Late & Mild Start to Summer

Spring hung on here .. something that rarely happens. We had mild temps and low humidity really up until the first of June. And while we have experienced good ole summer heat and humidity, our temps have not pushed any records this summer as they usually do.

The Springlike start to summer provided some lovely days outside enjoying flowers and birds and other past times.

My husband's Star of the Nile (I forget the scientific name) came back in full force!  This is just 1 of the plants.  So tall (like my fella!).  I love the color!


Daisies!  My daisies are too thick and the plants around them have grown so that they don't get the sun they need. Our yard is a do it yourself landscape project. The back yard is great and we have started on the side yard (we have a corner lot).  Once we make our way around to the front, daisies and daylillies will move to sunnier locations where they can bloom to their hearts contents!  In the meantime.. I had a lovely surprise one day this May when I found these greeting me with their cheery faces!

One of my favorite past times during our Springish Days was to sit outside a bit while Mac and Mia explorer or just bask in the sun.  I would eat lunch or read or, as on this day, work on Bible study. This was the perfect setting to dig into the Word!



The Confederate Jasmine has taken off this past year and was lush and full of blooms and provided Mia with the perfect spot to hide!  She loved nestling down in the vines and sleeping.







These days the heat keeps my outside time limited, but in 6 - 8 weeks, we will start having hints of fall. And there will be moments where the weather will entice me to stay outside and play a bit. And maybe, just maybe, there will be a late blooming session among the flowers!

Morning Walk

I enjoy morning walks, especially in my neighborhood.. which is a great place to live!  We have been here 20+ years.. so it is home.. we are rooted here.  As I was walking yesterday, I took some pictures. I tried desperately to snap some shots of the crazy squirrels and their antics, but they would never let me get close enough.  I also tried to capture some pictures of the lovely birds that fill our trees with their songs, but again.. they skittered away. There was this one fat robin that I tried to stealthily chase down.. didn't work!  Evidently, I don't have what it takes to be a stalker.

But I did get shots of flowers and such... one of my favorite subjects!

A number of our neighbors have knock-out roses in this vibrant red-pink color.

These neighbors always have lovely blooms in their yard!

Our neighborhood was built in the early 1970s, so we have nice big lush trees for shade 

and to house those crazy squirrels and melodic birds.

So the sun was soo bright that this picture didn't come out like I wanted.. BUT you can see the size of this majestic pine and also the gorgeous blue sky we enjoyed here yesterday.

I love oleander!

Horrible photo.. I know.. I am determined to take another and post soon. But I wanted you to see the vibrant color of this clematis.  Isn't it gorgeous!?

Yes, that is a bush... look at the depth of variation of the greens. I love the greens of nature!

The cross in this yard is cute, but I took this shot because of those ropes. They have foot loops at the bottom. I have no doubt you will often find children swinging and giggling here.  Fun!

A reminder to STOP today and enjoy the beauty the Lord has placed all around you. 

There is nothing like Spring in the South!

A Different Kind of Candlelight Dinner

Years ago my husband landscaped our back yard.  I have shared many photos of the flowers blooming and such.  We have worked on the beds over the years adding this and that. Everything has grown and is so lush and lovely.  2 years ago he added some iron stakes that hold these glass containers which in turn hold candles.  They are spread throughout the garden and when they are lit, it is magical!  

We are having an amazing Spring here in Mississippi. The mild winter melded into gentle spring warmth and has given us amazing color and scents from flowers blooming everywhere!  And our temperatures and humidity have been staying low and sweet.  I would love for it to stay like this for many, many months. But alas, I know the spring will soon give way to summer and the heat and humidity of the deep South will return as it faithfully does each year. 

In the meantime, Bill and I have decided to enjoy it while we can!  Sunday night I was reheating some leftovers for us. I went to put my plate on the kitchen table and he shooed me out the back door to the patio... where I found the outside table set with linens and a candle and all the garden candles were lit. Magic!  

