After emerging into the sunshine following days and days of rain, I noticed this:
Tiny forget-me-nots and balloon flowers had self-seeded on the edge of the memorial garden bed.
What a delight!
This is why I have to be careful when I start to overzealously weed. You never know what you might be yanking out of the ground and believe me, I’ve had my share of “Oh no!” yanks.
Another view, a bit more ‘arty’:
One little plant and it produces a beautiful flower!
I was already aware that the balloon flower was spreading to the edges of a memorial stone that I placed in the garden in memory of our beloved dogs. So I looked a bit more closely and saw this:
A bud ready to open. Sometimes Mother Nature provides the perfect touch. I’ve had the ‘Sentimental’ Balloon Flower plant in the garden for a couple of years. That it would self-seed right here, right where I placed the stone…well, I couldn’t have done it better myself.
We watched one of Don’s favorite movies the night before last – The Taking of Pelham 123 – the original, not the bad remake with John Travolta. It’s such a great movie, so gritty, so evocative of the seventies. A cast of great character actors including Walter Matthau, Martin Balsam, Jerry Stiller, Hector Elizondo and Robert Shaw. Great soundtrack by David Shire. If you’ve never seen it, you should!
So last night, we watched one of my favorites, Charade. Elegant, funny, scary – it’s the perfect sophisticated murder mystery starring two of my favorites; Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant. It was directed by the great Stanley Donen. I’ve seen it at least 30 times – I’d venture even more than that. Also starring George Kennedy, James Coburn, Ned Glass and…Walter Matthau. With music by Henry Mancini, to my mind the best ever composer for the movies, it is a delight.
I realized this morning that both movies had a screenplay written by Peter Stone.
Today, we pick up the cabinet! I can’t wait to get it home. Then I have to think about lighting it because it can be darkish over by the bottom of the stairs. All in good time.
Happy Thursday.
If you get Netflix, be sure to watch RIVER with the great Nicola Walker. Love the new cabinet!
Oh, we saw it last year and loved it. Truly excellent. I wish they’d do another season but it didn’t look like that was happening.
Ah, Charade. I know it well. I sang it in high school choir and as a duet with a classmate—theme for a dance, as I recall. Anyway, now mourning my loss of voice and hearing.
That little balloon flower by the memorial stone is perfect. Forget-me-nots are also a happy surprise. Love them both.
Thank you, Shanna. I sang professionally for quite a while, but I haven’t been using my singing voice for a long time. I’d have to really work to get it back to what it once was. Don always says that I have the better voice – but his is pretty damned good!
That Don is so supportive and talented! I am as guilty as anyone of not exercising my voice. But I’ve recently had an inherited family trait show up to put an end to my singing voice—think Katherine Hepburn’s singing voice in On Golden Pond. My sisters, Dad, and Grandmother had it, but until recently, I thought I had escaped it. No such luck. Oh, well, I hadn’t sung in public since early in this century. I can be thankful that my speaking voice is , so far, only slightly affected.
Actually, not to toot my own horn, but he’s right. I do have a beautiful voice. I did musical theater for years. But I’m guilty of ignoring it for far too long. I sing around the house, but that’s about it nowadays.
Self-seeders are certainly economical! The balloon flowers are so sweet, and the forget-me-nots so appropriate in your memorial garden for your beloved dogs. How exciting to be moving the cubby cabinet to your cottage. Be careful of back strain!
I bought the balloon flowers because they were Sentimental Balloon Flowers – thinking that would also be appropriate to the memorial garden.
The cubby is in. I’m in love!
I can’t wait to see the cabinet in your home. What a special piece. Love the self seeders in the memorial garden. I still have Charlie on my shelves with a little memorial to him. I love my Annie but Charlie was my heart cat. I need to start watching old movies at night again. There is nothing on TV worth a lot of time and I can’t stand commercials any more. Charade is such a great movie, now I’m going to schedule a movie for tonight!! Hugs!
It’s so gorgeous. I have been cleaning out dirty cubbies since I brought it home! 86 of them!
We have the ashes of all our dogs here in the den. They’re always with us. xo
Love the balloon flower…such a fun plant to watch! Thank you for sharing…
You’re welcome!
Hi Claudia, I haven’t commented in a long time but I’m still reading your blog everyday. Seeing all your flowers cheers me when I’m feeling down. Love the new cabinet, can’t wait to see how you style it. My husband and I just saw Don’s name on the opening credit’s for a Matlock rerun. I said, “Don Sparks, that’s Claudia’s husband.” My husband said, ” Who’s Claudia?” Anyway I watched the show just to see Don. He was great!
