Posted tagged ‘flowers’
June 2, 2016
The last two days have been busy. I need a vacation. Yesterday I spend two hours chatting with my neighbor. We usually get together on Mondays but she couldn’t this week. She just became an American citizen and wants to improve her English so we chat and I help her with her grammar and pronunciation. She and her husband call me Miss Kath. It makes me feel 85. They make me part of the family which is quite nice. We have a graduation dinner on Saturday. Their middle child is graduating from high school. I love the food Niecy serves as it is Brazilian. She always makes sure there is plantain as she knows it is a favorite of mine.
In the afternoon I went to the pain clinic for the next episode of the bad back. The doctor injected steroids between bones in my back. The pain was bad enough my body stiffened until the procedure was over, four shots one at a time. I came home and took a nap.
Today my morning was filled. First I chatted with three technicians at XFinity because my On Demand won’t connect and the called ID is gone from my TV. Each tech sent my call to a higher tech. The final tech gave me an appointment time for Monday. The next call was to the Global On-Line government office; of course, all their lines are busy.
Skip, my factotum, is coming tomorrow to open the deck so I needed to have everything bought. I went to the hardware store for spray paint and brushes. My window boxes need to be painted, that was the spray, and the side fence needs to be repainted, brushes. My next stop was Agway. I bought soil for potting and several plants for the window boxes and the clay pots I bought the other day. The flower colors are vivid and wonderful. I have a mixture of pinks, purples and blues for the big pots and red, white and yellow for the smaller pots. As usual I have no idea what I bought. I had a friend with me who works at Agway, and she made all the choices except for the basil and rosemary. My car smelled wonderful on the ride home. The only plant left to get is catnip. They were out of it. I use it in the pots near the table to keep the mosquitos away.
My last stop was Ring’s, an occasion of sin for me is what the nuns would call it. I go for one thing and end up buying many things. Today I wanted a treat for all my labors, a cinnamon bun, but then I also bought a leek and spinach hand pie, some flowers, dog biscuits and a package of dried vegetable chips. One thing always expands to become many when I shop at Ring’s.
Today is damp and humid and will be in the low 60’s. I’m thinking I have earned a nap and a vacation. My dance card is empty until Saturday.
Categories: Musings
Tags: Agway, basil, busy, cinnamon bun., deck, flowers, Paint, painting, rosemary
Comments: 19 Comments
May 31, 2016
Today is warm and humid and still damp from the rain of the last two days. Only the middle of the street is beginning to dry. Much of the pollen has been washed away. My car is red again. Today I’m getting what I need to open the deck for summer. That would be paint for the planters, more clay pots, flowers and herbs. With my pad and pen in hand, I have to go on the deck and make a list of what I need then it’s off to Agway.
This morning I watched The Lone Ranger. Much of it was filmed outside on dusty roads among hills lined with rocks. It wasn’t really all that bad for being 59 years old. Tonto may have butchered the English language, but he was an equal partner to Kemosabe. Adam 12 was next. It hasn’t aged as well as The Lone Ranger filled as it is with 1970. After that, I was done with classic television.
When I was a kid, we had only a few channels to watch. Saturday mornings were filled with cartoons and half hour shows like Rin Tin Tin, Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley and Captain Midnight. I really liked Annie Oakley. She was a female sheriff, and that was a big deal to me. She wore what would later be called cullottes but the legs on hers were so wide they looked almost like a dress. Everything she wore was fringed. Captain Midnight was another favorite. I wanted my mother to buy me Ovaltine because that’s what Captain Midnight drank. She didn’t.
I remember well one of our TV’s, the one in the console, a huge cabinet for a small screen. It was against the wall near the window on the back wall of the living room. We’d sit close and watch until my mother made us move back to save our eyes. I know we had a color TV on the cape but the colors weren’t very bright. My father blamed cable, but it was just the TV getting old.
The TV I have now was the first HD set in the neighborhood. It caused quite the stir. Now everyone has HD. Mine is getting on in age as it is around 12, but it seems fine and the colors are still bright.
I like watching television, mostly at night. I have to be really bored to watch it in the daytime. Today I was bored.
