june weekend clicks

  1.  All about breathing (who knew?)

  2.  20 min ginger pineapple chicken stir-fry

  3.  How to get the most out of your doctor's appointment

  4.  Cup of Jo readers share their cozy corners

  5.  Adorable farmhouse style cottage in Sweden

  6.  What movie to watch tonight?

  7.  How to style wall shelves like a pro

  8.  How to clean a dishwasher (yucky, but necessary!)

  9.  8 essential elements for planning a cottage garden

10.  The ultimate summer 2023 reading list

Have a beautiful weekend! 💓

hello june ~ peonies, yard project, patio and good book

Even though it's technically still spring, I always think of June, July and August as the summer months. It sure feels like summer is here already. Last week it was 90F. And dry. We haven't had rain in weeks. Our grass is brown and brittle like it usually looks in August. My peonies bloomed a couple of weeks ago and the bush is so laden with blooms, that the top half is falling over despite having a peony cage.

I love when the peony and clematis are in bloom at the same time. Gives me a pretty view out my bedroom window instead of the neighbor's ugly brown fence.

I know peonies should be cut when they're budding, not when the blooms are full, but I cut both. I like to leave most of the blooms on the bush though, since they're so pretty. This year there were plenty for the bush and a couple of vases in the house.

We had a big, messy yard project that got done a couple of weeks ago. Our back yard had been flooding when it rained heavily. We have clay soil and over the years, it absorbed less and less water. We needed to have french drains installed in the back yard. 

Looking the other way towards the south side of the house. The underground pipes wrap around to the side of the house by the patio.

In hindsight, we should've moved our patio furniture to the back of the yard by the arborvitae! We had no idea it would be this messy. They had to dig out all the lilies and hostas alongside the patio.

The pipes came down the entire length of the house, along the front yard and ended up in the drainage ditch in front of our house. You can see in this photo how they had to dig down the middle of the lilies and pachysandra. We didn't have them replant any of those, as both spread quickly. It doesn't look pretty this year, but hopefully by next summer, that area will start filling in.

Seeding and blanketing was done where they dug out the grass.

We've been watering every day but with this intense heat, no rain and being late in the season, I don't think much grass is going to germinate.

Hostas that were dug up were replanted alongside the patio. (Though they dug out my Joe Pye Weed too, and must've thrown it away, grr.) Brian got the patio cleaned off and bought a new umbrella, which we desperately needed for the late afternoon sun.

So my yard might not look too pretty this year, but at least there's the patio. For now. Those of you who have been reading my blog over the years know that the neighbor's dreaded mulberry tree is going to wreak havoc on my patio probably within a week or two. We have a new neighbor in this house and he told us he was going to have the mulberry tree cut down, but so far, nothing. We even offered to help him pay for it, explaining how it's been our nemesis over the years and nothing would make us happier than getting rid of that tree!

In the meantime, nothing more relaxing than an evening on the patio with chips and salsa, an icy cocktail, and a good book. This one - The Covenant of Water - is 715 pages long. I'm only on page 100-something. Hope I can renew it because there's no way I'll be able to finish this before it's due! 

From Amazon:

"Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning—and in Kerala, water is everywhere. At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old girl from Kerala’s long-existing Christian community, grieving the death of her father, is sent by boat to her wedding, where she will meet her forty-year-old husband for the first time. From this unforgettable new beginning, the young girl—and future matriarch, known as Big Ammachi—will witness unthinkable changes over the span of her extraordinary life, full of joy and triumph as well as hardship and loss, her faith and love the only constants.

A shimmering evocation of a bygone India and of the passage of time itself, The Covenant of Water is a hymn to progress in medicine and to human understanding, and a humbling testament to the difficulties undergone by past generations for the sake of those alive today. It is one of the most masterful literary novels published in recent years."

💖💖💖

this is june ~ flowers and cats

June started out beautifully; we had so many perfect late spring days with plenty of sunshine and occasional rain. My peony bush exploded into bloom seemingly overnight and provided the most gorgeous, fragrant blooms. I think they're prettier and smell better than roses! Too bad the blooms are so short-lived.

I kept the house filled with the blooms while I could, even though the fragrance set off my allergies.

At the same time, the clematis also showed off its splendid purple blooms, almost glowing at dusk. 

Our neighbor down the street who graces us with fresh peaches every summer from their peach trees, stopped us one evening on our way home from a walk. He asked if we'd like one of his potted fig trees. In limited English, he told us how to care for it. Kindness is spoken in every language!

The past few days here have been hot. A couple of days ago, the temp with the heat index was 108. Yesterday was 100. Today we're at 90, but it's breezy and the humidity is low (which is rare here) so it actually feels wonderful. The heat is much more tolerable with low humidity, that's for sure. 

On those unbearably hot days, I start my day with a big glass of water, then move on to iced tea or coffee on the porch. I sit in the shade and listen to the birdsong and try not to let the noise of nearby traffic, the screaming children that live in back of us, or the incessant yappy barking of the dog in back of us, get to me. Better yet, we also have a neighbor across the street that loves to sit in his truck on the driveway blasting music early in the morning. Welcome to life in the suburbs, I guess.

