Summer’s been a busy one for me and the family. The girls—me, Laura, Kayla, Kat, Sarah, celebrated Kat’s birthday with a two-day shopping spree, ending at Saks with our pals there.
Nobody left empty handed—and we all had plenty of pretty new things to take on our upcoming vacations. *
Sarah and her family were heading to England to see the Black Sabbath concert, tour around London, head to Stonehenge. Laura and her husband flew off for England, Scotland, Ireland—and Mark had a side trip to Belgium.
Whew!!
We had about two and a half weeks in Ireland. Fun, lovely, wonderful in every way. And my daily travelogues are here for anyone who missed them. **
Days after our return, BW and I hosted our annual summer party. We couldn’t have pulled it off without Kat, Jason, Kayla, JR, Logan, Colt. We also got lucky with the weather, and the forecasted rain never showed up. So a full, busy, happy day.
Almost on the heels of that, it was girl time again with our annual week at The Greenbrier. A little work, lots of fun, and plenty of ghosts to make it interesting. ***
Home again to a house and garden, and dogs, who needed some attention.
I’ve had and am having, my usual battle with deer. They got my lilies, again, but I saved my hostas. Although I think maybe our newest member of the garden family helps with that.
Last fall we needed to take down a significant number of trees. Some dead, some learners—and too close to the house and/or lane. We’d had a couple of big ones come down in storms, so needed to deal with it.
BW had the idea to leave one of the stumps standing, at a pretty significant height, in the area across from our water feature where we have hostas and shade plants and pots. His idea: Commission a chainsaw artist to carve something.
This was an idea I could get behind. I wanted a dragon, and found an image I liked. Our clever manager at Gifts, Natoma, knows area artists, and put us in touch with Jason Stoner. One look at his website told me we’d found just the right artist.
He carved the dragon head and body in ONE day, right down to the fine details. After, he ran a torch over it—to strengthen the wood and give it character. Sealed it. And we have a dragon. For the wings, he created them in his shop—one day—came back and installed.
What a talent. This beauty grabs me every time I take a walk. And maybe, his size and fierceness convinces the deer they really don’t like the taste of hostas anyway.
At least for now.
Today, I spent some time out there weeding, deadheading. And trying to ignore deer damage. Everything’s blooming and spreading and spilling. All my pots have filled in. The basil which looked very sad when I left for Ireland (so much rain here in May) has not just rebounded but is tall and happy. I have cardinal flowers that self-sowed all over. And I said: Go right ahead, mix it up!
I’m as happy as my basil. I finished a book Thursday, so I’ve had time to take a breath—garden, tidy up and pack.
It’s off again, with the whole family, for a week at Nemacolin—and the last trip of the summer.
Nora
Some details from Laura:
*We also learned about orchids!
** Start here for Nora’s trip. Start here for mine. And Sarah was sad about his passing, but so happy she and her guys were at Ozzy Osbourne’s last show.
*** We had our usual fun time. On the work front, Nora wrote several mornings. We also spent a day filming content: The Q&A for the next season of In Death In Depth as well as one for The Seven Rings, the last book in The Lost Brides trilogy.
Speaking of the trilogy, I’ve been greatly remiss on a follow-up post. I mentioned a mirror at The Greenbrier several times, but on this trip I realized I meant the FRAME of a painting which contains 3-D depictions of implements of war. For some reason, Nora’s idea of snarling animals around the frame of a mirror is much more comforting.
We also played with glass. This year we did glass fusion instead of glass blowing. And Griffin was old enough to join in.
And in other news: Kat finished that dratted mermaid puzzle from March!
Last Christmas Sarah gave Nora a puzzle that made for a much happier experience at The Greenbrier.
And finally, the happy Black-Eyed Susans greeted us when we returned from The Greenbrier.
I’ve had success keeping deer and squirrels, et al, away from my plants by tying aluminum pie plates to a post so they jingle in the wind.
The dragon is stunning!
Wow! That dragon is awesome! It’s difficult to believe someone could create such detail with a chainsaw! Your garden looks so tranquil. Very relaxing. You certainly have tenacity. So many adventures!
Maybe plant some hostas farther up the hill for them to have?
I don’t want to encourage them! They have acres of woods where they can eat all they want!
Always a pleasure to see your flowers and all you have all over. Your trips are just a fun thing to enjoy. Love all the family time.
I can’t remember who Sarah is. Love the flowers and the dragon is awesome!
I love your garden! That dragon is awesome!! I enjoyed reading about your trip, thank you for sharing.
Your Dragon is absolutely brilliant, what a talented man, living in Wales our flag has a Dragon on it, the Red Welsh Dragon..so Beautiful, sunning, and what a good idea ….
Garden looks beautiful as always, and I love the statue’s in it. Very tranquil, lovely to see your garden, glad you’re keeping us up to date on it.
I’m sorry about the deer eating your plants, how about one of those special deer grids, the farmers here have them for cattle ,so that they can cross onto the roads in the hills, not sure if that would be an option for you..
Still thank you for some lovely photos.
Take Care
Gina
We’re in the middle of acres and acres of woods. No way to fence or grid.
I love reading Fall Into the Story! We were thinking of stopping at the Greenbrier on our way home in Florida, but we can’t afford to stay there. I will enjoy it vicariously. Your gardens are beautiful and I love the dragon.
Have a wonderful trip. I am looking forward to your next book.
Wow that wood carving it is big and hopefully will deter the deer 🙂
Thanks for sharing twas fun!
Love, love that dragon! He is ferocious and mystical—amazing that it was once a tree stump! What a talent Mr. Stoner has!
It’s wonderful to get to travel along with Nora and company. Thank you. The Dragon is incredible. What a talent! Have you named it? Enjoy your travels. Thank you as always for being my favorite writer for as long as I can remember.
Stephanie
#professionalromancefan
Love your garden! And the dragon is stupendous! He’s beautiful and will certainly frighten away the deer. The glass creations were wonderful, and I bet Griffin had a fun time. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks, Nora, for a wonderful & newsy update. It sounds like you & your family had a terrific summer with a lot of travel. How great for your time together. Also your flowers look great & the dragon is absolutely amazing. All my best to you & yours.
What a realistic dragon. I love your gardens. Must b hard to leave and tear yourself away. I have my happy place on my back terrace, with wind chimes. Here in NYC, we don’t have much room. Did i see a weeping willow tree there? I just love them.
i love the dragon . It is perfect for your garden!
I appreciate you sharing your lives with us. Beautiful. The dragon is amazing. 🍹🍷🍸
How lovely to get to see this part of you. I looked you up today as for some reason I had a dream about you last night. There was a crime that you were solving whilst also being part of a stage musical. There was singing and dancing and some form of conga line. I don’t get it either but glad I can share it with you! lol (Seriously… Who dreams about an author and not a character the author has created!)