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Tag Archives: summer

Some purple and pink beauties

04 Sunday Sep 2016

Posted by laurieanichols in postaday, postaday2016, Uncategorized

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Tags

postaday2016, summer

The flowers are beginning to wane, some colors are clinging stubbornly despite our entry into September. As I was walking around outside, noticing how the coneflower’s were looking faded, as were the few roses left and the black eyed Susans appearing tired and droopy, I saw how vibrant the purple sage remained, defiantly standing tall as well as my pink dianthus, spritely blooming with confidence, no sign of diminishing though September is upon us. 

I wish I could control time with my remote, I’d be pressing the rewind button and getting us back to the early days of summer, it went by too quickly.

My tiny “field” of yellow

27 Saturday Aug 2016

Posted by laurieanichols in postaday, postaday2016, Uncategorized

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postaday2016, summer


My teeny tiny field of yellow flowers represents the month of August to me. I love the almost forest feel these flowers give, especially the way the flowers rustle as Jack makes his way through the field of yellow. It is too cute when his little face pops out from the stems, he loves making his way through his forest, it’s one of his favorite places.

I love my yellow flowers though they make me a little sad, summer is on the way out and I’m not ready, I’d like to push the rewind button and get back to July, I feel that July didn’t get the Justice it deserved, it needs a do over. Where has the summer gone?

Hooray my favorite lily!

21 Thursday Jul 2016

Posted by laurieanichols in postaday, postaday2016, Uncategorized

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Tags

blooms, postaday2016, summer


I was worried for my favorite lily, I love its color, because when I planted her, I put her in the background near the fence where I thought she would be safe. This was prior to Jack, our dogs Marshall, Rex and Tuck stayed out of my flower gardens back then, but when Jack came onto the scene, he was all about hunting and patrolling the entire perimeter of the backyard. I never said anything to Jack because at 15 lbs, Jack never did any damage to my plants. I didn’t foresee how his actions would influence future dog acquisitions. So in come Lulu and Stanley, Jack’s faithful followers, imagine a 46 lb and a 100+ lb running back and forth along the perimeter, trampling everything in the way. Hooray for my lily, it survived the dog rampage.


These two pictures are a perfect example of what I’m talking about, little Jack peeking out amongst the ground cover while Stanley’s huge face right in the same spot, what a difference, lol. I love my balloon flower plant, I can’t decide which I love more, the sunflower or the balloon flower, they are both so gorgeous.


The summer blooms are out! My coneflowers and upright phlox are just starting to come into their own, what I love is that they keep their blooms much longer than the springtime blossoms. The colors are dramatic, a rich dark pink and a lovely shade of light purple. Looking through the pictures, the colors look nice all together, my plants help soothe my worries, it’s hard to be anxious when you are surrounded by beautiful colors and lovely scents.

Summer blooms are sprouting

01 Wednesday Jun 2016

Posted by laurieanichols in postaday, postaday2016, Uncategorized

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blooms, postaday2016, summer


Early summer blooms are making their appearance in my backyard, my principal rose bush, which I think is close to twenty years old now, has started to bloom. My crop of chives have bloomed, what I love about them is that I can cut the chives back and they will resprout immediately so I have access to fresh chive for the entire summer and chives go with practically everything, if there is only one herb to be planted, I would plant the chive, it never disappoints.



I am so excited about my rhododendron, two years ago I planted four very young rhododendron and finally I have a blossom! I had forgotten by this time what color the rhododendron were, so now I know, I bought purple rhododendron, it only took two years to find out, lol.

Summertime berries

08 Tuesday Jul 2014

Posted by laurieanichols in postaday, postaday2014, Uncategorized

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berries, bunnny, postaday2014, summer

I am a huge fan of berries and it gives me infinite smiles to see how, without doing a single thing, I have wild strawberries thriving and wild blackberries as well. What I don’t understand is that the bunny that has taken over my backyard, to Jack’s chagrin, has ignored the berries and instead has been munching on my clematis which has tried to continue putting off shoots, but I think that my poor clematis is losing the battle. I really love my clematis, I have nursed my clematis for years through dry, hot summers, chilly wet summers and long drawn out frozen winters and it makes me sad that one of my favorite plants is helpless against a ravenous bunny. You would think that looking at my gardens, there is more then enough of a variety that the bunny could lay off my clematis, maybe clematis is really tasty I don’t know, the only thing that I can think of doing is purchasing some fine mesh fencing to keep the bunny away. Another project for the upcoming weekend.