Categories: Musings
Tags: Adam 12, Annie Oakley, clay pots, damp, deck, flowers, HD, herbs, humid, Kemosabe, old TV console, The Lone Ranger, Tonto, warm
Comments: 15 Comments
May 28, 2016
My little nap seems to have done the trick. I fell asleep right away as the bedroom was still cool, and the outside world was quiet. The only sounds were from the chimes hanging off branches in the backyard and Gracie’s deep breathing. She had joined me for a nap. The two cats stayed downstairs for their naps.
Today is a perfect day. It is in the high 70’s, bright with sun and there’s a breeze to cool the air just a bit. We are 10 or 15 degrees cooler than Boston and a whole cooler than the western part of the state.
The deck is back to normal. All the furniture is in its usual place. Putting out the do-dads is all that’s left. When I say do-dads, I mean the rug, all the candles in the trees and on the tables, the window boxes, the flower pots, the prayer flags and the pictures for the wall. The shelf and the flower pots need to be repainted. I have new prayer flags and a couple of new strings of lights.
Yesterday while I was sitting in my car waiting for my friends, the wind blew, and I could see the pollen almost as dense as fog blowing off the tree. My car is covered in the greenish yellow pine pollen. I hate this season. When it gets hot, you don’t dare open windows as everything will be pollen covered. It’s like the harmattan in Ghana when the blowing wind brought dust from the Sahara, and it covered all the surfaces in my house. Dusting was a lesson in futility. It is the same with the pollen.
I drove my friends to the Logan airport bus because they were leaving for England early last evening. When I got home, the phone rang. It was Tony telling me Clare had left her pocketbook in the car, the pocketbook with the passports and plane tickets. Could I please hurry as the bus would be leaving in about 15 minutes, 10 minutes short of the drive. I drove like a maniac. The slowest I went was 75, and I cursed the car in front of me which kept me to that crawl. I swear G-force acceleration distorted my face. I drove into the lot and there they were, the last people. They smiled and threw their arms up when they saw my car. The driver was just putting the last piece of luggage in the bay. My timing was perfect. I handed them the handbag and Tony asked Clare if that was her bag. I wanted to say something sarcastic like I have 15 others you can choose from, but I figured it wasn’t the right time. Their gratitude was profuse. They immediately gave their luggage to the driver and got on the bus. Gracie and I went much slower on the ride home.
Categories: Musings
Tags: 75MPH, bus, chimes, deck, faster than the speed of light, flower pots, flowers, harmattan, herbs, luggage, nap, passports, pine pollen, quiet, tickets, two trips
Comments: 2 Comments
April 26, 2016
We had rain earlier, but I don’t think it was much as I never heard it. The day is cool and dark. Grace and Fern are here with me but Maddie is hiding. I managed to give her some medicine last night and haven’t seen her since. I checked her usual places, but she has found someplace new. She’ll turn up just in time to get medicine again. After that, I expect her to pack her bags and leave without even saying goodbye.
In the dampness of the morning, I walked around the front garden. All sorts of flowers are peeking out of the ground. I haven’t an idea of what any of them are. Some have spread and my burning bush which was cut to the ground last fall has several small branches. I was worried but was reassured by Sebastien, my landscaper and my neighbor. He was right.
It never entered my head that I would care about a garden or flowers. Even when I first moved in, I didn’t care so much. The garden was behind the front fence so nobody could see my neglect. When Sebastien planted the lawn, he suggested I move the fence behind the garden. That’s when I started to buy plants. I bought perennials and a few annuals but the garden was still sparse looking. I still didn’t care all that much until I saw a garden filled with color and flowers, and it was beautiful. I started buying flowers. I think I have an addiction as I buy some every year. This year, I already have a list, but I need to do some refining. I want flowers which bloom at different times during the summer and fall so the garden will always have color. I’m still taken aback by my flower enthusiasm.
It has started raining again. Maddie just showed up from wherever she has been hiding. She is allowing me to pat her. That will last only for a while as soon enough it will be time for her medicine.
I have always found the rain subduing. Even when I was little I wanted to hear the rain and nothing else. School seemed quiet when it rained. I remember the sounds of papers being moved and pages being turned but no conversations. I don’t even remember the nun teaching us. She too must have listened to the rain. I remember seeing her sitting at her desk looking at papers, but I always thought she was really listening to the rain.
Categories: Musings, Uncategorized
Tags: blooming, cats, cool, dark day, flowers, gardens, medicine, quiet, rain, subdued, wet
Comments: 10 Comments
April 22, 2016
Warm today, it is actually long sleeve shirt weather, the first of the season. I can’t wait to get out. I have two errands then I get to enjoy the rest of the day. Notice I didn’t mention making my bed or doing anything domestic. They’re not on the list!
