Has the Roar Stopped?

Can we hope that Spring has come in -- and meld quietly into Summer without so much as a soft sigh?

Here are some Blue Tulips with their memories of Holland.  I think the forsythia will bloom soon -- those in back are shaded and tend to be later.  It's time to shed winter's cocoon.

Memories of Holidays Past

My Grandmother had a Christmas Cactus.  It was older than I.  When she flew South to spend the winter with her son,  my Uncle , she tucked it into her purse and took it with her rather than chance its survival if left behind.  

It did bloom for her, but rarely at Christmas.  

HUNGARY - CIRCA 1965

Royal Clematis Purple

The clematis are in bloom.   This is the classic Jackmanii -- "the best known clematis of all time. "  Easy to grow,  @ a 130 year-old variety.  

I need this rich purple color for Granddaughter's quilt.  

But as so often happens, another "little" project has been inserted into the quilting lineup.

 

At Lights Out, Goldie and Tri felt curling up close was the best place.  The flowering shrubs withstood the brief moment of hail yesterday as well as the heavy rain. 

Need to hang my Summer banner -- have to get it out ; one of the few I didn't get a photo of yet.   

The Mt. Laurel is beautiful this year.  The faint red blooms are a red version of the laurel.  While I purchased the red one, the "parent" Mt. Laurel was on my In-Laws CT home.  Its blooms brings memories of them and that home.  Guess that ability puts the bush into the same catagory as a pass-down heritage quilt -- one that was used so it has good memories of family wrapped in it. 

Yesterday after serving breakfast to the feline VIPs, and as I was enjoying my morning muffin,  two bunnies hopped by.   Guess the grass is greener on the other side of the street. 


2008 source info lost














Thankfully they stayed away from the flower bed and so far Mr. Groundhog, who has been dining during the "cocktail hour",  has stayed out of it too.

Delights of a Spring Morning

Between breakfast and the morning nap, there's serious work to be done:  The House Wren (I think that's what they are) has a nest sheltered under the patio roof.  One can hear the babies chirping for their breakfast.  Goldie and Tri, who feel like Godparents to the brood I'm sure, monitor with great intensity the parents' trips to seed scattered on the patio edge . 

I'm enjoying the lilacs which have begun to bloom, including a white one on that side.  It was planted in memory of one of my Grandmothers who had a white lilac; the standard ones are from my other Grandmother's garden. 

  This photo of the opposite side was taken a few years ago .  I enjoy this view while having my breakfast coffee.  Sadly, the birdhouse feeder, made by DH, disappeared a number of years ago.   It was there when I went to work and just not there when I came home.

My sping tulips now hang on the wall.  

Goldie's Doppelganger

He's an outdoor roamer, although in bad weather he will favor my neighbor with his indoor presence.  Some mornings he naps on my front step.  Yesterday morning he checked on the cat mint in my flower bed and, as Tri watched, he took the first-of-the-season roll in it.  Tri didn't make a sound, but even so you could just hear her shouting "Get off -- that's ours -- it has to grow a bit more before our human can cut some for us to enjoy."   

When I do bring some in for them, Goldie is very much the gentleman -- he lets Tri go first.  When done, they both enjoy a long drunken nap.   

Smell the Roses, Blow out the Candles

  Tri enjoys flowers too.  Perhaps her more sensitive kitty nose picks up a rose smell mine doesn't (these commercial roses are not bred for scent).  I do know she enjoys tasting the leaves & have to wave her off, reminding her that she has her kitty grass to nibble.  

As aways a bouquet  reminds me of our visit to the morning flower market outside Amsterdam where such flowers are auctioned off and immediately loaded onto planes for flying to the buyers.   

Blue patterned  fabric purchased in Dutch fabric shop.

Can a Senior Pout?



I know these are out there in the flower bed near the kitchen door --  but according to the forecast they will again be buried under that horrid 'S" word . 

Enough already Mother Nature! 

I want to put our the spring quilts and enjoy the spring flowers.  Maybe I'll live it  up and treat myself to a pot from the grocery store.  Sounds like a good plan to banish my weather pout. 

For today I'll rejoin the fur balls and curl up on the couch.