Deer in the backyard, a novel set in Sorrento, garden inspiration from House & Garden, and a weekend of fun
It is Monday, which means the weekend is over and I am still smiling about it.
Friday set the tone. I looked out into the back yard and there was a doe, resting. Not grazing. Resting. She had settled herself regally into the pine straw mere feet from the three camellia bushes she has spent the better part of the season decimating. She looked entirely at peace with herself, the way we all look after a particularly satisfying Thanksgiving meal, or perhaps the way one looks when the heat finally forces a rest.. She sat there for well over an hour. I watched her longer than I care to admit.
Then Sunday brought the fawns.
Two of them, and if you had told me Santa’s reindeer had made a summer visit I would not have argued. They were leaping and dancing with that fawn energy that looks like pure joy with legs. One was impish. She wanted to play and danced circles around her more sensible sibling, who had come to eat and was not interested in being charmed out of her breakfast. Their mother stood on the other side of the bushed watching the whole thing with the patient expression of a woman who has seen this before. I stood at the window and smiled until my face hurt.
How two naughty fawns can bring so much joy, I cannot explain. But they did.
The weekend did not stop there. There were two birthday parties, which is a festive amount of celebrating for any two days. There was the pool. There was a project I will tell you about soon. And there was a book.
What I Read This Weekend
The Heartbeat at My Feet was exactly the kind of story I needed. A woman in midlife whose life tilts off its axis on the eve of a long-dreamed trip to Italy. A rather opinionated terrier wandering the ruins of Pompeii, who has lost his person and is not handling it gracefully. Their collision in the ruins sets everything in motion. Sorrento, a charming and somewhat contrary local bookseller named Hugo, slow friendship edging toward something more. Cicero, the terrier, operates on the firm conviction that dogs are experts when it comes to love. He is probably right.
Warm, funny, a little bittersweet. I read it in a weekend.
What I’m Watching
I fell down the most wonderful rabbit hole this weekend: a House & Garden garden video that is pure inspiration.I think you will enjoy it, especially if you have been staring at your own garden wondering what it could become.
Outfit of the Day
One morning of cool weather and in my mind it’s long sleeves and sweater weather. This weeks’ outfit is great for cooler days ahead but still light and summery. White jeans paired with a striped shirt, ballet flats and a bamboo handled bag.
Outfit Detail Below
You can see all of my outfits, home decor and more on ShopMy. Be sure to follow me for more.
That was the weekend.
I hope yours was just as full of unexpected small joys. Tell me, do you have deer in your yard? Are they charming garden visitors or have they crossed the line into full-scale horticultural warfare? I am somewhere in the middle, and I suspect I am not alone.
Come find me onInstagram, Pinterest, and Facebook. if you want to see more of what I’m up to during the week.
Have a wonderful day friends.
You Might Also Enjoy
Monday Musings No. 227 | Back from the Outer Banks, a Bear on the Road and The Pretender
On My Radar~Plaid
Your property is lovely !! You are living the dream !!!
Joan, thank you. I love our property and looking out over the golf course. But honestly, sometimes I miss grass.
have a wonderful day.
I also read A Heartbeat at My Feet last week. Cannot decide whom I loved more, Cicero or the Kansas dad. Both grand philosophers with many wise thoughts, in spite of dad’s endless cliches. I like to believe that my own dogs are thinkers, like Cicero.
Sharon, I felt the same way. I love this book.
I am currently reading A heartbeat at My Feet and am loving it!! We were just in Sorrento last month and Pompei the year before so it is so much fun to relive our adventures. I enjoy all the animals that come to your yard. The fawns are adorable!!
Kathy, Pompei is one of the most interesting places I have visited. How did you like it?
Have you been to Ostia Antica just outside of Rome. It is a very interesting archeological site where you can see what life was life was like in a Roman harbor city.
I loved the book!
How fun to watch the deer frolicking in your yard! When we lived in WA state, we had deer walk down our street which I loved. Now in CA, we don’t see deer but we have squirrels that eat the acorns out of our trees!
Thank you for the book recommendation! It sounds like a winner; enjoyed by many of your readers.
I love watching them in the early morning and late afternoon as they play in my yard and on the golf course. We also have strange looking squirrels here as well, they look a little like a skunk but I think they are called fox squirrels.
I hope that you enjoy the book.
I’m adding that book to my library list, it sounds right up my alley– thank you for the rec!
As for deer, we host a lot of them in our garden, and even after they rampaged the white garden beyond recognition, I don’t begrudge them… actually because so many of our neighbors adhere to the “deer proof” garden style, ours is probably a food oasis of delicious treats. It must be a nice treat for them! We currently have a momma deer nursing two fawns at once; I think that must be very hungry work, and why we had the extra-voracious rummage through the roses, lilies, and hydrangeas 🙂