May 22, 2013 at 6:05 am (Flowers, Recommended, Sundays, television)
Tags: adaptations, flower photography, Gardens, indulgences, photography, Star Trek, Sundays
Let’s see, what else is left for self to post about?
She could re-cap the last episode (# 8) of Game of Thrones, which managed to hold her attention despite the fact that there were no appearances by Jaime Lannister or Brienne. (Only two more episodes to go, how will self live? This was the first episode Son or Jennie had ever seen. Self had to keep apologizing Read the rest of this entry »
May 7, 2013 at 4:13 pm (Flowers)
Tags: flower photography, Gardens, happiness
Against a Backyard Fence: Climbing Don Juan
More Backyard Flowers: Gertrude Jekyll Rose and Euryops
Side Yard: Geraniums Beneath the Dining Room Windows
April 2, 2013 at 11:22 pm (Flowers)
Tags: flower photography, Gardens, happiness, pets
It was a bee-yoo-ti-ful day!
The man had jury duty. In the afternoon, he mowed and watered.
Self successfully bundled The Ancient One into her car, made it to Petco, and wheedled the young girl there into giving Bella an extra-fragrant shampoo and blow-dry. Self sat on a chair and waited until she was done. So relaxing! It was worth it, especially to have Bella smelling so good, after such a long time!
Then she was able to return home and gaze with extreme happiness at her garden:
Powder-Blue Crested Iris: Self thinks she’s in love!
The Polka started blooming yesterday!
More and more of those blue irises are coming up. Happy happy joy joy!
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
March 31, 2013 at 11:28 pm (Flowers, Recommended, Sundays)
Tags: flower photography, Gardens, happiness, indulgences, Sundays
Here’s my newest clematis: an anemone clematis called “Freda.” There were about 10 left over in the parking lot of Wegmans, last week.
Self’s newest indulgence: a Clematis montana “Freda”
Self has decided she’ll take a chance and grow it in a pot, so that she can fill up her front porch:
These little suckers are going to burst into bloom ANY DAY NOW!
A very fulfilling end to self’s Easter. Happiness, happiness.
Stay tuned.
March 31, 2013 at 5:20 pm (Books, Flowers, Recommended, Sundays)
Tags: flower photography, Gardens, novel, Sundays
More Irises Blooming Today!
Happy Easter, All.
Self is about a third of the way through Don Quijote (the translation by Burton Raffels). It is epic. Going from Anna Karenina to this (bypassing War and Peace) was the right decision, after all.
Here’s a passage self read this morning, from Volume 1, Chapter 38. It happens to be about war and about Don Quijote’s reflections on gunpowder – an infernal invention that forever killed nobility and knighthood. Self finds it very moving:
Those were indeed blessed times which knew nothing of demoniacal cannonading ‘s ghastly fury, the inventor of which must be in Hell, receiving his due reward for so fiendish an invention, which allows a vile, cowardly arm to pluck the life out of a brave knight, who without knowing how it happens, or from whence it comes, and in the full sway of that courage and energy which burn in brave hearts, is struck by a wandering bullet, fired, perhaps, by someone who fled in panic at the roar and glare when he touched off his cursed machine, thus cutting short and forever ending every thought, and indeed the very life, of one who deserved to live all through the long ages. And when I think of this I must say that my heart is heavy, having taken on this profession of knight errantry, in an age as loathsome as that in which we now live, because although I am myself afraid of nothing, nevertheless it makes me regretful to think that gunpowder and tin may deprive me of the chance to acquire fame and great reputation, across the known world, for the courage of my arm and the keenness of my sword.
Polka is about to bloom!
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
March 30, 2013 at 5:52 pm (Flowers, Recommended, Surprises)
Tags: flower photography, Gardens, photography, Saturdays
Self ordered about 15 iris bulbs from Dutch Gardens last year. A dozen were Powder-Blue Crested Irises, and three were “Purple Rain” irises.
She started to think the bulbs were a dud, but suddenly about half a dozen blue irises popped up in the side yard, where self forgot she planted them!
Powder Blue Crested Iris, suddenly presenting in backyard!
(Behind, on the fence, is a wooden angel)
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
March 26, 2013 at 6:26 pm (Flowers)
Tags: discoveries, flower photography, Gardens, happiness, photography
These are bulbs, today of all days self cannot recall their names. She’ll hazard a guess: fritillaria?
It was only after she went to El Mercadito Latino last Sunday that she found out her small apple tree is a “Hawthorne” — the market had bottles of tiny apples, exactly like the ones this small tree produces every year, and the label on the apples said “Hawthorne Apples”.
Self is planting. It is an absolutely gorgeous day. It takes her longer than it used to, to dig a planting hole. The plant she hopes she can finish putting into the ground today is a Salvia “Wendy’s Wish.”
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
February 26, 2013 at 11:52 pm (Books, Flowers, Recommended, Weather)
Tags: flower photography, Gardens, happiness, novel, Russian literature, seasons, transitions
It was a bee-yoo-ti-ful day! The second beautiful day in a row.
Neighbors on all sides were out in their yards, pruning, staking, watering, and so forth.
The tallest cherry tree in the backyard is covered with blooms, and the plants in the side yard are covered with flowers:
Viburnum Tinus, Side Yard
Self was so pleased with this specimen that she purchased another Viburnum and put it in the front yard, a few weeks ago.
Cherry Blossoms! One of the cherry trees in self’s backyard began blooming last weekend.
And, wouldn’t you know, on p. 162 of Anna Karenina (the Modern Library version), self reads this:
For the last few weeks it had been steadily fine frosty weather. In the daytime it thawed in the sun, but at night there were seven degrees of frost. There was such a frozen surface on the snow that they drove the wagons without staying on the roads. Easter came in the snow. Then all of a sudden, on Easter Monday, a warm wind sprang up, storm clouds swooped down, and for three days and three nights the warm, driving rain fell in streams. On Thursday the wind dropped, and a thick gray fog brooded over the land as though hiding the mysteries of the transformations that were being wrought in nature. Behind the fog there was the flowing of water, the crackling and floating of ice, the swift rush of turbid, foaming torrents; and on the following Monday, in the evening, the fog parted, the storm clouds split up into little curling crests of cloud, the sky cleared, and the real spring had come.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
February 20, 2013 at 9:03 pm (Flowers, Weather)
Tags: flower photography, Gardens, photography
Oh what a joy to have a garden on a day like today, dear blog readers!
This plant self thinks is called a “Wandering Jew” (Kyi, you were right: this is NOT a “Wandering Jew!” Results of further web research established the plant as a Heliotropium arborescens “Fragrant Delight.” Phew! )
Self positioned it right under a small crabapple, and it is now blooming profusely. She’s not sure if it IS a Wandering Jew, but Holy Cow why did that term materialize today? It’s not as if she readily uses that expression! After googling, self discovered many things called a “Wandering Jew,” including a Yiddish movie listed in Wikipedia (!!) But she has to run to the Post Office, so pardon if she’s gotten the name of this rather vine-y specimen wrong!
Self’s trusty green watering can. It’s either from Orchard Supply or Target. She bought it at least 20 years ago.
She realizes she has yet to post on Justified 4.7 Which was oh my goodness deliriously, ineffably GREAT. Perhaps after she’s done with all her errands she can dish.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
February 11, 2013 at 8:38 pm (Flowers)
Tags: flower photography, Gardens, Mondays
Daffodils! Self planted them BEHIND the Alstroemeria “Third Harmonic”, which ended up being MUCH taller than the daffodils, so you can’t see the daffodils without walking right up to the edge of the flower bed (Sigh)
