COZY LITTLE HOUSE

More Of Dottie's Yard

2012-05-26T10:21:00.001-05:00

You are in for quite a treat. I was out walking. And found myself once again in front of Dottie's house. Dottie of the very whimsical and enchanting yard.

Yep, that Dottie.

Don't you love this door on her front porch? What do you want to bet she had something to do with adding that stained glass herself, artist that she is?

How about using pot lids for edging flower beds? I like it!

Moving along the side of her house toward the phenomenal back yard...

Remember that mosaic project she was in the midst of last time? Well, here is the finished work of art.

That alone takes my breath away...

How about a red shoe nailed to the wall?

Is this woman not extremely talented?

That she most definitely is.

And the colors... Be still my heart.

What a delightful and whimsical fountain. I could sit and stare at her yard for hours.

I bet I know who created this mosaic bird house...

This artist just amazes me! Isn't this piece absolutely stunning?

I've got more. I'll bring you back to Dottie's yard tomorrow. You won't be disappointed, I can assure you.

Welcome Wagon Friday 5/25/12

2012-05-25T09:09:00.000-05:00

It's the Friday before Memorial Day. I'm sure lots of you have plans. I'll probably be in the garden. But take time to look at these very colorful blogs...

Poppyview is a blogger from Crete, Greece...

Love her kitchen! Yes, she is a color gal!

Everyday Home Girl...

Oh, I wish I could crochet! She's sooo creative.

Hopscotch Lane...

Oh, my! The red! Another very creative new blogger.

Please take time on this holiday weekend to go over and welcome these ladies to our little community.

Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood

2012-05-24T09:46:00.000-05:00

I love the mirror hung on this house. What delightful things they must see reflected out in the yard.

Strolling through the neighborhood. One of my favorite things to do.

I love the various types of architecture applied in this neighborhood. So diverse.

An occasional bunny rabbit crosses my path.

This front yard is admittedly a little too busy for me. But I love that there's no grass. Just gardens.

Love that pristine white fence as well.

What's so great is, you never know what or who you're going to meet up with.

A quaint little spot to sip your morning coffee.

How nice. A seat for big guests. And a seat for little guests also.

A Cottage Garden Party

2012-05-23T17:23:00.002-05:00

I am linking up my new gardens to the weekly Cottage Garden Party at Fishtail Cottage.

What's a garden without birds? You know I love my yard birds.

Early bird gets the worm...

This yard was sadly lacking in gardens when I moved here in October 2011. But I shall change all that. Over time.

I love to sit out here with the dogs and plan. And plan and plan. And then I'm distracted by a bird. Up goes the camera.

People are always asking me how I get shots of birds. Well, I sit very quietly and wait. This is when I seem to have the virtue of patience.

With the pinching of new growth, this coleus is becoming quite rounded in shape.

My little succulent garden, planted just a few weeks ago, is growing nicely.

As is the fairy garden.

Go over and check out the Cottage Garden Party and gaze at other gardens.

Chocolate In Candlelit Corners

2012-05-23T09:26:00.001-05:00

A small indulgence really.

Baking up a little snack.

And sitting in your favorite, most comfortable chair. To consume it.

So simple. So delightfully pleasurable.

Just sitting for awhile, gazing about me at the things I surround myself with. Eating a cinnamon roll.

What more could one ask for?

Cost of pleasurable moments: about $1.50.

The simple things in life are the least expensive.

Nature & Romance In The Yard

2012-05-22T13:16:00.000-05:00

Now I know Mr. Cardinal is giving Mrs. Cardinal a seed or something. But doesn't it look for all the world like he's romantically kissing her?

Such a lovely couple. I'm honored to have them in my yard. They remind me that some species mate for life.

Seeds you guys have mailed me are sprouting up through the mulch.

The vintage wagon, waiting to be called to duty.

I'm so happy with my fence garden. But I just got back from seeing my internist. He said: "Boy, you've made your hands awfully angry."

This because when I dug all the sod up to create this garden, I caused injuries to my hands. And they don't seem to be getting any better with rest. There are pockets of edema under the skin on my left hand, and you can't even see my knuckles. (And I've always had bony looking hands.)

