool, some sun here and there. Last week was all rain, then we finally had some sun this weekend, now it’s raining again and only in the 40’s. Everything here is flooded – our backyard, the farmer’s fields, and the river is dangerously high. I still have not been to the garden center, so no planting going on here yet.
I can only imagine how much you miss your brother. Tim has said he will never be the same since Phil died. Brian has lost a sibling, too – one of his sisters, a few years ago. Sending you a big hug.
I’m so sorry you’re also dealing with flooding! I know it’s been very bad in the Midwest. No flooding here, but lots and lots of rain. Thanks for your kind words, Melanie. Dave was only 44 when he died. Much too young.
My daughter and I did a trip to one of the Amish greenhouses this weekend. It was a lovely day outside and the plants are beautiful. I got 3 pretty hanging baskets. Hung them out, because even though it is still quite cool out, no temps below 38* this week. Well, last night we were hit with a quickly developed rain/ lightening/ hail event. I was devastated worrying about them and I was home alone, but they all appear to be fine. It has been a crazy weird spring everywhere. The farmers are having a tough time getting into the fields. I am betting we will be going from this cold/ rain to heat and drought in about 1 days time.
Have a great day and enjoy your time in the sun!
We’re supposed to get thunderstorms and potential high winds tomorrow afternoon, so I’ll have to keep an eye on the porch plants, especially the hanging ones.
Ninotcha! A great movie. I remember reading on Susan Branch’s blog – years ago – that she thought the prettiest dress EVER in the movies was in “Ninotchka.” At the time I hadn’t seen it so when I finally did, I spent most of the movie looking for this dazzling dress. Sorry to say I wasn’t able to identify it. None of what I saw rang my bell, but we all have our favorites. Anyway, that’s what always comes to mind for me when I hear “Ninotchka.” Weird, I guess. Enjoy your Monday – hope you get a lot of gardening time! 🌳
I saw that dress – hmmmm…I didn’t think it the prettiest dress ever. I’ve seen far prettier! But it’s a wonderful movie and Garbo looks good in anything!
You’re better than me. I don’t even know which dress in the movie is the one to which Susan is referring. I’ll have to watch it again, but I’m stumped as to which one it was. #SuchProblems
It’s the one she wears when she goes out to dinner with Melvyn Douglas.
The pots are great. Don’t you love coleus? It turns into this Audrey Two monster with its beautiful leaves. I hope to get some from the nursery this weekend or next. Time to dig!
Hope the work thing levels out soon. It must be frustrating in many ways but you are using your time so productively that when it hits you won’t have to worry about getting the garden in.
Coleus is wonderful. It grows like mad!
Darko was the main source of work for me, so once I knew that both Anastasia and his time at Hartford Stage were coming to an end, I saw the writing on the wall. And yes, he may use me in the future but I know for a fact that he’s taking a year off, so it won’t be any time soon.
Well, I will be thinking good things for you both. Who knows? He just may have a director friend who is needing a vocal coach. Stranger things have happened!
You never know!
a wonderful and beautiful post to start this week little bean!
keep smiling through the mud (or snow! one never knows anymore! lol). you have created an enchanting cottage for you and Don and your friends. whether the imaginary ones who live in the tiny doll houses… or the real and wonderful ones who are Sam’s parents! enjoy this time together. and thank you for sharing it with us! XOXO
Thanks so much, dear Tammy! xo
I so dislike it when they change to very much in a fave book of play. You will be ready when the weather clears.
I am out of the hospital after a terrible stay.. Home to my flowers and birds and my dear family.
I’m so sorry to hear you’ve been in the hospital, Mary! I hope you’re on the mend. Sending healing wishes to you. xo