Day Two Hundred Ninety Nine 2013

I was thinking how out of place these blue and purple and pink hydrangea blooms looked in late October, the month of orange and red and yellow. I couldn’t believe they were still blooming at all. I wish I had cut the blooms and brought them into the house to enjoy.

Because this is what they looked like the next day after our first hard freeze of the season. How sad is that? I guess the only great thing about a hard freeze is that all the mosquitoes are officially dead and gone. Until next year, hydrangeas. [And skeeters]

Day Two Hundred Forty Two 2013

Summer Winding Down




Summer, please restart yourself.  ~unknown

I suppose summer is officially considered done come Monday, even though [calendar-wise] there are three weeks left until fall. I have no idea where it went, only that it always goes by way too fast.  Happy TGIF, everyone!  Enjoy this Labor Day weekend.

Day Two Hundred Twenty Two 2013

This and That

Neil mowed the grass for the first time in I don’t know when today. He had to mow it high, then mowed it a second time to get it as short as possible before the next monsoon. It was slow going and took him forever. We have a mulching mower, but he gave up on that and finally just let it fly. Looks like a hay field right now. That robin probably thinks so, too.

We enjoyed another clear day. Hot and humid. Feels like August.

The blooms on my hydrangea bushes go from full color to faded, depending on how much sun we’ve had. These beautiful blooms are on one stalk~the only full color flowers on one of my bushes. So I cut it and brought it inside to enjoy.

It’s amazing what a dramatic effect lighting has in a photograph. Same flowers, different lighting.

Daughter Holly brought these to me a couple of weeks ago from her yard, and I’ve enjoyed them so much. But they’ve seen better days. I think they’re still kind of pretty even dried up. Neil wants to plant the seeds and see if we can grow some in our yard. I wouldn’t mind that at all.

Day Two Hundred Fourteen 2013

Flora Friday

"Give me the joys of summer,
Of Summer Queen so fair,
With wealth of lovely flowers
And fruits and sun-kissed air!
Talk not to me of winter
With ice and frost and snow,
Nor changing spring and autumn
When howling winds will blow.
No, I will take the joys
Of Summer every time,
So to this Queen of Seasons
I dedicate my rhyme."
~Winifred Sackville Stoner, Midsummer Joys

My Geraniums are finally blooming, and that's one of my joys of Summer. Happy TGIF, everyone!

Day Two Hundred Twelve 2013

Wonderful Wednesday

"What has happened to summer,
That's what I want to know.
Is she on a vacation -
Who knows where did she go?
Tell, what was she wearing;
A zephyr breeze and rosebud
Or grass and wild berry?
Could she be honeymooning
With spring or early fall
Or has she gone so far away
She'll not return at all? "
~ Dorothy Ardelle Merriam, One July Summer

End of July ~ it hasn’t felt like Summer all Summer. Yet. Did you have a wonderful Wednesday?

Day One Hundred Eighty 2013

EVER LOVIN SATURDAY! 
Miscellaneous Random This And That

At the carwash

Pretty clouds today

Lunch

Busy bee

He was too fast for me

Yard work

Pole dance ~ me and Mr. Clean ~ those sponges really are magic

Reward for hard work cleaning back porch posts

Gratuitous foot shadow picture

And the sun slowly set in the west
Happy Saturday!

Day One Hundred Fifty Nine 2013

Geraniums are one of my favorite summer flowers. I bought some today. Different shades of pink. No red. Red flowers irritate me for some reason. Besides, the plant guy didn’t have any red geraniums. Now I need to pot them, but that requires potting soil, which I don’t have. It’s always something, isn’t it?

Day One Hundred Thirty Three 2013

Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you.
~Walt Whitman

Day One Hundred Twenty Eight 2013

Peonies are budding in my back yard.

Neighbor kitty Lily followed me around while I snapped some pics. She’s always on the go~a constant blur.

I wish we had more of these dark purple Irises. I really like that yellow stripe.

Peony bud looks like a swirly little planet. The flowers smell so good.

I have no idea what these are but I like them. They grow on a vine.

Azaleas are one of my faves, too. God sure knew what He was doing when He made flowers, didn’t He?

Day One Hundred Twenty One 2013

Pretty In Purple





All the other colors are just colors, but purple seems to have a soul. Purple is not just a noun and an adjective but also a verb - when you look at it, it's looking back at you.
~Uniek Swain

Day One Hundred Seven 2013

Faith is a knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof.
~Khalil Gibran

Day Thirty 2013

This was the extent of damage at my house from the storms that raced through Middle Tennessee early this morning. They say the tornado sirens went off, but I never heard them. This limb landed right under the kitchen window. Glad it didn’t fly through the window.

Sunset. I think the sun is under all that gray somewhere. Winter returning. Maybe some snow? Maybe?

I took this snapshot yesterday of beautiful buttercups blooming in the backyard. All of our buttercups have buds. Hope they can survive the freeze that’s coming. Makes me sad when they bloom too soon.

He’s thinking, Will it ever snow?

Day Twenty Nine 2013

Daffodils blooming in January in my backyard, It is 67 degrees at lunch time. Storms heading our way tonight and tomorrow. I can't complain about the warmth, however I wouldn't mind at least one good snowfall before winter is done. It is winter, isn't it?

 





Day Two Hundred Forty Seven 2012

LABOR DAY

No picnic for us today. All Neil and I did was work around the house. He spent his Lowe’s gift cards and bought this nifty chain saw attachment for his weed eater.

And this is what he did with it. There were piles of tree and bush limbs laying all over the yard when he finished. Well, finished for today. Nothing like a new toy.


It’s Monday which is always laundry day around here. I did that plus wash windows, starting with the ones in all the doors—inside and outside = 138 panes of glass. I haven’t even begun to clean the regular windows yet. Labor Day, indeed.


After supper, we landed in Dogwood Park with our camp chairs to soak up some local culture and cool breezes and listened to the Cookeville Community Band play their last concert of the season.

This is the first time we’ve attended one of their concerts. I told Neil I can’t believe we’ve never been. They played marches, swing tunes, New Orleans jazz, and the concert ended with Rocky Top, a Tennessee fan favorite. Good times.
Happy Labor Day, America!

Day Two Hundred Thirty Five 2012

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
~Albert Einstein