A New Appreciation

The poppy has been gorgeous, but like the peonies it is a fleeting beauty. I noticed this evening that the petals had already begun to drop.


I usually sit on the patio swing in the mornings, but yesterday morning my husband and I decided to sit on the front porch to enjoy our coffee. The curbside trees in our front yard are in bloom.



I noticed quite a few butterflies at the tree. After I finished my coffee and conversation, I quickly grabbed my camera to get some pictures.



I have no idea what kind of tree this is, I've searched and can't identify it. Maybe a Linden tree? It is very fragrant with a strong sweet smell. Do any of you know what it is?



There were several Red Admirals on the trees. I am excited to see so many butterflies this year! I saw precious few last year and I missed them.


I can't believe that I had never noticed the pollinators on this tree before now. I never really liked the two trees so I payed very little attention to them. Every spring I would be disappointed because the city placed these in front of my house rather than some of the prettier
spring flowering trees that all of my neighbors have.


These little bugs look like lightening bugs and they were all over the tree mating.



The bees were covered in pollen!

After today my opinion of the two trees is totally different. I have a new appreciation for them and I'm so glad that I have trees in my yard that attract so many wonderful pollinators.

Thank you all for you comments, regarding my parents. Your thoughts and prayers for them mean so much to me. My mother is continuing to improve but her recovery will be long and difficult. Please keep her in your prayers.

I hope everyone is enjoying this Memorial Day weekend!

Gorgeous Cherry Tree Blooms-Mosaic Monday

The cherry trees at the nursing home are in bloom. This has to be my favorite tree. I know I said that about the crabapple tree down the street, but I forgot all about this beauty. Besides, it's a woman's prerogative to change her mind.


I actually took pictures of it two times this week. The first time was Wednesday evening. They took Mom to the shower and I had a few minutes to walk around outside. Thankfully I carry a small Panasonic Lumix camera with me in my purse so I spent several minutes standing under this tree soaking in this magnificent beauty and taking pictures.




I was back again on Saturday to feed her breakfast and brought my Canon EOS 50D SLR.

All of the pictures above were taken with the Canon.

These were taken with the Panasonic.

I want to tell you about that sweet visit to the nursing home on Saturday. Alzheimer's is a tragic disease. My Mother-in-law was diagnosed with it about 14 years ago. Weighing only 76.8 pounds, she is now in the end stages and hasn't known who we are for several years. She can no longer speak understandable words. Her language ability is like infant gibberish before they learn to speak. She still smiles and tries to talk, but most of the time she sits with a vacant stare. While I was feeding her breakfast Saturday morning, she began to stroke my hair, then she patted and rubbed my face and patted my arm. It has been a very long time since she has shown any affection. I had to fight the tears that were streaming down my face. It was so special to have that affection from her. It totally made my day and the beautiful cherry tree was the icing on the cake.

I'm linking this post to Mosaic Monday Hosted by Mary at the Little Red House.

My Favorite Spring Tree

Every spring I look forward to seeing one particular tree in bloom. It is a flowering crabapple tree that is on a street in our neighborhood. For some reason this tree blooms like none of the other crabapple trees I've ever seen.



I'm sure the neighbors must think I'm crazy because I stand there with my camera every spring , day after day, trying to capture the beauty of this tree in full bloom.




It is on the street of our entrance so there is a good bit of traffic. I do feel a little silly standing there with my camera in front of my neighbor's house trying to catch the light just right. Or especially if there are bees, I walk all around the tree trying to capture them in action. I'm kind of shy and don't really like drawing attention to myself...



but I'll risk a little embarrassment to get pictures of this gorgeous tree.



Have you ever seen so many blooms before? It is just covered with these gorgeous pink blooms. I love it!





A couple of years ago I purchased four lilac shrubs and all but one died. Today I found some for $5.97 and I bought two of them.



One of them had a few blooms and I cut them off to enjoy them inside the house. I love lilac blooms!



They smell wonderful!

I hope these will survive. I'd love to have large lilac shrubs full of blooms so that I could have lilac arrangements all over the house each spring, (not to mention all of the photo ops I could have).

A few days ago I mentioned that we were having Internet trouble. Every night, for nine straight nights, right about eight o'clock our Internet would go out. It would stay off until about eight o'clock the next morning. I called AT&T and they checked some things on their end but it still didn't correct our problem. They sent out a technician. I had been trying to figure out what the problem could be, and right before he arrived I remembered that my husband had added a new sensor to our outside light. Feeling rather silly I thought I'd mention this fact to him. At first he didn't think that was the problem and checked some other things. It was cold that day and he decided to put his stocking cap over the light post just to see what would happen. Sure enough, the Internet went down. He took the cap off and it came back on. We had dusk to dawn Internet service! We took the new sensor off and now our problem is solved. The outside light never turns off, (which is why we replaced the sensor), but at least we have Internet at night now.

It is even crazier, because my husband's work computer was never affected by this. Just our three home computers.

I'm linking this to Mosaic Monday at Little Red House.

Mosiac Monday- Colors of Autumn

The colorful leaves in autumn thrill me just about as much as any spring flower, well... that might be a little bit of an exaggeration, but it's close. The colors are magnificent and often stop me in my tracks, especially during the "golden hour".

Photographers refer to the last hour before the sun sets, as the "golden hour". During this time the lighting is almost perfect and casts a beautiful golden glow. It is a wonderful time to photograph the rich, vibrant autumn colors.

Oh, did you notice the sweet little heart shaped leaf on the Kousa dogwood? I didn't even notice it until I was editing the pictures on the computer.

I'm linking today to the Little Red House for Mosaic Monday.

