16 July 2021

Weekend Reading and Gardening

Life continues its calm course here with housework, cooking, baking and gardening every day and occasionally a visitor or a trip out. This week we had to take Gracie to the vet because she has a sore ear, again. It's infected and the vet has put her on antibiotics and painkillers and wants to see her again next week. If there's been no improvement, he'll give her an anaesthetic and clean the ear out properly.  He tried to do that this week but she cried so much he stopped so she could calm down.  Poor Gracie. 


The weather has been a bit strange here.  We've just had two days of 26C and it's the middle of winter! It's cooler now and next week it will be cold. But the garden is motoring along and soon I'll take some more photos for you. I've raised a lot of candytuft seedlings and took cuttings of two French lavenders and a yellow rose which are growing well. I'll plant all of them in the main garden over the weekend, re-tie the tomato plants, prune, weed and finish off the fertilising I started mid-week. How is your garden coming along?


We've had sudden surges of Covid in the southern states in the past week or two. I hope the Covid situation where you live has settled down although I've read in recent days that Covid Delta variant is surging in a number of countries. I linked to David Attenborough's Extinction program a couple of weeks ago. It gives the latest facts about the loss of biodiversity world-wide and what the consequences are of that. There is a prediction by a number of scientists that more viral diseases will present themselves because of it. There is another link below as a follow up.



How are you going? I hope all is good in your neck of the woods. Thanks for your visits both here and to my Instagram page. Have a great weekend and enjoy what you do.  xx

🧵 🪡 🪡 🧵


Weekend Reading


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38 comments

  1. Your garden is looking lush!

    We are having a mild summer here in the Piedmont of North Carolina. Just enough heat and humidity to keep the sweet potatoes and okra growing and me indoors more than I'd like, but we can't complain with others dealing with triple digits!

    Another quiet week here, which is just the way we like it.
    Blessings...daisy

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    1. Thank you, Daisy. I don't like the hot and humid weather either. Enjoy the week ahead.

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  2. Hello Rhonda. I hope your little Gracie will get better with the drugs.
    Here in France, we are concerned because the delta variant is progressing rapidly...My husband and I received our second injection this morning.
    I wish you a very good week-end .

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    1. I'm really pleased to read you're covered with the vaccine now, Pat. Stay safe.

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  3. Hi Rhonda and happy weekend to you! Thank you for your links.
    I have read the first one about Ash Barty...wonderful. Such a lovely human being.
    Do hope Gracie is feeling better soon...poor little thing. We hurt when they do, don't we?
    Your garden is looking very plush...ours is just cold! 🙂
    The white moths got to my cauliflowers and cabbages..so new plan next Autumn with proper netting over them. Have been picking bags of mandarins to give away. I am trying to put some colour and flowers in my front garden. My big white camellia bush looks ready to pop into flowers..which is always a treat. Looks like Christmas when it does.
    So..back into lockdown...will need to find something creative to do!

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    1. You must be sick and tired of lockdowns, Karen. I hope you sail through this one.

      There is a product called Dipel that deals with the grubs of the white moth. You spray it on (and have to reapply after rain) and it kills the grubs. It's bacterial instead of being poisonous, and can be used on organic gardens.

      Good luck with the lockdown. xx

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    2. Thank you Rhonda..will definitely buy the Dipel!

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  4. I love Gdonna!!! I check for updates daily and am thrilled when I find a new post!!

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  5. First, sorry for Gracie's ear infection troubles. My dog sometimes suffers like this too, even though I weekly clean his ears. Some of it is due to allergies. But it is hard to see our doggies have to go through it. I read gdonna every week. Nice blog indeed. I did not really get the point of the soap video as I don't understand and cannot read any Asian languages. I know that bar soap is better; I sometimes use Dr Bronner's soaps that work quite well. The attractive part to me were all those neat piles of clean dishes. I wish I could clean like that, but we are under strict water use rules now due to drought. Everyone must cut down 20% on water use.

    Sir David Attenborough has been saying we should change for years now. I saw an interview with him and I suppose I think a lot like he does: he was asked about the space programme and mentioned that he was not really impressed: we live here, so why not take care of what we have? I have always thought this. Jeff Bezos and Sir Richard Branson are only adding to the carbon problem.

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    1. Yes Hopflower, it's Gracie's allergies that've become infected. The Asian vlog I linked to should have had English captions, you just have to turn them on.

      I'm going all bar soap now to stop bringing home all those plastic bottles. Like you, we're very frugal with our water. The two of us use the average amount of one person and it's really easy to do that.

