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!
On Tuesday, I took the day off from work. I really needed it. Tuesday was my day off, but I’m not going to tell you about Tuesday. I’m going to tell you about Monday night because it was even better than Tuesday. On Monday night, …
For the last half of January, all of February, and most of March, I was working obsessively (in the evenings and on weekends) on a small painting of our backyard. The painting was very hard for me to finish because the scene I was trying …
We have a new roof! It’s so nice. It looks like an old-timey tin roof, which is just right for a country cottage like ours that has seen over a hundred birthdays. I like the way the new roof gleams in the sun and how it teams up with the rain to make the most relaxing sounds.
It’s only January and I’ve already started sewing Easter ornaments and making them pose for photos. Obviously I’m a big Easter fan. I always have been. When I was a kid, the Easter Bunny came every year, bringing me and my sisters and brother baskets …
In 2010, Rob and I dug a little goldfish pond in our backyard and surrounded it with a picket fence that we stained dark green. Since the first day of its existence, the pond has been a big success. Very soon it was brimming with …
Over the rainy Thanksgiving weekend, Rob and I put up our Christmas tree and I started sewing some new felt ornaments for it. The cats got busy too—messing things up (lol). On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, as Carl splashed in the water in the tree stand and Becky, Softee, and Frankie napped and bathed themselves on the tree’s red flannel skirt, I sewed and listened over and over to Love at the Thanksgiving Day Parade, the best holiday romance movie ever.
By Monday I had finished a felt pig, a deer, and a penguin. The little pig is probably my favorite because her veil and pearls remind me of Jackie Kennedy—she’s quite elegant. But I think all three characters are pretty cute. I made sure to give everybody a few pink accessories so they’d match the camellia blossoms when we did our photo shoot in the yard on Monday afternoon.
