Red

Mystery Flowers

I snapped these in a city garden last week thinking they were columbines. I was sure of it. Then I started searching around for the variety and now I am thinking not. They have fine, feathery foliage like cosmos, but the flowers don’t look like cosmos at all. They are quite tall and a bit weedy looking but the flowers are very photogenic! Any ideas?

Foxglove Love

Wow, cheesiest title ever….most of my loyal readers will not believe this, but I used to be a decent writer.  In college, a couple of professors even suggested it as a career path. But now, a mere fifteen years later this is what you get – Foxglove Love – because it rhymes and I can’t think of anything else. My apologies….

Hope your Monday was at least tolerable….

Spring

It is cold. It is raining. I am sitting next to a warm, cozy fire. Not your typical May in Mississippi. I took these last week before Mother Nature forgot it was supposed to be Spring….

What’s Blooming in April….

Today was planting day here at the Strawberry Patch: eggplant, squash, tomatoes, peppers of all shapes and sizes. The corn is in the ground – eight rows this year. I planted my little seedlings that I have been nursing for nearly a month now – fernleaf lavender, zinnias in many different colors, and strawberries, of course. I love the variety “Mignonette” an alpine strawberry bearing very small, sweet strawberries with a hint of vanilla.

All in all, a day well spent.

Here is a look at what is blooming in April….

Catmint is becoming one of favorites underplantings with the roses.

Azaleas – I really need to get away from my piece of earth for a bit and snap some pictures of the monstrous azalea bushes here in Southern Mississippi. Some are as a large as a small car!

Phlox – I have to resist the urge to weed this bed every spring because it is almost impossible to distinguish them from weeds until they bloom. They put on quite a show mixed with the white azaleas.

Although this looks like some sort of snarled, monster hand reaching from the depths of Hades, it is actually a harmless Autumn fern unfurling.

And weeds, always weeds….

Hope you are having a nice weekend!

Randomness……

As a friend and I were talking a few months ago, the conversation turned toward personality types- specifically introverts vs. extroverts.  When I observed that I was an unusually talkative introvert, my friend made the insightful point that introverts are not necessarily shy people, but are just people whose batteries get recharged by being alone.  The opposite being true about extroverts, they are not always talkative types, but thrive when surrounded by others.

Makes perfect sense to me.  I love being around people- I coach, I teach….but honestly, it sucks the life out of me if I don’t get some “away from the world” time.

I say all of this to explain  that  right now I am completely drained dry of any creativity.  It has been months of constant going and giving and I am just tired.  Therefore today, as I reach down into the depths of my soul to come up with a post, all I can muster for you is randomness.

These are shots that I have been trying to fit in for awhile now, but have lacked the imagination to put together in a cohesive fashion…..

What a tornado will do to a once-majestic, century old tree….

Winter Sage Grass….

White iris, the earliest bloomers around these parts….

Pine tree pollen cones, currently causing havoc to sinuses all around the South….

A slew close to my house at sunset….

Told you it was random! Hope your day is a little less aimless

Spring. Sort of….

Spring had sprung.  The weather was wonderful with temperatures settling in the 60s, low 70s.  Buds and blooms were bursting forth from every tree and bush, including my favorite spring bloomers, the pear trees.  Their beautiful pink buds open up into white flowers within a few days….

The roses are budding out, including my six new bushes that I bought for $10 at a local nursery last fall at a they-have-blackspot-good-luck! sale. I nursed them back to health and they all seem to be doing fine.

The redbuds had exploded….

The birds had arrived….

It was spring.

At least until last Sunday night, when temperatures dropped into the upper 20s at night and with highs only in the 30s during the day. My father reminds us most years that his grandfather, a cattle farmer, always warned to have enough hay to get through March because there is always a brutal, cold snap that comes late and fools everyone. It is good to know that some things never change!

Hope your Spring has been a bit warmer than mine!

Choo-Choos!

Several months ago I tagged along with my civil engineer husband as he went to inspect some construction work that had been done on a rail yard. He designs railroads for a living so a great deal of his life (and by extention mine ) revolves around these big iron beasts.  Add in my toddler’s obsession with Thomas the Train and  everywhere I turn there are “choo-choos!” I tell my husband that I probably spend as much time designing (Thomas) railroads as he does in a day’s time!

Railroads are big part of the landscape here in Mississippi, although their role in daily life has changed dramatically over the last century.  Most all small towns were designed around their proximity to rail stations.  When I was a child, I was told by an elderly gentleman that my little hometown had actually originally been several miles away from it’s current location.  When the railroad was completed, they disassembled the entire town, including the wooden streets, and reassembled it board by board so that Main Street would end at the depot. All in a week’s time!!! Of course, this was during a time when passenger rail was the only mode of long distance transportation.  As that has faded, unfortunately so have most of the small towns that surrounded it.

My husband works strictly with freight rail companies, which is a totally different animal and still (thankfully) a thriving industry. Due to the very strict safety regulations that govern the railroads, I was not able to get out of the truck and walk at all but was able to get some decent shots with my big zoom from the parking area!  This is a different kind of post from me, very industrial,  hope you enjoy!

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