Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Worm Eaters

 There is a tiny bird that sits high at the top of the telephone pole.  She sings her heart out!  I can also see a flicker outside my window, pecking at the same pole. For those of us who do not have pets (sad!) wild birds are a close second!
 Robby looks mad!  He is!  He doesn't want me staring at him and scaring him away from his worms.
 Toadstools!  This isn't good, but Bill mows so often that it isn't a problem. 
 I saw a little finch with grass in her mouth pop into this nice yellow house next door!
 I'm thrilled with the hollyhocks!  I didn't plant them! They came on over from my neighbor's garden.  Last year Bill didn't know they were important so I think he sprayed them with poison (gasp!) but this year they are visible from our bedroom window!  Long ago, I planted hollyhocks from seed and the same neighbor told me that she had never had good fortune with hollyhocks.  Mine came up and were tall and pretty and ever since, they've been dancing around our two flowerbeds!
 The radishes are weird.  The plants are tall but the radishes pull up long and skinny.  Cucumbers are growing fast! 



 More Robby!  The robins wear such lovely clothes, don't they?






 I'm going to pull out all of the lilies because they are WAY too big.  This year, we'll enjoy them.
 Here's the toad house/fairy lodge.  It gets mud- spattered from our sprinklers, but I feel sure the fairies are holding secret meetings within the rounded walls (at midnight, under the moonlight, of course).
 I bought this ratty old tomato plant at the grocery store.  I hope our summer goes long so we can have a tomato or ten!
I like this peak on the front of our house.  When we were house hunting (we had NO endurance and bought on the second day) I didn't really like the outside of this house.  There were big faded trees and ugly cedar bushes in front.  I didn't like the rocky wall either.  Now I do.  I know people who still want their "dream house" and I am not one of those. A fancy dream house can't possibly make our relationships feel any different or make us strong of body so that we can do what is in front of us.  Isn't home the place where we can feel safe and don't we make our own homes personal in different ways?  
Our Jeff and his Christie live right next to a home that has been revamped and turned into a place for a few elderly people.  The occupants have roommates and most of them don't have many visitors.  What would you think of that? What if you were trapped in that kind of environment?  I think I'd figure out a way to get some technology, a really soft comforter, and I'd aim to be so nice to my roommate that she simply HAD to get along with me. I would just HAVE to make my little spot into a home.

I finished Anne Chisholm's biography of Rumer Godden.  Godden was a very prolific writer.  I don't know how she had time to read!  She wasn't really happy until she became a Catholic.  Her early life held anguish and distress.  The biographer took much of her material from letters and diaries, but there are still major gaps.  She doesn't sound as if she was the cheeriest or bounciest sort of person, but WHAT a story teller!  I had better check out the library here or I'm going to spend too much of my pocket money on Rumer Godden books.
I'm also reading the first Maisie Dobbs novel.  It was a recommendation from Heather at Blackberry Rambles (she's GREAT at reviewing books, just like Leslie at Wayside Sacraments). 
I'm reading a lot about aroma therapy.  It's way too much information all at once, so I try to take it in small measures.
I'm going to go down to the kitchen to bake some chocolate chip cookies.  Stop on by for cookies and tea.

21 comments:

TexWisGirl said...

i like your blooms and your birds. :)

Pooch said...

I like the juxtaposition of aroma therapy and baking chocolate chip cookies. Sounds like you're on to something!

:)

Sue McPeak said...

I'm stopping by for a PomPom Fix, and I sure enjoyed it today. Mr. Robin is dressed for worm eating...lol...great pictures. Flowers and veggies are so pretty and your words are fun to read. Aroma Therapy sounds nice, especially the baking cookie smell. Happy Day!!!
Sue at CollectInTexas Gal

Farm Girl said...

I would love to stop by for tea and cookies. I think I need to take a nap first.
Swimming makes me hungry and sleepy.
Your pictures and your birds are lovely. I like your house too.
I always buy a house for the wrong reasons. Our second house was just because there were berry bushes in the back yard. I know that once you live in a house it becomes home.
I like all that you said. I have a used book store close enough to walk to if it wasn't so hot. I wish you would come visit me and go there and we could look at books.
Then we could go to the library.
I bet I could find you some fairies to take home.
Have a wonderful afternoon.

Elderberry-Rob said...

Love hollyhocks have just been thinking of painting some. I like your views on houses/homes. Our house loves us - we came here 20 yrs ago and watched it being built, when our new neighbours came for a bbq this week they said it's so cozy and homely - I was so honoured. They gave me a purple lily, it likes shade so I am having to nurture it. Your robins are different to ours, they look like they are big and hungry. I am enjoying YOUR retirement Pompom!! ha ha you are having time to chat and stop and enjoy and sharing it, thanks for sharing. Betty x

Lisa Richards said...

