Roses, Roses all around!

Today when I got home from work I saw the heat and sun worked its magic! Alot of the tight rosebuds on my pink rose were opened! What a beautiful sight that was. Below I'm sharing some of my best shots of them. I also took a picture of the red antique rose fully opened. Enjoy!











This pale pink rosebud was all by itself on the bush. It was perfect to shoot it without other roses in the way.



This is an antique rose I bought from The Antique Rose Emporium in Texas. Here is their website: http://www.antiqueroseemporium.com/index.html I have 5 antique roses from there and they are absolutely beautiful! They seem to be more hardy than the delicate tea roses of today also.



These lovely white flowers are in a flower pot I've got on the brick wall next to the outdoor fireplace. I thought the sun was hitting them just right tonight!

I hope you enjoyed these pictures. I really enjoy taking photos of all my flowers. I'm thinking of making them into note cards and selling them on etsy.com. What do y'all think about that idea, please let me know! Enjoy your evening!

I received a very nice award from Mary!

I couldn't print the picture of the Heartfelt Award I received from Mary of Bookfan-Mary http://bookfan-mary.blogspot.com/. It is of a very cute little mouse in a teacup! Thank you Mary for this lovely award!

Do you reach for a cup of cocoa or tea when you’re relaxing, seeking comfort, sharing a plate of cookies with family & friends?

You know that feeling you get when you drink a yummy cup of cocoa, tea ~ or a hot toddy?

That is what the Heartfelt award is all about feeling warm inside.



1) Put the logo on your blog/post.
2) Nominate up to 9 blogs which make you feel comfy or warm inside.
3) Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
4) Let them know that they have been nominated by commenting on their blog.
5) Remember to link to the person from whom you received your award.

My Heartfelt Award goes to:

Sarah at http://www.britgalusa.com/
Victoria at http://vintagetea.blogspot.com/
Rue at http://ruespeanutbutterandjellylife.blogspot.com/

Friends have a lovely evening! Talk to y'all tomorrow!

I'm sorry to say Flash, the goldfish is no longer with us.

Our air conditioning on the first floor is not working at all, so with Saturdays temps hitting 92 degrees and Sunday temps in the high 80's that didn't help the temps inside the house or the fish tank either. The fish tank water seemed to be really hot and Flash, my largest goldfish couldn't take the temps in the water either, he passed away. Poor little Sparkles kept swimming around looking for his pal. I was afraid we might lose Sparkles too so I put some ice cubes in the water and that seemed to perk him up! I guess when the air conditioning is fixed and seems to be cooling the house down, I'll have to buy Sparkles another friend.

Walk around the garden and a glimpse of my little green friend!

Yesteday after breakfast with our friends, John and I spent the entire rest of the day in our gardens. We planted, weeded, ripped out, divided, moved plants, watered, fertilized and just plain cleaned up the remaining things in our garden and made it beautiful once again! The pictures below are the end results and we are pretty pleased with ourselves (not to mention sore!). I hope you enjoy the stroll through our gardens and the visit from our litle green friend (you will see him at the very end of the post)!


Our front entryway is finally looking great! I planted the urns a few weeks ago, yesterday we added the purple Wave petunias in the wrought iron hanger and some other containers.


These are the purple Wave petunias in the wrought iron hanger. They look like velvet and I like the purple color against the brick on the house.


I weeded and then planted alot of plants in this garden in the back of the house yesterday. The plants look small now, but when they start growing they fill in almost all the bare areas. I'll be taking pics along the way!


I was sitting in the hammock taking a water break and I looked over at the azaelas blooming along the screened porch when I thought what a great picture with the sun shining on them in certain areas. I don't get too many opportunities to take pictures like this and I'm glad it came out!


This is my hosta garden. It sits under a sugar maple tree we have in part of the garden off the patio. They are doing really well this year, I guess all the rain helped.


I love Heliotrope and when we went to Garden Gate in Indian Trail, NC I feel in love with this little container. I immediately snatched it up and put it in my little wagon. The smell is intoxicating!


I also picked up this double pink petunia container for on the brick wall on the patio. There are alot of other flowers in here but the pink petunia and the little white flower really caught my eye.


This verbena container is on the other side of the fireplace on the brick wall. I love this color!


I have to look up the tag for this new little plant I put in the backyard garden this year. It is striking!


The name of this Hosta escapes me right now, but it is gorgeous this year. I did fertilize with fish emulsion in the Fall and all the spring rain I guess was a winning combo.


I went to Lowe's with John to get some mulch and we always have to look at the flowers (well I do, hubby just goes along with me!). This beautiful delphinium was staring at me, pleading with me to take her home, so I did!! What a beautiful addition to my perennials this year.


The same thing with this little double petal pink columbine! They just jump in the cart I swear!


I always pick up a flat of coleus from the lady at Garden Gate. It just looks like a jewel box to me!


This antique rosebud is on my huge rosebush out front between the 2 garage windows. It is such a deep red with almost black touches on the ends. When it opens though it is a rich red, it looks like velvet. When the bush is in full bloom, I'll post some more pics.