{A rose bloom!}

He wrapped it up, but how can I garden with a wrapped up hand, I ask you? Yet, I'd better try, or I won't be sewing either.

Doesn't it drive you crazy that you have all this energy to get things done, and your body just won't accommodate?

Guess I'm going to be attempting to borrow a tiller for the next garden space. Because you know nothing is keeping me out of that yard.

Colour My World

2012-05-21T09:49:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I finally got around to dusting and cleaning floors and then mopping. I'd rather be outside, but this place needed some attention indoors.

(For some obscure reason this morning, the lyrics to "Colour My World" by Chicago are in my head. Remember that song? You youngsters may not.)

I seem virtually incapable of merely cleaning. I have to move things about and rearrange. Thus I brought out one of my two old vintage suitcases and started filling it up with pretties.

I love my collection of white pitchers. I tend to keep them together. As a collection they make a lot more impact than if I scattered them about the house.

I stand back and ask myself where I got this and that, and sometimes I can remember. And oftentimes I cannot. I just know I cart them from house to house because I love them.

Some things, for some inexplicable reason I can't explain, just seem to go together to me.

Don't ask me why. I have no answers to give you.

"As time goes on, I realize
Just what you mean to me
And now, now that you're near
Promise your love
That I've waited to share
And dreams of our moments together
Colour my world with hopes of loving you."

May the slow sweet lyrics of Colour My World ease you peacefully through your day today.

Time Marches On & The Mistress

2012-05-20T09:56:00.000-05:00

That house I left seven months ago? It's for sale now, says my friend and neighbor from Texas last week in an email to me. She sent me the link to the real estate company.

I couldn't help myself. My heart beat a little faster as I waited for the photos of my old home to load. I flashed quickly through the ones of the house. So much work put into that house. But it is really just walls to house people in.

It was the sight of the gardens where I began to cry.

She is not a gardener. Has no interest. But I notice there is a new bird bath in the exact same place I had the one I brought with me here. I had chosen that spot at random.

And now mine is here.

I couldn't look long. It still breaks my heart. It is just dirt, I know you are thinking. Just a plot of land that had plants in it. But my heart was in that soil. A little piece of my heart.

Gardening is in my blood. I left something behind that meant a lot to me. I think a garden travels with you in your soul. No matter where you go.

I have that.

I moved out the latter part of October 2011. She moved in the next day.

And who is she? The mistress, as most of you already know. I suppose she's been elevated to "girl friend", since we are now divorced. The woman who coveted my house so much, said her husband, that she was shopping for it long before I left it.

And now she's losing it as well. Karma can be a real bitch.

The wife is always the last to know. Isn't that what they say?

And then there's her husband of 36 years. He was a real mess over it when I told him about them. He didn't believe me. At first.

Sex does silly things to people. The aphrodisiac that is danger and hiding and illicit meetings makes people do very foolish things.

I guess hurting other people is the last thing on their minds as they carry out assignations. As they whisper into phones and plan more rendezvous.

And have sex that is made all the better because it is wrong and deceitful.

As Dr. Phil would so aptly say: "How's that working for you now?" And about their foolish decisions and excuses? He'd say: "Well, that dog just won't hunt."

I would never in a million years trade places with her. I'm happy in my humble little abode. I'm working hard on new gardens. The dogs and I are happy with our abbreviated little family.

I have carved out a new life for us. We sleep soundly at night now.

Time passes. People move. My daughter's a real estate agent. She says folks move on the average every six to seven years.

New people will move in there. They will have their own plans for that place. For my little plot of land I tended with such love.

And maybe, just maybe, they'll finally tend my gardens. The ones she had no interest in. Maybe they'll put out water for the Eastern bluebirds that come to nest every spring.

Perhaps they will enjoy them as I did. Sit out there with the sound of the waterfall in the background. And watch the seasons change.

Maybe, just maybe, it will be an older couple who have been in love a long, long time. Perhaps they will hold hands as they sit under the pavilion, and smile when the birds come flying in to perch.

And maybe, just maybe, they will wonder who created that little piece of heaven for them to enjoy. And be curious as to where she's digging in the dirt now.

Communing With Nature

2012-05-19T10:53:00.000-05:00

It has been overcast this morning. I've been sitting outside with the dogs, watching the birds.

This robin found a nice juicy worm.

