Fall has come
to the
forgotten garden.
This was my first thought
of how I wanted to start off this post.
As I will tell you a little later,
the Secret Garden was not done right
by us this summer.
It reminds me of a
forgotten garden,
therefore,
that is what I am
calling it in my mind.
As I googled
"poems about forgotten gardens",
I came across this book by Kate Morton
called The Forgotten Garden.
It says I will discover
the truth behind a prominent family
with the help of
a book of dark fairy tales and
a secret garden...
need I say more?
It had me hooked
at fairy tales, dark or not,
so I will add The Forgotten Garden
to my library,
along with a few others
that I see she has written such as:
The Lake House, The Distant Hours, The Clockmaker's Daughter, The Secret Keeper and The House at Riverton,
all fascinating and appealing titles.
Let me know
if you have read
any of her books.
The first thing
I did this morning,
after waking up to gray skies
feeling like rain,
was to go out to the garden and
pick all the zinnias
that were still blooming.
I thought
they had reached their peak awhile ago
but they just keep
blooming on.
The Captain measured one plant
to be sixty inches tall!
I was able to cut
long stems that fit perfectly
in a pretty pitcher.
I placed them
in front of the kitchen blackboard
where they add a lot of
glorious fall color.
While I was making the bed,
I glanced out into the Secret Garden and
it looked so forlorn.
The hydrangea bush,
although big and green,
didn't bloom at all and
we didn't get any
other flowers planted.
Now that the leaves are falling,
it just looks so neglected and sad and
as that morning rain was now falling,
I knew just what
it needed...
...borrowing those pretty zinnias
would add a bit of happiness
for just a little while,
something the little garden,
which gives so generously to
the squirrels and the humming birds,
richly deserves.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There stands a very large
Sequoia redwood tree
beside our driveway.
Just let me say that
I love trees in general,
especially this time of year
as the leaves turn color and begin to fall,
but I hate this particular tree
with all my being!
During stormy weather,
I don't sleep well when the wind blows
as our kitchen and master bedroom
are up close and personal
with this monster.
This is one view
from the driveway...
...and another view
that shows the nasty sharp needles
that fall and get drug into the
car and the house,
up your pant legs and
wound up in dog tails and
the way the roots are
raising our driveway.
Now, keep in mind,
this is God's Country
and everyone loves the trees
that make it so,
so why don't the city officials
hire locals to trim the large trees
from around all the power wires?
Hire persons
who love these trees and
know what to do about them?
But they don't!
They hire outsiders
that move in with their big machines,
who don't give a damn about
the mess they make,
they just stop at the bank
on their way out of town
after leaving our view
to be this...
Devastating and disgusting,
our taxes at work...
enough said!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Last week
I told you I had something else
coming into the kitchen and
here they are...
I know
black and white buffalo checks
are really in right now and
I see so many beautiful rooms using them,
but I am not following a trend.
In fact,
I don't think it is a trend,
as you might have noticed
the black and white checks on
the little "cherry" shelf over the stove.
I said it had hung out
by the back door for about twenty years
and I had used it
in our home in Santa Cruz
a few years before that.
I bought it because
I was drawn to the black and white checks
so, as you can see,
that could be a little more
than just a trend.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Another new Santa.
One of the pattern books
showed only the Santa head shots and
since the faces are one of the
most fun aspects for me to paint,
I thought I'd give them
a try.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oh, yeah, and
just one more thing:
Just when you think
you might have seen too many pumpkins,
there is always room
for one more...
As much as I am on Pinterest
I have never seen this idea before
so maybe you haven't either.
It is very simple to make and
you may or may not have
the outer covering on hand,
but you surely will have access to
the form of this pumpkin.
If not,
you might be in trouble...
Yep,
just a plain, ordinary
roll of
toilet paper.
Take the roll and unwind it a bit
then re-wind around the roll,
leaving the paper a bit loose and
fluffed up.
(If you do like me
you will need to unwind and rewind
a few times
to get it just right).
You will know when you do.
Set the fluffed roll
in the middle of an 18 inch
piece of flannel or whatever.
I tried it with a cloth napkin
but it seems to look
softer and better using flannel.
Bring each edge of fabric up and
stuff in hole of the TP roll,
arranging folds until
it pleases you...
...stick whatever you use
for a stem into the hole and
add ribbon if you want and
there you have
one more pumpkin that you
didn't know you needed and
after it's all said and done,
take it apart and
what's left is something
that you will
always need.
...Judy...
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