06.17.2023 Spring gardens

 There seems to be one week in the Spring when the gardens are a magnificent display of color. We had many different plants and flowers in bloom all at once - rhododendrons, mount laurel of a variety of colors, old fashioned roses, irises, white and yellow and purple lilacs, peonies, large blue bachelor buttons, and mock orange among others. The fragrances of the lilacs by the entrance and the white peonies in the front garden were delightful. Then came the heat and then heavy rains and all of the blooms from the lilacs were gone, the peonies and mountain laurels are drooping, and the rhododendrons are almost all devoid of flowers. 

But these are succession gardens, and soon the lilies and new dawn roses will be in bloom. One stella d'ora lily bloomed, so the rest will not be far behind. Herbs have been planted in flower pots and the stargazer lilies look like they will also bloom in the pots. Still time to plant a few more flowers - hoping to get a few black eyed Susans in the garden this year.

One of my favorite peonies. They only lasted a week,but wee thoroughly enjoyed.

The white peonies are very fragrant.

 Mountain laurel in the early stages of blooming.

Here is a friendly bee pollinating the flowers. 

White mountain laurel, one of my absolute favorites. There is a bush just be the front of the porch.

Mock orange flowers. 

Fragrant white lilacs.

Orange iris. Only one in the garden.

Purple iris.

Old fashion roses. One bloom each year but a very thriving variety. This one plant is huge and has offshoots all over the gardens. Need to do a trim this year.

The boys are doing well. Fionnegan recovered from his operation after a long post-op course, Gunnarr also recovered from his illness and Shorty remains my loyal sweetheart.

Happy boys. All tails wagging.

Hope you all are well and enjoyed a snapshot of the late Spring gardens. With so much rain this week, there is promise that the summer gardens will also have beautiful blooms.

Until next time.................

04.30.2023 April showers.....

 ....... bring May flowers. Or so we are hoping! 

What a month this has been for our family (human and canine). We have had some incredible sadness with the loss of a special family member as well as a dear friend of 25 years and a favorite neighbor's teenage daughter was seriously injured in a car accident. We are all praying for her recovery. And all three of my pups have had one health challenge after another. When it rains it pours. We went well beyond things happening in threes. 

My dear little Gunnarr has been ill all week, including having to go outside every hour during the night for the last few days. He was seen by the vet and is on medication for an infection and crystal bladder stones and with luck he will get better sooner. If not, then back to the vet for more tests. And my dear Fionnegan now has bladder stones too and lots of bleeding and will be having an operation just like Gunnarr did last year. Shorty has new gi issues but he seems to be recovering. I suspect it is because they eat the sorel weeds in the yard along the fence causing them gi distress. And I am back to doing multiple loads of laundry per day! Let's hope the washing machine keeps working. And I need new brakes on the car. Maybe May flowers will bring better luck!

But we are still having fun. The boys went to the spa (Petco - where the pets go!) for their haircut and look really cute when they came home. No new pictures of the haircut as they were not interested in going outside in the rain and I was not interested in white clean paws getting muddy! Maybe new pictures tomorrow if the sun shines. Shorty and I had a few hours alone and he just looks at me and wags his tail. And I do give him some special treats. He has been left alone twice this week and he seems to just roll with it. He does initially get excited when he thinks he is going too and is disappointed when his harness is not readied for him, but of course he does get a special treat when I have to take the twins to the vets or spa. I normally like to take him out for a special walk while the twins are at the spa but it was raining again today, and he had no interest in going outside for any reason! I also did not feel like trying to wash his paws even though he does not get as dirty as Finn and Gunnarr. So we just had treats and watched television and read a book (me not Shorty).

Some of our azaleas are in bloom. We had very few daffodils and no tulips.  Maybe I should plant some bulbs this fall. I say that every Spring but when Fall arrives I am generally too busy. But maybe this year I will make it a priority.

    

Every year I but a few hyacinths for their beauty and fragrance. Then I plant the bulbs in the garden. We had a lot of hyacinths blooming this year. 

  

  

    

The boys posing for the camera - as happy as can be. Photo taken before their haircut earlier this week.

How have you all been? How is your Spring? Do you have a garden with flowers? Have the flowers been in bloom? Our bunnies are back and I suspect they will enjoy a few of our flowers. Just hope I can keep the pups away from the bunnies, but there are signs of them all over the front yard. No more carnage, I hope.

With such a big smile, it is hard to believe Gunnarr is also sick.

Same for Fionnegan. He is mostly running and playing and doesn't seem to have any pain from the bladder stones. And I can say this, they both are tired of my watching them empty out their bladders. I have to observe them for blood and other signs of distress. So now they go right next to the lily plants, and it is hard for me to watch them!

Shorty.

Until next time................. Stay well.

04.09.2023 Happy and Blessed Easter

It was a beautiful day - warm and sunny. A perfect day for a celebration and get together with family and friends. Flowers are slowly starting to bloom and soon we will be in the gardens preparing them for the Spring and Summer shows! We all had a nice and restful day. Hope you did as well. Please enjoy a few of the flowers in bloom.

 

The birds definitely have Spring fever. Here is a handsome robin. We also have a pair of Carolina wrens building a precarious nest in the Christmas wreath on the front door. They built one there two years ago and hatched 2 little ones. This one seems a little more sturdy - not by much - and I am going to leave it alone until they are done. So there may be no pictures while they are nesting.

No Spring is complete without Johnny jump ups in the grass. Here is an early one.

The boys had their Easter baths and towel rubs. They smelled so clean and fresh.

