A Day at the Beach

Bob and I are not beach goers. I believe we set a record for sheer number of years not going to the beach; it was something like 25 years. Last year, we out did ourselves by (shockingly) going three times, all within the space of three weeks. We rested easy, thinking we would probably not go again for another twenty years or so. But then we attended my sister Cathy's birthday party and it was... at the beach!
I actually brought the camera and in a fit of late summer, salt water inspired enthusiasm, I took pictures to prove that under duress, we actually do the whole beach thing.

That's me, shadowed on a boardwalk, still wearing socks and shoes. I never did remove them (an aversion to sticky, sandy feet? Unlike my reckless sibling pictured above!), but we did have a remarkably good time. It was a nice break from work, studio work, gardening, household projects etc, etc. We all know how that goes: Winter ends, spring happens and then poof! the summer is gone and you never did get to do all those fun and exotic day trips you had planned.

(Is it me or all beaches look sort of the same?) But it was nice and the weather agreed with us and Cathy got to open gifts and we all ate sandwiches and pie.

And after eating and walking up the beach for just long enough, we visited a Nature Center that was entertaining and informative. (For example, after viewing a (safely glass tank enclosed) copperhead snake, we learned that said snake is venomous, not poisonous. Who knew?! And here s/he is to tell us all about it:

(Confession: this is a different snake as the copperhead was just sort of laying there and this was one was much more animated. But it's a snake!) And then there was this delightful flat fish that kept putting his head above the water in the tank, as if trying to escape.

So the day was a success. Who knows, maybe next year we'll go for broke and destroy our record and go back to the beach again!

By Popular Demand...

I have been urged- due to popular demand- to post pictures of the completed closet in use. Yes, it is a stunner; from the bottom of the stairs, it looks like... a destination! Hello! It could be the doorway to a very exciting venue.

And it is! Organized clothing, resettled shoes... a real closet achievement, resulting in the ability to find and put on items from a wardrobe previously unhappily separated from it's user.
(Weird sentence, that!) But you get the idea. And my amazement that this has come to pass.

Look! Clothing on hangers and shoes on the floor and only a few feet from where I get dressed in the morning. Oh, happy day!

Bob did such a good job with these shoji screen doors... I feel like I'm getting dressed in Osaka or Tokyo. It's inspiring! The big plus here is all that extravagant storage space above my closet. There's room for hats and luggage and travel bags and winter blankets. I could go on but I'm already overheating and raving; I love my closet!

End of Driveway Excitement

We now have this at the end of our driveway. Such progress! For the past six months, we realized the inevitability of construction lapping at the end of our driveway as the town crew moved slowly up Jeremy Swamp Road. They seem to be hopping all over the place: first one end, then a centerish (disconnected piece) and then our end- skipping the middle... Promptly at 6:30 every morning, the booming and beeping and pinging and LOUD GUY TALK would filter up the driveway from the street. We're fortunate that our house is set back from the road! (We hear it anyway.)
This greeted me when I attempted to leave the driveway yesterday morning:

I could barely squeeze past, and this was in addition to both of our next door neighbor's cars (waiting for the school bus) and a large dump truck and the aforementioned bus. Quite the busy intersection! I had remembered to bring my camera along so I snapped these pictures. As I said to the amused town crew guys, "How often do I have this much activity at the end of the driveway?" Everyone seemed busy staring into the big hole...

(That's the police officer bending over. Nice shorts.)
In any event, I don't know that we needed a wider road or so many attractive drains and pipes added to our lives, and as a friend suggested, it will only permit more traffic and people and their cars to attain higher speeds. It's already dangerous walking up our road to the dirt road where I walk most mornings. Here are the drain basins:

This was the right side of the driveway. It was like this for the entire Labor Day weekend. I guess the chains were there to discourage us from stealing the cement forms.
The weird upshot of all this construction was that I chose to take lil' Robin the Good on an alternative walk. I bundled her into the car (good practice for her auto-phobia!) and drove her three minutes up the road to the State Bridle Trail, where we've been walking every day since. And it's beautiful! Wide and quiet and winding through some amazing properties. Robin seems to enjoy this walk more than the dirt road, so it's our new routine.
One last shot. Y'know, this equipment is really big!

Labor Day, Minus the Hurricane

It was hard to capture the light that was pouring through this particular stretch of woods: almost "Thomas Kincaide Bizarrely Highlighted by a Master Highlighter". I don't think I achieved the hallucinatory quality (drat!) but the scene is certainly still pretty! All the wild asters are crazily in bloom and you can't top them for flowering in dry shade, competing with poison ivy. Tough little bastards. This path is right behind my newish shade garden...
A rambling post! Bob and I entertained our good friends Don and Elizabeth for two days. They left early this morning, trying to stay ahead of Hurricane Hermine who doesn't seem ultimately destined to make much of an appearance. We ate and drank and hung out for two days; taking a long walk, going to a flea market, playing with Robin the Good. It was restful but we're still tired and I have to go back to work tomorrow! (Bummer!)

Here's a shot of the Clematis arbor that Bob made me for my birthday. The Clematis paniculata is just coming into bloom: also white and close by another large drift of those woodland asters... quite the nice, effortless spectacle! This arbor looked amazing even before the flowers started to erupt, but now it's really beautiful. Bob painted all those little silver dots on the web so they resemble dew. It's hard to photograph but so detailed and delicate. It surpassed my initial request (a couple of years back) for "some sort of structure; maybe like a spider's web". I had imagined a pretty basic bit of metal work, but Bob imagined a lovely piece. This photograph doesn't do it justice.