It is a bit dark, but here is the view from the patio table.  

I wish you could smell the light scent of our confederate jasmine as it wafts by on the wind.

It was quiet except for an occasional frog croak or a dog barking in the distance.  Even the 2 wild wiener dogs were quiet as they explored the flower beds (their own personal jungle) looking for frogs and bugs and such.  

We will continue to eat by candlelight in the garden as long as the weather permits.  There is just something special about eating outside.

Welcome!

We like having the entrances to our home decorated and colorful and welcoming.  So recently they were "spring-a-fied" just like the inside.

Normally my hubby makes the wreaths and such for the entrances, but this year we bought some for the back doors. I saw these at Dollar General and thought they were cute. The eggs look a little like painted mercury glass.

We also bought new cocoa mats.. we love cocoa mats.. so does Miss Mia.. she chews them up!  So far she has not touched these.. PTL!  Maybe they don't taste as good as the others! LOL!

Here is a shot of our front entrance...

I think it is very welcoming.

We even added a new colorful mat there...

My favorite of the decoration are these big flower baskets hung from the lights.

Hubby made these and the wreath on the door.  He is one talented fella!

Be sure to make your home welcoming and inviting. You never know who might drop by!

Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it! Hebrews 13:2 NLT

Anticipation...

I haven't really looked at the flower beds here for a week or so. I see them daily, but just glimpses as I run in and out the door.  Yesterday I decided to take a stroll around the yard and see how things were doing.

Now these pansies probably don't look that amazing to you... but here is the deal. We bought these for my mom back in the fall.  They got fairly neglected and for all appearances were dead.  She was going to toss them in the trash, but Hubs said "I'll take them."  He has fertilized and pruned and nurtured them and we have enjoyed a lovely late winter - early Spring showing.  These are the last of the blooms I fear, but they still look pretty....

I found this waiting amongs the tall green iris plants....

and there are many others showing hints of purple that no doubt will be popping over in the days ahead.

We have walked through a number of nurseries lately... we like to do that.  On the last trip, I snagged a few herbs to replinish the supply here.  Our mint huge and going strong... but the rosemary and basil did not fare well over the winter and I wanted to add some thyme to the mix. These will be potted up soon.

And lastly.... I am looking forward to seeing all the little white tips of this Jasime open and pouring out fragrance for us to enjoy. My husband's office purchased this for him a few years ago when his father died.  It has almost sucumbed to a couple of cold winters, but it is a tough ole bird (a bit like my father-in-law) and is ready to bloom!

I love the anticipation of what is to come!

Pride of Mobile

Our house has a long row of azaleas along the east side... right outside the window over the kitchen sink and the bay window in the breakfast room.  I love looking out on them all year round, but especially in spring when they are blooming.  Ours are a dark pinkish-red color.. more red than pink.. called President Clay. (Here is a photo of a President Clay.. not ours.. Pres Clay Azalea )

These azaleas were planted long before we moved into this house (21 years ago this summer!) and they are lovely, but I would really love some true pink azaleas.  I love the soft pink ones like a George Tabor or a brighter pink like a Judge Solomon... add some white azaleas in with those and WOW you have a gorgeous display in spring.

My mother's house has pink azaleas.. Pride of Mobile.. a southern classic.  Again, these were there long before she moved up here with my dad in 1995. She has one plant that is huge!  Because my brothers and I are spaced out (19 year span) my mother's grandchildren range from 40 down to 19.  There is a bit of a gap between the first 8 and the last 3.  My 2 and my youngest nephew were always called "the little kids" and each year we had an Easter Egg hunt at my parents home here and there was always a photo taken of "the little kids" in front of the big azalea.. which was almost always in full bloom at Easter.

Well blooms came early this year and will surely be gone by Easter.. and "the little kids" are now young adults... so no egg hunts or photos for a while... but that big ole azalea still explodes with color every spring.

Lightening Up For Spring...

