Travel views from the guest room. . . . . . . . . .

 It was rather late last night when I took these photos in the guest room.

In fact, I was lounging on the bed with my phone close by, looking about

 and thinking of all I'd done during the day to prepare for our upcoming trip.

 I'd brought out the trusty collapsible clothes rack, set it up and hung clothes
 I'd like to take but gradually editing. Actually very few clothes for this journey
 because I'm limited to one small piece of luggage and a backpack.
 I then did a dry run to see if, for this casual but lengthy trip, I could get
 everything into a small 21" (carryon size) suitcase! 
Yikes, it won't be easy, but it will be much better when it comes to traveling
 the length and breadth of IRELAND's countryside. . . . . on trains, buses, 
or with a private driver, for three long weeks!
Car rental in Ireland is not kind - or even available to some travelers for those
 of us who have reached the golden years - and driving those narrow winding
 roads on the wrong other side is something we no longer enjoy.

I rarely take photos with my phone. For some reason these came out

surprisingly clear even under chandelier lighting, so I thought I'd use them to

get started and share my journey back across the pond yet again.

Love this vintage secretary purchased several years ago, already painted,

 from SuzAnna's Antiques. . . . . .it stores a lot of my travel odds and ends.

Here's 'the rack', my favorite way to organize packing. . . . . . later I'll share better

 photos of the actual really minuscule pile of clothes I'm taking. Don't be shocked by the

 jeans you can just see hanging here. I never travel with jeans however this time

 I will, and I'll tell you why!

Close to midnight on the clock! Must away and forget the consternation  

of packing. There may have to be several dry runs for this trip. 

I'll update later - we leave in less than two weeks.

Travel to green, gorgeous, and often wet IRELAND - my first time there.

A challenge for sure, but very worthwhile I hope.

Empty Nesters. . . . . . . .

I had a feeling that today would be the day!

Yesterday evening we relaxed with a glass of wine on the front porch, 
admiring our gardening efforts, and watching the parent chickadees

 feeding their offspring above our heads. 

As mentioned before, Carolina chickadees are such amazing tiny

birds who are extremely attentive parents. Not knowing how many 

babies were there, but thinking there had to be several keeping them

working on non-stop food distribution, we just hoped we'd see the 

excitement of the fledging young, but realized it would be a hit or miss 

occasion.

Today, waking just before 7AM to brilliant sunshine, and birdsong, I dashed

 to the dining room windows, camera at the ready, to check the nest box. 

At first thought this bird was a parent bringing breakfast, then I realized it
 was a baby chickadee probably thinking about moving out and leaving home!

After watching it pop in and out for about 5 minutes. . . . . . . . 

. . . . . . . . . little claws appeared, first one . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . then the other, and in one whoosh it flew right out of the box at lightning

 speed toward a tree in the side garden.

And there I was, for the past week, worrying and wondering how in the

 world those tiny birds would get out of the box and, when they did, would

 they fall down onto to spiky hydrangea bushes and be injured! Who knew

they fly so well immediately. 

Hearing more excited chirping from the box, I knew there were siblings, so woke

Bob and he joined me on the porch. . . . . . . and for next 45 minutes we sipped 

our wake-up coffees, and me poised with the camera until my shoulders ached. 

I took 89 pix of birds sticking their heads out the hole etc!!!

In between fledging babies, one of the parents came back and forth with small

 bits of suet from our feeder, offered a quick taste then flew off with some still

 in its beak - must have been tempting the baby to follow. The other parent was

 probably waiting somewhere in the trees where the babies seemed to be headed. 

I noted that the first bird to leave took the longest to make up its

 mind - "should I stay or should I go?"

The next THREE, oh yes there were FOUR total stuffed in what must have

 become a very crowded and hot box by yesterday (the temperature outside

 reached the mid-80's here), made their moves quickly. Two more headed 

to the trees, but the last one flew up on our roof, bobbed all the way up the

shingles to the crest, and then flew to the trees to join the others.

This has really been a busy week in our garden for birds. We've also had 

four baby Carolina wrens appear - don't know where the parents put their

 nest this year, but they were teaching the cutest babies to look for

food and fly from branch to branch on the fig tree (wrens apparently hop

 about for a while before really flying any distance). The only birds remaining

 close to the cottage we're hoping to see fledge, are the nuthatch family in

 our large birdhouse, and with this very warm weather I'm sure they will be

 moving out any day also.

We do feel blessed to be sharing our garden with so many beautiful birds. . . . 

and now a new generation will be arriving at our feeders.

Healthy Orange Glow. . . . . . . . . . . .

I picked up a bag of really juicy oranges at Aldi this past weekend - eight perfect 

lovelies for a total of $1.98, a true bargain. 

