allsorts

May flowers

Three cheers! So far there are sixty-three bloggers attempting a post a day in May. I'm so thrilled to have such a nice group joining the fun. There's a handy list over yonder in my right sidebar if you want to check out the gang. Some familiar faces, and the chance to get to know some new ones!

And as promised, some visuals for today. These are photos from our most recent trip to the Arboretum. I made it there twice during the amazing Spring flowering. I can't claim all of these, some were taken by family members, but it was with my camera so I can share them, right? The delphinium pic above is by me for sure*, I may have invented some new yoga poses trying to take closeups of it without actually stepping into the flowerbed. I am insanely in love with that shade of blue.

*um, after some spirited  debate I am convinced that this was actually not taken by me, although I did take several shots of my own in the aforementioned yogic poses.

Orange blossom and orange koi...

A flowering tree...

Poppies so bright the color hurt my eyes through the lens...

A blossom caught in the ridges of a bronze fountain...

And a cardinal dreams he's invisible within a brilliant red Japanese maple...

And those are only from our secondary visit. First time I think I snapped a couple hundred, so steel yourselves... no doubt I'll pull some of those out for another post in May!

Cheers,

Jenny

Granny get your 'ghan!

Yes, I was bitten by the same bug as many other bloggers out there!  I blame Cath Kidston and that adorable crochet afghan she dangled before us last year.  Dredging up my rusty crochet skills - I actually made a granny square afghan in high school - I struggled a bit at first, but now there is a growing pile of squares in the basket I keep near my TV-watching chair.  I found the most wonderful yarn that crochets like buttah - it's Cascade Peruvian wool, and comes in tons of colors and is amazingly affordable!  I don't have much of a yarn stash to speak of.  The colors I chose are not as sophisticated as this, or this, but the finished throw will look smashing in my family room I daresay.  And it will conveniently camouflage my gently aging couch, a definite plus.  I'm feeling more like a follower these days, happily allowing myself to get caught up in the excitement of granny-alongs and such.

I took this photo out in the courtyard, trying to capture a patch of sunshine.  The weekend was glorious, and we took a drive to White Rock Lake where we strolled the shore, looked at the birds and enjoyed the lovely Springy weather along with most of the city.  Note the leaves on the stone wall... Ro spent Sunday afternoon raking up the first wave of leaves that fell from the live oak trees.  By this morning the courtyard is again covered.  Oh well, they are huge, noble trees and despite dropping things almost year round, I love them.

Another pic from the courtyard, one of the little birdhouses on the old fence...

Sorry I've been so lazy about posting.  About the time I get ready to make a post, the phone rings, or my camera battery quits, or I can't find my camera at all!  Next up is another project that so many are working on... a doll quilt!

Cheers,

Jenny

Flora and Fauna

What a week! Since my last post, things have been a total whirlwind. Katy came into town for a long visit, then my folks, and I've had a miserable headache since they left, so, no posts for a while. Sorry gang.

Let's see... a couple of interesting occurrences to report. But first, some eye candy. Katy, Carolyn and I went shopping along Lover's Lane and I brought home this birdhouse:

And since he was between semesters, Jeff dug up the old azeleas across the front of the homestead, and planted new ones, as well as about a zillion and a half impatiens, begonias and ferns among other flora. And I planted several hanging baskets, which at the moment are not exactly hanging yet. Here are pics of the results:

Still with me?  Okay, the first interesting thing that happened was early Thursday morning. Ro got up at 5:30 (can you believe him?) and headed up to the treadmill as usual (grrr). A while later, Lazybutt (me) wandered out, put on the coffee and started to go out the front door and get the paper, but I stopped short at the sight of a half dozen white vans, including one with a huge satelite tower on it, and a local news crew filming on our front sidewalk! Wha? I zipped upstairs and gabbled "Did you realize there is a news team broadcasting from our front lawn?"  Turned out they were from the CBS station doing a report on enforcement of water restrictions. They did broadcasts all morning from our front yard! Yikes! The flowerbeds looked great, with the lone exception of a pile of debris due for cleanup that afternoon. So what was in the camera shots? The crud of course. Ack. No idea why they chose our yard, as it was pitch black when they set up.

And this is the iron bunny who watches over the courtyard, which brings me to the final tale (tail?) of the week. After sightings of cute little bunnies at the Arboretum, we were charmed to see one hopping around the courtyard on Friday afternoon.  We'd never seen one out there, although we had several wild ones at our previous house, along with Peter and Eddie, our pet rabbits who ran loose in the back yard (not recommended). Then Saturday morning we realized the bunny had wreaked havoc on all the new plantings, leaving a trail of pitifully severed stalks! In a nanosecond it went from "that cute little bunny" to "that damn rabbit!" No further damage or sightings since then, but we are armed with a recipe for pepper spray that is reputed to repel the hungry beasts.

I'll post more garden pics on Flickr in a bit.  And there is more stuff going on than I have time to babble about, like Vicky's Finish What You Have, Angry Chicken's May Tie One On gallery, and the soon to be shipped out Club Little House goodies including Alicia's china cabinets (so cute)!

Cheers,

Jenny

Chelsea garden

It must be Spring Fever, I have become obsessed with gardens. Not just any old gardens, but lush, amazing English gardens. These images are of the Chelsea Pensioners Garden at last year's Chelsea Flower Show. I somehow managed to miss attending the year I lived in London, something I've always regretted. But I can visit through these gorgeous pictures, courtesy of Moosey's Country Garden.

Don't you wish you could sit at this table with a pint?

Oh, and are there foxgloves!

There are a few houses in Dallas that manage to achieve this kind of green nirvana, but they are hard to find. Dallas can boast quite a few houses designed by Charles Dilbeck, an architect who created some of the most charming storybook houses around the country. Its one of my dreams to live in one of his houses. When I have time, I'll try to find some examples of his homes.

But... they don't have thatched roofs like this...

Or charm like this:

Maybe someday...

Cheers,

Jenny