I wish I had taken a before picture.. I have some but who knows where!  We redid our bedroom a couple of summer ago. Went from medium teal walls with peach, rose, light blue, and green florals .. very "cool"tones.. to very warm ones.. olive green walls, gold comforter (not metallic or bright), floral shams that in shades of terra cotta and gold and greens., dark terra cotta rose shams.... very warm and a bit autumny.  We love it!

But we like to be a bit seasonal.. lighten up for spring and summer.. so last year we changed out the shams and used gold ones and cream ones. It helped. But this year we went a bit farther!

Recently my mother got rid of a king size bed she had in a spare bedroom. The linens on it were bought a year ago.  I loved them at the time. Still do. They have been sitting on the bed in my daughter's room (daughter moved out) for months.  Well this morning as we were changing sheets, my husband grabbed the comforter and put it on the bed. It is, like most comforters, reversible.  One side is floral.. we started with that. Too much.. too girlie. The other side is a stripe.  It worked.. then we added the shams that match it.. used the floral side for those, just enough floral but not too much. We added our cream shams that we use in summer along with the cream matelasse to drape across the end of the bed.  Kept our green throw pillows and terra cotta wedge pillow... same dust ruffle and curtains.. and voila!  We have a "new" room.. a bit lighter in color.. springy... fresh... we like it... now we just have to get use to it! LOL!

Petunias in March!

I love Petunias.. always have.. and we pretty much always put some around the yard in pots in the summer for their big splash of color.  At the end of summer, my husband just left the pots in the beds.  Normally he takes removes them and cleans everything out to get the pot ready for next year. .. but for some reason he just did not get that done this year.. and I, for one, am glad!  Why? Because much to our surprise, the petunias (which we dead and gone from what could be seen), have come back out in the pots and are blooming!  In March!  It is fun to see  both petunias and pansies blooming at the same time!  Not the norm here at all.

Look at these beautiful blooms...

Still Winter????

So technically it is still winter and while it is not unusual for us to have warm days .. really all year long down here!... we are definitely having a burst of Spring Fever!  The grass is growing and green (my fellas mowed for the first time this season today!)... buds are poppin' out on plants... flowers are blooming... birds are out looking for homes... I really am feeling like it is mid to late March not February.

I love the weather we are having ... everything is feeling fresh and new and at the same time wonderfully familiar...

Our winter pansies were basically dead... not any more! And yes, that hummingbird feeder is full as it the other one in our yard. The finches love to drink from them and we will probably have hummers here within a month.

The daylillies are waking up....

but the Iris' are ahead of them... 

It may be difficult to see the new growth on that Spirea, but check out that daisy.. yep that is a dead bloom which means some time in the last week we had an open bloom!  I hate that I missed it!

And look at the mint!  So green... and what a smell!

The Nandinas are still full of color and berries...

The neighbors plum is blooming and that bluebird house was cleaned out last week... just in time for the beautiful male I saw scouting it out today!  Cannot wait for the bluebirds to set up house... one of my favorite parts of Spring here...

And yes... despite the fact that it is February and still Winter as far as the calendar goes.. and actually still rather cool.. our Azaleas have decided they are ready to wake up and brighten our day!  One end of our house is covered with these bushes and they provide a lovely view from the breakfast room and kitchen.  

Some are saying that plants have been fooled into thinking it is Spring... I say God knew we needed the rebirth of Spring early this year.  A reminder of His grace and glory!

Makes me think of the hymn.... For the beauty of the earth.... For the glory of the skies...

In like a lamb.....

March most definitely came in like a lamb here. It was one of the most beautiful days. Temps in the 60s, lots of sunshine, soft breezes.... truly lovely. I even saw my first butterfly of 2011 fluttering about the yard.

