Coneflowers self-seed so, over the years, they’ve spread throughout the garden, but this year! This year there are more than ever. I love it.
Every time I look at this photo, I see the reflection on the door and, for a moment, I think it’s one of the dogs. I have pictures of both Riley and Scout watching me from the other side of the glass. I catch my breath and am reminded of how much I miss them. Every day. It never stops.
We had fun at the car show yesterday. It was an absolutely beautiful day but I should have worn a sun hat. The bright sun beating down on all of us as we walked around this big, open field was sort of exhausting. There were a lot of cars, many of them of the newer variety. I really like the older cars, so I got a little bored after a while. I did see my faves: vintage Thunderbirds and mid-sixties Mustangs.
I can’t help it, I’m from Dearborn, Michigan, home of the Ford Motor Company. I grew up with test tracks, World Headquarters, manufacturing plants, and Fords everywhere. Several of the parents of my friends helped design those cars. I told Don that if we ever have mad money, I’d like a ’65 Mustang, please.
I’m leaving in a week and a half and I have so much to do. I’m rather overwhelmed at the moment, so I need to drink a second cup of coffee and start making some lists. I haven’t even seen Darko’s version of the script yet, though I know it’s on its way to me. Yikes. Too much to do, including prepping for the arrival of the stove. (It won’t be for a while yet, but our propane/boiler guy is coming a week from tomorrow to check things out.)
Today would have been my mom’s 90th birthday. Happy Birthday, Mom. You are in my heart always. I miss you.
Happy Monday.
Your gardens always cheer me up!
Oh, to have a ’65 Mustang! My dad had one for about 5 years, then sold it. I really loved that car!
My dad will have been gone 20 years on Wednesday. Still have that hole in my heart, that feeling of emptiness. I say good morning and good night every day to his picture in my bedroom. Does it ever get better? I haven’t figured that out yet.
Which play is Darko doing?
Hope you and Don have a wonderful day.
I think it never really gets better, we just adjust as best we can.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Your mom was a very pretty woman. Thank you for sharing her picture.
Maybe the dogs are watching you! That strong spiritual connection can’t be lost! I connect wth my father through Canadian geese, and a tiny red-headed great aunt through Cardinals. I am always on the watch for signs behind the thin veil.
Well, you take care. Enjoy getting ready for that stove! Becky in cooler OK
I hope the dogs are watching me. I miss them. And I hope my mom and dad and brother are watching me, too!
Thank you, Becky.
Good Morning Claudia! You sure look like your Mom. We never stop missing them. I woke up with a cold and it’s a dark and rainy day as tropical storm Emily heads our way. No babysitting today so I will putter around a bit and just do what I enjoy. As always I am in awe of your lovely gardens. Have a good day my friend.
You too, Janie. I hope the storm isn’t too much. I’ve been so busy that I’m not even aware of it – I’ll have to check the weather!
Rest today and enjoy your time to yourself, Janie!
Happy birthday Mom! 💕
xoxo
Claudia, your gardens are giving you such beauty this year. Enjoy them while you are home. So much to do! I know you miss your Mom. Sending hugs!
I am really enjoying them. They’ll start to wane a bit in August, so if I have to go away, I guess that’s a good time!
I seriously question whether that feeling of losing your mom ever diminishes? Beautiful picture of her. Now…enjoy your flowers, and make those lists. How long will you be gone? ;)
I don’t think it ever diminishes. I miss her a lot. And my dad. I’ve been thinking about them lately (more than usual).
I’ll be gone the usual 5 weeks.
I couldn’t sleep a few nights ago and wrote list after list in the dark. I finally fell asleep, and I was pleased that I could read what I wrote in the morning light. I have six sheets of to-do, and have completed a couple of tasks already. I hope your lists are as comprehensive and useful!
I hope you have fond random remembrances of your Mom and of your dog’s today, and every day.
Thank you, Wendy.
I haven’t even started one yet! Just a short list for some things I needed to get today. There will be a list of things to get done here. There will be a list of things to buy before I go. There will be a list of things to pack.