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It’s just so good to be home

21 Saturday Jun 2014

Posted by laurieanichols in postaday, postaday2014, Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Jack, plants, postaday2014, summer

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Our son and daughter have been taking excellent care of Jack and have gotten him very spry on his tippy toes. His sense of balance has much improved over the past several weeks, the adorable little baby boy. It was so refreshing to spend most of the day outside watering the plants, pruning my roses and other spent plants such as the bleeding hearts and chives. The weather was perfect, a constant breeze, the temperature in the mid 70’s, it doesn’t get better then this.

I didn’t expect the red roses to be in bloom just yet, it was a happy surprise, and I was equally surprised to see the deep red peonies open and in bloom. I forget that we are almost at the end of June; time is passing too quickly. I wonder if it is all of the mileage that my husband and I have been putting under our belts that has sped the clock. I still feel as if it were still June 1st, instead of the first day of summer.

Happy Summer! Happy Summer solstice 😀

While I was gone, the garden was busy

03 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by laurieanichols in postaday, postaday2013, Uncategorized

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Tags

blooms, changes, flowers, garden, postaday2013, summer

I know that I have only been gone for three days, but I knew that as soon as I went out to the garden, I would be surprised by a whole new bunch of blooms and I wasn’t disappointed. Just last week I was looking at my young hydrangea and I wasn’t sure if it was a blue one or a pink one, happy to report that it is a blue hydrangea. I was surprised to see the Tiger Lilies already in bloom, I was thinking that they would come later such as in August but I am not complaining, I welcome all color whenever it decides to show itself.

I love seeing all of my Daisies wide awake, they have such a delicate flower. I saw my first Cone Flower in bloom and the Day Lilies are all out in force. I have various Sage plants in bloom, they are the tall spikes of purple and blues. There is a very pretty light purple plant in full bloom and I can’t for the life of me remember what its name is, I’m sure that it will come to me eventually.

My miniature roses are in bloom and I have a lot of pruning to do tomorrow if I want to have repeat blooms on my other rose bushes. In three days time, a lot can get away from you in the garden and so I have work to do. I never mind, it’s very fulfilling work. I know that my first picture of of our Bougainvillea and its first purple bloom is a little hazy but that’s due to the bright sun. Since bright sunlight has been a rarity these days, I won’t complain. I hope that these pictures aren’t too boring, I just get so excited about my garden and all of its pretty treasures.

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The first bloom that struck me upon arrival was the gorgeous spike of white blooms erupting from the middle of the Yucca Plant in my front yard and this year I have not just one but at least four others ready to bloom soon. I am so happy, the Yucca hasn’t produced this many spikes ever. Hooray!

Mourning the loss of summer

19 Wednesday Sep 2012

Posted by laurieanichols in postaday, postaday2012

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Tags

fall, leaves, postaday2012, seasons, summer

I am most definitely lamenting the loss of heat, here in my neck of the woods, the nights have go down to the low forties and the days in the low seventies. I know that I shouldn’t complain but it is not as if the thermometer is going to go up from here. It is only going to continue on the downward progression into cooler and cooler temperatures until I can officially call it cold. Not happy. The days are getting shorter, it is not getting dark at seven, it is much too early for it to be dark. Can’t it stay light until eight for just a little while longer? I am not ready for this change of seasons, not yet!

This week I’ve been laid up by this bout of pneumonia, so I haven’t been doing much of anything except for walking Rex and Jack because Rex has to be walked or else his joints stiffen up quite badly and since he has now been on his new anti-inflammatory medicines and his pain pills, it is very important to strengthen the muscles surrounding his joints. I figure it probably does me some good as well, get me out of the house and away from depressing thoughts. However when I see the leaves falling all around us as we traverse the park, it has put me in a gloomier mood. All that came into mind as I was walking them just before is “Oh, just wonderful, after the leaves, then the snow and I am going to exhaust myself making pathways so that my arthritic old man dog can walk in the park and the little baby boy Jack can happily follow without getting lost in all the snow”. And I don’t even know if we are going to have snow in the first place because if I take last winter as an example, we didn’t have any, aside from the big snowstorm of last October.

I used to look forward to the fall season when I was younger. I remember going through the huge fall fashion magazines in France such as Elle and Vogue, even Marie Claire and see all the newest clothes and dream of dressing like that back in the States. This year I didn’t even bother looking at the magazines because the economy was so bad that the stores hadn’t even put out their fall fashions, they were still running sales on their summer lines.

