Good Things List No.63: Deer Resistant Garden Blooms, Recipes for Weight Loss Update, Books & More

A monthly list of good things to see, buy, read and watch.

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It’s July and firmly summer and I’m loving it! Even though we’ve had temps in the 80s and a few 90s (rarer for western Oregon), our farmhouse usually has a nice breeze (code for gusty winds, lol) so the windows are open most days with the ceiling fans and it feels so good.

I know there have been heat domes and really hot temperatures throughout the rest of the country and I hope you are able to keep cool! I am thankful for our cooling heat pump when we need it.

My most favorite times during summer are the early mornings watering, deadheading the flowers and harvesting anything that’s ripe. Love it.

Speaking of flowers – the garden next to the farmhouse is the first good thing I want to share!

Good Things

Deer Resistant Garden Update

I created what we call the sunken garden in the spring of 2021 and shared the before and after of the garden the next September once they plants had filled in a bit.

It’s now entering it’s third season and has filled in quite a lot more, even though I’ve had some losses each winter.

Last fall we had the final concrete work done to the driveway retaining wall and steps to the garden and the back door. We were then able to create the fire-pit area you see in the background and because fire and wood chips don’t go together, we changed the paths and patio to gravel.

I think the gravel fades more into the background than the wood chips and lets the flowers shine more, so I’m really happy with the outcome.

Here’s a list of just some of the plants you can see growing above:

• thyme
• penstemon
• Spanish lavender
• germander
• boxwood
• yarrow
• salvia ‘hot lips’ and ‘amethyst lips’
• coreopsis
• English lavener
• Provence lavender
• pincushion flower
• calendula
• alyssum
• creeping phlox
• zinnias and cosmos (small yet, haven’t started blooming)
• foxglove

The deer that visit almost every night (I see their hoof prints) do not bother any of these plants.

There have been a few I’ve tried that they’ve devoured including hardy geranium (so sad), zebra mallow, and the two crepe myrtles that I thought would grow into the small trees I envisioned in the upper section along the driveway.

The geranium and crepe myrtle were both listed as deer resistant, so the lesson is to try and see what your deer like! I’ve had readers tell me the deer don’t bother their hydrangeas, but they are literally catnip to them here. So you do need to experiment.

I’ve learned that ours will eat almost any shrub if it’s the tender new leaves in spring, so I need to protect pretty much everything then to give the plant a chance.

Happily, most of the herbs and plants with a strong scent that I’ve planted in the garden have fared well without needing to spray, cover, or use mechanical tools to keep deer away.

Updated Recipes for Weight Loss Ebook

More than ten years ago I wrote a series on weight loss and put it into a couple ebooks along with the whole food recipes I eat that fill you up and keep you satisfied.

I’ve heard from many how reading my story and using the recipes allowed them to reach their goals without all the stress of “dieting.” The combo (a main dish ebook and side dish version) sold consistently for many years, but last fall I realized how dated it was.

Since I knew it was helpful to people, I didn’t just retire them – I completely redid the books, making them into one book that includes updates (some dealing with the changes that come after age 50…) and resources as well as 20 main dish recipes and 18 sides (all with photos and nutrition info).

My hope is that even more will find success with the small changes needed to become healthier with this new book!

Read more about the ebook here.

Or go directly to my shop to purchase.

Note: Right now this is just available as a download to print at home – if anyone would be interested in a coil-bound printed version, let me know and I’ll see about setting it up!

June Reads

It was a very good reading month for me, which is typical in months I do a lot of gardening because I listen to audiobooks. My total was 11 books!

This Time Next Year We’ll Be Laughing, Jacqueline Winspear. I read and enjoyed all the Maisie Dobbs books by this author and I knew she added a lot of her and her family’s experiences into the books, so I grabbed this from the library to listen to. It was interesting to hear the stories of her grandparents and parents that she incorporated into the books, but it didn’t really hold my attention that much. And when she moved to the states in her twenties, it kind of lost all interest for me. I’m not really sure why this didn’t resonate with me, as I know she is a good writer. Maybe I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind for it at this time!