Hi Janie, I hope you’re well! Don loved doing that episode of Matlock as Andy Griffith was one of his favorite actors. At the end of the filming, Don said, “Mr. Griffith, it was an honor to work with you.” And Andy said “It was an honor to work with you.”
Such a great guy!
Glad to hear Andy was so nice to Don. That’s just cool!!!
xo
That is so cool. I’m always looking for Don in old TV series. I go to his page that lists his acting gigs and see if he is in anything I’m watching. It’s so fun to find him. Such a good actor! Hugs!
He is a good actor and he’s been around a long time!
I first saw “Charade” when I was in high school and I wanted to be as thin and beautiful as Audrey Hepburn. And her clothes! And her Paris apartment that was cleaned out to the last teaspoon! And Cary Grant! And the music! What’s not to love?
I’ve always wanted to look like Audrey Hepburn. There was no one like her. That apartment with the high ceilings and all the white and gold. Gorgeous!
I love Charade too! just saying its name conjures up favorite scenes… when they first meet…
and that lovely lilting voice of hers… “oh I couldn’t possibly meet anyone else until somebody dies…” I can NEVER remember lines like that verbatim!
her friends quota was apparently full. LOL
I KNOW that’s not it and I’ve butchered it! but it is a funny line for one’s first encounter!
and the horrible kid with the water pistol! and the boat with the lights of the city in the background… and the music… OH MY!
the little brave and beautiful flower blooming in your ‘beloveds’ memorial garden. it’s perfect. xo
The scene on the boat is simply delicious! So romantic!
Well, anything with Audrey; anything with Cary. Swoon. So many beloved movies from them. I thought one of her best performances was in “The Nun’s Story”. I also liked her in “The Unforgiven” with Lillian Gish and Burt Lancaster although it was said to be Hepburn’s least favorite. (She was injured on set.) Of course, “Sabrina” is delightful. Cary, SO many films but I’m always partial to “To Catch A Thief” and “Houseboat”. Funny, really, how he’d already been around for 25 years and been in so many films, yet I liked him in the later stuff, when he was already age 50 years old. But I just have a penchant for (mostly color) films from about 1955-70 or so.
RIP, Aretha Franklin. Soundtrack of my youth. I’ll never forget when she stepped in for Pavarotti (singing Nessun Dorma) at the Grammys, like 20 yrs ago. I was home alone and incredulous, called my husband at work, screaming at him, “Are you watching this, ARE YOU WATCHING THIS???!!!!” She could do opera with the best of ’em. I still think that was one of the most amazing TV moments I’ve ever seen; it was such a complete surprise after my lifelong faves of hers like “R.E.S.P.E.C.T” or “Chain of Fools”; “A Natural Woman”. Long list. I’d seen her interviewed a few times and she had such a confident, gracious presence; refined; intelligent.
The three here are gone now but they stay alive in our memory with their performances in film and in music. Enduring; lasting imprint.
I like him best in the black and white movies of the 30s; Philadelphia Story, The Awful Truth, His Girl Friday. Those are my favorites. He was handsome and charming, but he was at his best in slapstick comedies.
Yes, I saw that Grammy broadcast. I’d venture to say most of us did. Though she wasn’t born in Detroit, she lived there most of her adult life and I was born in Detroit and lived there, as well. Proud to share that with her. She was loved in the Motor City, that’s for sure.
You know, Claudia, I don’t know why I shy away from b&w films. It’s, on the other side of it, my husband’s most favorite photography, the b&w portraits. Mood, shadow, depth. He prefers to shoot in b&w. Can’t stand that b&w movies sometimes get ‘colorized’ (and I have to agree; I won’t watch ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ in the colorized version). I totally know that some excellent movies, the best, are b&w. So, I don’t get it with me. I’ve missed seeing really good b&w films. I don’t know of them. I turn off. I do remember Cary Grant in a b&w movie that I watched as a kid, something about being a male war bride(?)/comedy.
But I’ve always been a child of color; I have to have a lot of color in my life, everywhere. I just respond to it. Like, I see so many beautifully-decorated rooms in the shelter mags or online, monochromatic with muted beiges, whites, black, grays; soft. Lovely and serene; very zen. I appreciate it. But I could never live with it. One of the most striking and welcoming bathrooms I ever saw was in all-white – – while tile, fixtures, gossamer-thin shower curtain; white shuttered cabinet (louvered); fluffy white towels; whisper of breeze lifting a white eyelet window curtain, not fussy; white flokati floor rugs/mats. The only color in the room was a sepia-toned print on one wall.
