Signs of new life: hostas emerging from the ground, coneflowers emerging, and pansies in urns. These urns were very cheap, I got them from the Christmas Tree Shops. They’re made out of a composite material, unlike my vintage urns that live in the Secret Garden. I’ve had them for many years and the elements have done a number on them. You can’t tell, but the top of the urns are no longer attached to the base. I have to balance them on top of the base and it’s a bit precarious. If it gets worse, I’ll just set the planter part of the urn on the ground.
I have two of them in gray as well, but since they live on the porch, they’re doing fine.
It’s going to be cooler for the next couple of days with temps going down into the 30s at night. But it’s sunny and beautiful, and I have to clear the leaves out of a couple more garden beds today. Don wants to try planting a few vegetables this year. With his surgery on Friday, I feel some pressure to clean out the beds and get them prepped so he can put the seeds in the ground.
I took it easy yesterday, which was easy to do as it rained off and on all morning long. Today, my back is much better.
I’m currently doing a lot of pruning – wild roses, pricker bushes, etc. They get out of control very quickly, so I have to stay on it.
I love, love, love this time of year. My mood lifts, I love being outside in the gardens, I love mowing – I feel lighter and more buoyant.
Very grateful that Spring has sprung.
Thinking of my beloved mom on this 9th anniversary of her passing. Love you always, Mom.
Stay safe.
Happy Monday.
Lovely you are feeling so much better, Claudia. Don’t overdue in the garden. Pace yourself. Sending positive vibes to Don that his surgery goes well on Friday. Hugs, Elaine
Thank you so much, Elaine.
Stay safe!
the pansies, hosta starts, green grass and the planters themselves look lovely! makes me want get some more plants and a bouquet of flowers to put in my apartment, to brighten things up.
a vegetable garden sounds wonderful. what does don want to grow (and cook with)? is there a place to have one and a way to keep out the nibblers and chompers?
i understand if you and don have a long list of things you want to accomplish before his surgery/recuperation (i’d feel the same way. i feel it anyway, every day), but i hope you both take it easy, too. :)
sorry you have to miss your mother. it’s very hard, i know … so hope today will be as easy as possible for you. sending hugs ..
still not feeling well (fever, coughing, runny/stuffy nose, no energy). took a covid test and thanking God that it was negative. will stay home again today. missing my family. :(
hope everyone has a good, easy day. stay safe in every way.
kathy
No place to keep the plants away from critters, but we’re going to try to use some netting. Don isn’t all that worried about it – it’s more for the experience of it than anything else.
I hope you feel better soon, Kathy.
Stay safe.
Your pansies look great in those urns, wobbly as they may be! Don’t pansies make you feel happy? They do me.
It snowed here today (at least it did in Brighton, as I was in the waiting room for my ultrasound). Sleet/snow on the way down and temps never got past 45. I need another 10 degrees!
Pansies make me smile and they last all season – not as beautifully as at the beginning of the season, but they hang in there.
Oh no! A pox on snow!
Stay safe, Jeanie.
…and my mother’s birthday. She died in 2019, a few weeks before Covid hit our country. We were all quite grateful she went when she did: the restrictions would have confused her and we would have hated not being with her as she died.
My thoughts are with you as you remember your mum. I hope you get comfort from your memories of her.
Happy Birthday to your mom, Denise.
Thank you for your kind words.
Stay safe.
Spring does have a way of making your soul feel lighter, doesn’t it. I’d be outside more now except it’s so cold. We were spoiled in March with high 40’s and 50’s and even some high 70’s days. Now we’re lucky to break 44, 45 degrees. But the tulips and daffodils are in bloom and I’m always amazed at how quickly our Bleeding Heart bushes go from just poking through the soil to full-fledged bushes. I can even see the little pink blooms showing today. And all my feeders are busy. We seem to have an entire flock of Goldfinches this spring always at our finch feeder.
Take care.
I love bleeding heart! So glad the blossoms are ready to pop, Kay.
Stay safe!
Your pansies are lovely; two things I’ve never tried to grow, pansies and violets. With your pansies in the urns, they sound hardy; like they can take a mix of sun and shade, and did you do anything special to enhance the soil; did you start with a sack of soil from the local garden center; also, I know it depends on where one is located, like which part of the country, but how often do you water them in the urns, Claudia? Would help me to figure out if I should try to grow them! Thanks.
Glad your back is better. Now if we can just get Don in better shape with that hand…poor guy; looking ahead though to a successful surgery with the help and improvement and solution it’ll provide!
