Rain!!!

We are getting a rainy but warm week here.

The flowers are making good progress.

The seeds are coming up!

I always plant my seeds for flowers during the waxing moon.

These were planted during the last quarter before it was full.

Plants that make their treasures below the ground should be planted after the full moon, when the moon is waning.

I broke my own rule about throwing money away on annuals and went crazy and bought some Dianthus.

I can't resist Dianthus.

I added them in front of the basket.

I put a Christmas tree stand to use as a pot for some Lobelia.

Lobelia is also an annual but I love it even more than Dianthus and I got a packet of seed for 20 cents.

I don't even count that as throwing money away.

What's 20 cents in this world?

I just flipped the stand upside down and there it was.

I think the blooms of Lobelia all around that dark green circle will be very pretty.

Here is a picture if you are unfamiliar with Lobelia.

It's one of my favorites.

The pot full of violets is also doing well, so far, with the diaper in the bottom to try to save some water.

This could be due to the cloudy weather and frequent rain showers though.

The jury is still out on using the diaper in the bottom of the pot.

I think maybe it would have been better if I would have lined the bottom of the pot with clay before adding the diaper.

We will see.

Perhaps it was the phase of the moon that made the dogs dig a huge hole in the back yard.  They have always dug holes but have seldom shown any focus or dedication.

This time they dug the prettiest hole, about a foot deep and at least 15 inches wide, that I had ever seen.

Just one.

So I possibly threw away $4.97 on a rose bush and threw it in there.

It's a pink Tea Rose and seems to be doing quite well so far.  

This rainy week will help and then it will have full sun.

I hope it lives.

I may have to get it a trellis. 

The package didn't say it was a climber so I guess we will have to wait and see.

Spring Ramble 2015 and Waffle Brownies........

Weather in the 70's down here and I had the day off.  As on now it is 4:25 pm and I still have not taken a shower.  I washed my face, brushed my teeth, threw my hair up out of my face and took some pictures.

The maple trees in the front of the house are sending out pretty red leaves.  I took this picture on my phone and then played with the contrast.  It turned out pretty.  You can't see the leaves too well but I think the red comes through pretty well.

That's the field that the cows are still in across the road.  They are getting ready to have some more babies.  I have so loved having the cows all winter.  

I bought an old rusted wire basket at the Heart & Home Tea Room/Cafe (you can like them on FB  here) last fall and planted pansies and bulbs in and around it   The pansies are waking up and there will soon be Jonquils, Hyacinths and Muscari all over the place.

I started to clean out the leaves, but thought better of it.  It's still early, even down here in SoMo, and those leaves help retain water and keep everything warm.  They won't hurt a thing, and in Missouri you can't really count out another blizzard or ice storm till May, if then.

This looks like a petunia, which may have come from a Mexican Petunia I planted last summer or might just be a volunteer.  I don't even know for sure.  Either way it is very welcome and so good to see a pretty color in these early days.  I think there might be some crocuses in there too, but so far I haven't seen them.  Might be hiding under the leaves, I guess.

The Hyacinths are poking up their heads.

I think this one will be white.

The Forsythia is blooming out, and the lilacs are budding out.

Forsythia is always first.  Such a relief to see it's cheerful yellow blossoms coming out, even on foggy days.

It won't be long till there are pretty flowers everywhere.  I've gathered up what bulbs I have left and started gathering up my seeds.  It won't hurt to throw the easy ones out and the bulbs may go ahead and bloom this year.  Or they may wait til next year.  They do what they want, which is just the way I like it.  Throw 'em in the ground and forget about 'em.  See what happens.  It's a little method I like to call "benign neglect" and all it takes is resisting the urge to pull them out of the ground when you see something coming up.  Wait and see what it is.  This approach goes quite a ways beyond gardening in my life, and I must say, I have hit my stride.  There is no pressure or maintenance work, you do it once and have happy surprises months later.  These happy surprises become old friends over the years.  You endure the seasons together, waiting for the time you will be together again.  After so many years, when you notice a lot more blooms happening than the year before, and the year before that, dig them up and separate out some of the bulbs and plant them farther apart.  They pyramid, some of them, and this way you can multiply your happy surprises many times over the years.