I love the license plate roof on the yellow bird house! What a great, waterproof, idea!
My flowers are all so SMALL compared to yours. I guess I'm just so far north. My morning glories are all foliage and no flowers.
I plan to get outside this evening and tomorrow and enjoy the sunshine.
The Rumer Godden bio sounds interesting. I have to rein myself in, too, as far as pocket money, hee, hee!
I wasn't sure I liked my "manufactured" home when we first moved in, but it feels very homey now. It's all in what you do with it. Have a great day!

Beth said...

I love the robins. they always let us know when a long cold winter is done. Your flowers are lovely too!

Debi said...

Loved your photos of the worm hunters!

GretchenJoanna said...

I love your robins!! I know they are relations of mine. But I think I told you that once before. :-)

libbyquilter said...

you have a nice variety of color in your hollyhocks and they are up so high~! mine are still gaining height. i try to add a color or two each year but this year i didn't get that far with the garden work soon enough.

today in the garden i was planting some more ferns by the pond and after i cleaned up the robins were quick to hop around the area to see if i had perhaps stirred up something yummy for them. smart birds.

houses and homes . . . hhhmmm . . .
the longer i live in any one place the happier i am to 'nest it up'. it seems to take me a while to bond with a new home but once i have i can think of a million ways to make it special and my own.
if i were living with you as a room mate in our elder years we would paper the walls with lovely nature collages cut from magazines and newspapers and i would stitch something beautiful for you and of course we would get along wonderfully . . .

cookies and tea: the best kind of aroma therapy~!

:-)
libbyQ

Nancy McCarroll said...

Can just hear the love of life in your writing! Your garden is going great guns and the robin looks so satisfied with that worm. Cute.

Left-Handed Housewife said...

It's so fun when you get volunteer plants, especially if you love them.

What Rumer Godden book would you recommend? She is someone I've read a lot about, but haven't read.

xofrances

Maggie said...

So enjoyed my visit to PomPom land today, you'd make a fab roomie!

Catherine said...

Oh Pom Pom what lovely Robins you have! That is a very plump defenceless worm lying there on the lawn. Did you know that those pesky day lilies of yours are edible? They are quite lovely sprinkled through a salad & taste a little like snow peas. I'd like to know more about your aromatherapy learnings, sometime. What oils do you find the most useful & which ones would you never be with out & why? Isn't learning wonderful!! I love to break it all down & absorb just a bit at a time & then again until it sticks. I am so glad that we can learn this way nowadays & not just have to sit & listen to one person going on & on....lectures! Is that lemon balm in the corner by your basil? I remembered today that it's also called Melissa & is a really medicinal herb. Lots of love & hugs to you my friend, GK x0x0x

April said...

I appreciated your insight on a home verses a house, MomPom. I will try and keep that in my mind as we look for a home. Love you!

Gumbo Lily said...

I just love robins. They seem to be so friendly hopping around our yard like it belongs to them too. (I'd say it does!) I have thought about your "what if" I had to live with a roommate in a different place. How would I handle that? First, I think I would try to escape to the outdoors every single day, but I would hope I could make it into a little happy home. I remember when Tom's 100 year old grandma moved to the nursing home. She made the very best of it. She embroidered every single day (her work) except Sunday, which was the day of rest. On Sunday, she spent the day writing letters. She embroidered quilt blocks for baby quilts which volunteers put together for her. Quite an amazing woman.

I like your house. It says a lot about you. Happy Summer!

Sarah said...

Hello, I'm visiting via Elizabeth's blog Cornish Cream.

Love the pictures of your garden and birdy. I planted some hollyhocks last year that I grew from seed. Your post has reminded me that I haven't seen them this year, I must go and have a look.

Your chocolate cookies sound delicious...enjoy! :)

Attic Clutter said...

Hi Pom..
ha..love the robins getting worms.....we have many of them getting worms in our yard too(:)
your garden is darling..always so whimsical(:)
yes acidity in the soil...I heard coffee makes hydrangeas
purple..won't try that on my pretty green one(:)
hugs,Patty

Sharon Lovejoy said...

Gosh Pom Pom, I would LOVE some cookies, but I am doing this calorie counter thing called Lose It and I record everything I eat. it is amazing that one thin slice of Provolone has over 100 calories. It is making me more aware.

Love the photos, especially the Robin.

My husband and I painted our kitchen with Benjamin Moore paints. We can't remember the color, which is always a problem when you want to do touch-ups, but I think it was one of the HC line, which are heritage colors.

Eat one for me!

Sharon

Thistle Cove Farm said...

I adore hollyhocks but couldn't get into the Maisie Dobbs books. I've just caught up with all of Daniel Silva's novels, getting started on Elizabeth George's and P. D. James' extension on Pride and Prejudice. Now that's sounds a strange 'un!

Leslie said...

I am thrilled to see your hollyhocks. They are sooooo beautiful. You will have to make hollyhock dolls with your grandgirls.

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