On the cat and medicine battle, Fern is letting me dose her twice a day, one rub and one liquid. Maddie is still running. She senses I am up to no good. I called the vet, and we’re going to try liquid with Maddie. I suspect she’ll still take off on me. She’s a feisty cat that one.
The ten year old me had dreams and hopes. They mostly centered around seeing the world. I wanted to hurry and get old enough to bag my bags, pick a spot, jump on a plane and go. I’d stand on the roof lookout at Logan airport, the old airport, and watch the planes leaving and I’d be wishing I was on one. The logistics of travel never occurred to me. I didn’t give money a thought. I was dreaming and my dreams were never sensible or logical. I saw myself traipsing through the world having adventures. When you’re ten, anything is possible.
I don’t know why I never noticed different flowers when I was young. I did notice dandelions and thought them flowers. Most of the front yards on my street had pansies and marigolds. I like pansies but marigolds not so much. Our neighbors all wanted the best lawns so flowers weren’t all that important. My dad planted pansies in the front garden, a very small garden because of the bushes. I used to look at the flowers and try to figure out who the faces of the pansies resembled. I think a lot of them were Winston Churchill.
I used to lie on the grass and watch the clouds. I remember the grass felt cool and soft. The clouds mostly looked like animals. The only exception was I often saw a witch. It was her hat that gave her away. I’d watch until the clouds moved and the animals disappeared into a single cloud, one with no shape or personality.
I always saw the man in the moon, and for me he was always smiling. Even now I check to make sure he’s still there. I’m never disappointed. He is always there and he always still smiles.
Categories: Musings
Tags: Clouds, dreams and hopes, flowers, long sleeve shirt weather, man in the moon, marigolds, pansies, planes, ten year old me, traveling, warm day
Comments: 12 Comments
April 3, 2016
“In the lane snow is glistening…” We got a dusting of snow last night. It is wet and heavy. I know this because I went out and made a snowball to throw at the spawn of Satan eating from the suet feeder. The snowball was the perfect heft for an accurate throw, and I hit the spawn dead on. It sort of jumped in surprise then took off on the deck rail down into the yard.
The sun has just appeared backed by a cloudy blue sky. The wind is dying down. The day is beginning to have possibilities. We didn’t go to the dump yesterday as it rained all day, but it looks as if today might just be the perfect dump day. Strange, I never imagined myself talking about the perfect dump day or any dump day for that matter. It seems I’ve turned into such an odd conversationalist.
The snow is dripping off the roof mimicking the sound of a rain storm. I can see small clumps of snow falling from the branches. I filled the bird feeders the other day so the birds are many and varied. My usual gold finches, chickadees, titmice and nut hatches are here as are house finches, woodpeckers and a sparrow of sorts I don’t know by name. I’m sure the doves are here as I did throw seed on the ground for them.
Getting ready for spring takes more time than getting ready for winter. The outside furniture has to be uncovered and cleaned. All the decorative items like the fountain, the painted tables and the tree candles have to be brought from the cellar. The three bins filled with summer I keep stored under the deck have to be emptied then filled with the furniture coverings. The pictures have to be hung on the house wall facing the deck. The gnome and the flamingo are last on the deck. They formally announce the beginning of summer.
In the front and on the side, the gardens need to be cleaned and the dirt overturned. Two branches too close to the house on the front pine tree have to come down. The lawn needs tending. When the weather is warm enough, flowers need to bought and planted to fill any empty spots. The annuals in the herb garden need replacing. The window boxes for the deck need to be repainted this year then filled with flowers and herbs. The small vegetable garden will only have tomatoes as they seem to grow best there.
In winter the furniture gets covered and all the gardens turn brown. The front yard gets its last cleaning. The dead flowers are cut. The deck is bare and abandoned. Only the feeders are left. It never takes long to ready the house and yard for winter. I always think it’s the saddest day, the day I have to admit fall has finished its course, the day the gnome and the flamingo come inside.
It is so easy to love spring.