The chartreuse coleus is doing great. I took it out of the bucket and planted it in the ground a week or so ago. Look how full it's getting.

The way to keep your coleus full is to take your fingers and snip off the new growth.

Yesterday I spread five bags of mulch in the existing gardens.

Last night I was standing on the back porch while the dogs were out, watching the fireflies. Or are they called lightning bugs? When I was a child, we called them lightning bugs.

I remember when I lived in Texas, I never seemed to see them. And always wondered why. I love to see them blinking in the darkness. Little beacons of light.

My first passion flower on the fence has bloomed. Seeing it made me so happy.

I hope your day is filled with pretty flowers, gardens to gaze at, and people you love.

Welcome Wagon Friday 5/18/12

2012-05-18T08:55:00.002-05:00

It's that visiting time of the week again. Welcome Wagon Friday. Up for you this week, I have...

Chateau Chic...

And...

Love the old bread box and scales.

Ruby And Arthur...

Don't you love to see old aprons hanging out in the breeze?

And strawberries that look good enough to eat.

The Country Farm Home...

There's that shade of paint which I call barn house red I so love.

Please head on over. Or bookmark them to go visit when you're finished working in the garden. They'll be so happy you did.

The Fence Garden

2012-05-17T10:49:00.000-05:00

Here is a section of the new little garden I've created. With Charlie Ross's butt of course.

I dug all the sod out in two days. Using a hand spade and a shovel. Was not an easy job, I can tell you. But I could tell I had good dirt there underneath.

The robins hung out around me, waiting as I dug up a new clump of sod so they could hop in and grab up worms.

This is my view from my little back porch. I guess someone must have erected that chain link fence for big dogs or something. My little ones just walk around the gate!

I haven't figured out what to do beyond that first fence, as I don't have a water source out there.

This is the view from back there to the back porch of my house. Yes, kind of junky there right now. It's in a period of transition.

I live in one of those very old neighborhoods where you have many service lines overhead. You can see all those boxes to the left of my kitchen window.

Those chairs you see to the far right are where I like to sit when it's shady, which is much of the day. The dogs like to sit there while I piddle in this fence garden.

I'd like to put some bricks or something underneath them so they won't have to be moved when the area is mowed.

Yes, I have one of those ugly sheds. Kind of an eye sore. But it's the only storage outside that I have. The garage, which is not far from falling down, houses my car. And just barely.

I got the big green and orange pots from Lowes on Mother's Day. They are plastic. Loved the layered look of them.

I don't like just a flat look in a garden space. I like for the eye to go up and down. So containers serve that purpose.

I also planted seeds in this bed, but they may get trampled by the dogs. I planted thyme and a few other things.

The rusted iron dog you see was a tribute statue I had made years ago from Garden Deva here in Tulsa. It says: "Pepper's Garden." Pepper was my little rescue dog I lost in 2006.

This is all of course a work in perpetual progress. In the big pots I have climbing roses. And two passion vines in the ground between them.

I am chomping at the bit to get my yard looking nice. But it's just me. So it will take awhile. I will have to practice an art form I've never been proficient at: patience.

To Find True & Lasting Happiness

2012-05-16T11:53:00.000-05:00

I may just take a break from the gardens today. But then I say that a lot, and end up out there anyway. I have cuts and bruises and chigger bites and need to get sewing.

Oh, but I pass by the bedroom, dining room or kitchen window. And it so tantalizes me, that it pulls me out there as if by magic.

What is it that imbues us with such richness to sink our fingers down into the soil?

I glance out the window and see droves of birds sifting through the sod and dirt I've shoveled up, picking out the worms to feast on.

You know, don't you, that if you have lots of worms, you have good soil? The worms go through and basically aerate and keep it soft and fluffy for the roots. So give the worms their due.

And I think that as much fun as it is to plant and see the blooms, it is just as enjoyable to sit and plan for more areas in which to create gardens. I lie awake at night and think about what I might do next. I go to sleep with visions of gardens dancing in my head.

If you're a gardener, a true gardener, then your gardens are never really "finished." They're just evolving.

My back gardens aren't close to my water source, so I carried bucket after bucket of fertilizer-enriched water out to the back yesterday evening to give them a good start in the new bed.