After being inside all morning, I decided to get out and grab some of this day.  Now normally that would mean something like taking a walk (I had actually done that already) or sitting in my glider to read or at one of our outside tables to eat lunch or read or work on Bible study.. I opted for none of the above. Instead, I donned some jeans and a t-shirt and added a floppy straw hat and my pink crocs .. grabbed a basket and my pink gardening gloves and set out to weed the flowerbed. (Why do we say weed when what we really are doing is de-weeding?)

I have to stop here and say that this is totally out of my nature. I have weeded many times, but I don't recall every choosing to do it!  Normally my husband will say "We need to clean up the beds today"and so I get the task of sitting on the ground and pulling up weeds.  It is not a task I normally enjoy and yet yesterday I did. I wonder what my husband has been praying for me? LOL!

I pulls weeds for about an hour. Here is one area of the bed that is now weedless (ok, mostly weedless... there seems to always be those that turn invisible while you are pulling!)

It may not be the prettiest looking flower bed just yet. We need to add some fresh straw or mulch over the now exposed soil. But earlier in the day you could see none of that brown soil due to weeds. (Should have taken a before shot!)

Here is the result of my efforts:

Not completely full, but about 3/4s.  Pretty good amount of weeds, I say!

I also played with the pups a bit. Mac is getting better at bringing his ball back to me and actually letting me have it to throw again... that is until he is tired of the game or gets distracted.  We played ball for quite a while.  It was a special day for Mac. His 2nd birthday!  He has no idea what that means, but he liked it because every so often I would tell someone "Today is Mac's birthday!" or I would just scoop  him up and say something that included the word "Birthday" and he got lots of attention and love.  So for him birthday means good stuff!

Here is the birthday boy:

And yes, his coat is a soft and silky as it looks!

I love this shot, he seems to be lost in thought. Actually my guess is he is pondering how to catch one of those pesky squirrels that taunt him so.

Miss Mia was, as usual, not interested in posing for the camera. She had bugs and such to hunt:

And finally, here is a shot of me. Oh my!

I decided that I am becoming an Old Southern Woman... hat and all! LOL! At least I am an Old Southern Woman who is choosing to find joy in this journey God has for her.

Barb

Just a week...

What a difference a week can make. Last Wednesday night kids in our area were praying for a snow day. Keep in mind that I live deep in the sunny south... Mississippi... where snow is a rarity.  Schools had already missed two days earlier this year for snow days .. which ended up being ice days instead, so schools were hesitant to close.  Well we did get snow... a dusting of it... it was a "snow" day but the kids still went to school. Roads were clear, no ice (Praise the Lord!) so off they went.

I didn't take any pictures the days we had ice. Wish I had.. ice is much more dangerous around here than snow and not as rare, but it is also beautiful.  I did, however, venture forth in the aftermath of our blizzard (LOL!) and take photos of our snow.  Check it out...

Mia isn't sure what to think of this stuff....

Here is a bit collected on a crape myrtle.. 

I love the way our Magnolia looks with snow... 

Especially up close....

A week later all the windows are open and the back doors too.  I am barefooted and my son is relishing shorts weather!  The sun is shining soo bright.. there is not a cloud in the sky... the temps are in the mid70s and the humidity has settled down to a reasonable level.  Here we are a week later.... 

Mia is now fascinated by the new green grass and clover popping up... 

Lots of lush clover!

And even a dandelion bloom... 

I noticed that the watermelon crape myrtle has berries all over it. Soon there will be green leaves and then blooms!  When we moved into this house 20 years ago, my husband vowed that he was going to move that tree because it is up against the house and really not visible except from my corner of the back yard (which wasn't my corner yet).  Notice the tree is still there.. and I am happy about that. :-)

Put out a spring banner to welcome all the "greeness"... 

I was even able to hang clothes out to dry today!  LOVE IT!!!!

A few more Mac and Mia shots.. they are loving being outside in the sunshine and they will let me take their pix... my kiddos are too busy going here and there for me to snap them!  

I hope it is starting to feel and look like Spring in your part of the world!  Barb