This season also carries the promise of fall stews, apple pies, pear tart tatins and warm hearty soups but now with the baby girl gone and the baby boy busy with school and his job, all this promise of fall cooking with no one to cook for is depressing. Empty nest syndrome in its first stages, how to adjust to cooking for one without sadness.

Boy do I feel ill, I usually never sink this low into a dark mood. I have been thinking of sweet things to eat but I know that when your body is ill the last thing in the world it needs is sugar because that is a huge inflammatory agent and my lungs are inflamed enough with the pneumonia bug. What my brain wants is the endorphin/serotonin buzz and it is not going to get it through exercise, so it is calling for sweets but I will stay strong and say NO.

Tomorrow is another day and another day where I will feel better and my mood will lighten and after typing all of this I do feel a little better. So I say au revoir because adieu is too final.

Summer in Normandy continues

24 Tuesday Jul 2012

Posted by laurieanichols in postaday, postaday2012

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Tags

beaches, heat, Normandy, postaday2012, Seine river, summer, sun

The countryside of Normandy is lush, green, full of hills, mountains and valleys. The forest is everywhere, surrounding the towns, it plays an important role in the background of the Normandy tapestry, the towns and cities stand out in much sharper contrast against the majesty of all those regal trees. This morning Francoise, the baby girl and I went on a small hike through the forest which led out to the top of a falaises,  a cliff overlooking the Seine river. Any view from up high tends toward the picturesque and this view was no exception. The Seine river runs through Rouen down towards Paris and past meandering through further on in France.

After a few minutes of admiration, hunger started calling and we went back home. Francoise had purchased sausage, breast of duck kebabs and chicken and pepper, onions and tomatoes kebabs, those went on the electric grill and Francoise served them with a tabbouleh salad. Dessert was homemade yogurt and fruit. Once lunch was eaten, the kitchen cleaned up and put away. We stayed inside in the cool until 6:00 when Francoise suggested that we visit Rouen plage before it closed for the season.  Rouen plage means Rouen beach; the city of Rouen, for its residents, creates an urban beach setting along the river complete with sand, playground, a rope bridge climbing structure, a scuba diving tank and two cafe’s. The dock along the river is temporarily closed for a month on the left side and the effort doesn’t go unappreciated. The children were having a blast and all the adults seemed to be enjoying their time at the beach.

I promise that as soon as I get back I am going to post every single picture that I have taken and explain them so that it all makes sense.

So far the weather here has been magnificent, Francoise has, so far, every day mentioned that we are experiencing a rarity in Normandy weather, 3 whole days of cloudless blue skies and 80 degree weather. Tomorrow will be day number 4, I haven’t a clue as to what we are doing but I don’t care. I told both Francoise and Nicholas that I am doing what I cam here for, visiting with them. The rest is all gravy on something great.

Barbeque Sunday

01 Sunday Jul 2012

Posted by laurieanichols in postaday, postaday2012

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

barbeque, heat wave, postaday2012, summer

We, in the Northeast, are very lucky that we are experiencing the mid to high eighties. This morning they were showing the whole map of the United States and the heat wave that is gripping the rest of the country is horrendous. I feel for everyone who is recovering from the devastating storms across the Southeast, Hurricane Debby to be precise, and the wildfires that are plaguing Colorado, not to mention the drought situation in the Southwest. We are hot and will be hot for days to come but there is no way that I will complain, there are so many others everywhere who probably can’t even escape the heat due to lack of power. To think that we have a political party in this country that still denies climate change, it scares me that this party, who being part of the political process, can influence our response to energy needs and how our energy policy Is determined. It bothers me to no end.

Onto happier thoughts, my hubby and I barbequed Sunday dinner together. All I did, I must say, is throw together balsamic vinegar, olive oil, herbs, salt and pepper, slice the eggplants, and the mushrooms were already sliced. The pork chops got some salt and pepper before I put them in the bowl with the eggplant and mushrooms with the marinade. I carried everything outside to my hubby who had a nice fire going on the grill and he did the excellent backyard chef grilling that he has mastered over the years. What I find annoying about grilling is the smoke getting in my eyes, I don’t mind the heat off the grill, it’s the smoke that gets in my eye where I feel that I’m blinded, do not like that feeling. Everything had a nice smoky flavor, the mushrooms were nice and meaty and the pork chops were juicy with the great charred taste that only grilling can give you. My hubby grills old school with wood, I have said it before, he is the best camper and the best fire starter that I have ever known. Sometimes he’ll also add charcoal to the wood, it depends on his mood, either way the results are always great. The best part is, hooray for leftovers, with the heat continuing knowing that I don’t have to cook tomorrow is fantastic.

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