My youngest baby planted a start of pink honeysuckle by the back fence today.  I don't know if it was still alive or not but, why not.  If it doesn't come up, it doesn't come up, and it's not like I can't get plenty of starts down here.  I figure it will cut down on what the dogs can see to bark at and I love the smell of honeysuckle.

Today was a day that made me feel like I was in college again.

The not having to go anywhere on a weekday.

The not having to do anything but still keeping laundry going, cooking what I feel like and nothing that I don't.
Driving down the road to get a piece of pizza, a Mt. Dew, and a bag of Rolos.

For lunch.

About 2 pm.

I'm making lasagna, with the idea of using brownie mix in my waffle iron running through my head.

 Tomorrow, I will have to get back to real life, but today.........

Today has been filled with sunshine soaking into my bones, a moisture treatment for my hair, goooood music and my hands in the dirt, admiring my happy surprises and thinking about taking a nap.  Knowing I can if I want to, but not worried about it either way.  If it happens, it happens.

Later that day.......
Ok, I made the brownie waffles.  If you like the crispy corners best, I have found a source of happiness for you.

I just used boxed mix and put it right in the waffle iron.  I cooked them a little longer than when the "done" light came on.  The hardest thing was getting them out.  Finally I just loosened them up and flipped them onto a plate.  But man oh man, are they ever good!  Crispy AND chewy!
To make a peanut butter glaze combine 2 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 cup peanut butter, a couple teaspoons of room temperature butter, and enough milk to make the glaze.  Drizzle this over warm brownie waffles.  Get a big glass of milk.  Prepare not to move for a couple of hours.

I hope you enjoyed your day as much as I did, but I doubt it.  There is always tomorrow, take some time to take it in and savor it.

Winter's Here! Retreat........

One of the things I am most excited about in this new house is the garden tub.  I like it even more than the dishwasher, which really cannot be measured by any device known to man.  I thought about what to do with the counter area around it.  It's quite a lot of space.  There were a bunch of baskets with fake greenery in them when we got here but I changed that quickly.  With the skylight this area gets a lot of natural light every day.  It's warm in here.  Aaaaannnndddd all the flower pots and gardening stuff and nurseries were having great sales a couple of weeks ago.  So........

I grabbed several pansy's and some bulbs.  Tulips, Hyacinths, Muscari, Jonquils......

I planted them down under the pansy's, it was kinda crowded, and do you know, they started coming up?

This was a week after I had gotten everything planted.  I was delighted!!

Then I grabbed my green onions that I always keep going in my kitchen window, just in the water?  

And I tucked them in too.  Then, I saw some Lamb's Ear growing in the yard, and I found a pot for it too.  There is lots of good stuff growing in your yard too.  Start noticing it, identifying it and digging it up for little pots if you have a place for any.

During this time, I ordered a beginner's guide to wild flowers and herbal medicines.  And then I used some ginger to make my hot toddy mix, so I threw it in a pot also, because it's another thing that it's crazy to buy when you can just throw in a pot of dirt.  Like cabbage!

I didn't take a picture of that, but just look at all the stuff coming up in my bathroom!!

Oh, and I grabbed an Aloe Vera plant on sale for 1/2 price too, because, well, Aloe Vera.  Everybody needs that!  All the time!

                 

In between I put some oil lamps that are too fragile to risk anywhere else in the house, some housewarming presents, and some of my oldest, dearest pretty bowls and possessions.  Things that have moved with me every time since I left home.  Things that have always had a place in my home and always will.  Precious things to me.

Then I read about teas and infusions in my beginner's book and decided to save my petals.  They can dry right there and I found some good jars with lids and stoppers at a Habitat for Humanity Restore that's near me.