I'll try again in a few of days when more flowers come out. But in the meantime, here's abigger picture to show how it embraces the tree trunk:

Not much better, I'm afraid. But the shadow underneath was nice...

Late Summer Color

There's still some color happening in the garden, despite the sudden onset of that slightly sad end of summer feel. Lots of things are simply falling over and imploding; lots of smells of vegetative rot. But there are still some good moments to be had, like the above border nearest the horse barn.
The small zinnias, specifically Zinnia linearis in a nice mix of orange, white yellow and golden are just great this year. In fact, all of the Zinnas were terrific. I was waxing super enthusiastic over Zinnia "Benary's Giant" that I planted for cut flowers. The plants are big and clean (like no mildew) and just keep producing nicely formed flowers in good clear colors. Spectacular in a vase in the house! And I can't help but love how the big stripey grass (some variegated Miscanthus) is a foil for the chunky canna foliage. You can't really see but there was a nice Veronicastrum to the left that had another type of white spire-like bloom. I've been very happy with this bed.
A couple of close-ups:

Yup, there's those nice small Zinnias. You don't even need to dead head them. This hot dry season has suited them perfectly; they'll sulk during cool, wet summers. And here's a shot of the arbor that is in behind the grasses and cannas.

It's funny because these were supposed to be the variety "Blue Star", and yes, there are a few. But most of these seem to be "Tie Dye"; that would be the darker blue, striped ones. You never can tell what you'll get. I think there must be the occasional mix up at the seed companies! I'm not complaining as they look pretty good and are blooming like crazy.

All Kinds of Progress...

Not a great picture but very exciting sneak peek of how well the upstairs closet is coming along! Bob and I are halfway done on this particular phase. Bob finished the shoji screens, which slide along tracks and work nicely- like not taking up space at the top of the stairs but managing to look amazingly professional and modern. I couldn't be happier.
Today, I finished spackling and priming the walls, shelves and framework. We were careful and followed my sister's advice and got a really good primer that has a mold/mildew inhibitor/killer because I think we all remember the posting to the effect that we had (ahem) mold of some kind growing behind a cabinet that the previous owner of this house had zip-screwed to the wall to hide water damage. Oh, we knew it was there...
So after I demolished and Bob repaired the wall, studs went up and cross members appeared and Bob cut trim boards and stretched fabric and the pieces all came together. We needed a preview of what the completed project would look like, so Bob hung the doors. Robin posed in front of them; she's very intrigued with the changes materializing at the top of the stairs. (That is, when she's not practicing random evilness like thoughtfully chewing the electric cord off of the vacuum cleaner. It was a good thing I had unplugged it; it's not like the little monster doesn't have plenty of toys and chewables at the ready. I guess the consolation was I didn't have to vacuum the floor before our friends came to dinner last night!)
Anyway, today I sanded and primed. About half way through the job, I was humming tunelessly along with a pleasant late Mozart symphony (the Haffner) and remarking to myself how enjoyable painting can be when I managed to gently touch the edge of the paint pad to the paint pan which caused said pan to part company with the ladder where it was supposed to be secured with two hangers. A dramatic tidal wave of paint arced through air and landed not only on the wall but on the ladder and the floor. Yes, I had a drop cloth in place but a good quantity of paint resisted the urge to land on that surface... you get the picture. It took tons of warm water and rigorous sponging to lift the paint. It was a mess but I can only thank my lucky stars that the paint came (mostly) to rest on the carpet inside the closet (where the damage will not be easily seen) and only a bit ended up on the carpet near the bathroom. The afternoons painting session proceeded with less drama and I will apply the final coat of paint on Wednesday. Then I can begin the arduous task of moving all my clothes from my studio annex into the new closet!

How About Some Pretty Flowers?

Lovely, isn't it? A different variety of morning glory than we usually grow. This one is a picotee... I think some sort of Japanese hybrid. The weird thing is that only one vine looks like this and is blooming. The other two vines in the same container- ostensibly the same plant- have significantly different leaves and no flowers yet. Sometimes they get mixed up at the seed factory! Here's a shot of the whole container:

This vine is particularly floriferous, too! Everyday sends up a bunch of new blooms.

(Not a flower arrangement but a pretty pink drink. Bob put a couple of drops of Campari in our gin and tonic and a sprig of mint. It tasted delicious and was a perfect accompaniment to an end of day garden perusal)
So despite an erratic (read non appreciable) rain fall and consistently high temperatures (thank you, Climate Change!) some things have done super well in the garden. Most of the vines are sky high (except the honeysuckle: that is a mess): Cardinal Climber (Ipomoea x multifida),

Hyacinth Bean (Dolicos Lab Lab) and several varieties of Morning Glory- including that old trooper "Grand Pa Ott, (thanks to our good friend Roberta!). Also, Thunbergia (Black Eyed Susan Vine) is going great guns this summer.

But look at this amazing succulent. I bought it for the foliage but it started to bloom and it's spectacular!

A stunner! I never dreamed we'd get flowers that look like something from another planet or some undersea world. Let's face it: after all the insanity and evilness afloat in the world, isn't it nice to see pretty flowers?

(Gratuitous shot of the same succulent on the mosaic walkway just because.)