Chasing Butterflies in my Bathrobe

What a surprise to find this cooperative butterfly when I went out to shoot the morning tulips.




He even landed on my hand!

Landscape Perspective

I get some questions about the size and arrangement of my gardens so I thought I'd try to show you where everything is located. I left these pictures big, so if you click them they will enlarge nicely and you will be able to read the writing (and probably be able to find a few weeds!). Be sure to hit the back button after you enlarge them because if you hit the "X" it will close out my whole blog.

I can't get it all in one picture so I have tried to get most of the side area in two shots. This is where the majority of my perennial gardening takes place. Everything in these gardens are perennial. I only plant annuals in the deck containers. I have labeled the different areas with the names I tend to refer to each area as.
About the only thing blooming in the main gardens now is the creeping phlox.



This is the front of the area above. I am standing about six feet from the road. The gardens go all the way back to the rockwall which is about 200 feet back.

If you focus on the main arbor, you should be able to see how this picture relates to the one above. I call these the "road view" gardens. These gardens are under pine trees which have been limbed as highly as DH could reach on a 12 foot ladder.

Nonetheless, sun is a precious commodity in the roadview areas. I have creeping phlox here, too, but it's not in bloom yet because of the shade. It's pretty difficult to get anything to grow in these areas. I think the tree roots as well as the tannin-infused soil has a lot to do with my lack of success.

I sometimes wonder why I even try! I guess because I spent so much time digging them all out (with only a shovel) that I can't bear to let them go back to the poison -ivy-filled empty lot they used to be. I think these gardens are about eight years old (time flies so quickly that I can't be really sure).

Everything is looking very green right now. I love to see the green grass paths. We don't water the grass so it's a rare thing to have all the paths looking so vibrant as they did at 6:30 a.m today.

I really have only done about 10% of the spring clean up work I usually do. Today I was working out there for about two hours. Considering my lack of spring effort, these gardens look fairly decent.

I think I have been working WAY TOO HARD in past years!

Campbell Soup Embellished Valances

Talk about differnt! LOL.
While searching the basement for something to embellish the valances, I came across these tiny little boxes of cambpell's soup. Hmmmmmmm....I wonder..........I do have a Campbell's kid cookie jar.

Well, I think they are quirky....maybe a tad too quirky for me.......so I continued my search.

I found three packages of these little mirrored black circles.


I wish they were about twice the size.
I spent some time trying to find something to back them with to make them bigger, but found nothing.
So I used them as they were.


And these valances are finished for now. I may change the embellishment if I come across something I like better.

My Kitchen Windows have been Bare for the Past Month

I took the winter/holiday curtains down and have not replaced them because I want to make something different.

I have had this Simplicity 4973 pattern for quite some time.

I am always buying valance patterns when Joanne's has their .99 pattern sales. Most of them never make it out of the envelope. :)

But this cool weather puts me in a sewing mood.

Look! Not only have I removed it from the envelope, but I have even cut the pattern out.

I was surprised to find that only one piece is needed for each style. The envelope says, "Easy", but I wasn't expecting it to be that easy!

When I got home from work I went to the basement to rummage in the fabric bins to see if I had anything suitable. Finally I found two fabrics that I thought would work. I cut out two sections and sewed them together. It was just as easy as the pattern claimed....really, this pattern is a beginner's dream.

In about two hours, I had six sections sewn and pressed. I still need to sew the casing for the rod pocket and do a bit of embellishing....buttons, tassels or something.....but here they are so far:

I guess you can't really see the fabric pattern/color (at least not on my monitor). I will post a better pic when I get them all gussied up. I still have to make 4 more panels for a second window.

Rain Mixed with Snow Today

That's the weather prediction.

No wonder I have no enthusiasm for planting.

My primroses are blooming.


They are always so bright and colorful. I like them blooming at the same time as the tulips. I also love them next to big boulders. Have you ever noticed that many flowers look good next to rocks? At least I think they do.

Yesterday was nail day and I asked her to give me something "bright and springy".

I think I got just what I asked for. This is certainly bright! I only have the nail art on the ring finger. Otherwise it's too much. The background is a new summer jacket that arrived yesterday.

Now if the weather would just cooperate, I'd be all set.

Johnny-Jump-Ups, Grape Hyacinths & a TON of Creeping Phlox

The phlox has just started on the sunny side of the rockwall garden. This is just 1/4 of the phlox bordering this area. It goes all the way down for 100 feet. I have this plant in many of the other gardens as well.

As you can see I have a lot of creeping phlox to keep the grass out of. It's a daunting task and I complain about it every year. I worked on it for a few hours Saturday. When it all blooms, it's worth all the work.
It should be a beautiful sight by the weekend.