Autumn Around Robin's Nesting Place

Thank you all for your sweet comments and get well wishes. I apparently don't have the flu, just another virus. I was feeling better today and actually got out to vote. When we pulled into the parking lot, the line was out the door but thankfully our particular precinct had no waiting at all.

It was such a beautiful day and I just couldn't stand to be inside all day. I walked around the yard and took a few pictures. The seed heads of the butterfly weed have opened up and the silky seeds are flying about as the breeze blows.

The way the sun was shining on the seeds reminded me of July 4th sparklers.



The lady bugs are everywhere right now.

I was sad to see the swallowtail caterpillar on the parsley this late in the season. I don't think this little one will make it before the cold weather hits.


The maple tree in my front yard is beautiful right now. I believe this one is an 'October Glory' maple.

I saw another bluebird at the birdbath today but we were on our way out the door to go vote. Hopefully he will come back tomorrow for another dip and I can get more pictures.

What Is This Bird?

It has been such a beautiful day today and I've spent a good portion of the day outside. I did a little bit of work but didn't feel like a lot of physical labor today. I enjoyed some reading and relaxing and just enjoying the glorious day. Later this evening my son dug a few holes for me and I got the rest of the shrubs and the last two pink Knockout roses planted.

I was sitting on the patio this evening and spotted this, (new to me), bird. I've looked through the Indiana Bird Watching book and did an internet search and I can't ID it. My first thought when I spotted it and heard it was that it was a gray catbird, but after seeing the picture in the Indiana bird book, I didn't think it was. It also reminded me of a flycatcher the way it caught insects and because of the tail feathers, but I didn't see a flycatcher that resembled it. Now I'm confused. Help! Could one of you talented birdwatchers ID this bird for me, please?

The top of this maple tree is dead. It has been driving me nutty, but after sitting this evening and watching the birds land on the bare branches, I'm rethinking pruning it. They love those dead branches. Funny how my perspective changed on that. Here I was ready to buy a tree saw; I even thought about chopping the ugly, sorry tree down. After tonight, I realized it's not so bad after all.

Not So Sweet

My neighbor behind me planted a hedge of trees and shrubs a few years ago and they are just now beginning to mature. I saw this robin in one of his trees and took a picture. When I looked at the picture after downloading it on the computer I noticed this tree for the first time. I wanted to scream when I recognized it. It is an awful sweet gum tree! Our next door neighbor in Alabama had a huge one at the edge of their property and those nasty spiny balls fell into our yard by the thousands. Now this neighbor has planted one, possibly two, at the edge of his property. With all of the wonderful trees available, why would someone choose to plant this messy tree, especially on such a small lot?


This morning, before work, I was standing at the kitchen window and noticed my first hummingbird of the season! I didn't see it stop; I think it was just passing through. When I got off work this evening, I made some more sugar-water and cleaned the hummingbird feeder. I'll be watching the feeders very closely tomorrow. Hopefully it'll come back.

I had a little time this evening to fix one container of plants on the front porch. I'm off for the next two days and finally feeling better, I hope to be able to get some other planting and weeding done.

Spring Pictures

It was so nice to have the day off today. I got up bright and early and headed outside to take pictures of my spring blooms. It was quite windy so the pictures weren't crisp and clear but I had fun playing with them tonight anyway. The pink rose picture is from my new Knock Out rose, I desaturated the color and framed it.

This picture of the tulips was blurry so I used the Adobe watercolor effect on it. I don't usually use these features and was just playing around and trying something different.

The tulips were beautiful this morning adorned with rain drops.

Another flowering crabapple in full bloom today.



By the time I finished my errands and got around to gardening today, the weather was not the greatest. It was in the forties with wind gust of around 30-35 m.p.h. It was cold, but I was desperate to get some things planted and just to be outside near all of these gorgeous blooms. The pansies that I planted in the fall are really starting to bounce back now. I love this blue one.

I planted several of the impatiens that were grown from seed in the front flower beds, and I planted the calibrachoa in the front porch containers with some trailing vinca vines.



All but one of the lantana plants are now in containers. I didn't find the pink multi-colored one I really wanted, but the gold one performed well last year and the butterflies like it just as well.


I also planted the pink Knock Out rose, the red salvia and did a bit of weeding.
I don't have to go in to work again until later in the week, I hope the weather will be nice so I can get the rest of the stuff planted and do a considerable amount of weeding and edging.


The 'Karen' azalea is just beginning to bloom. I really miss the azaleas in Alabama during spring and was thrilled to find this one last year. It survived the winter and has lots of buds! Now, it really feels like spring to this southern gal!

A chipping sparrow gathering nesting material this morning. I haven't seen the bluebirds in several days so they must have chosen another place to nest.

A New Job!

The weather forecast last night predicted a light freeze. I covered as much as I could with blankets, sheets, boxes, and plastic containers. There was frost on the ground this morning and as far as I can tell nothing in the flower gardens were damaged.

I've been very blessed to have been able to stay at home while my children were growing up. Now that they are 20 and almost 16, I decided to get a part-time job and I started it today.

I wasn't actually expecting to start a job this soon; I have so much to plant now that we have hopefully had our last frost. I'm hoping I won't be quite so tired when I get home tomorrow and can at least get the impatiens in the front flower bed.

The tulips look so pretty right now, but rain is in the forecast and that probably will finish them off.

This is my first year for lilacs and they do indeed smell wonderful!

The phlox is beautiful this year and loaded with blooms.

I'm usually able to stay up late and enjoy computer time, but tonight I'm exhausted and I have another early, full day of work tomorrow. So, off to bed I go.