I was so tired, but it was a nice tired. I felt a sense of accomplishment. I said to myself: This was all bare. And so much of it still is. But I am on a mission to change that. This little blue house shall not be an eyesore, even though it is a simple little box of a home. I'm going to make it shine.

Now that is empowering.

When people ask me where I live, I tell them what street to go down. And then I say: Look for the front yard with a yellow chair in front with a flower pot in it.

Safe to say there won't be many of those!

I am not rich, nor do I care to be. Not in dollars. But I am rich with my love of nature and the earth. My kinship with it.

I know it is the simple things in life that grant me an abundant sense of well-being.

Happiness for me is not going shopping and spending money. It isn't new furniture or granite counter tops or stainless steel appliances. It isn't the surge some people get slapping their credit card down at a store register.

I am content as long as I can tinker in a garden. If you've found that simple joy, then you've discovered the secret to true and lasting happiness.

As Time Goes On & Miracles

2012-05-15T10:33:00.000-05:00

How time passes. I've lived here seven months now.

So many things have changed in my life. I opened an Etsy shop this year. With my vintage and sturdy little Singer Featherweight sewing machines.

As the weather has grown warmer, easing us right into summer, I've been out and about and meeting folks.

I met the woman who bought that craftsman house I so loved. I know I've found a gardening friend. She too is single, and has two small grandchildren, as I do. When she gets settled, I'll ask her if I can tour and photograph her house.

Isn't it absolutely adorable? Oh, how I love that porch. She's been out planting flowers and herbs and such. I just marched over there on Saturday evening. She was out on the porch with a friend, and I introduced myself. So glad I did!

I told her of my wish to introduce some sort of neighborhood beautification program here. She loves the idea. If any of you have suggestions or information on such an endeavor, I'd love to hear about it.

The birds have decided I'm their friend, and will keep them in fresh water. I've even seen bunnies hopping around.

I've started creating my gardens, with much help from all of you generous readers and bloggers. See that chain link fence? Over the past few days I've been creating a garden along it. I will show pics as soon as I'm a little farther along.

I don't have as fancy a house as I did a year ago. Not to mention the gardens and outdoor rooms. But I paid a steep price for all that.

The dogs and I have finally settled in and begun to think of this as "home."

When I confided my sudden precarious financial situation a few months ago, you sent fabric so I could sew for my shop, and trims and all kinds of things to help me out. And I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

You sent me seeds and even plants so I could begin to have gardens again. I have to say, I've never been exposed to such beautiful friendships as I've known writing this blog.

I may never meet you, or even know what many of you look like, but you have strengthened my belief in the bountiful kindness of others. Beyond any expectations I could ever have had.

I may not have pretty fences, or gazebos or pavilions or decks, but I have all of you. I brought you here with me to the little blue house. You've been with me every step of the way.

I now believe in miracles.

Planting A Succulent Garden

2012-05-14T10:47:00.001-05:00

I happen to love the different colors and textures of succulents. So the other day I put together a succulent pot.

Start with this...

I put both pine cones and broken terracotta shards in the bottom of my pot. It needs very good drainage.

Move your plants around until you get a look you're pleased with.

The good thing about succulents is they don't need very much depth to grow. About four inches.

I didn't think mine was quite full enough, so I pinched off some pieces from other pots and pushed them in between.

It is a fun project. The kids might like to help too.

A Picture Is A Thousand Words

2012-05-13T09:07:00.002-05:00

Playing with the textures on Picmonkey, as I wait for my daughter to take me to breakfast for Mother's Day.

May your day be filled with sunshine. And children celebrating love for their mother.

Happy Mother's Day!

Sonia's Fairy Garden

2012-05-12T09:15:00.001-05:00

Sonia, a reader in Bridgeport, Texas, sent me these photos of her inventive fairy gardens and yard.

So I asked her if I could share them with you.

I love the red door within the trellis fence!

How creative, to make a niche for the fairy garden within the tree.

Wow! I'd have a hard time competing with these beauties!

Thanks, Sonia!

Welcome Wagon Friday 5/11/12

2012-05-11T08:41:00.000-05:00

Here we are, just a few days from Mother's Day. Do you have plans for someone special? Or do you think someone has special plans for you?