Claudia, you are a spot-on ringer for your Mom. At least now. Maybe when you were little you resembled your Dad, or his side of the family, more. I get lots of comments about how much I look like a cousin on my Mom’s side. But NEITHER of my parents. And it’s hard to distinguish my baby brother’s baby photos from my uncle’s on my Mom’s side. Weird how DNA sometimes bypasses the parents for that parents’ siblings or grandparents!! I like Becky’s comment about being aware of signs that our loved ones are trying to peer through the “thin veil.” I agree wholeheartedly & am always on the lookout for signs too.
Also – so glad to read you’re getting that vintage stove! I love them too. In my dream house, the entire kitchen is vintage 1940s, right down to the aprons & dish towels. Well, except for the dishwasher – LOL. Did they have automatic dishwashers in the 40s? I doubt it.
Janet!! I’ve missed you. In fact, I was thinking of you when I was out running errands today and was determined to write you today to see if you were okay. But you are! This makes me very happy.
Yes, I am a ringer for my mom, more and more the older I get. I look like my dad and my aunt as well, but mostly? Mom. Yes, I loved that phrase, ‘the thin veil.’ Perfect.
I don’t think they had automatic dishwashers in the 40s! On that subject, Don and I decided that sometime in the next few months, we’re going to replace our dishwasher, which has never worked the entire time we’ve been here. He mentioned using it as cupboard space, but I said that for resale, should we ever decide to move, we should have a dishwasher. xoxoxo
I was also wondering about you, Janet from Rochester! Good to have you back.
Thank you so much for your concern, Claudia! And thank you too Shanna! Believe it or not, I was challenged to go off the grid [by a sibling] & thought it would be a snap. After all I wasn’t a 20-something kid who grew up with technology. Or one of the many that literally stare at their hands all day. But boy howdy, was I wrong! Twas miserable. I think going without electric lights or coffee would be easier – honestly. And now I know—I don’t drink [often], I don’t smoke, I don’t do drugs, I don’t gamble but I definitely have an Internet problem. Looking forward to catching up on all your posts, Claudia. Good thing I don’t read many blogs [just yours & an architect in Dallas & a friend I met on Susan Branch’s website who lives in Maryland]. Twould take forever! And Twitter of course. I cannot imagine how nuts Twitter has been lately. Anyway VERY GLAD to be back online – I feel like I’ve just returned from a world cruise at the turn of the century – before the radio & phone. And DELIGHTED to be back among the sweet friends I’ve met here too. 💛
That’s a challenge I don’t think I could handle! So glad you’re back!!! (To be honest, I wondered if maybe I’d offended you. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d done that on this blog!) xoxo
Good grief! Offended me?? No [effing] way. Claudia, we share so many of the same views that I highly suspect we knew each other in a past life. Besides, if I only interacted with people who never offended or ticked me off some other way, I’d never get to talk to anyone!! LOL. Seriously, no problems & have a great evening. We’re having thunder here right now… ⛈.
We had thunder earlier this afternoon! We sat on the porch and watched the rain!
xo
Thanks Shanna! How nice you are to comment. I explained what was going on to Claudia below – hope you saw it too. And I am SO GLAD to be back online! 💛
You do have a lot on your plate right now! May you fly through the tedious tasks and leave time to savor the enjoyable ones.
Lovely sentiment, Shanna, thank you!
There are always things to add to the “to do” list, aren’t there? Getting ready to leave the cottage for 5 weeks, I know my list can’t hold a candle to yours!
Beautiful flowers pictured today! I did some weeding this morning and took some time to enjoy the yard. It is such a pretty time of the season. All of the rain we have had has left everything so very green and lush.
Enjoy your Monday. Just heard Scaramucci is out!
I just heard it as well. But I thought, according to T, that it was running like a finely tuned machine?
The gardens are beautiful this year – by that, I mean everyone’s gardens. All that rain, though annoying at the time, paid off!
There is nothing like a vintage car. They are more durable than the newer models. Happy Birthday to your late Mom. She was a beautiful woman. My father is gone 27 years and my mom 6 years. It only seems like yesterday. It still is so painful.
