Never ending peony beauty -

One for the scrapbook!

Even in death a peony is a beauty.

I've only one peony bush remaining - it has survived for many years

and each spring presents me with just half a dozen huge pale pink 

blooms and fragrance for just a week or so. A true 'garden moment.' 

A gift from Nature that thrills me and makes me give thanks.  

Other peonies planted over the years just weren't happy in my

 garden and didn't thrive. Spring storms have often ravaged newly

sprouted plants, and oppressive early season heat damages new

growth. 

Right now the garden is close to perfect. We're leaving for 

California this week and may miss seeing all the hydrangeas in full

 bloom, although they are beautiful right now. As several of mine are

 planted in full sun (a no-no in the gardening world, but I love them in

 front of the dining room window and front porch) the huge blue 

blooms are sometimes burned by the intense sun.

More on hydrangeas another time.

They are always thirsty so I'll pray for rain while away!

A posy is enough -

Peonies are beautiful. Hanging their heavily petalled heads in the garden

their deep green leaves often become a resting place, and a piece of twirled

 garden twine is sometimes necessary to stop them from toppling over.  

To catch their astounding, heady fragrance, at least one must be cut,

brought indoors, and set in a tiny vase of fresh water to perfume 

a room. Mine is in the dining room - cut as my gift to myself, along

 with a few roses and honeysuckle.

The sun forsook us on Sunday leaving heavy cloud cover but no rain,

 just very chilly and rather grey. Somewhat unusual for Mother's Day which

often is hot and from what I recall always sunny.

It was still a special day though and at last I was able to go to

the Van Gogh Immersive Experience. It was truly amazing!  Attending

with granddaughter Jasmin made it extra special as we had visited Arles, 

Provence together several years ago so this brought back many happy

 memories of that time in France.

Another busy week here as we will be taking a trip out of town.

Enjoy your week - I'll see you later.

Pretty in Pink + Wildlife!

This has been another crazy, far too busy week. 

The garden took up a lot of time.

Household things went wrong and kept us on our toes.

Appointments had to be kept.

Hair cut - shorter as weather heating up.

Purchased an iPhone 13 Pro Max, love it.

Food shopping and cooking for company.

Cat sitting again for my neighbor.

I'm hoping for a weekend where I can just sit a while, gather my senses

 and make plans for what looks like an even more hectic week ahead as we

will be taking a little trip.

I'm going to Van Gogh The Immersive Experience on

 Mother's Day with granddaughter Jasmin.

We love Van Gogh's work and I visited his last home in Auvers-sur-Oise

 at the Auberge Ravoux (click to read and view photos from that visit.)

 Also took Jasmin to Arles, Provence several years ago where we visited

 his yellow house, climbed the stairs to his bedroom, and other locations

 where he painted his remarkable canvasses.

"Glance up at the glimmering heavens of The Starry 

Night, admire the Almond Blossoms bursting into flower. 

Take a step into the world of Van Gogh's most iconic

 works of art and experience what it is to be inside a painting!"

Beside the pink roses, the pink peonies have also bloomed this week and

 many other plants and shrubs are filling out with lush leaves and buds.

Our weather has been fine with hot days reaching almost 90F but low humidity, 

and no mosquitoes yet which was great for working outside.  This will change

 soon of course and later today bad weather is expected with possible severe storms . . . . . .

. . . . . . .hopefully not upsetting my little baby bunny.

I prepared him for rain yesterday by accidentally watering him with

the garden hose!

Speaking of arriving wildlife. . . . . I also have Charlie gecko

 back on the front porch which makes me think he hibernated 

nearby all winter.

He was bright green before jumping on my new chair cushion where

he immediately changed to brown to blend in, wonderful camouflage!

Yes, all is very green here. This week I also cleaned out the potting shed

 with a little help.  As mentioned before, April and May are beautiful months

 in this part of America and gardening keeps us so busy.

Enjoy your Mother's Day weekend.

Another week.......and all is good!

A very good morning dear friends on another beautiful day in the

 neighborhood.

This past week we've had awesome weather so time in the garden

 has kept me busy, weeding, pruning, watering and just fiddling about.

Occasional sniffing of the now blooming peonies, and sticking my

 nose in the huge waterfalls of jasmine and honeysuckle pouring

over the fences around the back garden is a lovely pastime, 

especially in the evenings when the fragrance peaks and I swoon!

I've been getting up much earlier and sitting on the front porch with

my favorite mug full of steaming coffee, a throw, and a camera of

course. It's still cool then but soon warms to a comfortable 

temperature as the sun comes up.

I'm also cat sitting Ms. Nala next door for a week while her 

person is out of town. Twice a day I pop over to do the necessary

cat chores, and in the morning allow her onto the enclosed 

sunroom which she loves as she can watch birds, squirrels and

 that fat rabbit who seems to have moved into the garden.

