Monday, June 4, 2018

Poppies and a Mud Bath


This morning I woke to find, of all things, a used diaper in our garden. I'm pretty sure it's not ours, so I guess the foxes must have been having some fun last night, transporting neighborhood rubbish across garden walls.

We've had some field poppies show up once again this year, a legacy of those (successful) wildflower seeds we planted back in the summer of 2015. Every year since, the poppies have grown in and around the pot where the wildflowers were planted. Persistent little devils! (Happily!)

Dave and I spent yesterday mostly at home, working in the garden. The weather was ideal, sunny and warm but not too warm. Our comfrey and milk parsley plants arrived, and I put those in the wildflower garden. (Can I just reiterate how much I hate digging holes? Possibly my least favorite garden activity.) The milk parsley is supposed to get very tall and impressive, so although it doesn't look like much now, hopefully by the end of the summer we'll have something photo-worthy there.

I also took Olga to the cemetery, where -- despite the fact that we haven't had any rain recently -- she was able to find a puddle:



(Yes, you can hear me whisper "Jesus!" at the very end of the video. It was meant affectionately, I swear, although someone did need a bath after that walk and it wasn't me.)

I called my mom in Florida and talked to her for half an hour or so. We usually try to Skype but it's such a pain to set a time via e-mails, and then we both have to remember and be logged in correctly and that can be harder than it sounds. So I just called her on her landline, which I can also do via Skype and it costs pennies. I told her I meant to do it more often, like every few weeks, and Mom said, "No, that's too much! Once a month!" Which is so classically something my mom would say.

So that was pretty much our Sunday. I didn't read the news and have no idea what's going on in the world, and I'm happy about that. I did read about a quarter of "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng, which I'm really enjoying. I always find myself wanting more time to read, but the truth is, there's almost always something else to do. My best reading time is between "customers" at work!

16 comments:

  1. The poppy photo is just amazing, I can see this in embroidery.
    The video is great but I bet the mud took some washing off and thankyou for another book recommendation, I've read two of your books now and enjoyed both so maybe we are on the same wave length for reading. I'll look this one up.
    Briony
    x

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  2. Ha-ha-ha! I have seen pigs wallowing in muddy puddles but never before a pet dog though you have written about this bizarre habit in previous posts. Regarding your "Jesus" utterance, I shall simply remind you of these lines from Exodus: "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain."

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  3. also classically mom, she came over for dinner and didn't say a word about your talk.

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  4. Like CCC said- that poppy looks like embroidery. Good embroidery. Not mine.

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  5. Would I ever hate to find a used diaper in my yard! Somebody's not looking after their garbage or else those foxes have to go!

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  6. Olga is so funny, lolling about in the mud even after you call her. She really does love a mud bath. Such a beautiful poppy photo.

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  7. love the poppies. mine reseed every year. and I love digging! that's probably my favorite part of gardening, getting my hands in the dirt. and it's good for you too, boosts your immune system and activates your endorphins.

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  8. Olga must have read one of those health spa brochures explaining the benefits of mud baths. She's taken the activity to heart! She looks so content reclining in the mud. That poppy in gorgeous!

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  9. Oh my, I needed a good laugh (Der Drumpf has been at the Twitter again today, this time insisting that he can pardon himself). The look on Olga's face is pure puppy bliss. She's a girl after my own heart.

    I don't think the poppy would make a good embroidery. But then, I am NOT a fan of Georgia O'Keefe's flower paintings either.

    Poppies are a pain to paint, too. I speak from experience. I did some in Monet's garden and they were murder. The irises were a lot more fun.

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  10. Apparently your mom is NOT one of those "you never call, you never write..." type of moms.

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  11. What a wonderful video. Olga looks so joyful. You really do have a great time together! Blessings

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  12. is there any dog that loves mud as much as Olga? and that poppy photo is astonishingly beautiful. i should have studied it before i tried to paint a poppy a few weeks ago.

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  13. I love the video! "Come here, Olga!" "Nope nope nope nope I'm good thanks" . . .

    That poppy is so beautiful it doesn't even look real, in a sense. Such delicate, brilliant beauty.

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  14. Poppy and puppy made my day soooo happy! Olga is such a lucky girl.

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  15. Olga looks happy. :-) Sorry to hear about the nappy. I hope it wasn't a soiled one. :-)

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  16. Put a blow up of that photo in a soho gallery and you'd get 1000s

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