The Mitford Affair, Marie Benedict. This is historical fiction of the fascinating Mitford sisters in the years leading up to WWII by one of my favorite historical fiction authors. I very much enjoyed this take on the scandalous, and sometimes crazy things these sisters actually did (befriending Hitler, of all things…). I didn’t know much about their story before this book, which led to my disappointment that the ending left so much unknown. One sister was in prison, another an invalid from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and another in a marriage she was trying to save. That was the end – what happened to them? I really thought there would be an epilogue that would share at least the answers to these loose ends, but no. Really odd in my experience with historical fiction. Other than that, it was a good book.

Beginner’s Luck, Kate Clayborn. This is the first in a series of three books about friends that buy a lottery ticket together and then win. Each book is the story of a different friend. I read this and Best of Luck, the third, because the second’s description didn’t look good to me. They do not become crazy-rich – or ruin their lives, thankfully – but just decide to do something they’ve always wanted to do (buy a house, go to school, etc.). They are fun, lighthearted friend stories and romances with a few “open door” moments as well as a number of heavy themes to work through (anxiety attacks, chronic illness, depression) that keep it grounded.

A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder (Countess of Harleigh Mystery Series, Book 1), Diane Freeman. I don’t know if it was the mood I was in, the fun covers, or the content, but I just adore this series of books! The series (I’ve listened to the first four already!) are fun Victorian “easy” mysteries that I listened to while gardening and cooking. I especially enjoy the narrator of the books – her inflections really bring the characters to life. It’s a nice mix of British society at the time, light and clean romance and then solving some type of crime. It seems less far-fetched than some mysteries since the main character isn’t a ‘sleuth’ just someone who stumbles into things and helps figure them out. Obviously, they are pretty easy to binge on if your library carries them like mine does (through Hoopla).

The Belle of Belgrade Square, Mimi Matthews. I’ve mentioned before that I enjoy books by this author since she nicely blends historical romance, mystery, family drama, and friendship, among other things. This is the second of her most recent series, Belles of London, and I’d had it on hold from the library for months through Libby, since she’s pretty popular. I wasn’t sure about this because I saw from the first book in the series that this would be about a man who’s seen as not very nice with a questionable past and a girl who is shy and withdrawn. I should’ve known Ms. Matthews would make me love both of them as he is not what he seems and she just needs a nudge to come out of her shell. Definitely a “hero-saves-the-heroine-from-her-terrible-family” trope (not sure that is a trope, but I’ve seen it enough that it should be!), but in all the best ways. This, like all of her books is “closed door” while still keeping the swoon.

The Jazz Files, Fiona Veitch Smith. A reader suggested this series to me after I bemoaned finishing the Maisie Dobbs series and I was just able to get it from the library. It’s a great option for another historical mystery by a young woman. I really enjoyed meeting Poppy in 1920 and seeing her grow from a unsure, sheltered girl to a woman who has talents she’s just finding out about. The era is fun to hear about and Poppy’s family and friends are interesting too. I’m already on the second book – of course an audiobook listened while gardening and cooking!

Extra: I also sort of read The Expats by Chris Pavone – just the beginning and the end. The story about a cold killer spy who’s now a wife and mom was just so-so for me (and yes, hard to buy the premise). Then I could see exactly were it was going and it wasn’t interesting enough for me to stick around for the middle so I skipped to the end. Yep! There are too many good books to waste more time on a book that’s just not doing anything for you, so I say stop, skip, or do what you need to. In this I was justified, as it ended just like I thought and I literally didn’t miss much by skipping the middle!

Watching

Jack Ryan Season 3, Amazon. We’ve enjoyed the first two seasons of this series so needed to catch up. I do have to say some of the plot was lost on me and there was half an episode that was mostly black (it was filmed at night), so not my favorite of the series, but still pretty good.

Also: Jury Duty on Amazon – such a funny concept that ends up with a lot of heart (f-bombs and crude situations warning, though).

That’s it for another addition of the Good Things List!

If you’d like to see more of what I’m enjoying, you can check out all the Good Things Lists here. I’d love to know what you think – if you’ve tried any of these or what you’d recommend. Leave a comment below with your thoughts!

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