Can you imagine all the work involved to get these citrus fruits to my kitchen.

 The TLC given the trees in Florida and California, praying for good growing
 conditions over many months, harvesting, sorting, packing, shipping hundreds
 of highway miles before displaying them in the retail store . . . . . all for me, or you,
 to enjoy at such a low price!

Bringing home real oranges sometimes requires spending a little time
 squeezing because there's just nothing better than a glass of fresh juice.

  I never drink the juices in bottles or cartons but indulge myself when
 fresh oranges look as good as these.

A huge thank you to citrus growers everywhere, you are appreciated for
all your hard work to bring us beautiful fruit.

Freshening up with the Eastern Bluebird. . . . . . . .

The birdbaths were cleaned and refilled by me before the rain arrived

 on Friday afternoon - then later they were topped up by nature in some

 really heavy downpours on and off during the night.

I love watching birds bathe, they seem to truly enjoy plunging in, flapping

 their wings, sitting on the rim for a few seconds then hopping back in and

 repeating their showering in wild abandon. Then it's up on a tree branch to

 dry off and preen those precious feathers. 

Some of our larger garden birds are real bathers, especially the American Robin

 and Brown Thrasher, in fact the robins will often show up as soon as they hear

 the water from the garden hose.

On this day, after I filled all the baths, who did I catch enjoying the waters?

  A little female Eastern Bluebird splashing merrily, then flying up to a branch

 looking rather damp and bedraggled, but probably feeling much cleaner.

Although I've yet to see bluebirds nest in the box on the potting shed wall

 (they apparently don't like that spot), I like to think she has a nest and a family

 hidden somewhere in my garden - I have seen her with her mate often - and 

perhaps on this particular afternoon was taking some much needed personal

 time to freshen up during her busy parental chores.

As long as there are bluebirds, there will be miracles and

 a way to find happiness ~ Shirl Brunnell 1934-2005 author of "I Hear Bluebirds" 

A mountain of mulch. . . . . . . .

It all worked out just fine on Thursday. The cedar wood chip mountain was 

dumped gently at the top of the driveway late morning.

The sun was out, the breeze was gentle, and the rain showers forecast

for the afternoon stayed away.

Granddaughter Jasmin's boyfriend Kevin showed up and worked with Bob for

 about four hours. I helped by pointing where to dump and spread. . . . . . . . and

 then with the general clean up later. Bob and I showered and crashed on the

 porch with a drink at 7:30 pm - followed with a late for us supper and watched a

movie. We were exhausted as it was almost a seven hour garden job. We

won't need to repeat it for a couple of years as cedar chips hold up well.

Yesterday it rained a lot, heavy downpours accompanied by thunder 

and lightning. We were so glad we managed to complete the mulching job 

whilst the weather was fine.

Today, and for the entire weekend, it will be beautiful with sunshine 

and 75F - my kind of perfect weather before humidity and mosquitoes arrive.

Have a great weekend.

The very cool white azalea. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . meet my last azalea to bloom, the beautiful 

Mrs. G. G. Gerbing, Rhododendron indicum, a pure white 'sport'

of the George L. Taber azalea, the pretty pink one I showed here.

This white beauty is a vigorous grower and profuse bloomer given the

right conditions. My 'G.G.' is just a few years old and has some 

catching up to do to reach the heights of 'George'. Both can reach 6-8 feet

 tall and 4-6 feet wide.

This time honored variety is the standard for white Satsuki azaleas.

 Blooms early and abundantly in medium, single pure white flowers. 

Dense foliage on a spreading shrub produces a versatile landscape candidate.

 Ideal for urban landscapes. A natural in Asian-inspired gardens.

I couldn't resist cutting a few to enjoy indoors.

Still gardening non-stop.

Today awaiting delivery of 10 cu. yards - a small mountain - of cypress wood chips. 

Every couple of years we refresh the entire back garden walkways and 

natural areas with these nice looking chips making walking clean and comfy.

 Hoping a certain granddaughter's boyfriend will arrive later to assist Bob in

 'moving the mountain' as my back will no longer allow that part. 

I'll make the tea and serve healthy homemade carrot muffins.

And today ~ a very happy 90th Birthday to

 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Chickadees are very busy. . . . . . . . . . .

Carolina chickadee bringing a tasty breakfast morsel to its babies this morning.

You may remember this post where I shared the pair of Carolina chickadees

 cleaning out the little nesting box hanging on the front porch last month.

It's now obvious that mom and pop have a new family, and

that the eggs have hatched. Sadly, I can't see inside so have no idea how many 

nestlings are tucked in there, however, by the sound of the "feed me" cheeping when

 the parents arrive with food, there are several. Chickadees usually lay 5-7 eggs

 and have 1-2 broods per year.