Categories: Musings
Tags: birds, blue sky, candles, cleaning the gardens, conversationalist, deck cleaning, dump day, flowers, gold finches, chickadees, titmice and nut hatches, planting herbs, ready for summer, Snow, spawn of satan, sun, the flamingo, the gnome, windy
Comments: 13 Comments
March 31, 2016
This morning I woke up with horrendous back pain. I had to grab hold of knobs and corners of bureaus to make it to the bathroom. Happily I got there on time. When I finished, I decided coffee would be the panacea so I tentatively made my way down the stairs and then sat on the couch for a bit feeling quite sorry for myself. I got up, put the coffee on and went to get the papers. I didn’t stop to look at the flowers.
The phone rang. It was the Nielsen people for whom I’ve been keeping track of my radio listening for the past week. They called every day. I didn’t answer after the first two calls because each call had exactly the same script. Today I answered. I shouldn’t have. She read the script so fast I didn’t understand her but I didn’t need to. She was thanking me, wanted to know if I was keeping track each day and would I please send it back on Thursday, today. I then let her have it. Was it necessary to call every day? Did she think I was either dumb as a doornail or had no memory at all so I needed reminding? Didn’t she understand how intrusive all these calls were? Here I was doing them a favor and in return they harassed me. She never answered my specific questions. She just read from the script, the same script. There I was asking her if she thought I was dumb as a doornail and she said thank you and don’t forget to send the survey out today; of course, that’s what she said. I doubt the script has a section on what to say to a crazed woman. I said never bother me again and hung up.
It was my back which prompted the nastiness. I needed happy so I called my brother-in-law but got my sister instead who thought the whole incident quite entertaining. She was sympathetic, reminded me to take the pills the doctor gave me and suggested I lie down and watch a movie, a funny movie. She got a chuckle out of my calling Rod so I could hear a happy voice.
I got to thinking about happy and what makes me happy. Being with family and friends is an easy one so I dug a bit deeper. My garden makes me happy especially now when I get to watch the flowers break ground and begin to grow. Hot fudge sundaes with marshmallow instead of whipped cream make me very happy. A lazy day lolling on the couch always makes me happy. Add a good book and I’m nearly delirious with happiness. Chocolates, especially caramels, make me smile, chew a lot but still smile. Christmas makes every part of me happy. Mums and the colors of fall flowers always make me pause to look at how beautiful they are. I can feel the ocean inside me when it has tremendous white caps and a strong wind off the water. Sitting on my deck doing absolutely nothing makes me happy.
Okay, I am sorry for being obnoxious to the phone lady but really only a little sorry. The pill worked, and my back is fine. I’m going out on the deck to fill the bird feeders. I might even make my bed today. That is a sure sign of contentedness. All I needed were a few reminders.
Categories: Musings
Tags: back pain, chocolates, Christmas, coffee, dumb as a doornail, flowers, happy, hot fudge sundaes, mums, Nielsen, panacea, script
Comments: 31 Comments
January 30, 2016
A day in winter with bright sun, no wind and temperatures hovering around 40˚is a beautiful day. Miss Gracie is further proof. She is my barometer: the longer she stays out, the nicer the day. She hasn’t barked or checked in with me for a long time so I’ll take a peek just to make sure everything is okay. It is.
Saturday was the busiest day of the week when I was a kid. My father always went uptown to leave and pick up his white shirts at the Chinaman’s and get a trim at the barber’s. I never thought about the word Chinaman back then. It was just a place to me, a dry cleaner’s, owned and run by a man from China, a Chinaman. I think everyone in town called it the Chinaman’s and nobody meant anything by it. It was purely a description.
Al the Saturday activities were seasonal. In winter I went to the matinee or ice skated at the town rink, a fenced in area built at the start of every winter and taken down when the warmth of spring got too much for the ice. It was the only season my father and all the other fathers in the neighborhood were not outside working in the yards, but come spring there they were. Saturday was yard day.
My father was never really exact at some things. When he fertilized his lawn, he threw out the fertilizer by hand instead of evenly distributing it with a spreader. When the grass grew, I could always see the pattern of my father’s tosses by the condition of the grass. As soon as the lawn got taller, the whole neighborhood was filled with clipping sound of hand mowers. Every spring my father planted his flowers in the front garden though calling it a garden elevates it as the space was a small one between bushes across the front of the house.
In summer, my father continued to mow the grass every week. He also watered the grass from a sprinkler connected to the hose. My sisters used to love to run through the sprinkler, but my father was never a fan. He said it ruined his grass. He did have nice grass.
