New Chest
Last Saturday Rob and I went over to Dothan and bought this chest at Land of Cotton, our favorite antique mall. The nice man who helped us wheel it out to the car on a hand truck told us it was made of American chestnut. …
Author: Leslie Kimel
My Great-Grandfather
This is my great-grandfather, my mom’s father’s father, Frank Allen. He was born in the 1890s, I believe, and died in the 1960s. He owned a small dairy farm near Green Bay, Wisconsin. “What was he like?” I asked Mom when she gave me his …
The Vine House Again
Here’s how the Vine House is shaping up these days. One side is draped with coral honeysuckle and the other with native pipevine. Lush Boston ferns, in baskets, hang from the roof beams on chains and provide tempting nesting spots for wrens.
In the last six months, I’ve acquired two new Christine Sibley sculptures–the Water Spirit (in blue) and the Fire Spirit (in red). I’m up to 15 pieces now and I’m pretty proud of my collection. I’ve got sunflowers and Naiads and angels and leaf spirits.
It’s a challenge to keep the pots full of color throughout the year. In June, when the petunias died, I filled the smaller clay pots with heat-tolerant purple torenia, and that’s been a real success. Torenia is so tough, it looks full and fat and healthy even now in the dog days. The caladiums are still going strong, but I know they’ll start to get leggy in August. Sadly, their days are numbered.
Though I love this spot (the Vine House, I mean), I’m never quite satisfied with it. I always want to add another little doo-dad. I daydream about buying 10 or 20 crystal prisms and hanging them from the trellises that form the “walls” of the house. They’d catch the sunlight and make rainbows. It would be nice, I think, on a summer afternoon to sit in a periwinkle-painted chair and watch the rainbows play.
Crazy for Caladiums
Every summer it’s the same thing: I’m just delighted by my caladiums. I’m constantly admiring them and taking pictures of them and thinking about them, making lists of the ones I have and the ones I want to get: Candyland, White Queen, Rose Bud . …
Eggplant Effusions
This has been a great summer for eggplant. Rob and I have globe-shaped eggplant and cucumber-shaped eggplant in three colors: solid purple, solid white, and purple-and-white striped. The fruits are so bright and cheerful they look like balloons festooning the plants, and every day it …
Carl
Every summer I like to pretend that I enroll my cat Carl in vacation Bible school. You see, in my games and dreams he’s my precious little son, forever four years old. Well, I mean, he’s a cat, but he wears clothes and talks and walks on two legs like any human child. He’s a cat, but he’s fully accepted in human society. In fact, when I drop him off at vacation Bible school, all the teachers and the other mothers always tell me how cute he is.
“Oh, your son is so adorable,” they say.
“Thank you,” I say.
Once Carl’s week at vacation Bible school is over, our summer days are less structured. Sometimes I take him to the city pool and he wears his water wings.
On quiet afternoons, we head to the library. I ride my bike, with Carl tucked into a little seat behind me. On the way home he sits in his seat and reads one of the books we’ve checked out while I pedal. He likes Sylvester and the Magic Pebble.
Carl is so sweet–not just in my silly dreams but in real life. He’s always looking at me and “talking” to me and following me around with his tail held high. He’s my little sunshine.
Fresh Awnings
Finally! We got some nice fresh clean awnings hung on the breezeway the other day. The old ones had gotten sooooo dirty. We need to take better care of our awnings this time around. Terry, of Terry’s Awnings & Canvas in Havana, the man who …
Copious Carrots
Our spring carrot crop has been stupendous to say the least. We’ve got carrots coming out of our ears. Rob feels a real obligation to our carrots and is always scheming about how we can put them to good use.
Yesterday he said, “So what should we make to eat tomorrow?”
“Hmm,” I said. “How about chili?”
“Okay,” Rob said, and I could see the wheels spinning. “Now I bet we could put some carrots in that and none would be the wiser.”
