Garden Tradition

One thing that has become a tradition for me is to take pictures of my step-mom's garden when I'm over for the 4th of July celebration.  She has a super green thumb, and her roses are always beautiful.  So, I'm using those pictures for today's post.

It's still way too hot for me, and about to get hotter.  I think I saw we're supposed to be in the triple digits for several days - pretty unusual for SW Ohio.  I'm glad I got the shots of the flowers 'cause with this heat, they definitely won't be looking this nice for long!

That's it!  The highlights of a beautiful garden.  I love the variety of colors and types of flowers, too.  There were a lot more, but I tried to restrain myself.

I had to laugh when I went outside to water the plants.  In some ways, it feels like I'm cheating by using pictures I took yesterday.  I can make all kind of excuses, but I am really enjoying the challenge of looking for (and finding) new subjects to photograph as well as varying perspective.  When I started watering the plants, I saw the way the setting sun was hitting the clouds, so I put the hose down (it was set to "Soaker" anyway) by the base of the plant, and went in for the camera.

Yup, got some more shots today, so even though I'm using pics from yesterday, I did take more today!  And, not just the sunset clouds.  I saw a grasshopper in the back yard, and got some shots of it.  I also noticed my re-blooming lilac was blooming, but wasn't able to get a really good shot of it (maybe tomorrow).  The mandevilla blooms are looking pretty nice, as are the butterfly bushes.  I also liked the "remains" of the clematis after the blooms fall off.  I think I may also have tomorrow's post pretty much taken care of already!  Hmmm . . . I thought I was procrastinating.  I'm gonna have to work on that some more.

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.

Old and New

What a great day for photography!  Actually, it was a great day for anything, except being stuck in a hospital.  Feeling so bad for my favorite pre-15 year old niece and still not knowing what the heck is going on.  They thought earlier today that they might be taking out her gall bladder, but decided later the gall bladder isn't the problem.  I wish they would get their act together, NOW.


I was trying to be somewhat economical with my time and gas, and since I had to be out picking up some graduation and confirmation cards, I had the perfect excuse to go back out to Carriage Hill, but this time to the farm side.


I was taking my stuff out to the car to leave when I saw one of my red headed woodpecker friends at the suet feeder.  Since the camera was already in the trunk of my car, had to get it and hope he didn't fly off before I snuck back around the corner.

Whew.  He stuck around for a while, until he got this morsel, and let me take a bunch of shots.  I wasn't THAT close, but thank goodness for zoom lenses, and the ability to crop on the computer.


Got the nasty job of shopping (on the day before Mother's Day, no less.  People were CRAZY) out of the way and headed over to Carriage Hill.  Limited myself to about 45 minutes (that's a REALLY short visit for me), and am thrilled with the shots I got.

Just one of the several barns on the property.  I liked how it was kind of hidden away.

I like how the fences are really just stacked pieces of wood (yes, shape is important!), but what caught my eye was the juxtaposition of the old construction method of the fence with the much more modern red fire hydrant.

I have no idea what this is, but it caught my eye, and was tough to get focused.

I hope these are wildflowers, not weeds.  Regardless, they were very cheery.

One of the houses on the property; the fence brings Tom Sawyer and whitewashing the fence to mind . . . 

I liked this little brown donkey . . . he was just grazing away, on his own, not bothering anyone.

The sheep were grazing along, but always clumped tightly together, usually at least 3 at a time in one small spot, often with one's head under another's neck.  Love the eyelash detail I got on the sheep on the right!

This is the ear of another donkey I saw . . . it just BEGGED me to take it's picture.  This was taken from BEHIND the donkey - he "swiveled" his ears that far.

The rest of the donkey then begged for it's turn.

One of the blacksmiths at work; with his left hand, he was turning a crank that increased the strength of the flame (forcing air to the coals).

Beautiful "wild" roses in several colors.  I'm a sucker for yellow roses.

Second favorite are the pink roses; the ones I could get decent shots of weren't open yet.  Sigh.

And, the ever popular red rose.  

