MOSAIC MONDAY

It's a gorgeous day here, the sun is bright and cheery, the air is warm and the garden calls.  I am happy with the garden so far, even though there is still much to be done.  I had the first bloom on a Bearded Iris today. Very exciting!  I don't know the name of the Iris - I got a rhizome from my mother's plant probably 15+ years ago.  I never quite know when to divide Iris.  If I do, then they won't bloom the next year.  Usually I just wait until they quit blooming, then divide.  I don't think this is the right way, it's just the way I do it.

 The garden centers still only have the very early Spring plants, so I haven't planted my urn or oval planter. I really need to think about this in the fall, and plant the planters with pansies or something to last into Spring.

I've got to get that Iris and the reddish Columbine over by the Clematis! They all bloom at the same time and echo each other's colors so well. I love the little blue Columbine with the white interior. It's blooming all over the garden from seed I sprinkled about.

 I am participating in Mosaic Monday at The Little Red House.  Be sure to stop by and see other mosaics.

FLASHBACK FRIDAY

Easter Past.  My sis and I posing after church at my Grandparents house.  I felt so grown-up with my curled hair and white tights.  I remember there was embroidery on my sleeves.  I'm holding something, and I've always thought it was a bunny, but I really don't remember.    Dig my big sis' hat with veil.  Oh how much I wanted to be as grown-up as her!  I couldn't wait until I was old enough to wear a hat with a veil.  Alas, it was not to be - by the time I was old enough the style was gone, heavy sigh.  I think I was in about the 6th grade and she was in the 8th.  1966 I think.

I really enjoy looking at childhood pictures and seeing if I can remember anything about it.  I do remember this dress and shoes.  I thought they were the prettiest things I'd ever owned. I remember my grandmother's swing that you can see behind us.  She had one of the old metal gliders on her front porch, where I spent many a Summer night chatting with the other teens in the neighborhood, drinking a coke and trying to beat the heat. I used to spend the night often in my early teen years.

This is a picture of my Grandmother's house.  It passed into other hands many, many years ago and is now in a very crime ridden, run down neighborhood in Atlanta.  It's still the best looking house in the neighborhood.  My dad and I drove by one day after attending a funeral in the old neighborhood about 5 years ago.  I was happy to see it so well tended when every other house is in disrepair.  Such sweet memories.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope your Easter plans are coming together. 

EASTER TABLESCAPE

 I am joining Tablescape Thursday today with pictures from last years Easter.  My daughter and I had such fun finding what we wanted for the setting.

We found the little Easter boxes at Michael's and filled them with colored grass and treats. They were a big hit, especially for my 86 year old father, who was thrilled with getting candy for Easter! This little lavender box with the lamb cookie was his.  The cookies came from Big Lots.

 They were very cute, but tasted terrible - or so I was told.  

The Easter Egg salt and pepper shakers came from Hobby Lobby.

 We got these little playful bunnies at Big Lots.  There were three different poses and we got two of each.

Here is another of the bunnies.

Thanks for stopping by.  Be sure to visit Between Naps on the Porch for more fabulous Tablescapes!

WHAT'S BLOOMING

I have a few things blooming in the garden today.  

I was very excited to see this Clematis blooming:

Only one bloom today, but more to come.  

I have been trying for years to remember to either move this Columbine next to the Clematis, or at least try to start a few plants from seed.  Their colors are almost exactly the same.  They would look so good together, and it's so great that they bloom at the same time.  I'm terrible at moving plants, so hopefully I can remember to plant some seeds.

 The one bloom looks kind of lonely!  Do you see the grass in the urn?  I haven't been able to find what I want for the urn yet, and it just so happened that the little planter of grass fit the urn's opening perfectly.  I gave it a hair cut and dropped it in.  I think it looks kind of nice, and will fill in nicely while 

I try to find what I want.

 Purple Oxalis is an early bloomer, it's little pink blooms are so dainty.  I can't get a good picture, it's much prettier in person.  Sometimes, with the light just right, it looks deep purple with the pink.  Really lovely.

 Salvia, May Night has it's first blooms.  This is a great performer in my garden, even with as little sun as I get.  It will get a lot larger and bloom for a long time.  

Then periodically it will throw a bloom throughout the summer.

 A pretty little pink Columbine.  I love Columbine leaves, they stay nice all summer. 

 It will bloom for a long time, too.

 This is the first Iris I ever had. It was given to me by a little old lady that lived on my street about 21 years ago!  I have many, many offshoots from it.  It smell heavenly!

Slowly, but surely, the garden is awakening!  The garden centers are getting their usual early Spring plants, but I'm waiting for the late Spring/early Summer - like Caladiums.  I really want to get the beautiful white Caladiums with the pink veins.  I'm so afraid they will come in and I'll miss them.  They go fast, and the stores don't typically get that many of them.  I build for my garden to be at it's best in June and July - when I'm off work. I like to also plant for April, when I'm off a week, but  I did not plant tulips last fall because the deer feast on them; but, next year I will plant a bunch because I have found that Liquid Fence works wonderfully!  I've already informed my family that for my birthday in October I would like pastel tulips!  

Happy gardening!  Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you're having a nice Monday.

HAPPY SUNDAY

Hope you're having a wonderful Sunday.  It's going to be a beautiful day here, I hope to get in the garden a little after church.  Recent rains washed the pollen away, everything is so pretty right now.  

Thanks for stopping by.

THURSDAY TALK

I hear thunder.

I'm giddy!

So is the garden!