Marilyn
Yes, the pain never goes away, Marilyn. Thinking of you.
Your mom was such a beauty…no wonder your dad fell for her!
She was a beauty, Nancy. That’s my favorite photo of her. She was 16.
I’m about to respond to your post but I’ve had to take a gasp and a moment. Came on the computer late today and just read that actor/playwright Sam Shepard has died.
Yes, I saw that this afternoon. Only 73 but suffering from ALS. A tragic loss – too young. The American Theater – especially the theater of the time I was in graduate school and beyond was greatly impacted by his work. Not to mention his work as an actor. He will be sorely missed.
I didn’t even know he was ill. I know he had a lot of demons but I was unaware ALS was one of them.
I may have, collected over years and years, nearly everything he ever published. He was still so young when he got the Pulitzer. I’m also a fan of his often understated but wonderful acting style; some of my fave films.
Has made my heart heavy. As someone had said, was it at the start of last year or this year (I lose track), “Could the grim reaper lay off for awhile, from stealing all our icons from us?” Something along those lines…
I didn’t know he was ill either. I imagine they kept it very private. So sad. We are losing so many talented artists.
Hi,,,I enjoy reading your blog everyday~and enjoy the beautiful pictures of your cottage and flowers…I usually never comment but thought I would today…I also collect Roseville Pottery so we have that in common…I am 65 and my husband Ralph is 66~enjoying our retirement years and life :-)
We’re the same ages, Carol! Thank you so much for commenting and it’s lovely to know another Roseville collector!
Your mother was lovely; I’m so sorry for your loss of her and the precious canines.
Sure wish you had a little more time between the cross-country visit and Hartford. Sometimes, it’s how it goes. Good thing Don can be home to coordinate things onsite about the new stove. But it seems like you’ve been barely able to catch your breath.
Got something for you! Enjoyed hearing about your car show adventures. Pure coincidence…yesterday I was traveling the street on the other side of our small hillside. For some few months now, the one-acre property above me on the hill, to which we adjoin, has been having major lot clearing…for the first time in maybe 40 years or more; it’s been QUITE a development. They’ve had to ‘dig out’ and many trees went down but they saved the towering palm trees; just trimmed them. (The palm trees, at best guess, are over 100 years old.) My husband and I hoped it was all just about weed abatement but it seemed so extensive…thousands of dollars in labor; work crews up there for weeks with big trucks and chippers; bulldozers. (We’ve feared the property is being readied for sale…we’ve enjoyed [my family has; my parents] a quiet, undisturbed property/neighbor here, at the rear of our property atop the hillside, for most of the time my parents owned the house for over 60 years, so it can’t help but make us wonder what any new owner might do differently although, glass half full, maybe it would be amazing!) I knew a small, 100-year-old-plus bungalow was tucked away back in there, but the ‘unearthing’ has revealed as well a LARGE, long barn/garage with multiple/wide windows (I never, in my whole life, knew it was there!) and old cars strewn about the rear, closer to my fenceline. I swear, this is like finding a lost city in the overgrown Amazon jungle!!
So I’m driving by yesterday afternoon, and what do I see but the double gates to the property flung wide at the street entrance, several people standing around and a giant tow-truck type of trailer…the kind new cars arrive to a car lot in, from the auto manufacturer…backing out of the gates. On the rear of the trailer was an old car, covered in dirt and straw. (So, of course, with not knowing or ever seeing the old property owner EVER in my life, and here was some intriguing ‘action’, I abruptly stopped the car and got out [they had the street temporarily roped off anyway for all these goings-on], calling my husband to come up as I got out of the car.)