I wish we could live in a small house with lots of land, and the closest neighbor maybe half mile away. I would love to have a big garden, roaming cats (all neutered, of course), a horse, and a goat or sheep. When Brian retires, this might be a possibility in another state. We'll see. There's many factors that come into play.

Speaking of roaming cats, my house has attracted several of them this month. I swear we must have a vacancy sign hung out on the house. This beautiful tortoiseshell started showing up in my backyard a few weeks ago. She was timid, but not feral. I started feeding her and one time I saw a few kittens in the bushes, too. 

The only kitten I saw after the initial sighting was this beautiful baby, who looks part-Siamese. Or maybe Ragdoll.

The baby was terrified of me ~ obviously not used to humans.

Look at those blue eyes! I was smitten.

With the guidance of a friend who used to volunteer with our local humane society, I continued leaving food and fresh water out to not only help these kitties, but to get them comfortable and acclimated with my property. I started spending time every day sitting on the ground in the backyard, talking to the kitties, so they'd get used to my voice. One day, instead of leaving a bowl of food under the bushes, I took the can of food outside with me, and held a spoon of the food out to the mama cat. She started to slowly approach me and finally got brave enough to eat the food off the spoon as I was holding it. I then took my other hand and brought it by her body, and she was fine with that. Next step was petting her back and she loved it! Next thing I knew, I had her following me all over the place and meowing at me through my windows. 

I named her Goldie. She made herself right at home.

My friend said that because Goldie was so friendly, that she'd be easily adoptable. Our next plan was to try and humanely trap her and the kitten.

I set up the two humane traps that my friend gave to me and long story short, was able to successfully trap both Goldie and her baby.

Goldie and her baby are now living at my friend's house; she's fostering them until we have them spayed and get them up-to-date on vaccinations through the humane society's vet. My friend has named the kitten, Sparkle. They're both doing great and my friend sends me photos and updates. My heart lurches when I see them, especially Goldie. I became particularly attached to her. But we can't take in any cats with Clementine living here, as it wouldn't be fair to her. She's too old and sick (she has Chronic Kidney Disease, anxiety to where she barbers her fur and skin, and dental disease) to have the stress of strange cats in the house.

There's also this guy (at least he looks like a male cat to us) that is feral and sometimes hangs around our house. Brian's named him Blanco. We only see him a couple of times a week. I haven't seen him in a few days and I'm worried. Not only because of the excessive heat, but when I saw him last, I noticed that he is injured. His right front leg in the back of it, has a huge gaping wound. I'll pass on posting the photo of him where you can see the wound, as it's rather gross and heart wrenching.

But wait, there's more!

I stepped outside yesterday evening to see this thin gray kitty that I've never seen before. As it was running away right after I got this photo, I saw that the area behind its right ear was torn up and bloody.

All I can do now is to keep looking for Blanco as I walk around my yard, sometimes leaving a bowl of dry food in the bushes to entice him. Otherwise, I just have to concentrate my attention on Miss Clementine. She is hanging in there much longer than we expected. When she broke off an upper fang just a week after Monkey died in February, the vet dentist said without major dental work, that she'd only live another few weeks to a few months. It's now four months later and still no signs of infection in her gums from the broken fang. There's some swelling, which our regular vet said is inflammation, but at least it's not infected. She eats all her food, is still very active (to the point of being rather spastic sometimes), and doesn't paw at her face. We also continue to give her subcutaneous fluids every other day for her kidney disease. She's been beating those odds, too. Over 4-1/2 years ago when she was diagnosed, the internal medicine vet said she'd probably only live another couple of years.

We'll see how the rest of the month goes...maybe it won't be all about flowers and cats? Though if it is, I certainly won't mind. 

patio time

One thing I love about this time of year is spending time on the patio. It's a peaceful spot to have morning coffee or tea, a relaxing spot in the late afternoon with a magazine or book, and of course, we have dinner out here often, too. Though these past few days have been too hot to do much hanging out here past morning.

This path on this side of the house is lined with perennials and is fun to dress up with potted annuals for color. I wanted to paint the ladder this year, but Brian likes it as is, so I left it alone.

It's hard to see some of the details from the overall photo above, so here's some close-ups. This is on the right side of the path as you're walking towards the patio, though I took this photo coming back down the path.

I love this red bench I got at a vintage shop for $5 a few months ago. It's not sturdy enough to sit on, but it looks nice in the gardens.

Looking back at the bench area from the patio.

With living in an area where we're surrounded by neighbors, I love that we have this space carved out for privacy. The only thing I detest - and that I've mentioned on this blog probably every summer - is the neighbor's mulberry tree. It's already started dropping green berries on the patio. That means within the next week, ripened berries are going to start dropping by the thousands. They not only fall all over the patio, but the furniture, in my plant pots, into the hostas, and all along the path leading up to the patio. They are mushy and rot quickly, attracting flies. They also stain everything, so I have to move my patio furniture up against the house. And they ruin my hostas. 