      Take care. xx

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  6. Swab your darling's ears out with a mixture of apple cider vinegar & a scant bit of water (ratio if 10:1) every month or so and the ear infections will be gone. Apple cider vinegar is acid-based and bacteria can't grow in an acid environment. Leaving a little bit of the mixture inside the ear is preferred but not too much. Our groomer used a mix of apple cider vinegar and rubbing alcohol (same ratio) but I found the rubbing alcohol to sting a little bit, to irritated ears. It certainly wouldn't hurt but I preferred the tad bit of water. Try it... it helped our Standard Poodles for many years. ~Andrea xoxoxo

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    1. Thanks for your suggestion Andrea but Gracie's problem is that she hates anyone touching her ears, she hates drops and having her ears cleaned. At the moment her ears are way too sensitive for me to touch them. xx

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    2. Hi Rhonda, I had a cattle dog with the same issue. When his ear was sore, he scratched it and broke the skin, so any attempt by me or the vet to clean them was very painful for him due to the raw skin.
      Once the pain subsided, a weekly clean with Epiotic or any time after he was wet kept the problem from recurring. I also changed his diet to boost his Omega 3 and it greatly assisted. Hope your little Gracie is on the mend Xx

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  7. Poor Gracie! I do hope she starts to feeling better quickly. Sending love and hug to her xoxo

    G Donna is wonderful, I agree. Not sure where I first heard of her, could well of been here, but she is a calming voice and presence in these times were living in. I've reread her posting on Contentment from last week about four times now. You both have a way of making things feel better! :)

    Take care,
    Donna W from Dallas

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    1. Hello Donna. Yes, I linked to GDonna a few years ago, soon after I found her blog. We are firm friends now. Have a lovely weekend. xx

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  8. Hi Rhonda - I do love your weekend reading posts - thank You!! I wanted to just pop in & mention something about Gracie's ear infections. Does she have terrier in her breed? I am asking you because my son had 2 black russian terriers & one of them had constant ongoing ear infections that never seemed to clear up & she was always on antibiotics. One day a customer to my craft cottage told me that she had reared terriers & to put them on a gluten free diet. I mentioned this to my son & he tried it (I didn't think he would 😉) & he told me it made a huge difference. So I thought I would let you know ... but I am not sure if Gracie does have terrier in her or not. Have a great weekend Rhonda - I am off to my craft room to sew as its wet & wild here. Julie 😊

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    1. Hello Julie. Gracie is a pure Scottish Terrier so I'm very interested in reading about your son's experience with his terriers. I'm going to try gluten-free. I make all her meals and always include
      some form of grain. I'll change that. We also give her treats of toast, cake and biscuits. I'll be harder to do, but I'll do it. Thanks for taking the time to connect. Have a lovely day in your craft room. xx

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  9. Hello Rhonda. I have only read your blog and GDonnas for years now. I find both of them encouraging and peaceful especially the way things are in the world today.
    Karen NZ

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    1. Thanks Karen. I'm sure Donna will be pleased too. xx

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  10. Good morning Rhonda. Truth be told I'm feeling utterly miserable at the moment. I'm in Regional Victoria and any and all of our long planned family visits are all of a sudden in doubt. Yes, I fell apart when we heard. Now though it's onwards and moving on. We are well. Poor Gracie. We had a gorgeous welsh springer spaniel who had glorious long hair around her ears. She had almost continous ear infections. I feel your pain. Thank goodness for your blog as it makes me smile a lot more. Take care. Keep well and stay safe to you and your family. Your garden is beautiful.

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    1. Brigie, I'm so sorry your family visits might be on hold. You must be brave and just look forward to the visits, whenever they happen. I really hope that's sooner rather than later. Sending love and good wishes. xx

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  11. Hi Rhonda,
    Thanks for your refreshing blog. Just wondering, is the forum still up?

    Beth in USA

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    1. Beth, the forum was closed a few years ago.

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  12. Poor Gracie I do so hope she is on the mend now. Our boy who is a bull terrier (terrier!) often gets grass seeds in his ears which cause him to have infections and lots of stress.
    David Attenborough (used to be my mother's hearthrob : ) ) and his ilk are very wise. I used to read Davis Suzuki years ago but we don't hear of him now but he warned of global warming and all the horrible things that go with it years ago.
    Germany is in a very bad state so I do hope that any of your readers who live there are safe.
    Adelaide has been so blessed so far (Covid) and I hope we keep it that way. We are having rain and storms (I'll never object to some rain considering that our state is often very dry)
    Stay safe everyone Angela X

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  13. Nice to hear things are going well with you Rhonda. Poor little Gracie. Our Border Collie Locky had his infected ears cleaned out under anaesthetic, an then thankfully the drops and antibiotics cleared them up. Now he has a cyst in his nose that they are testing for.It seems he is prone to problems at the moment, but the vets are wonderful. Take care, Pauline

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  14. Hi Rhonda. Hoping Gracie is improving with the antibiotics. I also have had ear problems with my shitzu in the past. Just like the other lady Julie said a gluten free diet was just the right solution for us too. Also we gave our Jaffa grated carrot as a treat which he loved in replacement of our shared human treats. We are currently in Lockdown 5 but making the best of it as our weather lends itself to indoor activities. Take care and as our jonquils are now in full bloom I virtually send you a bunch. Take care and thankyou for your lovely comments last month with my continued remission. Julie from Mooroolbark in Victoria. xx

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    1. I'm so sorry you're in lockdown again but it sounds like you're making the most of the situation. Stay safe, Julie. xx

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  15. Hi, I am new to your blog, having found you through Coffee, Tea, Books, and Me (I think). Gracie is a cutie! Sure hope she is feeling better. I too, have a Gracie girl. She is a 5-year old beagle, and I refer to her as "love of my life dog." Gracie is a very lovely name for our gorgeous fur friends, huh?

