A busy week slowed down just enough, the circle comes up, the trees come down Tuesday, and a ninety-two-year-old woman who gets a blue streak in her hair
As I mentioned on Friday and Saturday, last week was b-u-s-y. This weekend we slowed down just enough, a little work, a long walk, a Sunday at the pool. Which is about as close to a perfect weekend as I know how to have, had there been a little baking I would have called it perfect.
Saturday we dug up the circle. I have been sharing bits and pieces of the process, the design, the decisions, the great deer-salad saga of the last five years and this weekend it all came up. Plants, curbing, the whole thing. We gave the plants to my sister and the curbing too. She wanted to add a little edging to her beds, and it seemed far better to give it a second life than send it to the landfill. Two problems solved with one Saturday morning.
This week is going to be busy and loud. The trees come down Tuesday. They are in the front of the house, their branches hanging over the new circle and everything we are about to plant there, and by we I mean the landscapers. We cannot have big branches or loads of pine straw coming down on top of the new plantings, so they need to go before anything goes in the ground. After having one of these trees come down on the house I will not pretend I am not a little nervous. Once the trees are down we have the electrician and another meeting with the landscape architect. The new garden goes in the week after. I am excited to say the least and hopeful that this will not be a new deer salad.
Sunday I took the whole day off. The only thing I accomplished was a long walk, and then I met Bill and my sister at the pool.
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What I’m Reading
This week I finished Life: A Love Story and I am still thinking about it.
Ninety-two-year-old Florence — Flo — is writing a letter to her neighbor Ruthie, describing the things she is leaving her in her will. A rubber band in a matchbox tied up in red ribbon. A collection of items that seem, on the surface, like nothing at all. But as the letter goes on, what emerges is an unforgettable portrait of a life fully lived — and a woman who, in the time she has left, decides to take herself on tiny dares. A first pedicure. A blue streak in her hair. New friendships. A long-buried secret about her own seemingly perfect marriage that she finally shares with Ruthie, who is on the edge of a divorce.
It is the kind of book that sneaks up on you. Quiet, warm and moving. I picked it up on a Tuesday and finished it by Thursday. If you are looking for something that makes you want to live a little more boldly, at any age, this is it.
What I Watched
This week I found The Lost Forest. Pour yourself something warm before you press play. Gillian is a former archaeologist and historian turned artist from County Cavan in Ireland, and her videos are exactly what she describes them as: portals. Rural Irish farm life, leaf-strewn lanes, hidden hedgerows, sunlit meadows. No noise, no rush. Just the kind of beauty that reminds you the world is still full of quiet, good things if you know where to look. I watched it on Sunday afternoon and it was the perfect end to the weekend.
Outfit of the Day
It’s not even summer and there are summer outfit for 50% off, including this blue and white stripe dress. I think it’s perfect for Memorial Day or 4th of July. But I personally love it styled with green slide sandals and a wicker bag.
For Outfit Details Click the Images Below
If you missed it, I joined Kim and Juliet for Weekend Meanderings on Saturday — come say hello and stay a while. We all had lots to share. And yesterday I shared Taking Back Sunday’s
Tell me, are you a pull-everything-up-and-start-again gardener? Or a work-with-what-you-have gardener? I am apparently the former. Leave a note in the comments.
Have a beautiful week, friends.
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