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.

Visions of Sugarplums danced in my Head

When I spotted these giant lollipops my first thought was Christmas.

Quite a few years ago I searched every store in my town for these to use on a Christmas tree in the dining room at work. There was not a giant sucker to be found. In all the years since this is the first time I've seen them.

So I bought 15.

I can't wait to see what I can do with them next year.

If only I remember that I have them.


I hit pay dirt in the mailbox yesterday. When the mailman has to wrap a rubberband around all the magazines, it's a good mail day.

I haven't read any of them yet.
I also went to the library to pick up a book I'd put on hold. It's Jennifer Chiaverini's latest in her Elm Creek Quilter's series. I hope it's better than the last one I read in January.

I'm saving all the reading material for a three-day trip we will be taking after work Thursday. It's the Mexican Flamenco dinner theatre weekend.



I recently bought this jacket. I was going to wear it last week, but it was so bright that I just couldn't bring myself to go out in public in it! I thought I'd wait for warmer weather when it would seem more appropriate to wear something that required sunglasses to look at.

Anyway the Mexican dinner dance may be just the occasion to wear this jacket. How fortunate that I would make such a buying mistake and then end up with the perfect event to wear it. So Mom, this is probably what I will be wearing to the dinner (Mom will be there, too).

Now I must get to work and move all my LR furniture back to the living room all my dining room furniture back to the dining room. A few weeks ago I switched the two rooms and now I don't like it so I have to move it all back. It's a TON of work because there are four china cabinets that have to be emptied of all their glassware to make the move.

Why oh why do I do such crazy things? I did the exact same thing last year. I don't know why I thought it would look different this year!

Doesn't Brecks know that mid April is not the planting time in Michigan?

Before I get to the gardeing, let me attempt to tantalize your taste buds with these twice-baked potatoes I made for dinner today. They have a layer of caramelized Vidalia onions on the bottom, a bit of sour cream, cheddar cheese, and crushed Caesar salad croutons on the top. YUM! They were good. I really don't have a recipe, it's one of those toss-in-whatever-you-like items. I never make the exact same twice baked potato. I had this bag of croutons that we both hated (too hard and crunchy), so I dumped them into the food processor and turned them into crumbs for the topping. They gave a delicious flavor--much better then flour.

We will come back to the potatoes later, after I show you the little bit of gardening I did today.

Last week I received my Breck's order of cannas, dahlias and flame flower. I ordered them months ago and they said they would send the order at the proper planting time.

The proper plating time in my region for tender plants like these is early June. I stuck the box in the garage for the past week. I am not sure if sitting in the garage for six weeks is a good idea.

Today I decided to plant them in containers and store them in the garage at night. I thought it would be nice to get a head start on the blooms. That means I have a good month of hauling nine pots in and out every day. I hope the blooms will be worth all this extra work!

I am supposed to plant these two Wyoming canna rhizomes 15 - 20 inches apart. I just ignored that and stuck them both in the same container.
Here I have six containers of Rembrandt dahlias. I may end up popping them into the ground in June.
I looked at this tiny little flame flower bulb and wondered what in the world I was thinking! I can't imagine that this one little bulb is going to do much. I've never even seen a flame flower. This was one of those too-easy-to-click Internet impulse buys. The "cup shape blooms of bold red and yellow" must have made my mouse-clicking finger tremble right to the order form. I gave it a pot of it's own and we will see what becomes of it.

I spent the rest of the afternoon cooking. MY sister-in-law had a sudden operation yesterday and is now in the intensive care unit. I wanted to make a few things to take to my brother-in-law. I am sure he will appreciate having a meal or two ready in the next few days. I made a dozen of those twice-baked potatoes so I took some to him and froze a couple more meals.

Do the work only once and enjoy the meal at least four times....that's my motto.

Anyway here is the meal of baked chicken strips, carrots and the twice bakes that I am taking to him. I hope he likes it. I stuck some Sweet and Sour dipping sauce in there, too.


I am also taking some chili. I hope he likes it.

Another day in the Hospitality Industry

Today one of my coworkers came into the front office. His eyes opened wide with astonishment as he told of walking down the hall behind a big woman in stilettos with the largest calf muscles he'd ever seen.

"I'm telling you, she was this big," he proclaimed, raising his hands and arms to illustrate Amazonian proportions. As he shook his head in amazement, he added, "You should have seen her trying to walk in those heels."

He brought his shoulders to his chin and his jowls quivered in disgust as he declared, "I've never seen such an ugly woman."

A few minutes later he called to tell me she was now at the pool in her bathing suit.

I was pretty sure that I already knew who this woman was, but I took a little stroll to the other side of the hotel, because I couldn't resist seeing for myself.

Sure enough it was Rachael.

Rachael is a c*r*oss d*r*esser man. We know he calls himself "Rachael" because a very important hospitality rule is: Call the guest by his/her name whenever possible. To comply one of our guest service reps asked him what he would like to be called when in feminine attire. He was very pleased that she asked and he happily told her that he would like to be called Rachael.

He is sitting outside his poolside room in a woman's one-piece bathing suit, heels, long glue-on fingernails, red lipstick and a shoulder length chestnut-colored human hair wig.

This is the first time I have actually seen Rachael.

The guest service reps tell me that he checks in about every 3 months...usually at night and usually as a (very unattractive) woman. When he checks out he is a senior citizen man.

He never bothers anyone. Except for our employees strolling by his room to catch a glimpse, he is all alone out by the pool. I would have loved to stand there and gawk a bit, maybe even chat with him a little, but I just nodded and said, "Hello." He smiled and returned the greeting (in his manly voice).

A housekeeper came from another direction. We gave each other a knowing glance in passing. Neither of us could suppress a slight giggle.

I wonder what Rachael's life is really like? Does he have a family? A job? What does he think as he watches all of us walk by? Is he embarrassed? Excited? Angry?

I guess he must want us to give him attention. Otherwise he would not be sitting there publicly flaunting himself in all his feminine glory.

I bet you thought the hospitality industry was just carrying luggage and giving out room keys!

I rarely have a dull day at work.

Trick or Treat

It's barely spring and here I am getting ready for fall. I've been wanting to make this little pumpkin block for a while and decided to finally do it. I made two of them and then I had to think of something to use them for. They are small - just 4.5 inches and I really didn't want to make more of them. So I did what I like to do best, use them for the center of a larger 9-piece star block.

Oh, cute. I am liking these playful blocks that now finish at 13.5 inches. If I still had a little boy who went trick-or-treating, I would make a candy bag from them. But I don't have a little boy (or girl). I really don't want to make another big quilt right now. Though it's tempting to make black stars with witches, ghosts, etc. inside. That would be fun! But I don't have enough of that green background fabric left, so I will save that idea for another time.

I decided they would make a cute tablerunner with my pumpkin flower holder as centerpiece and my octagon shaped black dishes. I just needed to design a center block.
Hmmmmmmm, as you can see, my first attempt is just not going to work. That animal print orange/yellow color is just too strong. I need to redo it with green.
I will probably do that after work tonight.

Edited 7:46 pm, Thursday, April 24 to show the runner with the new center block:


Second Edit, Friday, April 25, 9:36 PM: Rather than waste the original center block, I made two more and created a second table runner.

I like this one quite a bit.


I have not been outside since the weekend. The weather has been beautiful, but on Mon/Tue I had appointments after work and by the time I got home, I just didn't feel like going outside.

I hear there is snow in the weekend forcast, so I will probably regret not getting out there this week.I have not even sprayed my tulips with deer repellent, so it will be my own fault if they get eaten. I am just a lazy gardener this spring!