Some of the farm equipment from back in the day.

No, this isn't a barn, it's a restroom facility.  Love how they "hid" the function with a building that fits with the rest of the buildings.


I found, after visiting this example of times past, that I appreciate the people who worked SO much harder than we think of working on our most physical days.  We can just hop into the car and run to the store to buy clothes; we don't have to shear the sheep, spin the wool, weave the cloth, or sew the material to put clothes on our back.  


I also appreciate the blessings we have of electricity, cars, computers, and washing machines!  It seems somehow kind of odd today to be posting photos of tools and methods no longer in day to day use, while listening to the TV, with the washer and dryer running in the background.  And those photos were taken with a computerized, digital camera, not even a film camera.  Talk about the juxtaposition of past and present!


And yet, one thing is constant in all of the changes everywhere throughout all of time - Jesus Christ.  "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."  Hebrews 13:8

Changing

Started out the day with a nice brisk 1.5 mile walk with a friend.  After doing some computer stuff, I vegged out reading and napping outside for about 45 minutes.  Then it was time to get some errands run before visiting Mom.  She was in a pretty good mood and we had a good visit.  Days like this are definitely priceless.


I did take a picture of one of the roses beginning to bloom before I headed out, and then again after I'd gotten back.  I was surprised how different the bloom looked after a few hours.

Morning (around 11:30 a.m.) above.  Evening (around 6:30 p.m.) below.

Just a few days ago, many of these branches were bare.  Love seeing all of the blooms on the mock orange!

My peonies are still holding back their blooms!  My backyard neighbor's peonies are blooming as nicely as Mr. B's are.  Mine are still waiting to open up.  I'm getting impatient.  Okay, I admit, I AM impatient.

One of my daisies has it's bud!!!  Trying to be patient to see these sunny flowers (and will have to talk about Mrs. B for those pics).

Grapevines, above and below.  Love the super tiny beady things (that's my technical term for it).  I'm hoping I remember where this was so I can figure out what they end up being (I would assume grapes, but I try not to assume too often)!

I liked all of the curves in the shot above, especially the two intertwining vines.  

I love and hate this plant (above and below).  It really doesn't look like much for most of the summer, but this plant came from my grandfather's garden, so it will stay.  It's a yucca plant, and the blooms are pretty, but those stalks are pretty darn tall, and when they fall over, a royal pain!

When I got home, I was VERY happy to see my packages had been delivered from Spring Hill Nursery.  Some more plants for the front yard where the rain doesn't hit the plants (Mother Hen and Chicks in two different colors), and another butterfly plant for the back yard (hummingbirds like them too!). 

And, finally (until fall when they will ship another Lilac plant!!), Keys of Heaven for the back yard to help attract hummingbirds.


So excited to be adding to the plants already established, and replacing a couple that didn't make it through the winter.  Having an idea of what I'd like the back yard to look like certainly helps!  I won't be sharing that until it's starting to take shape.


But, as excited as I was about the plants (both the new and the already established plants), I also had a bit of a reality check.


My favorite pre-15 year old niece has been having a lot of stomach problems for several months now.  Sharp pains in the abdomen, and frequently throwing up.  Yesterday she couldn't keep any solid food down, so the GI doc put her on a liquid diet; she still threw up.  They decided today to admit her to Children's Hospital to get her pumped up on liquids, and run some tests.  I'm praying that the doctors figure it out this time and she can get past it all.


I keep thinking back to those first two pictures today.  Just a couple of hours in between the photographs and such a difference in the bloom.  All during the spring and summer, the plants go through a series of changes, including losing their blooms and shutting down for the winter.  They need that down time to come back in the spring and share their beauty with us again.  

I'd forgotten this picture until I wrote the paragraph above it.  Don't know why I didn't include it before, but glad I had it to include now.

Why do we think we can do it all for as long as possible without losing our beauty?  We NEED to take time to recoup and recover so we can come back blooming again.  And, like some plants, with the proper care, we CAN bloom almost year round.  


God's creations are amazing; let's take care of all of them, including ourselves.