Bloomin' Backyard, Redux

I am SO completely enjoying this mild winter and spring!  One of the trumpet vines is just about exploding with blooms, but not the one I pruned WAY back (but it is growing like nobody's business).  That's OK - maybe I can keep ahead of them this way??

Just a couple of the blooms open and ready for the bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, not to mention the ants.

Trumpet vine buds before they open - hard to imagine all of that flower contained in those little buds.  Oh so many of them on this particular plant, too.  C'mon little hummingbirds, your nectar bar is OPEN!

More of the beautiful daisies in varying stages of blooming.  I love it when most of them are open at the same time - simple beauty at it's best.

The yucca plant is also pretty much in full bloom.  I wish it would bloom more often - unfortunately, it's only pretty about 1 or 2 weeks out of the season.  But it is pretty, and difficult to get rid of, so I'll hang on to it!

I'm guessing these are coneflowers.  I'd planted a bunch of wildflower perennial seeds last summer, but it was too late/hot and dry for them to do much then.  I'm reaping the benefits this year though.  Not all of the plants are coming up, but a couple here and there are, which makes it interesting every time I check!

The primrose had already bloomed, and I thought was finished.  Looks like I'm gonna get another round out of them!

I don't know what this plant is, but I found it hiding and had to grab a shot of it.  Love the purple!

And the reblooming lilac looks pretty ready to bloom again!  YEAH!!!  Can't wait to see those little pinkish blooms, and smell my favorite fragrance.


Now, with all of this beauty just in mostly my back yard, it's surprising when something not quite so beautiful intrudes onto the edges of my sanctuary.  Yesterday, I had left home to pick Mom up from church when I saw something in a neighbor's yard.  I kept thinking it was the weirdest dog I'd ever seen.  When I got close enough, I realized it was a Turkey Vulture enjoying it's noon meal (probably a squirrel).  EWWW.  Yuck.  Not near my little bit of beauty and rest, please.


I sat outside for a while today watching the birds enjoy what was left in the feeders.  Several of them empty out pretty quickly because the squirrels have learned how to tip the food out of them since they can't get into them anymore.  There are a couple though that the squirrels haven't yet gotten the better of, and they tend to remain filled a little longer.  That's good 'cause 20 pounds of seed doesn't last very long in my back yard!  I've been searching for the 40 pound bags on sale, but I can't get stocked up.  Every time I think I'm going to have one in reserve, I empty the previous one.  These fine feathered friends are greedy little buggers.


But, they are worth it.  I love sitting outside and watching them.  The last couple of days I've been watching them when a group of them are balanced on the telephone wire and a couple more add to the group.  It's sometimes a bit comical watching them try to balance with the swaying wire or shift of weight.  Every time I sit outside and watch the birds and squirrels, I feel so much more relaxed and calmer about life in general.  And if I close my eyes and just listen to the sounds, it's another level of treats for the senses.


My pretty blooming plants, the feathered friends, and the entertaining if irritating squirrels are part of my little backyard island of solitude where I can go to recharge my batteries and relax.

Sigh

What a day.  It's never fun when I have to be up and moving before 8 a.m.!  Today was Mom's colonoscopy, so not only was it early to start, it has been one LOOOOOOOOOOONG day.

Fortunately, since Mom had one of the first appointments, her doctor wasn't running behind schedule; the last time Mom was the last appointment, and I think the doctor was at least 2 hours late on starting her procedure.  Today, the procedure was finished about 15 minutes after it was scheduled to begin!  Woo-hoo.  I guess letting the scheduler know just how upsetting the previous procedure had been helped out.  Whew.

Everything was fine - Mom's colon was given a clean bill of health, and she didn't have any bad reactions to the anesthesia.  I did have the text of the day for my brother (due to autocorrect) though.  I was telling him that it was obvious to me that her clear liquid diet of the previous two days affected her ability to think logically or make decisions.  The text he received was:
"Amazing what lack of protein & carnal can do to you."  Still makes me giggle.

I got Mom back to Friendship Village around 12:30, but she was pretty cranky still.  She'd had a small bottle of Gatorade in the car on the way home, along w/ about 6 peanut butter crackers.  But she was determined to walk from the front door to her room (this was one of those things I really wanted to argue w/ her about, but knew it would just completely destroy her, so I bit my tongue).  She kept saying that she felt like she was drunk.  When we got back to her room, I waited until she was sitting down before I went back to move the car.  None of the specials from the dining room appealed to her, but she was hungry, so I warmed up some of the chicken broth that was left from the clear liquid diet prep.  Once she had that down, she started snoozing.  I stayed for about 2 hours before I tried to wake her up, but she was OUT.

I managed to make it out of the parking lot before Mom called me on my cell.  From the way she was sawing logs, I'd figured she'd be out for a couple more hours, so I had asked the nurse to check in and make sure she knew when it was dinner time.  I don't know what woke her up, but she called me to find out if I'd decided we weren't going to the surprise retirement party for one of her former students who was later a co-worker.  

So, shortly thereafter, it was back to Friendship Village, then off to meet everyone at O'Charleys.  I'm glad we went - it was great for Mom to see a lot of the teachers she used to work with.  Some of them she hadn't seen in quite a while; others she had seen within the last few weeks.

We were saying our goodbyes when one of the other retired teachers asked Mom if she liked it at Friendship Village.  She paused for a minute, then said "No, not really."  This was just about 15 minutes after she asked the retiring teacher when she was going to come visit Mom at Friendship Village for lunch.  Mom was not fishing for an invite to "escape" or eat elsewhere; she enjoys having people join her for meals there.

All of this when I didn't get enough sleep, had a sinus headache, and wanted to be home curled up with my beastie boys and reading.

So, now that I'm home, I picked some flowery shots to post to brighten up my day.  No, it wasn't a bad day, but I needed a little boost.  I do feel a bit more optimistic now and am ready to take another of my sinus cocktails.

Most of the flowers are from my trip to Woodland Cemetery yesterday.  The first three are from my yard - primrose and yucca.  The yucca is a plant Mom transplanted from her dad's yard, and it's pretty for a very short time.  I think again this year I'll be cutting those huge stalks back once the blooms are gone.

I loved the orange of the lilies planted among the red/pink of the roses.  The sun was so bright that the normally red roses looked pink.  There's no mistaking the orange of the lilies though.

Once again, I am deeply thankful for a creator that provides so much beauty to uplift me when I need it.