garden

About everything

/ Tracy Abell

Fiction is too beautiful to be about just one thing. It should be about everything.
~ Arundhati Roy
sedum

I absolutely agree with Ms. Roy. Fiction should include the smooth, the rough, the soft, the sharp, the bright, the dull, the everything. Right now, however, I’m struggling with a bit of overwhelm in regards to the EVERYTHING I’m contemplating for this current project.

The good news is that I’ve (temporarily, at least) eluded my panic, and am whittling away at one piece of EVERYTHING that I hope belongs in the story. If it turns out this piece doesn’t belong, I will still have learned something.

Disclosure: That mature sentiment will fade if this project turns into one long-ass process of elimination.

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Take my garden, please

/ Tracy Abell / 2 Comments

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.
~  Marcus Tullius Cicero

I put three hours into my garden today and it still looks like Flora Run Amok. Right about now I’d welcome a garden abduction.

Asters take up a lot of garden bed real estate and don't bloom for a very long time, but when they do, they are lovely.

Asters take up a lot of garden real estate and don’t bloom for a very long time, but when they do, they are lovely. (I can admit that. I’m not a monster.)

Now off to read a book from the library . . .

 

 

 

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Micromanaging my emotions

/ Tracy Abell

When I get frustrated and angry it sometimes helps to focus on something else, preferably something pleasing and/or interesting to look at. Something with different colors and textures, sizes and shapes, and quality of light.  penstemon

Something that reminds me of my tiny role in the universe.

 

 

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If you move it, they will come

/ Tracy Abell / 1 Comment

For years our main bird feeder hung off a branch near the trunk of our red maple. We had a great view from our dining room window and spent many happy hours watching the birds. The good news is our maple tree has thrived in our yard (our one and only true success with planting trees at this house), but the bad news is that we could no longer see the feeder due to all the growth.

Out of sight equaled out of mind, and filling the feeder became hit and miss. For the most part, the birds gave up on us.

Today we purchased a feeding pole and moved the feeder to its new location outside the other dining room window.

The feeder is located next to the stump from the ash tree that used to reside here but has since passed on.

The feeder is now located next to the stump from the ash tree that resided there before succumbing to our bad tree juju.

The feeder is now also located close to where our bird bath was situated. We foolishly left our heated bird bath out there all season and it fell victim to the same hail storm that destroyed our roof. We were (and still are) sure there’s another unheated bird bath somewhere in this house, but we’ve been unable to find it. So today we finally caved in and bought another one (which Zippy insists means we will find the missing bath), and set it up on the patio.

This bath seems to be the one stable structure out on our ever-shifting patio.

The insurance company is replacing our heated bath, but we won’t put that one out until the temperatures drop.

Now all that’s left to do is sit back and wait for the birds to find us again.

 

 

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Clematis Monday

/ Tracy Abell / 13 Comments

Here’s what’s growing on around here (get it? “growing on”?)
I crack me up.

This is the largest profusion of clematis blooms ever seen on this patio,
due to the sad demise of the neighbors’ crab apple tree which hung over this corner of the patio until the tree was mortally injured in an ice storm.

This clematis plant is also blooming more than usual due to Coco not barking through the fence at the neighbors’ dogs quite as much this year.

Less barking = less trampling.
Good dog, Coco!

The next clematis isn’t blooming any more than usual, but it is alive. We feared the closest plant to it had mysteriously died this winter (along with the vinca plants)
but has recently greened up so maybe we’re witnessing a rebirth.
Well, friends, thank you for touring my patio with me.
If you care to join me, I’ll be out there in a bit with my morning coffee.