This is as close as we’ve gotten to rain in a long time. It blew by well south of us.
I was mesmerized by this shape-shifting cloud this evening. I could not get a clear picture of it, though, what with the power lines, trees and roof tops blocking the way.
Even so, pretty awesome.
Yesterday afternoon a truck stopped at the house, a guy rang the door bell and gave Monte a flyer for lawn maintenance services. The guy then got back into his truck and drove off… and did not stop at any other house on the street. So, you can understand that I was especially happy that my weed eater parts came in the mail a few days early so that I could get busy on the edging and border weed whacking last night. I couldn’t wait til work was over today to get out and mow the lawn, front and back. THAT’S how tired I was of looking at our messy yard.
Ok. So, I’m mowing in the back yard… turning a tight circle around a shepherd’s hook that’s holding some planters and a hummingbird feeder, and all of a sudden I noticed a couple bees flying around my arms. Whoa! Where did they come from?! Oh, I guess they’re with the rest of the hoard swarming the tip of the hummingbird feeder a foot from my head!!!!
That was a close call! I don’t know if I’m allergic to bees, because it’s been probably 30+ years since I’ve been stung. But, I’m REALLY glad I didn’t have to find out this evening.
You’d think I was happy to have gotten away unscathed the first time. But, I couldn’t resist the urge to get a picture. So, I dashed into the house, got my camera and went back in close for this shot. 🙂
Tomorrow is Earth Day. Yesterday at work they were giving away tree saplings to plant for the occasion. Monte brought home this Chinquipin Oak tree. This morning I put it in the earth. Hopefully it will be a keeper.
We have 4 or 5 cedar trees that have died from drought on our back property line. We need to take them down, but I hope we can plant some newbies in their place over the next few weeks.
I posted a shot a week or so ago of several Morning Glory flowers all wrapped up. This is a shot of one of them open in all its glory.
The color of these flowers is amazing. I have not retouched this photo. The glow in the center of the flower makes the color so intense.
It’s hard to look away 🙂
This was an absolutely beautiful weekend!
I fired up each zone of our sprinklers to find that 3 of them have leaks – likely a cracked or broken pipe from the freezes last winter. So, we have some manual sprinkler schlepping in our future this spring and summer. I don’t think we’ll get around to having the sprinker system repaired until we figure out what we plan on doing to redesign and relandscape our back patio area.
But with the hand watering the flower bed looks great. I planted a bunch of perennials 2 years ago, and nearly everything is coming back. I did lose 4 of my Penta plants.
This is a shot of the velvety flowers of the Mealycup sage, and in the background you can see the bright red flowers on the Salvia bush.
So pretty.
The morning glory I planted from seed just 6 weeks ago has already climbed up the metal obelisque and is full of blooms. The flowers are amazing when they are open, but I think are also quite pretty when they are rolled up waiting for the next morning.
You be the judge.
My favorite not-homemade-pizza is the Tuscan from Brick Oven. It has a mushroom pesto sauce, some small pieces of prosciutto, a little bit of mozzarella and asiago cheese sprinkled on it. After it comes out of the oven, it is topped with a pile of arugula leaves and drizzled with truffle oil (my mouth is watering just typing that).
I want to make this pizza. So… we planted some arugula in the garden a few weeks back. It’s taking hold and has sprouted a bunch of these little tiny arugula blossoms. They are edible as well.
When the time comes to make our own version of the Tuscan pizza, i will definitely post a pic 🙂
When I was in Seattle last week, several of my sisters were planting their fuschia hanging baskets. I love fuschias and have never found them down here in Texas. I have always assumed that the Central Texas climate was too unfriendly to fuschias.
I went to Home Depot this weekend to pick up a few things, and what did I spy on the racks of hanging baskets? One, lone, fuschia plant. The guy from the nursery was there stocking the shelves and said it should do ok if I keep it out of the really strong sun and shelter it later in the summer.
I scooped it up and brought it home. It now is hanging outside my back room so that I can keep an eye on it every day. So pretty!
I flew back to Austin today. I had a great visit and will probably plan on coming up again for another working-visit in about a month or so.
It’s really nice to be home, though. With my sweetie and amongst my flowers 🙂
This is a shot of an evening primrose in the way back from tonight, as the sun was started to drop low.
Last night we finally got around to watching the movie “Inception.” Wow – what a mind-bender. I think I only need to watch it 5 or 6 more times tobe able to follow the story line.
Oh, and on my flight home today I watched the rest of the movie “Hereafter” that I caught part of on the flight out to Seattle 2 weeks ago. Good movie.
Here ya go. Same cherry tree, different vantage point. Amazing isnt’ it?!
Bremerton is full of these beautiful, blooming cherry trees. It’s hard to describe how amazing they look in person.
The rain has let up again today. But it is very overcast and cooold.
This is the ferry from Bremerton headed to Seattle. I’ve ridden that boat more times than I can remember.
I’m enroute to Seattle. I’m going to work from there for a couple weeks, while getting a chance to visit with my mom. My window on the plane was dirty, and the sun was setting, so this isn’t a very remarkable shot but it was pretty to see from the plane.
As I was looking out at the clouds, Joni Mitchell’s song “Both Sides Now” popped into my head:
Rows and flows of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
I’ve looked at clouds * that way
But now they only block the sun
They rain and snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way
I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It’s cloud illusions I recall
I really don’t know clouds at all….
If you, too, would like to have this stuck song in your head, just take a listen here.
Alaska Airlines has in-flight entertainment in the form of a small, portable DVR pre-recorded with a bunch of movies that you can watch at your seat. I watched Black Swan (very weird) and then watched part of a movie called Hereafter. I didn’t get to finish it, but I’m mentioning it because the opening scene is of a tsunami hitting a small resort town from the perspective of one of the main characters. She gets swept up into the raging waters. WOW. Very powerful scene to watch given the very recent Japan tsunami. Anyway, i’ll have to make sure to catch the rest of that one on my way home. It looked good.
I confess that I had to look up the plural of stamen… either stamina or stamens will do 🙂
Just four days after popping their bud, the first of the amaryllis flowers are open.
This is a macro shot of the stamina in one of them.
Sheila365 