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Late Autumn Garden

I know everyone has flung themselves headfirst into Christmas and all that wintry loveliness but autumn is still with us for a couple more weeks. I know I am fortunate to live in No. California where the blooming season starts early and lasts a long time but I can already see our garden winding down. We've (haha – you know I mean Rick) stopped deadheading the roses so they can settle down for their winter rest. And most of our summer flowering shrubs are hanging on to their last couple of blossoms.

We had a terrific wind yesterday that blew most of the lingering leaves off the trees. Isn't funny how the leaves have lined themselves up in the lawnmower tracks.

My impatiens are still going like gangbusters. Both the ones in the pot at the end of the walkway and the ones in the three-tiered planter.

Once we dip down into the low 30's these will be gone. We are supposed to get down to 37° F tonight. Rick covered up one of the begonias. I'm thinking I might need a greenhouse situation on the backside of the garden shed to over-winter the begonias and the fuchsia.

The camellias have started blooming to give us a couple of months of flowers while the rest of the garden sleeps.

We do have some lovely camellias in the garden. I'm not sure what this one is – it was here when we moved in. My favorite is Nuccio's Pearl followed very closely by Debutante.

That milky white sky always reminds me of late autumn.

Here's the last of the fall color in our yard. I kept meaning to take a picture of our pistache tree when it was vivid orange and red but it was so fleeting. You can barely see that bench during the summer. It is surrounded by gladiolas and foxgloves. Not a fan of gladiolas (funeral flower) but Rick loves them and lord knows he accommodates me often enough.

Here are the last of the fuchsia blossoms. They always remind me of ballerinas. I can remember having them in our yard growing up and getting constantly scolded for "popping" them before they had a chance to open. Did anyone else to that?

Simple Christmas

Grace watching the world go by. My Christmas decorating for the past two years has been dictated by Grace and Rosie. Oh if they had their druthers it would be huge tree covered in precious, breakable ornaments. I can just see waking up to a crash and broken glass everywhere and two innocent faces. "Who us? We don't know what you are talking about."

So instead I have been keeping things simple.

I bought a fresh garland and cut it in half. One piece went on the chandelier in the living room and the other on the big mirror in the dining area. I added some twinkly lights to the mirror. And if you are astute you will notice I just swapped out a mercury glass pumpkin for a glittery tree and there is my Christmas tablescape. Simple AND lazy.

I really need a retro looking refrigerator, don't I? It would make for a more charming picture for sure, but I'm not sure that is reason enough to shell out a fortune for one.

I am toying with the idea of putting up a small tree. We did that last year and had it on a table and the cats seemed to leave it alone. We were at my Dad's last night and my sister Kate was putting the lights on his Christmas tree and it just smelled so good. I have a small faux tree that I use but maybe I can find a real one that is around five feet tall.

We spent yesterday taking inventory of our outdoor Christmas lights. We have two types of lights and not enough of either kind to do our house. Of course we can't find either kind in the stores so we had to buy yet another kind. We'll spend this week putting them up so we are ready for the Christmas light tour that begins on Friday.

Speaking of Christmas light tours – we had the most magical thing happen on Saturday. We were watching our Granddaughter and when it was just getting dark out we bundled her up and took her for a walk so we could see some of the houses in the neighborhood that have their lights up already. When we were on our way back we could see Christmas lights coming down the street towards us. It was eight horses and their riders completely decked out in lights! They were in perfect formation and just silently went past us. It was so magical.

I do have two simple trees up in the sitting room. I added twinkly lights to them as well. I'm thinking I'll just leave them as is. Please ignore the running shoes under the chair and the fact we have to flip up the valance so Miss Rosie doesn't chew on the trim. See what I mean? She looks all innocent…

So that is pretty much my Christmas decorating so far. Very simple. Enough sparkle for my glittery heart and out of harm's way.

Friday Favorites

Buttons ◊ Packaging gets me every time… ◊ Postage ◊ vintage wallpaper!!

I'm a sucker for packaging especially if it looks vintage so the Besame line of cosmetics is right up my alley. The packaging and colors are based on the designs and makeup available in the 20's, 30's and 40's. I have a blush that I've had for close to ten years that I'm rationing because I don't want to use it up. I have my eye on a lipstick based on Snow White's lip color in the 1937 cartoon
A look inside Lauren Bacall's New York apartment of 53 years. I love how layered and lived in it looks. So many celebrity homes are designed and decorated to within an inch of their lives and don't show the personality of the inhabitant. I guess after 53 years a place is going to look lived in
Sweet little travel backgammon set. Rick and I used to play backgammon all the time. I think we stopped because he always won….
Haha! For your well read tippler

Happy Friday! I think it's safe to officially kick off Christmas now that Thanksgiving is behind us. I've already put up a few decorations. Not much but enough to start getting into the festive spirit. Still need to sort out what we are going to do about the outside.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Book report

I haven't done a book report in, well, years. I always have to disclaim that I don't actually read books. I listen to them. But it is one of my goals to physically pick up an actual book and turn the pages before the year is over. So here is my review of the last handful of books I have listened to. I always make sure that I am selecting unabridged versions of the novels. I also tend to choose authors or narrators in batches. I do get comfortable with a certain style of writing or a certain voice.