Even as a kid, I’d want the biggest box of crayolas so I could have ALL the colors…and when we went to the corner market in summer for a popsicle, I was the kid who had to have the BLUE popsicles.
I just went over to your I/G; you posted such a nice photo of Aretha. Sad today; we’re losing our rock & pop & R&B icons, one by one. Just talking to my husband about it the other day as we watched the carpool karaoke with Paul McCartney for like the tenth time, what’s it gonna be once Paul, Ringo, Jagger, Plant, Streisand start disappearing from our lives? Time won’t stand still. But I did like to listen to Steve Perry in the ’80s and for something like, well, I don’t even know how many years, he’s now coming out with a new CD of original music (can’t wait for that); and Journey still tours. I wish there was somebody coming up from the younger musicians who I could identify with; do you have anybody you’re listening to? I mean, of course, Adele…
An aside: I’ve found it very interesting to read about Detroit rising out of the ashes. There are good things happening to that city; a rebirth after its nosedive. Gosh, I want to go to Michigan for SO many reasons, family notwithstanding. Just spent two hours with my neighbor who was reminiscing about her childhood in the Upper Peninsula at Lake Linden. Her dad worked in copper mining or processing (company town/factory town) in the 1920s; she was a wild child of the woods and winter. It’s still just a little village but with some noteworthy historical buildings. She’s nearing age 90 now and has a slight accent to her English which she says is Canadian; I guess Lake Linden is near the Canada border. Maybe you know of it?
Well, I love color and you see it everywhere in my home and garden but that doesn’t stop me from loving black and white films!
I don’t know Lake Linden, but I do know Copper Harbor, at the top of the Upper Peninsula. They’re probably in the same general area. Copper Harbor and the area where copper was mined aren’t necessarily near the Canadian border – Lake Superior, the largest of the Great Lakes sits between them. Maybe she has Canadian roots. I was often told I sounded different than the average resident of Michigan and it was because I was influenced by my grandparents’ speech – both of whom were born and raised in Canada.
How interesting. I need to look at a map. I’ll ask her about her heritage.
What a beautiful surprise!
Thank you, Cheryl!
Love your impromptu flowers….and in such a perfect place. I just recorded Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck…can’t wait to watch it. I haven’t seen that in decades!
Saw your new acquisition in place….it was meant to be. Just like Stella…your cottage has spoken to you. I’m so glad you listened! ;)
I own Roman Holiday. Love that movie.
I’m thrilled with the cubby cabinet. It looks like it was made for this cottage.
Enjoy the cabinet and have fun filling it up with the egg cups.
Marilyn
Thank you, Marilyn!
It IS kind of exciting to discover something planted over there has now appeared over here. I am jealous you can get Don to watch those great old movies with you. There is no interest on the part of my husband to do that. He likes action movies because their “mindless” and he can relax. Me – I can’t relax when people are being shot and blown up so I just go and read.
This is a big problem with me and my husband, too. It’s hard for us to be companionable watching TV together. I have a friend who’s a therapist; she told me to just put in earplugs and read while he watches, then watch what I want to watch later, when I’m alone. To me, it then isn’t s shared activity but, like with endless sports programs he also watches, I have zero interest so, unless I never want to sit with him at night, I have to compromise. I’m sorta willing to do that a lot of the time because he works hard at his jobs and never gets to relax. I’m his wife; I want what’s good for him. It can’t always be about just me-me-me like it was in all the years I was a single woman. Thing is, when I watch a good movie (chick flicks a lot of the time), I like to discuss it afterward; he’s not into that either although in a theater, he WILL stop to read the credits because he says that’s the respectful thing to do for what you just watched on the big screen. When this evening-at-home compatibility (lack thereof) happened with my usually-in-agreement parents and Mom was watching something that, to Dad, wasn’t his thing, he’d just go to sleep in his chair! Whatever works…but it truly is hard, when you’re sitting there with someone and they’ve got the remote, to try to track what they’re doing and where they’re going as they surf and click; that’s when I need an eye mask on too!
Ha, yes I always say we’re “incompatible” when it comes to entertainment. To his credit, though, he did recently offer to go with me to see the “Christopher Robin” movie and enjoyed it. But, yeah, most of the time I”m the one doing the compromising. Tonight it was the Packers game and I entertained myself reading and knitting. What are you gonna do?
Don and I love old movies. He’s also an actor and actors like to watch movies!
The flowers are sweet and growing in the best location they could possibility pick!…I loved Audrey Hepburn too…so tiny and pretty…And Miss Aretha Franklin…I just adored her when I was younger and I will admire her always!
Me too. What a loss!