May you all have a Happy and Blessed Easter Sunday.

03.12.2023 "Joe"

 

03.23.2023 “Joe”

  Finally, the house is back in order. All of the furniture was placed into the original places, all of the pictures were rehung on the walls, books placed back on the shelves, and all of the boxes emptied, unusable contents discarded, and the boxes finally removed from the living room, dining room and atrium. My house is back in order! It feels so good to have everything in its place. I even bought a bouquet of pink roses to celebrate the restored order. It took about 2 months to have everything completed and I will admit the dogs were skillful in negotiating the new obstacles in their pathway.

Everything back in place except for Joe. Joe is a bunny rabbit won for me at the local county fair by a charming young man when I was just a shy 16 year old young lady. My friend named him after his own nickname. Joe has traveled with me for every move since high school. He had a prominent place in my bedroom until it seemed inappropriate for a woman to have a stuffed animal in her room. So Joe lived in a box with other stuffed animals, tucked safely away in the closet. Or so I thought they were safe. It appears that the mice found their way into a few boxes in the closet, so the items that could not be salvaged were discarded. But Joe was gently placed in the washing machine for a good cleaning. Then he had a few seams sutured and he is almost as good as new.  While I do have a new and clean box ready for him for storage, I have hesitated to put him away. He reminds me of the younger days that we all thought would never end, of all of the dreams and hopes we had as we grow up and transition into adulthood. Yes, Joe will eventually be put safely away, this time with a few additional precautions to ensure that the mice do not disturb him. But until there is a guest who uses the room, he has a comfortable place on top of a few pillows. 

Meet Joe, who is now a Vintage stuffed animal! He shows a little wear but smells so good from his two washing machine baths! He lost a little of his filler but that does not seem to matter. He is still cute. Don't you agree?

 

Spring will be here in less than 2 weeks. It seems like we all have Spring fever here and Spring cleaning is in progress. We anticipate at least one more snowstorm this week, but it is March and the wintry effects will not last long. The boys (Fionnegan, Gunnarr and Shorty) still delight in rolling in the snow in the front yard. And I will delight in only shoveling paths instead of entire driveways and porches following the next snow. 

A pink rose to brighten the living room. I love fresh flowers in the house and have always enjoyed their presence and fragrance. They do make a difference in uplifting the mood.

 

Hope you all are well. Shorty will need to update his blog soon, too.

 Until next time.........

 

 

February - 03/05/2023

Where has the time gone? February is already past and we are into March. I guess February is the shortest month of the year!

It is one of my favorite months of the year. Yes, it has been bitter cold and then it becomes unseasonably warm and confuses everything from the birds to the trees and shrubs. But, in February the days are appreciably longer, the sky is robin egg blue, and you can just feel that Spring is coming soon. Yes, Spring will be here soon. So, I don't really mind the cold and the snow in February as I am already planning my gardens. When it was warm and the snow had all melted, I was already doing Spring clean-up. But now it has snowed again and again and I am shoveling again! But there are absolutely no complaints about this winter as it has been relatively mild with rain more often than snow. The good news is that we have had sufficient precipitation so as to offset the minimal snow. One does not have to shovel rain! But I do need to manage the leaky basement,

Icicles on the lilac bush. Cold then warm, then cold again. Winter scenes are appealing, they are refreshing and clean.

Blue skies and just a wisp of clouds and snow is still covering the ground. The next day we did have a snowstorm, much to my boys delight!

Fionnegan gets up close and personal with the snow. He just puts his face right into the snowbanks and also likes to eat it as if it were ice cream.

And when your face is almost completely covered he just shakes it off. Maybe we should all learn to just shake things off whenever we are covered with something a bit annoying.

Shorty loves to play in the snow. They all run to the gate when they hear the question "Who wants to run?" And run they do, just like the cavalry.

Gunnarr is being camera shy here. He has just finished chasing Fionnegan around the yard. 

Here they are on the back porch. They spotted a squirrel outside the fence and are keeping an eye on it.

And when he is done running and playing and rolling in the snow, he loves his spot on the front porch. This is his spot and only his spot. He does not share this special real estate on the porch.

 

We have also been quite busy in the house. I decided to take advantage of a special deal by my contractor and paint the downstairs bedroom. And since it was being painted, this was the ideal time to remove the carpet that had been there for 30 years ever since I moved into the house. So everything had to be moved out of the room and into the dining room (the only furniture there being the chair and ottoman the dogs love) and into the living room. All of the pictures were taken down, the bookcases emptied, and knickknacks carefully placed in boxes.  There was not much time to sort through the items so everything was packed in anticipation of a clean-out as the contents were to be moved back. My old desk that was a bit sad and falling apart was sent out for repair by a local cabinet maker. The bed was the largest item placed in the pathway of the dogs run. It was pretty amazing how they negotiated the new obstacles while keeping up the speed chasing each other. 

So after 6 weeks, the room is done, the bookcase is back and the furniture is back in place. So I have been spending each evening sorting through the boxes with the goal of discarding at least 10% of the contents. Since I am not moving, I cannot discard any sentimental items or tokens of appreciation from my patients. But I can get rid of unnecessary clutter and clothes that no longer fit. The boys just go to sleep in my study as Shorty has realized he is not going upstirs to bed any time soon! After a while as it gets late, I get bored and just close a box or two and say that I will get to it some time again. Let's see how long it takes to get back to these tiresome boxes!

Now my attention turns to shoveling once more as we had a March snow storm and I need to clear the car before it becomes a block of ice!

I do hope you all are well. I will try to write again soon.

Until next time,