So let's get started. Let's see what gets a five star rating.

First off I have been on a Louise Penny kick lately. I read the first four books in the Inspector Gamache series (or is it called the Three Pines series? I've seen it referred to as both) back in 2012. I thought it was time to pick up the series again. I do love finding a prolific author. She has written 13 books so far and I'm only on number 7 so I have a nice backlog of books to read. I also adore Ralph Cosham's narration and am gutted that he passed away after book 10.

The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny: One of Louise Penny's particular talents is her character development. Her characters while engaging and likable, they are also flawed. The Brutal Telling begins with the discovery of a body in the local bistro and the signs all point to one of the beloved Three Pines residents as being very closely connected with the murdered man and could quite possibly be the murderer. As the investigation unfolds more and more of his lies and cover-ups are exposed. Flawed indeed. As is Louise Penny's signature style the book perfectly weaves together traditional police procedural with subplots that suffuse the books with humor and a better understanding of the characters and the town where they live. We have Rosa, the sweater wearing duck, priceless antiques, and a trip across the country to learn more about its indigenous people. I really enjoyed this one despite the poor behavior of some of the residents of Three Pines. Louise Penny is very adept at revealing personality traits of her characters that I think will be integral for future books in the series. I'm looking at you Peter Morrow…. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny: I was a little uncertain about this book since it doesn't take place in Three Pines, which is a character unto itself in the series. It takes place in Quebec City, where Inspector Gamache is taking some time to recover from injuries sustained in an investigation that went terribly wrong. The details of that investigation are weaved into three other parallel stories. While in Quebec City, doing some research at the Literary and Historial Society a dead body is discovered and Inspector Gamache gets pulled into that investigation. The body is that of a historian that was trying to uncover the truth about the founder of Quebec and the mystery of his remains. Meanwhile Gamache has asked Jean Guy Beauvoir (his 2nd in command) to return to Three Pines to discretely open up the investigation of the murder in the previous book that landed one its residents in jail. I liked getting to know Jean Guy better in this book. It did take me a while to fully get engaged in it but once I was it was hard to put down. The subplot of the investigation that tragically ended in both Inspector Gamache and Jean Guy being injured is slowly and nail-bitingly revealed. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Okay – let's move onto another author. I'm currently listening to the book 7 in the Gamache series but I'm only a few chapters in.

The Sparrow Sisters by Ellen Herrick: This novel is akin to the magical realism that Alice Hoffman and Sarah Addison Allen do so well. It's the story of three sisters that come from a long line of mystical healers and while they try to keep a low profile in their town they are still sought out for one of the sister's healing herbs and tinctures. A new doctor moves into town and he is very critical of her methods. There is a tragedy and the sisters are the subject of a modern day witch hunt. I enjoyed this book but it was rather predictable with a cliched love story (do they hate each other or are they wildly attracted to each other…). Very Alice Hoffman-lite. ⭐⭐⭐

The Almost Sisters by Joshilyn Jackson: Hmm. Two books with sisters in the title. I do like consistency in my reading. Joshilyn Jackson is an author that I truly believe should be listened to. She narrates her own novels and makes each character really comes to life. Set in the South, the story centers around Leia Birch Briggs, a graphic noveliest trying to overcome writer's (illustrator's?) block. Her career problems take a backseat to her personal ones when she unexpectedly becomes pregnant after a drunken one night stand, her sister's marriage implodes and her beloved grandmother Birchie is diagnosed with dementia (which comes to light in a hilarious telling of a fish fry going seriously wrong).

She heads to her grandmother's home town to sort things out where a trunk containing human remains is discovered in Birchie’s possession, making her a either a suspect or a witness but with the dementia it's hard to get the true story.

While laugh out loud funny in parts, the book also tackles both past and present day racism in the South, family dynamics and loyalty. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Next on my list (after I finish listening to A Trick of the Light, book 7 in the Gamache series) is to actually read A Gentleman in Moscow. Once Grace is done with it.

Lamp Planter

I want to share a project that Rick and I worked on. A few years ago I pinned this image on Pinterest. That is pretty spectacular, isn't it? I thought it was a very clever repurpose of an old floor lamp. We kept our eye out for one but they tend to be on the pricey side. We finally found one at a salvage place in Sebastopol. They had a pretty good selection but, again, most were over $100 except for some reason this one was only $28.

Rick did most of the work, removing wiring, flipping things around and adding other elements like the upside down lampshade frame. The lampshade frame was a separate purchase a couple of months earlier with this project in mind.

Here you can see it mid-construction. I painted the lampshade frame to match the lamp and Rick lined it with chicken wire. In a stroke of genius he added a drip line following the same path as the original wiring so the drip line comes out the bottom where the switch was. It goes up the center of the basket.

(That camellia in the background is LOADED with buds – you can just get a hint of the pretty pink the blossoms will be)

I planted it with cool weather annuals so we can enjoy it for a while. Another Pinterest win!

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