Friday edit: Some of you had commented or emailed me to let me know we can trim the neighbor's trees that hang onto our property. We are aware of this and have done so several times in the past years. But it's complicated with both the neighbor and the mulberry tree itself. I will give details in my next post. 

I have this bicycle at the end of the patio, behind the settee. This is my first "real" bicycle from childhood. I got it for my 8th birthday in 1970. An original made-in-Chicago Schwinn. I love using it now as garden decor. When these tiger lilies bloom, it looks so pretty around the bike.

There's the bike in the background. 🌞

The warm evenings are magical...

Do you have an outdoor space to enjoy some quiet time?

hello june

I know it's still spring, but when the calendar turns to June, I automatically think summer. Usually by now in my neck of the woods, it's hot. Last year at this time, it was in the 90's. This year is different. It's been unseasonably cool and unfortunately, still very rainy. The extended 10-day forecast shows scattered thunderstorms every single day.

Around the gardens of Comfy House...my clematis is in full bloom right now and is so beautiful. The color of the blooms have a silver tinge, so that when nightfall is approaching, the flowers almost glow in the dark.

 My three-year old peony bush produced about ten huge blooms last week and I snipped a few off to bring in the house. I was disappointed to find that the blooms only lasted a few days. They quickly wilted and drooped and didn't look pretty. Then I read something online after I cut the flowers, that I was supposed to cut them when they were still buds. And I also wasn't supposed to cut more than 1/3 of the blooms. That can endanger the life of the whole bush. *gulp*

A few days ago, I spotted a crow fledgling in our yard. It was fascinating to watch it trying out its wings, stretching its legs, squawking a lot for mama to feed it, and constantly scanning the sky. I'd see Mama Bird hovering nearby in the trees, flying down to the fence post with a worm in her mouth, then diving down to feed her baby. I felt a little over-protective, too...I was afraid some wild creature would get Baby Bird since it was in an open area. When I was home, I'd look out the window to make sure Baby Bird was still there. And when I was out and came home, the first thing I'd do is make sure Baby Bird was OK. Baby is gone now, so I'm hoping and assuming it learned to fly and is happy in the skies and trees.

This past weekend, we finally had clear, beautiful weather and bonus - Brian was off work. We took advantage and went to an outdoor concert Friday night. Our county's Conservation District holds these monthly summer concerts at Glacial Park: over 3400 acres of wetlands and prairie and glacial kames. Made a perfect backdrop for an outdoor concert.

A beautiful night with beautiful views.

We also met such nice people sitting on either side of us. 

On Saturday, we took a little day trip into Chicago to explore a couple of North Side neighborhoods. We parked on side streets and walked to our destinations on the busy streets. Walking down one of the streets, I spied this Little Free Library by a fire station. Like it's not fun enough happening upon a LFL...but when it's put up by the fire department and decorated in Chicago Fire Department motif, it's even better. Peeking inside, there was a nice selection of books, though we didn't take any. Every book had a Chicago Fire Department bookmark inside of it, so I did take one of those. ;-)

I also love how there's lush flower gardens right in the middle of a neighborhood. I have no idea if the City does this, or if it's some kind of homeowner's association thing or what, but it sure does bring natural beauty into an area that's filled with buildings and cars.

For lunch, we decided to stop at 90 Miles Cuban Cafe in the Roscoe Village neighborhood. When we go into Chicago, we like to try different ethnic food. Guy Fieri featured this place on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives a few years ago.

Brian chose the Cubano sandwich (ham, roast pork, swiss cheese, mustard, pickles), plantain chips and passion fruit iced tea, and I chose ropa vieja empanadas. Everything was delicious and more than enough for one meal. Good thing we remembered to bring our small cooler in the car!

We discovered some cool shops, including The Good Old Days Antiques that had three floors of browsing.

Take the treacherous stairs down to the basement...

Or should I say, the creepy basement. But with so many potential treasures! Brian ended up buying a 1966 framed Cubs photograph with Ron Santo, Don Kessinger, Ernie Banks and Billy Williams. (Brian's a lifelong Cubs fan.)

We also found the coolest used bookstore - Bookman's Corner. The man who owns it, John Chandler, started at a flea market in Detroit in 1975, then eventually made his way to Chicago, opening a store. This location in the Lakeview neighborhood has been in business since 1984.

There are books piled everywhere in narrow aisles...you could spend hours in this place.

Just be careful where you step and be prepared to have to squeeze past other patrons. "Excuse me" goes a long way in this bookstore.

In a quote from Fourteen East Mag, Chandler says, "Everything was great until the Internet. Then it all went downhill. I'm not making a cent of money now, but I'm still buying books. It's a small bleed now to stay open, and if I close it will be like a hemorrhage."

Indeed, the prices are amazing. I don't know how he stays in business.

Another store we really liked was Praha - a quaint, organized shop with mostly vintage and mid-century furniture and accessories. It's all displayed so beautifully and the prices were reasonable. The owner was super friendly, showed us a really cool bar cart in the store and chatted us up about where we were from. 

I ended up buying an old, heavy drawer with dividers in it, which Brian's going to hang on the wall in the living room for me. I'll show that to you next time.

Until then ~ be well, be happy, be peaceful. 💜