So while winter may have arrived, it isn't going to change a thing in my bathroom.  I have stuff to keep me busy all winter.  In fact, there were some raised flower pot holders at a flea market I was at the other day.  I may go back for them, because I can do all my spices in here too.

 It's starting to feel like home.  And it smells wonderful!!!  It's easy to water and clip and sort all right here, from the tub.  I know it sounds a little crazy, but when isn't life a little crazy?  It's a great pay off and will continue to be throughout a long winter.  

No telling how big this may get.  I can't wait to start the book either, and I can do that in the tub too.  :D

I have an imaginary friend who's always saying to bloom where you're planted.  I think I'm gonna check that one off my list!

Time to hit it again......or not

It is that time of year when, if you live in the Midwest, you start to think the weather is going to get warmer.  I say you think the weather is going to start to get warmer because the sun is out longer and the breezes are no longer Arctic winds.  Most of the time.  The fact of the matter is that Mother Nature is teasing us.  She knows we are tired of the cold and the dark.  She also knows we are desperate enough to believe it will change pretty quick despite years of evidence to the contrary.

If I had a dime for every time I've torn the plastic off the insides of the windows at the first sign of the weather warming up, only to be fighting an Arctic blast a few weeks later, I would be sitting pretty.  Have you ever tried to figure out how to get a quilt to stay over windows to keep out a draft?  If you live in a city and think a "quilt" is something you order out of a catalog and weighs less than 25 pounds, you should know that your education in this area had been sorely neglected.  I know they are pretty!  I know they are expensive!!  But that does not make them a real quilt, my dear.  The only way you can get a real quilt to stay over windows would be to nail it, and that would be sacrilege with a real quilt.

It's that time of year when I know I should start spring cleaning, but I would much rather sit in my warm bed and pop bubble wrap instead. 

What?

You don't pop bubble wrap in bed instead of facing bleak realities?

You should try it.  You will like it.  You will want the smaller bubble wrap, trust me on this.  It is much, much cheaper than therapy, assuming you even live in an area where that is geographically possible, which I do not.

This time of year I am lost in the purgatory of not being able to see the end of the tunnel or a justifiable reason to look very hard for it.  I am reluctant to change my winter routine of staying warm and going to bed early. 

Especially if I have bubble wrap on hand. 

Methodically popping bubble wrap while mulling over situations in your life results in more logical thinking and calmer heart rhythm.

No, I don't have any science (!) to back that up but if you try it you will see for yourself.

  It also leaves plenty of time to notice how many cobwebs have accumulated over the past several months and make a plan of attack, once you decide to hit it again.

Or not.

It will come. 

I will know by the bright sunshine that will illuminate the cobwebs in the corners and the marks on the walls.  It's been a long winter, and somewhere along the way the Grand Finale decided to put some nails in the walls. They also had some wild swings which resulted in two (2) perfectly hammer shaped holes in two (2) different rooms.  That I did not ask about the details says a lot about the state of my mental health this winter.  Actually, it says a lot about how mothering tends to wear one down, but I'll save that for another post.

It's not all bad.  I used to get really upset and cry about stupid stuff like that.

Which actually makes me laugh real laughter now.

Live and learn!

For now, let's concentrate on the fact that it is spring, almost.  Despite the temperature, look what I found poking their little heads up today:

These are surprise lilies, naked ladies, whatever you want to call them.  I used to get excited every year when this part came up.  Because I forgot that this is just the green part and means nothing except at some point there will be very fast growing flowers with NO LEAVES, and whenever that point happens, it will be a surprise.  That they will probably by buried under 2 inches of snow by Saturday will affect their progress not at all.

Also,

These will be jonquils and will not let us down.  They will have pretty yellow flowers soooon, very soon.

And here is a shot that I took of the full moon last week that made SHADOWS as long as it was out.  How clear and beautiful were the nights that this moon lit!  I certainly hope you took the time to notice and appreciate it.  I know I did.

Hold on.  Just a little bit longer.