Cock-A-Doodle-Do

I can't seem to shake my passion for poultry.

I've been buying them since I was about twenty (oh, I guess it's only been a few years--ha, ha).

Today I thought I would show you a few of the roosters/chickens that reside above my kitchen cabinets.





This is a floor rug. I think it might be cute framed and put on the wall.

The only thing I dislike about these farm birds, is cleaning up after them. I climb up and take them all down to wash at least three times a year. I don't like sticky dusty chickens!

It's Never Been my Favorite Flower, But I am Liking it This Year

Bergenia

This plant is very hardy and likes a little shade. It is grown from rhizomes and has leathery leaves. The leaves are evergreen and by spring they can look pretty tattered. In past years the flower has been hidden in the leaves. This year there are three nicely visible pink flowers and I like it against this boulder.
This pic shows the big round leaves. Earlier in the season I removed a couple of the really tattered leaves.

I almost got rid of it a few years ago. I've had it in three or four different places and it's never done much. I think I may have finally found a spot it likes.

Here is another bergenia.

I may have to remove bergenia from my list of plants I don't really like. I am finding it quite interesting this year.

When I got home from work at 3:30 p.m. it was raining a little. About 5:00 p.m. I noticed the rain had stopped so I bundled up and went outside. I was shocked that it was really warm out there--too warm for the long sleeves I had on. I decided I'd spend 30 minutes removing grass from the phlox. Once I got to working, I spent over an hour. It was quite pleasant (except for the bugs that are coming out already).

I am hoping to spend a few more hours weeding this weekend.

Size Matters

Even though it's still only in the 50-degree range, there was a bit of sun out today and the new tulips were opened when I got home from work.

They are both quite beautiful when fully opened.

The Greigii Kiev boasted of 7-inch blooms, so I thought I'd see if the advertising was correct.
Hmmm....six inches is the biggest one I could find. It's still a nice size for a tulip. The Monsellas maxed out at the same size. Not bad. I am happy with both of them.

I have not done anything new as far as the deck planters go. I usually have them all planted by now.

This year it's been too cold and I have not even been in the mood to go to the local stores to see what plants are available. That is very odd as normally I want to get there first so I can get "all the good stuff" before it's gone. Maybe I will just pull out the dozens of cannas, callas and dahlias I have stored from last year and not plant any annuals...........I am not even in the mood to do the big planters at work....it all seems like way too much effort this year. It's really amazing how much work is involved to get the deck to look like it usually does.

Greigii Kiev and Monsella Tulips

Despite my lack of care, I have dozens of tulips blooming. I did not go out once to deer proof them. As it turned out this is one of those very rare years when there were no deer or rabbits eating my flowers.

This bold beauty is 'Greigii Kiev'. I ordered 35 of these last August from a telephone sales pitch from Breck's. I like these.

They are supposed to have "purple-veined" leaves. I don't see any purple, do you? Oh, wait a second. Let me get my magnifying glass out.

Ah, there are some tiny little specks of dark color. I guess that's the coveted "purple veining". I'd say that advertising is just a tad misleading. I was expecting to see the purple without having to enlarge the picture on my computer screen! Nonetheless, I'd buy these again for the dramatic flower color.

These 'Monsella' are also new.
These are not as bold, but they are no wallflower either.

I am very happy with both of these. It's wonderful to get mail-order flowers that meet (almost) your expectations.

I am waiting for my phlox to bloom before I take long shots of the other tulips. It should be this week.

I did a ton of cooking this weekend.

Remember Saturday night we grilled steaks? Well, we grilled extra so that after work tonight I can make a stir fry. There will be no frozen bagged veggies in tonight's stir fry. I spent a lot of time cleaning and chopping and have everything ready to throw in the wok. Bagged and frozen mixtures are so much easier!
I just love to look at all the nutritious ingredients.

Have a great Monday everyone.

OMG--the Things I do for a Blog Post!

I know I've been a little lax on posting lately.

But can you believe that I stuck my flip flop adorned foot this close to a snake just to have a picture for posting?

OMG, I get the jitters just looking at this picture! My foot had no protection whatsoever. Thank goodness the reptelian didn't lash out at me!

Blogging has made me a crazy woman!!

DH and I spent most of the day staining the white part of the deck. What a pain it is. DH got a ladder to do the top part of the lattice

while I gave my favorite piece of deck furniture a fresh coat of the same stain.

It's only 55 degrees out today, but with the sun shining, it's a perfect day for this hated chore. Now we only have to stain the floor and the deck will be ready to bring out all the plants--even if the weather isn't.

