Saturday, February 24, 2024

Weekend Miscellany


Here's what the garden looks like this morning, with the grass a bit frosty and the light a pale blue. It got down to 32º F (0º C) last night, which is colder than I expected, and I didn't bring anything in for protection. Wouldn't it be ironic if, after stealing that citrus tree to protect it from the cold, I then inadvertently kill it by leaving it outside? I don't think it got that cold, though. I think everything should be fine.

I am so looking forward to this weekend. I have nothing planned. I don't want to go anywhere. I want to stay home and relax and decompress. I had a pretty good day of decompression yesterday, with a steady but not overwhelming pace of students coming to me for help and a chance to read some blogs in between.

And yes, the tiger is still there!


Olga wants to stay home, too. She's snoring and snuggled so tightly against me that her ear is on my keyboard. I keep pressing it every time I need to backspace but she doesn't seem to care.


The bergenia in the alley is blooming again. This poor plant has been through hell. It survived the repaving of the ground around the gate a couple of years ago, and last year -- as you may remember -- we had a drain blockage that caused wash-water from the kitchen to seep all over the alley. Its roots got saturated with soap and its leaves turned a sickly grayish green, but it didn't die. It is a survivor.


Finally, as I walked Olga yesterday before work, we passed my favorite camellia bush -- this candy-striped variety on the housing estate. It had dropped this flower, which was a bit dirty from the ground but otherwise still looked pretty nice.

Ah, Saturday!

20 comments:

River said...

I love weekends where I have nothing to do but read books and blogs. They don't happen often.
Olga must be deeply asleep to not feel your finger on the backspace key.

Yael said...

The last dog I had was so similar to Olga, she was lovely. Kudos to the surviving plant, I sympathize with survivors.

Moving with Mitchell said...

I’ll bet if you try really hard you can find a way to grow a new camelia from that flower. It got down to 12C overnight here. That’s cold enough for us!

Yorkshire Pudding said...

Ah, Saturday!,,, Time for the Russians to start banging and drilling again!

Jeanie said...

Despite this morning's cold, Spring is definitely in your path! I hope the lemon tree makes it. I can't imagine anything nicer than a quantity of fresh lemons at hand!

It sounds like you need a decompression day after overseas travel, work return and Dave's surgery. May you both get the weekend you need! (And by the way, the cammelia is a stunner. And it's 15 degrees here in Michigan as I type, so take the 32 and run with it!)

Boud said...

Sometimes a weekend with no plans just fits the bill. Enjoy. I laughed about Olga's ear working as a backspace.

Ms. Moon said...

That camellia is a heart-stopper!
Olga's ear made me laugh. Jack loves to sleep right up next to my laptop too. Drives me a little crazy when I have to move his tail.
Enjoy this weekend.

Ed said...

This was going to be my first free weekend in quite awhile with nothing planned or scheduled. But now I'm headed off to my neighbor's funeral here in an hour and tomorrow my youngest decided she wanted to invite her friend over for a playdate. I'll still get a fair amount of reading in I hope.

Ellen D. said...

Lovely to see some flowers. We have snow on the ground here. I hope my daffodil leaves will survive! It will warm up tomorrow so I think they will be ok...

Debby said...

What a nice weekend for you! Enjoy the rest of it! I really like the look of the garden. Have you heard anymore from the estate manager?

ellen abbott said...

beautiful weather here this weekend. I'll be outside most of it hopefully getting the tomatoes and peppers and seed potatoes in that I bought yesterday.

Red said...

Palm readers would have fun with your last photo.

Pixie said...

Bergenia is an incredibly tough plant, it's always the first thing to bloom here when the snow melts.

Have a lovely weekend.

Sharon said...

32 degrees outside is a very good time to snuggle up and stay put. Olga has the right idea.

The Bug said...

Love the camellia! I'm having a lazy weekend too. Well, I do want to do a smidge of housework, but I mainly want to read because two of the books I had on hold at the library became available at the same time. A wonderful problem to have!

Kelly said...

That bloom is beautiful. I like to float them in a bowl of water for the rest of the day. The frost looks light, so I bet everything will be fine.

Margaret said...

I love candy striped flowers, especially roses. A quiet and peaceful weekend is definitely called for!

Catalyst said...

Olga's ear looks none the worse for all the abuse you heap on it. And that camellia blossom is truly beautiful. Happy Saturday indeed!

Andrew said...

Sunday morning for you now and you will be asleep. You will wake with a relaxing day ahead of you.

Susan said...

Sometimes a quiet weekend at home is absolute bliss. I've felt the climate in England is very conducive to growing plants. The two plants are certainly not getting stellar care, yet they grow and flower beautifully. Amazing.