Here are my picks to welcome this week...

Shabby Sweet Tea...

A cute refurbished cabinet.

And look at this bird and bird house...

My Sister's Suitcase...

What an adorable creative mantel!

They're speaking my language here...

Creek Line House...

She brought the rustic outside inside!

And did some amazing things with simple flower pots.

Please go over and welcome these ladies to our blogging neighborhood. I'm sure they'll be quite surprised and appreciative of your kindness.

And Happy Mother's Day!

Clipped Dogs & Blog Design Questions

2012-05-10T14:29:00.000-05:00

Do you even recognize Abi? How about Mr. Charlie?

Yesterday I had to have Terminix come out and treat the yard for fleas. Seems to come with the territory when you live with college kids on either side of you that don't give two hoots about their yards.

I didn't realize she was going to clip them this short. When they handed me Charlie, I barely recognized him. I thought he was a Chihuahua!

I had just performed my own version of an amateur dog clipping job over the weekend, and bathed them. But I couldn't figure out what to do with the dogs for the four hours we had to be out of the house for the flea treatment.

So I took them to a nice grooming lady over on Harvard, a few blocks down the road. (Seems like I'm saying everything is just down the road, aren't I? Well, that's because basically living in mid-town, it is.)

Meanwhile, I decided to drive to Jenks, a little town close by that has a lot of antique malls, etc. And found myself another wagon similar to what I had in Texas. This thrilled me to pieces. I couldn't bring the one I had because I had a fairy garden planted in it, and it rusted out. This one was $30. Sold.

There is an outdoor place that sells plants and yard things in front of the antique mall I visited. So I also came home with this little iron love seat. It will hold about two plants. It was $45. A little steep for me. But I figure it's very sturdy.

Then I went to Lowes, where they have rose bushes and climbers (passion vine) on sale, and purchased some of those to try and hide the view of the neighbors along that hog fence. I really can't afford a new fence. So I guess I'm going to have my yard friend, Mat, who mows my yard, come help me turn over the grass by the fence, or till it.

(I'm ashamed, it is so ugly. And you can see that they don't much care about their grass. Over on the other side of that bicycle are big shards of what was once a glass table, just lying in the driveway. Where it's been for some time.)

(I will say, however, that things have been pretty low-key over there since my fit... Actually two fits, I reckon.)

I want rid of most of my grass. I never seem to have as much trouble with fleas when I don't have grass. The fleas weren't on the dogs, as I treat them monthly. But they were eating me alive. I would go outside and in they'd come with me.

Now for my blog design troubles. You will notice this cute red and white flowered background I found here at Junelily. Go over there and look. As you can see, they have many colors, and they're cute as a bug's ear.

But the problem I'm having is that the Blogger Designer doesn't seem to work well with it. I can't change the font on my blog post title (look how tiny it is) or move it back to the center where I had it.

{UPDATE: I figured it out and got it all fixed.}

Catnip Cottage & Bunny Rabbits

2012-05-09T07:34:00.000-05:00

Is this little house and yard sweet or what? It is a few blocks from my house. At the end of a block.

I'm trying to imagine who lives in Catnip Cottage. What kind of interesting individual that has this much imagination.

Whoever it is, I most assuredly want to meet them somehow.

{I really have white picket fence envy right now.}

And whoever has a house with such a cute name really ought to have a blog, don't you think?

The flowers are so lush and beautiful right now. Can't remember where I was when I took the ones above.

And I'm seeing a lot of bunnies. This doesn't seem like a bunny neighborhood, since we're in mid-town. Yesterday I saw a baby bunny, but it ran into a thicket before I could get a photo of it.

I may hit this place today. It's within two blocks of my house. I went in there (it's a very small space) earlier in the spring. Before they had much in the way of inventory.

Yes, this looks like my kind of place.

Now if I could just manage to be walking by Catnip Cottage when someone is out in the front yard...

UPDATE: A curious reader found out what this place is all about. Read about it here: Catnip Cottage.

{I still have to meet these folks. I'm enchanted now with what they do.}

Dottie's Yard

2012-05-08T12:51:00.001-05:00

This morning I took a long walk and photographed many houses and yards. But then I happened upon this one. And it was here that I met Dottie, who lives just a few blocks away.