WELL I PROMISED MY LITTLE GREEN FRIEND WOULD BE AT THE END AND HERE HE IS IN ALL IS GLORY:


Fernando, my little tree frog has decided to take up residence at our house again.. Friday night I was letting Teddy out after dark and I happened to see him sitting up on the drain pipe on the patio near the spot light! I had posted Fernando last year and had talked about writing a book about him. I'm sorry to say I haven't written the book yet, but I have some ideas down on paper-that's a start!

A little information on Fernando. His latin name is Hyla cinerea. He is lime green with a pale white belly. He has irridesent gold (yes real gold color) lining his mouth, eyes, hips and legs. His has little suction cup feet and hangs on to windows at night, which looks really strange. He is usually 1.25 to 2.5 inches (we have had some baby ones and they are really tiny!). His habits are: He is nocturnal and prefers to climb, rather than jump. He feeds on various insects and spends the day flattened against leaves or green stemmed vegetation.

Nice Quiet Evening!

Hi Everyone! I'm home alone (well Teddy, our Golden Retriever) is here with me. John is working tonight. I've researched a painting I want to do for a friend. I have come up with some ideas. When I paint it I'll put it on here. I'm getting ready to head on downstairs and do some reading or TV watching. I've updated my ipod, posted some books on Paperbackswap.com, answered some e-mails and printed out some things-now it is time to relax and chill!

Hope everyone has a lovely evening! Talk to y'all tomorrow!

Tonight after work it's haircut time and other good news!

I'm finally getting my haircut tonight after work. It has been 6 weeks and it is driving me crazy! I was going to get it colored too, but the sun has lightened it up so much I like the color it is.

It is a gorgeous day outside and I can't wait to go out in the sunshine. I just found out I'm being moved to an outside office and I will have a beautiful, huge window to the outside world in my office. I will be looking across a small access road into the woods! I'm really excited about this!




Everyone have a great afternoon and evening!

Azaela Time in the South

For the last few weeks it has been azaela time in the South! There are so many different colors and varieties. I remember when I lived in the North and would visit the South in the Spring I was just amazed at the colors and how vivid they were. I remember my baby sister waking up from napping on our drive and saying to my Mom, "Mommy the woods are on fire, we have to get out of here quick"! She was absolutely right they did look like they were on fire. I thought I would share some pictures of places that have beautiful azaelas. I have been to Magnolia Plantation but not to Pinecrest and I must say Magnolia's azaelas are absolutely gorgeous as well as their camellia bushes! Hope you enjoy!!


This is a glimpse of a beautiful setting in Magnolia Plantation and Gardens. Our family has been here 3 times. It is in Charleston, SC along the Ashley River. The plantation was built by the Drayton Family in 1676. If you are ever in Charleston, it is worth stopping by and walking all the paths. They have a wonderful collection of camellias too.




These azaela are growing at Pinecrest Azaela Gardens in Oak Ridge, Missouri. I have never been here but the pictures on their website are beautiful! This garden was established in 1963. If I ever get to Missouri, I'll be sure to look this garden up!

Marley & Me, the movie

John and I are probably 2 of the last people on earth who hadn't seen Marley & Me. I was reluctant to watch this movie because I had heard you would cry at the end and I knew what that probably meant. We watched the movie and what a wondeful story! I know the ending is sad but the whole movie was very enjoyable. As if on queue Teddy, our 2 yr. old Golden Retriever jumped up on the bed at the end of the movie and tried to lick my tears away!! He could sense I was upset about something and wanted to make everything better, which made me cry even harder!! I know that is silly and some people would say it is only a movie but that movie showed what people who truly love dogs feels like about their pets. I would highly recommend this movie but bring the tissues with you!

Transformed Bird bath and more!

Hi everyone! I'm not at work today because my allergies and for some reason my stomach is not feeling so great! I slept in and felt a little better, but I'm really just laying around today. I was able to walk around the yard a little since it is a nice sunny day. Yesterday I spray painted the little iron bird bath/feeder I got on Saturday. I had fun doing that! Looks so much better. Somethings I like rusty but this I didn't want to rust. All the rest of the pictures are around the yard today. Well off to take a nap or read! Enjoy!!



This is the little iron bird bath/feeder I bought on Saturday when we were antiquing with Jenny and Kevin. I told you I was going to paint it white or cream. Well I sprayed it white but I just put enough on so it looks sort of cream. I like it better this way. It's new home is on my pine farm table on the screened porch. I'm so glad I bought it!


This is a closeup of the little iron bird bath/feeder.



I have a William Lobb Moss Ross in my yard. The flowers are absolutely beautful, but I wanted to show you what the buds looks like. I see where this rose gets the moss rose name from, the stem and buds look like they are covered in moss! The very first year I had it, I thought aphids were all over it, but it's the plant!



This is the biggest blossom on my clematis and I guess "Mr. Wasp" decided he liked it too!


These are the clematis growing around my mailbox. They are so prolific this year! Absolutely gorgeous!



We have 9 Encore azaelas growing along the screened porch-4 down one side and 5 across the back of the porch. They have just started blooming and they look beautiful this year!