I did make a side trip to AT HOME whilst out grocery shopping - 

and bought a new candle, yes another, really for the kitchen.

It's a lovely soft, mellow fragrance of Lime, Basil & Mandarin .........

and last evening I actually moved it into the living room for 

a while when we flopped down to watch a bit of TV

after supper in the gazebo at sunset.

I'm still following the Low Histamine diet however, as you can see here,

I cheated last night and had a glass of rosé with my salad and veggies!

Rosé is the wine lowest in histamine and I really needed a treat after so

much boring eating and no drinking!

Enjoy your Sunday and let's all catch up next week.

I'm feeling a lot better thankfully and hope to get a lot done around

 the house . . . . . . especially some much needed spring cleaning!

 

Never say die. . . . . .

The beauty of peonies never really ends.  

They are lovely even when their petals fall.

Yesterday I had to toss the last of the peonies purchased at

 LIDL during a weekly grocery run.

Ten buds for $15.00 = 3 amazing weeks of beauty!

Fresh flowers don't come any better than that.

They were spectacular and their fragrance lasted until the end.

Sarah Bernhardt beauties brightened so many days.

Monday meanderings -

This morning I awoke with a start and looked at the wall clock with bleary eyes - 6:45 AM. 

Crawled out from under the duvet (do you use one year-round? I do) pulled off 

the bed linens ready for the wash and carried them downstairs to get them going in

the machine.

Funny thing was when I looked at the kitchen clock it said almost 6:00 AM!

I misread the first clock and got up an hour too early. It was OK though as

I got a lot done before Bob was even awake!

By 8:00 AM I had deadheaded the petunias and geraniums, and accidentally snapped

 this piece off - tucked it in with rooting basil for a pretty window sill display.

Then I watered much of the garden, especially the pots as they dry out 

quickly - and today it hit 90F by early afternoon, phew!

This morning the peonies continued to smell divine, some now open full but

a few still in bud, I think they'll last through the end of this week.

Father's Day was fun and we spent several hours celebrating Bob, a truly great Dad,

but not appreciated enough by some family members. I will not go into details here, 

just take my word for it!

Are you finding being 'locked down, or up", makes it easy to dwell on sad 

bits of your life? I guess it's because we have so much time on our hands. I have to

 hold myself back here because I don't want my blog to be a pity party or full of negativity,

there's enough of that going on all around us.

So back to the garden, that place of solace, beauty, birdsong, color, fragrance,

 and relaxation after a lot of hard but mostly enjoyable work.

The day lilies are coming along well now. I'm really not a fan of orange flowers except

here hugging up to the Nikko blue hydrangea, they work well. Each bloom lives up to its

 name, blooming one day and then fading.

Sunday morning I made another batch of basil pesto, so delicious.  I had enough to share

for Father's Day with my daughter's partner - he does most of the cooking - and my neighbor.

I'll be making plenty of this fresh 'taste of summertime' over the next few months.

Just so you know - I'm feeling quite comfortable now with the New Blogger and am

using it without having to revert to the old legacy version.

I thank all of you for your assistance with this, your tips online, and by phone, were such

 a huge help.  I do think Blogger still needs to fine tune the platform, and I do think

I preferred the old version. Maybe it will improve in the coming month - maybe I'll

like it some day!

Here's to a good week everyone.

For the weekend -

Yesterday I left the house with caution, as is the norm these days. 

Masked, I went in search of food, plus some needed cleaning supplies and

a few odds and ends.

Most things were available without much trouble, and I found others not on my list. . . . . 

. . . . . these gorgeous perfumed peonies! Two bunches from LIDL - and added the unusual large curved antirrhinums (snapdragons) and gypsophila from another grocery store.

Antirrhinum is a genus of plants commonly known as dragon flowers or snapdragons because of the flowers' fancied resemblance to the face of a dragon that opens and closes its mouth when laterally squeezed. They are native to rocky areas of Europe, the United States, and North Africa. 

I recall naming these 'bunny rabbit' flowers as a child in England - my mother grew them annually and

they were always one of my favorites.

I'm writing this post in New Blogger this morning but having several problems. One huge one seems to be my entire blog layout (side bar etc.) keeps disappearing!  Anyone else having that problem today? I think Blogger must be working on their new system . . . . or fooling with us!  It's really tiresome and I'm signing off for now in hope things will work better later today, or tomorrow, or one of these crazy days!!!!

BTW, regarding the masks, here in our county of North Carolina, mandatory wearing of such 24/7 when in public goes into effect today!  Apparently you won't be arrested without one, just stopped and warned by Police. Let's see how that works out.

Have a great weekend . . . . . . and Happy Father's Day on Sunday to all the really dear and special dads hiding behind their masks out there!

Fading beauty. . . . . . . .

The peonies, like me, are fading now.

Their beauty is short lived in days, sadly their blooms don't last for months.