I was totally enthralled. It was a garden in my dreams. Complete with the requisite white picket fence.

I want you to take note of her colors. Orange wood Adirondack chairs. Lavender and blue furnishings. These are all so appropriate in the garden. They draw the eye about the yard and complete the landscape.

Dottie is in the midst of doing a mosaic on her porch. How charming. I must learn to do this.

This whimsical piece came from Tulsa's own Garden Deva, a sculptress I've long admired. I have some smaller pieces, but nothing of this magnitude.

I just love Dottie's gardens.

Her whole yard is magnificent.

This put me in gardener's heaven.

Look at this moon flower plant above. I never have any luck with moon flower!

Everywhere I looked, there was something almost magical. Like big clumps of coreopsis and coneflower. The combination looks so lovely together.

Rusted birdhouses. This one seems to have an occupant.

Yesterday I met another gardener at work in her yard. Kathryn is her name. How fun to walk around with a camera and meet fellow gardeners!

And look at Dottie's big bottle tree!

Thank you, Dottie, for allowing me to photograph your little slice of heaven. And it was such fun to meet you!

Well, I Lost It With The Noisy Neighbors

2012-05-07T13:01:00.000-05:00

Well, I might as well admit it right now. Yesterday I totally lost it with the Arubans. Threw an old-fashioned hissy fit, is what I did.

(These photos were taken during my morning walk.)

Shortly after I wrote about the noise and carrying on, I just exploded. If I hadn't exploded, I fear I'd have imploded. From the inside out.

Carrying Abi, I went out to the driveway where one woman was getting things out of the Infinity SUV. (Yes, they have nice vehicles, these college students.) I just let go and let her have it.

At the end of my railing, she explained in broken English that she did not live there. Oh. Foolish moment. I apologized profusely, but asked her to go find somebody who does live there. Which she did.

The female, which says she is the sister to the other occupant, the boy, comes out. Many Arubans huddle at the door, glaring my way. So I have fit #2, and I was getting more worked up with this go round.

She does speak English, but not very well. She acted like she didn't know what I was talking about. She acted fearful, gathering her skirt with her hands. She explained that it was her graduation. (Well, this goes on all the time, so it wasn't just her graduation. Though I did feel bad for a moment there.)

I said are you going to move then? She said to ask mama and papa. They're here for her graduation. I asked where mama and papa was. She said in the house. I said, "well, go get mama and papa then." She said that they don't speak English. (Mama is still glaring from the door, along with many others, muttering something I couldn't understand.)

She said she was sorry. But I've heard this tired apology before. And nothing ever changes. Later that evening, there the whole crew was gathered in the back yard. These people don't know what it is to speak in a normal voice apparently.

The dogs barked and barked. I stood on the back porch in the dark. They are not scaring me. But I did ask her what on earth goes on in that room next to the garage. And I got no answer.

This morning I walked around the block to the elderly couple's house that backs up to the Arubans. The woman had come out into the yard months ago and told me what a menace those people are. And how the neighborhood had been trying for years to get rid of them. Their landlord is apathetic, she explained. The police come out and issue warnings, all to no avail. There was a fire in that garage, and they called the fire department. The fire department told them that their hands were tied. But why?

She told me the people on the other side of them got so sick of nothing being done that they sold their house for a big loss just to get away from them.

Now isn't that a terrible shame? The woman said she's given up calling the police. It's hard to sleep at night. I told her about the sound machines I have that sound like it's raining. I told her to put one in various rooms and keep it turned up high, as I do.

She lamented that this was once a wonderful neighborhood. They've lived there for 50 years. She said people once came out into their yards. That they worked in them and talked across the fence. She said she talked to the university, right down the street from us. But they just told her they didn't want them on campus. So she said: "No one cares about us. We're stuck with them."

No one wants to mow their yard because they're afraid they'll ruin their mower. Why? Because the yard is littered with beer bottles and debris. My yard guy told me this.

Now this just makes me downright agitated. How about you?

A Horrid Dilemma & I Finished The Fairy Garden

2012-05-06T17:15:00.001-05:00

In a sudden burst of unbridled energy, I went out and finished up my fairy garden.