CLOUDS ARE PRETTY

I love clouds.  Sometimes I can hardly drive the car when pretty clouds are around.  This was the case yesterday when I was driving to and from my dad's house.  Everywhere I turned there were the prettiest clouds. Some had wisps from obvious high altitude winds.  Do you know how hard it is to drive AND take pictures?  I'm sure anyone that saw me thought I was perhaps partaking of some substance...but only the substance of God's creation is for me:)  Here are the best of the photos I took, but none turned out too good.  I'm not much of a photographer, and a moving car really makes it tough!

The two below are from the golf cart ride.

I"m joining the fun at The Little Red House for Mosaic Monday and A Southern Daydreamer for Outdoor Wednesday this week.

MEET JURI

This is our little dog, Juri.  He hates having his picture made.

 No matter how hard I try, he turns his head away from the camera.

"Please Juri, Just one picture?"

"No! Go away!"

"Juri, look this way!"

"NO!"

"Puleeeze! Just one shot.  I'll give you a treat."

"FINE!, but don't make a habit of this, Crazy Lady.

And I want to go on a walk too!"

FUN DAYS FROM MAY DAYS

A while back, Rita from May Days inspired me to change something that had been a part of my life for over 15 years.  If you've never visited May Days, you are missing out on a lot of inspiration.  It was this post that changed my life (I'm being overly dramatic, but it really did send me out on the hunt!). Here is the picture that started it all (I've reposted it here with her permission) ...

Do you see those pretty Spring-time cups?   Rita May changes out her cups for each season.   I'm a creature of habit and for the past 15+ years I have been drinking my coffee from a couple of Christmas mugs that were  gifts. 

 I have loved and treasured them all these years, but I was reaching for them without thought.  Not because I don't treasure them anymore, but because..well, because it's been 15+ years!  When I saw those pretty cups with Spring flowers on them at May Days I went right out to see what I could find.  Did you know it's not easy to find them?  I guess Christmas and Valentine cups are often used for teacher gifts so they are widely manufactured, but Spring cups...nada.  I went to all the usual places - Michael's, TJ Max, Ross, and didn't find anything.  Steinmart - nothing.  I was disappointed.  Last night I went out to buy some white spray paint and burlap (a "reveal" to come in the future), did a quick drop in at TJ Max and...SCORE!!  And not just one cup,but TWO!!

I chose this one for my coffee this morning. 

Here is the other one.

I'll enjoy it tomorrow.  Isn't the rim pretty?

I always seem to come away from May Days posts with a lot of ideas.  

In February she had an adorable vignette in the kitchen (you can read the post here). I hope to add a little pizazz to my own kitchen using the inspiration I got from this post.

 Here are her Valentine cups. 

And look what I found hiding in MY cabinet...

I can't wait for next February!

 Thanks Rita for your inspiring blog!  This morning I enjoyed my favorite 3 things...coffee in a pretty cup, blog reading, and NCIS (my very favorite program). 

WREATH SURPRISE

psssst......I have a confession, and I'm a little embarrassed.  I'll whisper it to you - I still have my Christmas wreath up on my front porch.  It's not because it was just so pretty I couldn't take it down.  That would be okay and I would be proud of Quirky Me.  No, unfortunately, I've just procrastinated and pretended I didn't notice it.  But finally, I decided ENOUGH!  Get that thing down!  So out I went to bring my house completely to the, "I'm really done with Christmas" stage...but wait!  What's that??? My first thought was what a mess the wind had made, but then I realized it wasn't the wind.  And I kind of had to smile because it seems she's a little messy with her housekeeping just like me! She picked the perfect house to build her house.

Welcome little friend! I hope you have healthy babies.  I'll have to keep Kitty away, but I already have a plan for that!  

I am participating in Mosaic Monday and Outdoor Wednesday this week.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you're having a wonderful Monday!

MY GARDEN

My garden is one of the joys of my life.  Unfortunately, it's one of the disappointments too! I work, strive, plan, exhaust, plant, move, dig, mulch, envision, beg, pray, coddle, curse, rip out, and in the end say..."There's always next year".  Over the years the trees have gotten bigger and shade more of the yard.  We had one year (last spring/summer) where we couldn't do any work in the garden because we BOTH had knee problems.  He had knee replacement, I had a torn meniscus which was operated on in October.  During that short time we lost almost all of our grass (the dog has some responsibility in that too).  A garden bordered by ugly red clay and spotty weeds is not a pretty sight.  

But there was a time when the garden was so pretty.  The deer stayed away which gave a pretty tulip time...

The Viburnum was spectacular...

The Bearded Iris had a wonderful year.  

The Clematis was prolific (each year after it's blooms have lessened until I only had a few last year).

I was good about keeping the garden watered which benefited the impatience which bloomed beautifully.

It was a good year in the garden.  It was 2008.  It's had moments of prettiness since then, but the perennials have steadily declined.  Some of the daylilies haven't bloomed. Several perennials have completely disappeared.   Tulips are eaten by the deer. And that grass is long gone.  I've been promised new grass this year, but it hasn't been planted yet (he's been working diligently at painting a bedroom for me).  

But friends, this year I plan to have that beautiful garden again.  I've got my money in my sock drawer.  I've been saving every penny I can find.  I didn't plant tulips, but I'll get some deer spray and see if the daylillies will bloom.  I'm going to get out there, even if it's hot.  It's Georgia...it's going to be hot.  And I need to water, water, water.  

I'm excited.  I'm stoked.  I'm ready!

I'm participating in Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Daydreamer