The reveal: Loaded onto the trailer was a 1956 Lincoln Continental Mark II (convertible) in otherwise fine shape, buried in that barn for all those 40+ years (who knows, maybe more); some water damage due to the leaking roof of the barn but they were able to put air in the tires (it’s unbelievable!) and roll that vehicle onto the trailer! I looked it up and it’s actually a Ford Motor product. The Mark II was in development about the same time Chevy was coming up with the Corvette. My initial thought at closer inspection was that this amazingly-preserved vehicle was a Thunderbird, but no, it wasn’t. Under all that dirt, it was a pretty creamy white/vanilla color and appeared to have a black interior. Upon further reading, it looks like it would have been made in Dearborn, Michigan. They discontinued the model (it was too expensive to manufacture) but in its somewhat-brief heyday, it was ‘a car to be seen in’. This ‘barn find’ car had what seemed to be a lot of chrome, so it was a little rusted but, of course, all that can be restored, and the people standing around (relatives of the property owner) said that’s exactly where the car was being trailered to, somewhere in Colorado where they said it will be ‘lovingly and carefully restored.”
And, although the relatives at this ‘big scene’ yesterday weren’t terribly forthcoming, I’m getting the drift the property owner is alive but clearly having his affairs handled now by his power of attorney and they’ve likely cleared the property to ready it for sale. The old guy has really never lived there full-time; a sort of curious situation. His relatives just had to find out what was there first; they said the deep/long lot to my back fence was humanly impassable! (None of these folks seem to be from the local area.) Two lawyers live next door and I know they’re as concerned as I am about who may move in because the land may or may not be zoned for mixed-use/multi-use residential, i.e. apartment buildings. If some 3-story apartment building looms over the immense privacy of my backyard sanctuary, I’m outta here, but we’ll just have to wait and see; hope for the best. It’s just that we’re a poor town and who’s gonna come here and revive that vintage bungalow and out-buildings(?); who’s got the money for that?!! Unless, in these days, it’s just someone who wants some of SoCalif’s disappearing land (almost all new houses going up in our county are nearly zero lot line; postage-stamp backyards; small houses built up, not out; ranch-style, one-story homes are a thing of the 1960s past).
One reads in online headlines about vintage cars being discovered in ancient barns or sheds; this one I saw with my own two eyes. Now I can only wonder what it would like restored, gleaming and glorious!
How fascinating! Those were big, long cars! So much more length than we tend to use or be comfortable with nowadays. Yes, most likely made in Dearborn or near Dearborn!
It’s like an American Pickers episode – they unearth things all the time!
I always love to see that photo of your mom. You and she look so much alike, very beautiful women. And even decades after the loss of some of my cats, my heart still stops occasionally when I think I see them. Maybe we do. It’s bittersweet. I just read that you are awaiting the arrival of your stove. If you’ve named her, I haven’t read that yet, but I assume that you will. There’s lots of personality there. I just have to say how overjoyed I am that you and Don treated yourself. These vintage kitchen appliances put in a lifetime of work and still retain their elegance and productiveness. I love the idea of continuing their use. Congratulations!!! I don’t even like to cook, but I appreciate classic design, and I have fond memories of the behemoth in my grandmother’s kitchen that had all kinds of shelves and nooks and crannies and jacks and handles for lifting lids and plates and so on. It was worthy of making a meal, not just nuking something in plastic. See! If I can wax poetic, think of the odes you can compose when your new friend graces your life!!
I’m not much of a cook, either, but I do love to bake. Don, thankfully, loves to cook! They don’t make stoves like they used to and I can’t wait for this one to arrive at the cottage. Thank you for your kind words about my mom, Nora.
Talk to the guy installing your new stove, but in my opinion, a hood is a must. It pulls all the junk in the air out of the house. I have this exact stove. We purchased it about 16 years ago when re-doing our kitchen. Never been sorry. I do treat it kindly. It’s like having a vintage car parked in your kitchen. I, too, have hardwood floors. When they were refinished (years ago) I was told only to use vinegar and water on the floors, but ever so sparingly. No chemicals what-so-ever. My floors still look great. Love all the photos of your garden. Such variety. I feel tired just reading about all you have to do. Yikes! All the best!
Our floors aren’t in such great condition. When this house was flipped, they didn’t seal them well enough and they’re pine, so they show everything. The dogs did a number on them as well. I did use vinegar and water on them but it didn’t work very well!