    Just this past week, I made the transition to a dishwashing soap bar. I've been using bar soap for my body and face for several years now. I had seen in at Etsy shop a really cute kitchen bar soap and holder, so I figured I would use that and have one less bit of plastic in my house.

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    1. Welcome Patti. I love the Gracie name, I'm glad to know your little beagle is also called Gracie. We all have to change our shopping choices if they include plastics. I'm currently trialing dishwashing bars. This last one needs slight changes and I'm pretty sure I'll be very happy with it. Bars are the way to go. No more carrying home bottles of shampoo, conditioner and dish liquid. I hope you enjoy my blog. The search bar is in the right side column.

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  16. Hi Rhonda, I hope poor Gracie's infection has healed, and that she is no longer in so much pain. So glad you took her to the vet. I spent a lovely morning here in the garden. I planted a second blackberry bush, fed the zucchini and artichokes, and watered the great Jeffrey Pines and huge California Oaks. I discovered a pumpkin sprouting its way through the soil, and watched a sweet baby squirrel getting a long drink from my birdbath. Gardening is so rewarding. I love Grandma Donna's blog, too. Yours and hers are my main inspiration for the home and garden. I think the more we do for the earth and nature, the better.

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    1. Hi Stephenie. She's not over the infection yet but she has improved, we take her to the vet again on Tuesday. You garden sounds lovely. I'm seeing reports of wild fires again. Are they near you?

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  17. Good morning Rhonda, Hanno and Gracie. Hope the ears get better. Our 5 year old tiny poodle was never well,and was developing a chronic colitis, but (touch wood) has been well for over a year on a dry special veterinary food. I would have preferred to have her on home made diet but at only two and half kilos it works out ok cost wise and the relief is enormous! Maybe gluten free is worth trying. We joke that we have our emergency funeral/veterinary fund for those big bills, that we never even question for our star family member! Thanks for the reading links, locked down here again! Doing some painting inside as it's showery and cold outside, hoping to get the weeding and pruning next week as won't have any volunteering or babysitting duties. Take care enjoy your lovely weather

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  18. That is a truly lovely photo of you in the sidebar. You radiate contentment.

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  19. Poor wee Gracie. I really hope you can find something to eradicate her problem. The suggestion of a gluten-free diet sounds very interesting - and wouldn´t distress her in any way. We have had a few weeks of "tropical"weather. Whereas Swedish summer temperatures usually range from 15-25C, temps have soared to 30-32. Knocks the stuffing out of us. However, our garden is blooming as never before so there are some compensations. As soon as the heat drops, I´ll be scurrying around the woods looking for summer mushrooms.
    I started from the bottom of your w/e reading list and had a look at GDonna. What a beautiful blog! She has been wise enough too to chose a font and layout that conveys, calmness and order. Very different to the whistles and bells and fancy fonts we often see.

    Sweden came out of a long period of restrictions at the beginning of this week I am happy to report. Everyone who has had two vaccinations can print out an official certificate. This will enable those who want to participate in concerts and group activities can do so All steps in the right direction.

    Enjoy your peaceful lives and stay safe.
    Ramona xx

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    1. Gracie went back to the vet this morning. She didn't need surgery, her ear is improving but it's not fully cleared up. The vet cleaned her ear and she's got a second course of antibiotics and painkillers.

      The weather is crazy everywhere, Ramona. At your home, in Germany and Austria, in Canada and the US. Here we're having the coldest winter we've had in a long time. What have we done!

      xx

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  20. Hello dear Rhonda, I haven't been in blog world for quite a few months, but with lots of wet days this month, and SA in lock-down, I'm happily catching up on indoor pursuits. Thanks for another lovely blog post and I hope Gracie is on the mend soon. Gosh, when our animals aren't well it's such a worry. I particularly like your written piece below your new portrait photo, "...an ember of contentment.." and will be a new mantra to many of us when we need reminding of how important this way of life is to us. A big warm hug to you. XX Sally

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    1. Hello Sally. I'm glad you're inside having a break. I think it's good to take time away from blogs (and the internet) every so other. I've just come back from a break. Gracie seems to be much better now. She sees the vet again on Tuesday. Stay safe. xx

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