Happy Changes In My Garden, Solar Lights and Standing Planter Box

 

Two of my Christmas gifts from my sons on display in my garden. The solar flood light and the peacock sculpture on the right are the new additions. The peacock on the left and the bird bath are long time garden features. The floodlight is actually subtle, not blazingly bright, and casts a romantic mood in my backyard. It is on from about 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. You can't see too clearly but the birdbath is about 30 years old and is made of cement with pebbles embedded in it. Kind of old school, I love it. Behind is an old pink rose waiting to bloom.

I have considered buying one of these raised planters for a long time but they are a bit pricey and a hassle to put together. This is another surprise Christmas gift from my sons. Yes, they do treat me like a princess. Now I can grow vegetables while standing up. No more kneeling or leaning over to garden for this senior lady. 

I soaked Chinese sugar pea seeds overnight and planted them. I have an old wooden raised garden bed that is one to two feet high that is close to falling apart and I changed it to a flower garden. This week I planted seeds of zinnias, knee high sunflowers and knee high sweet peas. I bought the seeds from Eden Brothers and they arrived quickly, within a week. Yes, I live in a temperate climate. Nights have been about 40 degrees and days are reaching 70 so I can plant some seeds. 

As I sometimes say "Gardeners and Christians are hopeful people." We plant a tree or a seed or share a Scripture and wait in hope.

Dog in my cat clubhouse, Teapot with Blue Lights, Peacock , Social Isolation

 

Above is Bounce tasting the catnip in the clearly signed Cat Clubhouse. He is a rebel and rule breaker, like me. Below is Princess Fluffy enjoying her clubhouse.

Just for fun, here is my new electric teapot. It is glass which I like, glass is so inert, which is healthy to boil water in. The entertaining part of the teapot is its blue lights and how they dance when the water boils.

This photo below shows the teapot when I have just turned it on.

Just some light hearted things from around my home, with the aim of bringing smiles during this difficult time of pandemic.

Here is my blue metal peacock, which my younger son assembled and installed in my garden. Some readers asked to see the peacock when in my garden.

 

Occasionally I invite a friend to come over and sit on my patio, six feet apart, while we enjoy a coffee. Now that colder weather is on its way, I will miss those outdoor chats. Perhaps we will meet indoors, I have a sitting area in my living room where chairs are 10 feet apart. That is a big decision. How are you handling social isolation? I read today that Florida schools opened a month ago and there is NO SPIKE in virus cases. In particular, no increase in Florida in school age children getting ill, that is good news. New York City has opened its schools to its 500,000 students. This social isolation is hard on children. A family friend is eager to have his children, here in California, return to school; he says they are being damaged by this isolation. These are hard choices for all of us, and especially for parents.

Oh and I am praying for quick and full healing for our President and our First Lady. These are difficult times indeed. Best of health to them both.

Books: India in 1922 mystery and my garden peacock

 

The Sutapur Moonstone is written by Sujata Massey. I find India in 1922 to be fascinating, and add to that time and place Perveen Mistry, one of India’s first female lawyers, a ten year old Maharaja someone is trying to murder, the two fiercely competing Maharinis (his grandmother and mother) who live in purdah isolated from men, in two palaces, and you have all the ingredients for a book of adventures. Who can Perveen trust? Is there a love interest for her? Palanquins, the tiny enclosed seats carried by four men, feature prominently in the story, as do tigers lurking in the jungle near the palaces, and Perveen as a woman who works for rights for other women. 

 

I recommend you read the first book in the series, The Widows of Malabar Hill, as it shows us Perveen’s first assignment, visiting widows in danger who are living in purdah. I think The Sutapur Moonstone would make a good movie, with its beautiful settings in the old palaces, the hunting lodge in the forest, the beautiful clothing and jewels, a poisoner in the palaces, and the 10 year old maharajah in danger.

The author, Sujata Massey, has an interesting background. I belong to a group that reads British books and she is hard to classify as to her nationality as an author. Born in England to parents from India and Germany she grew up in Minnesota and lives in Maryland. So is she a British author? I would think British since she was born in England, unless she has changed her citizenship. Just an interesting question, not too important in the grand scheme of things. But in the group where we read books by British authors, sometimes it is hard to classify an author. I cataloged books at a university for many years and this point is of interest in determining how to catalog an author. I think of Bill Bryson as an American author, although he lives in the U.K. and recently got British citizenship. Artists too can be hard to classify as they move from country to country. Think of El Greco or Picasso. One question in my librarian job I occasionally faced was when an author changed his or her citizenship.

On a fun note, related to this theme of India, look what I ordered today for my garden, a metal gorgeous peacock. I will put it in my garden next to my patio, where I can see it easily. It has solar light in it so will look pretty at night. What do you think?

Wordless Wednesday

Peacock
Originally uploaded by Arizona Parrot

Well, close to wordless Wednesday. I adore the beauty of peacocks so this photo is a change of pace after Christmas.