I’d like to introduce you to one of my favorite plants—star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides), a fast-growing woody vine with evergreen leaves and, now, in late spring, loads of small, white, pinwheel-shaped flowers. Star jasmine is lovely to look at, but the real reason you’ll want …
For the past year, I’ve been working on outlining all my garden beds with bricks. I dig a trench around each bed, sink the bricks about halfway into the soil, and arrange them in a sawtooth pattern. The bricks add a nice, tidy edge to …
I’ve been trying to improve the back bedroom again. Everywhere I’ve ever lived, I’ve enjoyed decorating the bedrooms most of all. I had a great bedroom when I was a kid, and I think I’m always trying to re-create the charm of that first place that was my own.
I’ll tell you a bit about my childhood room. It wasn’t all mine, actually; I shared it with my sister Kris. But we were awesome at sharing, and we always saw eye to eye on interior design decisions.
Our room had many delightful touches—like crystal prisms that hung in the windows and threw rainbows all around. (We used the windows just like doors, climbing in and out.) The curtains were trimmed with yellow pompoms to match our bedspreads, which were printed with cheery daffodils and sunflowers.
On one wall was a special clock that our uncle brought us from Korea. It was a Lady (from Lady and the Tramp) clock, and Lady’s large eyes would dart back and forth as the seconds ticked by. Not far away, hanging from a corner of the ceiling, was a marionette, a graceful bird with light pink feathers and little dancing round white plaster feet—a Foo Bird, she was called.
Dolls peered out from every shelf, each dressed to the nines, and shadowboxes were filled with figurines. On every surface there was something funny or cute or “neat” (as we would say)—a tiny tea set, maybe, or a talking bear, or a doll who could ride a bike.
As you can probably tell by the number of toys still on display in my house, my decorating style hasn’t changed too much since I was a kid. (Ha ha, I’m not bragging.) I’m still a fan of whimsy. My favorite decorations are the funny ones, like my little needlepoint portrait of a blue-eyed cat and my absurdly serious-looking plaster sheep. I love finding cheap treasures like these at junk shops. The back bedroom is the result of 30 years of junkin’—I hope you enjoy the pictures!
Last Friday after work, I embarked on a little decorating spree that lasted through Saturday evening. Around noon that day (Friday, I mean), I received in the mail a pair of vintage McCoy wall pockets—two sunny yellow ceramic flowers that I’d ordered off eBay. I …
On Sunday we put up our Christmas tree! Rob came home with the tree that afternoon. It was a nice, tall, straight tree with a perfect pyramid shape, but when we got it in the stand we noticed that its bottom branches had lost most …
Tonight I’m finishing up a rare four-day weekend. It was so much fun and felt like such a luxury! During most of my time off, I worked on a painting of a chubby baby bunny frolicking in a patch of bluets. I took breaks every hour and a half or so. I’d go out in the yard and water plants with my trusty watering can (it’s so dry here right now!) and pick armloads of ripe satsumas (we have three loaded trees).
I also strolled around our three acres with June, our smart little tuxedo cat, on her new harness and leash. She looked so cute walking along beside me through the still-green grass littered with golden leaves.
“She’s doing just as well as a small dog!” Rob marveled as we walked on Saturday afternoon. “June, you’re being so brave out here in the big, wide world!” (June is an indoor cat, so going outside on her leash is an exciting new adventure for her.)
June began practicing her bounding then (she’s so athletic!), and I had to run as fast as I could to keep up with her. After bounding all the way around the house a couple of times, she started rolling on the sun-warmed driveway to celebrate. She was rolling and squawking and just generally rejoicing in being alive. When I carried her back in the house, she was very disappointed.
I always get nervous about returning to work if I’ve been out a little while. Today I woke up with an especially bad case of the Sunday scaries, so I decided to comfort myself by whipping up a big pot of Sweet Potato-Black Bean Soup. It was delicious—full of rich coconut milk and my favorite spices. I ate it sitting in the backyard under a big Moonshadow sasanqua, which was in full pink flower. (Rob had left for Atlanta on a business trip so it was just me.) I watched birds and talked to the trees and pretended it wasn’t the end of my time off but the beginning.
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
1 large onion, minced
6 cayenne peppers, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons curry powder
3 teaspoons cumin
3 cups water
3 large sweet potatoes
2 15-ounce cans diced tomatoes
2 cans black beans
Salt to taste
2 15-ounce cans coconut milk
Heat the oven to 450 degrees and bake the sweet potatoes until they’re soft (about an hour). Let them cool, then peel the skins off and coarsely chop the insides. Set aside.
Heat the grapeseed oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and hot peppers and sauté until the onion is soft and translucent. Add the garlic, curry powder, and cumin and sauté for a few more minutes. Add the water, sweet potato chunks, tomatoes, and black beans and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and stir in the salt and coconut milk. Simmer for five to 10 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and puree the soup until smooth using an immersion blender.
Some time ago I worked with a very nice man who loved fall. On the first slightly cool day in October during the first year that I knew him, he arrived at work exhilarated, full of happy plans for the season, and he shared those …
I’ve been spending these early-August evenings sewing wonky felt Halloween ornaments while listening to The Fellowship of the Ring on Audible. It’s been so much fun. I sit on the dining room floor surrounded by cats and drink hot Country Peach Passion tea and dream …
A couple weeks ago, Rob and I started working on a brand-new project—outlining all our garden beds with bricks!
We had ordered the bricks at Acme Brick, Tile and Stone in Tallahassee on April 21, the day after I got my second dose of the Covid vaccine. The vaccine made me pretty sick, so everything seemed strange and warped that day, like a fever dream—but I was still able to order the bricks! Lol. I really wanted those bricks.
The bricks are the real clay kind (not concrete), a classic dark red, and we’re arranging them around the beds in a sawtooth pattern. I enjoy doing the work. It’s very pleasant, almost meditative, to sit on the warm ground and dig with a garden trowel, arranging brick after brick. As I work, I like to watch the hummingbirds hovering about the Indian pinks, and the box turtles chowing on my gifts of watermelon. I like coming across earthworms and gently setting them aside, making sure they’re a safe distance from the construction zone.
Since we have quite a lot of beds, I don’t know when the brick project will ever be complete—but that’s okay. I’m happy with the progress we’ve made so far. The brick-lined beds look so tidy, and the new brick edges really help to emphasize the beds’ graceful curves.
Rob and I often take little walks to admire the newly outlined beds. We were admiring them yesterday, in the twilight, as the scent of gardenias and jasmine filled the balmy May air.
“Look at that curve!” Rob said, pointing to a stretch of brick that I had arranged. “That is expert!”
“I like this part,” I said, pointing in turn to some of his work. “I love the way it swoops around the cabbage palm!”
And now for some irrelevant cat photos:
Leroy doing his impression of a seal:
June loves to nap on the breezeway. It’s her favorite place. She even wants to spend the night out there!