This is one of the azaelas along the back screened porch.



This is one of my 5 Japanese Painted Ferns in the back garden. The sun was hitting this little fern just right and I just had to snap a shot!



I finally saw that my banana tree made it through the winter! Last year the main banana tree reached well over 17 feet. I thought the winter had gotten too cold here this year, but I was wrong this little baby banana tree has poked it's way into my garden.

Fun day with Jenny and Kevin!

This morning we got up and headed to Jenny and Kevin's house in Concord, NC. It is about 40 minutes from our house. They wanted to take us to this antique place called Cline's Antiques. There were so many barns filled with antiques and antiques outside-we were there for about 2 hrs. and we just couldn't look at anymore! Then we went out to lunch in Harrisburg, NC about 15 mins. from their house. After that we headed to Lowe's because I told Kevin and Jenny I would help them pick out shrubs for in front of their house. We finally settled on Japanese boxwood and they were on sale! 3-gallon pots with huge shrubs for $9.95 each-can't beat that bargain! Then we went back to their house, John had to leave to come home with Teddy and then he had to go to work. Jenny and I planted their 2 raised bed veggie garden. They are so funny they no nothing about gardening at all. They were amazed at all the gardening things I know. Where was Jenny all those years when I had 3 acres of veggies, herbs and flowers-was she not living in the same house for all those years??? Silly girl! Then I helped Kevin plant the shrubs properly (he had dug all 12 holes-thank goodness!). Jenny had to come down here to go play Bunco with Megan and her neighbors so she dropped me off at home. I came home and moved my 3 palm trees, 1 lemon tree and my ficus tree outside. Sprayed all my roses (6 bushes) with Safer Insecticidal Soap for the aphids. I'm on here catching up and then I'm plunking myself in a chair and read. I'm done and I'm tired! It is a good kind of tired and we had alot of fun today!! Hope everyone has a great weekend!



This was a glimpse from inside one of the 12 barns at this antique place Jenny and Kevin took us to this morning. Outside there are antiques all over the place. It is a shame so many things have been ruined or weathered because of being outside.




This field was on the property at the antique place Jenny and Kevin took John and I to. It looked so serene and reminded me of our farm we had in NJ.




This little cute iron bird bath has 2 little birdies sitting on the edge. I just couldn't pass it up when we were at the antique place! I'm going to spray it a cream color and leave a little of the iron showing through. What a cute bird bath or bird feeder.

TGIF

I am so glad it is Friday! Let the weekend begin!! There was hardly anyone at work today, which was nice so I could get my work done. The afternoon really drug on though. Tomorrow John and I are going up to Kevin and Jenny's. We will be helping them start a raised bed veggie garden. Should be alot of fun. Kevin already made the raised beds and filled them with dirt, now we just have to teach them what veggies can go where and what ones not to put next to each other. Jenny is all about growing alot of the garden from seed. We will be buying tomato plants though. Sunday John and I are definitely just chillin' out! Everyone have a wonderful weekend!

I have finally finished the watercolor and here it is!

Here are 2 photos of the Queen Anne's Lace watercolor painting I did. This is my second attempt at painting Queen Anne's Lace in watercolor paints. My Mom takes watercolor classes and when she was down visiting about a month ago, she showed me a different technique to paint these beautiful wildflowers. I have always loved them and she remembered that! She is coming down in June and I hope she brings her watercolors with her.





This is a closeup of 2 of the Queen Anne's Lace blossoms.


I have decided to take the watercolor painting course offered at the community college. Megan has decided to give this to me as a gift for my 50th birthday, which is in July! I can't wait! Hope you like it!

I was awarded not 1 but 2 awards from Mary at Book-fan Mary!

The first award is the Friends Award-thank you Mary! We have been on-line friends for a long time haven't we!

I'm going to pass this on to:

Kay at http://travelerswife.blogspot.com/
Sarah at http://www.britgalusa.com/

They are great online friends!!

“These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. "





"The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken - excellence, grace and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words. As a recipient of this world-renowned award, you now have the task of passing it on to at least 5 other worthy bloggers. Do not risk the wrath of the zombie chickens by choosing unwisely or not choosing at all..."

I have chosen not to pass this award on to specific people, since alot of people I would pass it on to have already been awarded this. If you would like to use this award to pass on to someone you know, feel free to do so!

Have a great day everyone!!

The Tree Peony looks stunning right now!

This tree peony has travelled a long way with me. I first had it in NJ on our farm, then when we sold the farm I moved it to our last house in NJ and then I dug the poor thing up again and moved it here to Charlotte with us! It has done the very best in NC. I just love the color and the location in my garden. I will be moving it with me when I move to our new home, whenever that is! But for now I hope you enjoy looking at this wonder as much as I have!



This stunning blossom was the best one I think I took tonight. I just love this plant. When we move I will be taking it with us!



I tried something different and took this shot really upclose. It is different but I like it!



I love this blossom because it shows the peony fully open. This one blossom measures almost 10" across!



I stood back and took this picture. These blossoms are truly amazing this year!