 We care for them from the thrilling day when that tight, round bud appears,

then opens with the assistance of tiny ants (never rinse off the ants, they

 are needed according to nature). For a week or so we breathe the

 fragrance as the blooms grow large, beautiful, stunning to look at, and

 one feels especially glad to be at home.

Now they've even passed the blowsy stage when petals loosen and droop. 

Tinges of rusty shades are encroaching on the fading ballet pink. Yellow stamens 

are curling into fine threads. To me they are still so lovely in their old age. 

I feel a need to record them even this way - so I've been out there with the

camera to watch them change before they fall forever.

THOUGHTS - This weekend arrived very quickly and although every day is

 somewhat the same, I still enjoy the feeling of Saturday and Sunday. 

I hope those who are still working can enjoy some time for relaxation - something

 we elderly retirees are already used to.  

So, more time for the garden - both working and relaxing there.

Weight gain is noticed - me rather than Bob, not fair because I eat

less than him!  No bread baking - crusty loaves slathered with butter

now off the menu for a while, as are pistachio muffins. The farm fresh

strawberries are now being served naked without whipped cream!

Must walk more - grocery shopping is not exercise and we actually 

didn't even do that this week as we've too much food in the house.

The weather is warming up - high of 89F today - so I'm leaving you

for now and grabbing my walking shoes and sunhat.

Enjoy your Saturday.

The language of flowers -

The symbolic language of flowers has been recognized for centuries in many

countries throughout Europe and Asia. Flower meanings have fascinated people

 for centuries. The special symbolism of flowers became a very popular pastime in

 Victorian homes of the 1800's where, alongside a Bible, they often had guidebooks

to decipher the 'language' of flowers. 

You of course know the red rose was used to openly express feelings of

 love - but did you know the pink rose represents grace, happiness and gentleness?

Today my pale pink New Dawn rose is blooming on the back fence and I must

admit its grace is certainly bringing me happiness.

The Victorians believed the human quality associated with the peony was

 'bashfulness', a gentle old fashioned word, but sadly not heard so much

 these days.

Rain and storms seem to have disappeared from the weather forecast.

An amazing week ahead is showing days of abundant sunshine, perfect 

daytime temperatures in the sixties and seventies, with cooler nights once again.

I planted my dahlia tubers yesterday - a first for me - and am so hoping they 

grow and bring summer color later.

The tomatoes are doing OK and I think the naughty rabbits have moved

 on to another neighbor's garden!

I scrubbed the last of the pollen off the deck furniture, blew the 

cobwebs out of the gazebo to enjoy warm evening suppers without spiders!

The front porch is clean and bright and providing our outdoor seating

throughout the day - waving to passing walkers - enjoying a drink. . . . .until

 the beastly mosquitoes arrive!

  Growing and blooming should be continuing with assistance from the

 garden hose. . . . . . . and what's more enjoyable than being outside

surrounded by beauty, blooms and birds at this time in the world!

May Day in bloom -

In the merry, merry month of May!

Some glimpses of the garden in the past 

couple of days of sunshine and rain.

 Perhaps the loveliest time in the garden here in the southeast prior to the

 heat and humidity of summertime.

Taking a little afternoon break to enjoy the shades of green.

It's been a very busy week and I'm ready for the weekend!

All four buds have opened on the amaryllis - so beautiful.

 Peonies have opened - not many, but so fragrant.

 Sweet smelling jasmine on the fence.

 Masses of beautiful flowers on the backyard privets this year - a pleasant surprise.

Rhododendrons are a pop of color in the back garden.

Honeysuckle on the back fence.

And so it goes - days still go by very quickly for us despite continuing under stay at home orders for other than essential outings for food and necessities. Bob found a bottle of bleach - we cheered in the store, muffled by our masks! There's no rice though - who buys so much of it? 
This week we did go to a necessary doctor appointment for Bob's painful knee - an injection seems to be helping. Our good neighbor (also a Bob) helped us by mowing the front lawn as Bob was out of commission. I'm so lucky to be surrounded by 'Bobs' who make me feel safe.
We had a kitchen plumbing problem. I cooked and baked daily, including a huge veggie lasagna. I hadn't made one in ages, it was good with plenty of cheese - in fact far too much cheese. . . . . I need to walk more now! 
Thanks for all those great hair tips on going grey - former post - you are the best of friends. We worked on changing winter to summer wardrobes, which meant a lot of laundry time - and I have a big pile of ironing waiting in the wings. The garden is ongoing. We pulled out yards of ivy - a lot of work, but rewarding. The storm of Wednesday night brought high winds and heavy rain, thankfully no severe damage, and the plants seem happy with the good deep water they received. Hydrangeas are budding - remember they are my favorites. . . . . after the awesome amaryllis of course!

So the month of May is here and most of us admit that April was like no other April of the past!  Hoping things improve - wishing you continued good health - hoping your loved ones are coping and staying safe - thanking all the people who are working so hard to help us in

so many ways.