DH bought corn on the cob when he went grocery shopping early this morning. After I finished with the staining, I brought the corn out to the deck to shuck. It saves me having to clean up all those hairy things from the kitchen floor. He also bought some steaks to celebrate finishing this dreaded task. He is outside right now cooking them. I have the corn boiling and the onions/mushrooms sauteing.

It should be a good celebration dinner.

What is this Rating System?

Is everyone seeing this? I came in once and it was here. The next time it was gone. Now it's here again. Just in case it disappears the next time I pop in, I took a screen shot for evidence. :)

I don't think I like this!

I really don't care to have people rate all my posts from 1 to 5. For what purpose is this being added?

I do hope there is a way to turn it off.

7:49PM
OK, I just went to two blogs and I didn't see this rating feature. Does anyone else have it?

5:30am Thursday
I figured out how to get rid of it. Go to your layout section. Under "posts" you will see a checkmark in a new box called "show star ratings". Just Uncheck it.

Ah, that feels better. I no longer feel like a teenager vying for prom queen votes.

Care for a Goose Egg Omlette?

This weekend, while walking along the beach, my boss (fondly referred to in this blog as the "Big Kahuna") came across this goose. At first he thought she was dead as she lay with her head completely down on the ground.

As he walked closer, she suddenly jumped up to see what danger lurked. Ah, she's sitting on three eggs.
She raised her head high and appeared to be squawking.
Then she spread those menacing wings and lunged toward the Big Kahuna.

The blurred image indicates that the Big K may have been just a tad scared as he quickly jumped out of mama's way!

I don't blame him, I would have been scared, too!

At work today we had a large patriotic-themed Luncheon banquet. I thought the room looked nice enough to take a picture.

The decorations were easy and inexpensive. I think if someone was having a 4th of July or an election day home party they could do very similar decorations. The flags were just stuck in a wine glass with mylar shreds. A few days prior, the flags were rolled around the stick and secured with rubber bands so when they were opened today, they stayed a bit rolled. Very nicely done, in my humble opinion.

Just Like a Jigsaw Puzzle

I have accumulated quite a stack of blocks.

I've been sewing them the past few months and tossing them in a pile.

As I ran out of whatever fabric I used for the background, I started another batch with a different background color.

I really had no plan on what to do with them. I just made them for the pure pleasure of trying out new color combinations.

Tonight I took the pile and started playing around with them to see what I could make.

From the three stacks above, I came up with this:


I don't have quite enough border blocks done. I have very little of the green fabric left, but I did a quick calculation and I think I may have just enough to make the 25 border blocks I need.

I will just keep sewing and stacking and one day I will put them together into something. It may end up being something totally different than this. I never know what I am making until it's done.

It's Sunday afternoon already

I went out after work one night last week and cut down most of the daffs I had blooming around the yard.

I used to have hundreds, but each year less and less return so they make a pitiful yard display.

I decided I'd enjoy them more inside the house this year and was quite happy with this wooden chest I found to display them.

I went to work for two days and totally forgot about them at night.

Then I left for a three-day get-a-way.

Today I returned and they looked like this.

I didn't really get to enjoy them inside after all!

We did get to enjoy our flamenco dance show on Saturday night.

Unfortunately, I could not get a decent pic because it was dark in the room. This one hardly does justice to the talented dancers, but it's about all I have to remember the night.


I only got one picture of the food because it was so dark that I had to use the flash and I didn't want everyone looking at me.

These are very tender tasty beef kabobs, herb-infused skewered shrimp and spinach/cream cheese phyllo pillows. Everything was delicious.

For dessert they served numerous gourmet petit fours--every morsel was a different delectable delight--I swooned over a teeny tiny creme brulee (about the size of a quarter). Servers came around with trays of the sweetened bits of heaven throughout the performance. Just writing about them makes me wish I was reliving the moment.

Throughout my little get-a-way, I took advantage of free bits of time to read Jennifer Chiaverini's book, The Winding Ways Quilt.

This is just prior to the dinner show. Notice that I did appear in public in that bold jacket. :) It really was perfect for the event.

For all the Chiaverini fans out there, I think you will enjoy this book. I am about 3/4 of the way finished and I have been enjoying the read. As I read, I do get the feeling that the author is writing for all of the new readers who have jumped on board since the series became so popular. There is really a lot of rehashing of bits and pieces of the Elm Creek quilters lives that you already know. But, if, like me, you have forgotten a lot of the details, you will enjoy being reminded of who's who.

So here it is late Sunday afternoon and I am back to my normal life. Just to prove it, here's tonight's dinner....


Meatloaf. (not my favorite, but DH loves it.) The things I do for my man. :)

Tomorrow it's back to work.

I wish I could start my three day vacation all over.