I have a dilemma, which is why I'm not out there enjoying it. Listen up, my confidantes. My neighbors from Aruba are driving me crazy. I don't know anything about their culture. But dozens of people are over at that little house day and night.

(That poor sawed-off looking plant there is a red canna Walli, my Texas neighbor, sent me in the mail this week. It was droopy, so I finally cut it off and stuck it in the back of the fairy garden. Hopefully it will surge back and be a lovely backdrop...but I digress from this fit I'm having...)

They hold some sort of ceremonies (I think that's what it is) in the morning in which I hear a man shouting. And women in the background. How they all fit into that little room next to the garage, which is right by my hog fence, I'll never know.

I don't know what they're saying, because I don't understand their language. BUT IT IS LOUD. So I don't give a tinker's damn what they're saying. I just wish they'd tone it down over there.

(It makes the poor birds nervous too.)

Not to mention the dogs. Charlie Ross, I think, is trying to decipher what is being said with such obvious drama.

I tell you, I'm at my wit's end. It makes the dogs bark to high heaven. My blood pressure curdles I'm sure, as I'm sitting out there in my hopeful zen mood, arranging my little container gardens. While some sort of ritualistic-sounding stuff is going on full steam just about eight feet from me.

Now I'm not known for my patience. And a fence would not tune these people out. I keep fans and sound machines going all the time indoors just so I can stand it. But I so badly want to be out there enjoying my little gardens. I'm just flat too old for this stuff, folks.

Here I am...at the tail end of the last knot in my rope.

WHAT ON EARTH ARE THEY DOING OVER THERE?

Many people seem to spend the night. I know this because they all end up parking up and down in front of my house and up and down in the other direction. And in the morning, I see them take their bundles and get in the car and depart. (And not a minute too soon.)

I know I'm about two steps away from some sort of fit or open anarchy. And the sad thing is, we probably won't know what the other is fussing about either. Guess there would be a whole lot of hand gesturing going on. Wouldn't that just be a lovely sight?

PLEASE. HELP. ME. (And you're damned right I'm shouting. I've got a bee or two in my bonnet and I'm not far from the stinging stage.)

Scattering Seeds Of Kindness

2012-05-06T13:27:00.002-05:00

These beauties are blooming on a tree in my back yard. Are these Rose of Sharon blossoms? I'm not very good with bushes.

Out of what has just become in a couple of days dozens of pink blooms, this one alone is white. Isn't that odd?

In my front yard, up against the end of the house, I have the same tree. This is an Eastern exposure, but the buds are only at this stage there.

I'm having some problems uploading photos here. When I upload, it goes back to the first photo, instead of showing the one I just added.

Are any of you having any similar problems? And Blogger seems slow, but that might be something on my end. Any input appreciated.

The onset of summer weather has come about very quickly. It is hot and humid. Stiflingly humid.

This morning I took some photos of this. Don't usually get photos of the moon. Is it something about this time of year? I'm not schooled or knowledgeable in this area. Maybe I just haven't been observant.

I started my first fairy garden here (the galvanized container with the rusted bird) last evening. But didn't get very far before I wore out from carrying and moving buckets of gravel and rock from the back. Today my left hand is swollen and I can barely move my fingers. So this one might take a few days to complete.

I also filled a slightly bigger galvanized container with rock and gravel and finally soil. And planted the various black-eyed Susans and zinnia seeds that have been so generously sent to me by you all.

Really, along with my additions, this truly will be the bloggers' garden!

The Simple Everyday Things

2012-05-05T10:55:00.001-05:00

Nothing. Is. Always. Something.

You just have to stop and look

...to see it.

Welcome Wagon Friday 4/4/12

2012-05-04T09:46:00.000-05:00

April showers have indeed brought May flowers. And that makes me very happy.

Up for you on Welcome Wagon this week I have...

The Yellow Buttercup is Becky's blog. She is 14 years old and lives in the United Kingdom...

Isn't she pretty? She has good photography skills as well.

The Elegant Nest is Laura's blog...

Here flowers are lovely. My irises are in too much shade. Going to have to move them to get these pretty blooms in my yard.

Something Simple Something Me has some wonderful food concoctions...

How clever is that? And look at her cupcake in a jar...

I've never heard of this, but would be first in line to try it!

Please send the Welcome Wagon over to visit these new bloggers.