Fall was time to rake the leaves, a communal activity in my neighborhood every Saturday. After being gathered, the newly raked leaves were piled by the curb on the side of the street. Tradition dictated that the piles be burned. I watched as closely as my father would let me. I can still picture the flame coming from the middle of the pile and the smoke rising above it. I remember the smell of those burning leaves, one of my favorite smells.
Last year I burned a few leaves just for the memories. The smell, the aroma, was so familiar I could have been ten again and standing with my father.
Categories: Musings
Tags: bright sun, Chinaman, fertilizer, flowers, ice skating, movie, mowing the grass, no wind, pretty day, Saturday, spring lawns, winter activities
Comments: 8 Comments
September 17, 2015
Today is another glorious day with temperatures in the low 80’s, a brilliant sun, a sky filled with that blue color even Crayola can’t replicate and a small breeze just enough to keep the heat at bay. For all intents and purposes this is a summer day. Next week is the official opening of fall, and the temperatures will be in the 60’s, perfect weather for the close of one season and the opening of another.
Today is dump day, and I want to go to Agway to buy some flowers to plant as the perennials are marked way down, and my landscaper said planting now will still guarantee they’ll come back next spring. In the bed right in front of the house is a plant with stall stalks and beautiful white flowers blooming for the first time, a perfect time to bloom as most of the other flowers have already had their days in the sun. The plant has spread and almost covers the whole bed. I don’t remember what the flowers are. I bought a couple at a flower site on the internet. My landscaper keeps calling them the internet flowers and is amazed that they’ve thrived and multiplied. I bought them on the recommendation of Christer, the Swedish plant whiz ( The Cottage by the Crane Lake, life goes on). He might remember what they are.
The whole neighborhood smelled like skunk the other night. Gracie was outside at the time. I don’t think a skunk can get into my yard because of the fence, but I was careful anyway. I called Gracie to the deck and gave her neck a sniff. She smelled the way Gracie should so we both went into the house. Today, though, I’ll buy Nature’s Miracle skunk smell remover. It is one of those things I like to keep around the house. Before the fence, Gracie got skunked, and Nature’s Miracle worked wonders. The smell disappeared. In the old days, we thought to use tomato juice but the juice really doesn’t work. It is best fit for bloody Mary’s, not for skunk.
Categories: Musings
Tags: 80˚, blue skies, dump run, flowers, more like summer, Nature's Miracle, perfect day, skunk smell, stalky flowers, sunny, tomato juice, white
Comments: 8 Comments
May 5, 2015
The morning is warm but cloudy. Rain is a possibility, but I won’t mind because we haven’t had much rain lately. A while back we had days of rain then it stopped, plugged by an unseen hand. Gracie and I have a couple of errands later including our first stop at the garden center. I have a list of flowers I hope to add to the front garden, and I know what herbs and veggies I want.
When I was a kid, I never thought flowers would become important to me. My father and his pansies were all I knew. Few of the yards around us had gardens either because my neighborhood was filled with lawn people. A green, lush, beautiful lawn was a status symbol. It had to be mowed just right and frequently watered. On hot days we’d run through the sprinkler which sort of annoyed my dad. It wasn’t good for his lawn to have us tamp it down as we ran. The neighbor behind us was a radical lawn lady. Even though we shared a hill, she never wanted us walking on the grass. She’d yell from her kitchen window if we dared pass the line of demarcation between her part of the hill and ours. It wasn’t a real line, but it was the visual boundary between her yard and ours, between a lush lawn and just grass. My father didn’t care about that hill. It was his front lawn which he tended lovingly.
When my parents came to visit, my dad brought all his lawn tools including his mower. My mother and I would go shopping, and my dad would tend my yard. He’d mow and rake the grass then trim the bushes. He’d even venture into my wild backyard and mow the tall grass, reminiscent more of a field than a lawn. I think my neighbors were probably cheering as I never mowed until I figured the grass was high enough to make it worth my while. When my mother and I would get home, my dad would give us the grand tour of all he’d done. The difference was amazing. He always made my front yard looked cared for and loved. That was his gift to me, one he enjoyed giving. I loved him even more for it.
Categories: Musings
Tags: flowers, front yard, garden center, green, herbs veggies, lawns, lush grass, maybe rain, mowing, my dad and his mower, pansies, Shopping, trim bushes, trimming, waram day, wild backyard
Comments: 16 Comments
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