Here a parent is doing a little housekeeping by removing poop! Clean little 

birds - the wrens do the same - whereas finches never do housework and

leave behind very messy nests when the babies fledge.

I can now sit outside on the porch very close to these birds and watch 

their comings and goings close up - they don't appear to be nervous at all.

These parents are quite amazing, flying back and forth non-stop with grubs, 

worms, flies and other delicacies. Would love to see the baby birds fledge, probably

will happen later this week, but it's hard to know exactly when so I may miss the 

joyful occasion. I just hope the little family remain safe and I can enjoy even 

more sweet little Carolina chickadees in my garden.

The busy garden this morning.

Snowballs in Spring. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . on the Chinese Snowball bush (Viburnum Macrocephalum) which is now a tree!

It's so tall now and probably has reached its mature height of 

around 10 feet. 

Below, I've added a full professional description of this fun shrub

in case you are interested in adding one to your landscape. You can grow it

successfully if you are in zones 3-8 here in the US. I am in 7 and have found

 this shrub low maintenance and easy to grow. Mine was a tiny potted

 one - rescued from the sale area at the end of Summer - from a garden center

 about 6 years ago.

 Many hours were spent this weekend cleaning out the gazebo and other

garden areas. We worked much of Saturday and Sunday in perfect weather

 and truly enjoyed it. Yesterday, around 5 pm, on the front porch, still dirty, tired

 and thirsty, we nibbled on chips and guacamole, sipping Rosé, watching the

 Chickadees coming to feed dinner to their offspring in the little bird house

 right above our heads.

Early this morning - when I took these photos - I grabbed my coffee, garden file,

 a notebook and pen, and spent a beautiful hour, still in my robe, going through

 notes on what needs to be accomplished today and through the remainder of

 this week to complete the Spring garden chores prior to indoor Spring

 cleaning. . . . . . . . . and then waving goodbye to it all!  Yes, a big trip coming

in May!

 Growing Zones: 3-8

This plant is recommended for zones: 3-8 (green area above) You are in Growing Zone: 7
Mature Height:	10-12 ft.
Mature Width:	10-12 ft.
Sunlight:	Full to Partial
Drought Tolerance:	Great
Botanical Name:	Viburnum macrocephalum 'Sterile'
Does Not Ship To:	AZ

THE ORIGINAL SNOWBALL BUSH

An amazingly 'SHOWY' addition to any landscape; the Viburnum Macrocephalum, more commonly known as the 'Chinese Snowball Bush', is beautiful and easy-to-grow. The flowers emerge a striking lime-green in late spring and gradually turn to snowy-white in mid-May; they retain their green color for several weeks before turning to cream and then to white. 

At full maturity, the 'Flower-Balls' resemble brilliant white pom-pom's, reaching up to 8' wide. The 'Chinese Snowball Bush' will bloom in mid-spring for weeks on end.

The Viburnum Macrocephalum is a sterile plant (producing no fruit) so all of its energy goes into blooming and . . . Does it ever!!! A relative of the honeysuckle, the 8' flowering clusters are made up of an abundance of delicate 1' flowers. The clusters resemble the blooms of the Hydrangea plant. 

Best of all, this particular variety will provide a longer & more profuse BLOOMING SEASON than any other plant in its family. The foliage of the 'Chinese Snowball' is a brilliant dark green with 2'-4' leaves that have a 'saw-toothed' edge; they are stunning against the stark white of the flowering clusters.

The 'Chinese Snowball Bush' can be trimmed to any size or shape; it can be sculpted into shrubs, hedges, borders and trees. Cut it back after flowering and prepare for another round of blooming; this incredible plant blooms on both, old and new wood. 

The Viburnum Macrocephalum is an extremely hardy variety that is resistant to bacterial leaf spot and powdery mildew, unlike its' relatives. If you are looking for an incredible 'point-of-interest' for your landscape, you have found it in the 'Chinese Snowball Bush'.

• Insect & Disease Resistant
• Showy Clusters of 'Flower Balls' (up to 8' wide)
• Repeat Bloomer
• Carefree
• Provides Bountiful Cut Flowers
• Deer Resistant
• Non-Invasive Root System
• Heat & Drought Tolerant
• Attracts Butterflies

Forgive me getting behind with comments dear friends - will

catch up soon when the garden requires less of my time.

Our friend Nelson wishes me to thank you for your generous 

prayers and good wishes for his recovery. Four surgeries so

far to repair his shattered leg - going home today but will

 require more surgery in about 2 weeks.

Have a wonderful week.