We were out in the car today a lot. Working to get husband’s cell phone revived if at all possible (after he dropped it in a basin of water). Nope, the thing is shot. I don’t know how on earth we can afford to buy him a new phone right now but it’s the one between us we use for a lot of stuff so these phones have simply become a necessity. Darn, though! The repair shop tried.
To make matters worse when we took a little drive up one of the remote canyons around here, on an infrequently-frequented country road, a diminutive squirrel ran RIGHT out in front of us and there was simply NOTHING my husband could do to avoid the little thing. It really shook us up. We pulled to the side of the road and I cried some big tears. My husband was very upset and said, “Well, this isn’t fun to have to live with this kind of guilt.” The little guy was just in his own territory, probably a young one, not accustomed to cars or people, just living his life near the creek and in the trees and meadows; we weren’t even driving all that fast as the road is curvy back in the mountains, so you have to take it easy.
Just ruined the day. Between that and the phone, husband and I actually both came back to the house and had to lay down for awhile; get a grip. Accidents happen. But it was sad! I said a prayer for God’s dear creature that his death was swift and that he could now know no pain. My goodness, Claudia, when people have inadvertently hit a deer in front of your house, how can they live with it? Anyway, it’s just a reminder that with spring and warmer/dry weather now, the animals in the wild will be out in the mornings and evenings, so we’ll be doubly careful although we’re always careful. Sigh.
We tried to make up for it by feeding the squirrels who scamper in the rocks and boulders at the seashore this evening; we’re probably not supposed to, but everybody does it. It’s the shoreline ‘way out of town and not near beach homes; just miles of ’empty’ sandy beach with coastal cliffs and wild grasses/native-plant growth. We tried to feel grateful for all the people walking/running their dogs at the various beaches; and it’s always a nice sight to see people riding their horses on the beach, which they’re allowed to do after 5pm in the part of the nearby county where we spent quite a lot of time. It must be a pleasant change for both rider and horse, to get out in a different environment than always the ranches in the hills. I don’t know if it’s a myth but I’ve heard it’s good for the horses’ feet, with the salt water and cushion of hard-packed wet sand which has a slight give to it but isn’t pillow-y like dry sand.
And at least too, on our way home tonight, we inhaled the scent of lemon blossoms from nearby lemon-tree groves. It’s a distinctly different scent than that of orange blossoms. This is the only time of year we seem to get this scent on the breeze at dusk or after dark. A lot of lemons are being picked right now; beehive of activity in the orchards with workers loading up bins of just-picked lemons for the trucks; yet lemon trees in other stages of growth are in flower, not fruit. It’s a heady though soothing aroma in evening air. The best perfume.
But I’m still thinking about that squirrel. So is my husband.
I guess I’ll be Scarlett O’Hara, saying to myself, “Tomorrow is another day” or however it goes.
I guess I also shouldn’t share a sad story. But here I spill. Sorry! I know you understand; any of us who love and respect the animals of this earth. What is that other saying; it’s a poem I think, written by a woman like over a hundred years ago, “All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, all things wise and wonderful, the Lord God made them all.”
I’m so sorry. I do know how you feel as it’s happened to me and to Don. It’s absolutely heartbreaking and the sadness and heartbreak is with me to this day. I have no other words. It’s just plain hard and painful. Much love to you both.
xo
Thanks, Claudia; I know you know.
xo
hej, vicki.
i sent my reply in the wrong place. scroll down a bit, if you like.
happy, safe tuesday!
kathy
They do very well in cold weather which is why they are often the first annuals many people put in the ground or in pots.
Just potting soil. How often I water them depends on how hot it is. If it gets really hot where you live, I’d give a pass to pansies, Vicki.
Stay safe.
dear vicki and vicki’s husband …
i am sorry for what you two and the squirrel went through today (i’ve had a couple similar experiences and know it is tough). i hope you can let go of any guilt you may still feel because it was of course truly an accident. and i hope you know that just as God cares for the birds of the air (and us; matthew 6:25 – 34), He cares for and tends to squirrels on the ground, too.
it was nice of you to bring treats out for other creatures. i hope you do something nice for yourselves, too.
best wishes on the cellphone situation.
will continue to keep you in prayers.
sending hugs (if okay),
kathy
kathy, your hugs are wonderful; thanks for your kind thoughts as always; I hope you’re having a nice day today (Tues)…