Forever A Fangirl

Friday Flower*

Rosa RadRazz roses 10.16.08~

Inspired by RedPen

Happy Friday.

Ugh. Long week.

Flower shot taken in back of house on Thursday, 10.16.08.  The hard freeze is due any time. It's chilly--putting on layers-- so these are the last blush.

You simply must read about what I'm doing for the next three days...

You simply must read about what I'm doing for the next three days: LINK (hint: It may involve mini golf in Hoffman Estates ) (external link to one of my personal websites on WordPress.org. :)

I played with the saturation in this photo of a neighbour's a Lilac tree. Those are the actual colour of the flowers, though.


Our pansies are bloomin'. Spouse says they are at their peak.

Below: Where I do my "lounging" on our miniature deck. It is
pretty private for a condominium courtyard, with the screen and 3 foot-high bushes (shown in photo--the full-size table is hidden by them from this angle).








 


 
 














Just for fun~
























Brightness and Contrast manipulated~



The Lone Tulip~ across the way (not ours)

Japanese Maple

This is the one is in the front yard. It’s a beautiful tree in front of an unsightly background of 1. parking lot w/cars and 2. red brick building, approximately of the same shade of red as the leaves on the tree.

Love the tree though. When we move away however, spouse is likely to leave it behind as he did last time we moved. We’ve “visited” the other Japanese Maple that he planted at our old place and it’s doing well–the gardeners haven’t killed it yet.

Flowers for my 'hoodies

Long drive up north today. Everyone, makes it a good one!

Hey Bud!

Pansies on the deck

Yay! Spring is here!

Crabapple tree

Raven looking sulky...

Raven busted through the doggy barrier in the den and bounded upstairs so she could commence barking to no end. The end came eventually though when she woke me up from a very good sleep--the kind I only have when I wear myself out (in a good way) physically. We have the same routine every morning which I must have blogged about before but in case not, it's this. When she was new to us. I would get up in the morning--pre-coffee, still in my jammies,and let her outside on her long leash because she had issues with confusing the carpet for the grass.

Often, I'd put her on her leash and she sat there on the deck and stared at me, not budging.

Having had two children I knew very well of the powers of "treats," so I bought a package of bite-sized ones and after I put her on the leash and opened the door--she'd be out in the grass before I could wing the thing outside. It worked like a charm. But today, since she knew she'd woken mommy up--a very big no-no, she was sulky going outside. She still wanted the treat mind you, but when she saw that I was on her heels (as the weather is still balmy) she refused to look at me. She has this thing where if she's in trouble she won't look at the person who is mad at her. I think she figures that if she doesn't look that she can't be seen. Impeccable logic, lol.

So here are a couple shots knocked off of our flowers in the back of the house and of Raven looking ...sulky.

Ifidontlookatyoumaybeuwontseeme

Oct17

Notlooking

Oct17.2

Today...

...was a beautiful day.

Had some errands and went top-down, enjoying every wind-blown minute.

Came home and really didn't want to stay inside with such bright and inviting weather so I went out back and re-potted a house plant--actually the snake plant cutting that I'd taken from my folk's house last April. It wasn't getting enough drainage so spouse bought it a new pot and hopefully it will thrive. I'm a bit nervous as my father has proclaimed that he wishes to kill the very large "mother" plant which was bought by my high school sweetheart for me when it was only about 6" tall. The old fella has never been too keen on caring for plant life or vegetation of any kind for that matter.

While I was outside I had a  look at the state of our gardens. The annuals--the begonias in particular are faring very well.

The Impatiens are also looking pretty good.

Sadly, the Brown-eyed Susans are quite dead, awaiting removal by spouse though he says the birds like to eat the seeds so he's leaving the "corpses" out for a bit.

How Our Garden Grows~ 8.18.07

Somewhat neglected for the two weeks we were gone, it seems to have a bit of life left yet.

It rained pretty much all day today so no swimming (boo!) and bleh, flowers in the rain.

For tomorrow we were planning to go mini-golfing as part of Chris's birthday (Monday) and it's supposed to T-Storm  in the morning, afternoon, and evening. Bah.

Dazzler Violet Impatiens                                                                                                                            

         

Violet Impatiens, Brown-eyed Susans, Red Begonias

                                                   

            

Raven Hates The Rain

How Our Garden Grows~ 7.22.07

Brown-eyed Susans~

Dazzler Violet Impatiens~ These replace the New Guinea Impatiens which died of the heat.

Loyalist Hosta with bloom, Begonias~

Begonias in the back of the house garden~

Halcyon Hosta About To Bloom

Halcyon Hosta about to bloom (detail)

Yesterday morning after the rain...

How Our Garden Grows (continued)

If you look to the back of the photo (left) you can see the rain pouring down.

I had to cut my swim short today due to thunderstorms passing through and a lifeguard so itchy to go home that she wouldn't hang in the pool house and stick it out for 30 minutes. In that  little block of time, since I was dripping wet anyway, I retrieved an umbrella and my Powershot camera and headed out to check on the front gardens that my spouse attends to.

I think despite the extreme heat that they are looking pretty good thanks to spouse's diligent efforts in this north-facing, overly shaded area:

  (Click to enlarge)

At left, from front to back: Halcion Hostas, Gold Standards Hostas, Japanese Painted Fern and
Red Twig Dogwood (the bushes).

Here's a mouthful--pictured at right is an Undulata Albomarginata Hosta with inflorescence flowers.

Try to say that three times rapidly. :)

Finally, below we have more Halcion Hostas which are a shade different than the others because these get direct sunlight.

Also Hot Pink Geraniums, some Daylilies and a bit of our Japanese Maple tree.

Too Much Pink!

Yesterday, despite the soaring temperatures outside, I felt like an unbearable, cold awfulness was enveloping me.

Though simplistic sounding, when bad things happen to me the sooner I can get going on something positive--move forward--beyond--the worst thing for me is to be stuck spinning my wheels going 'round and 'round with self-doubt, insecurity, fear---the sooner I can pack things up and move on, the better.

My mind has been racing so I haven't slept much at all in the last 24 hrs.

Replaying and replaying what was one of the biggest left-field occurrences to have happened to me in more than a year.

Reeling, I tried to process it all so I could let it go, move beyond it, but the grip of fear held tight.

Finally, a few hours ago this thing, this ugly good-for-nothing baggage that I was heaving around--I put it down.

I've stopped--for now anyway--trying to figure out why people do the inhumane things they do. I realize that I was let off pretty easy. I've landed on my feet, making a good recovery.

Our front "yard"-- it's a condo so technically, no. Shhh! Don't tell my spouse.

Original (framed)

Bevel Finish

Our Garden: Daylily

I had *no* idea  until my gardener a/k/a my spouse  told me that the Daylily got it's name because each blossom lasts just one. single. day.

These two look as if they area about to wilt. The heat of recent days has wilted the lilies almost as soon as they bloom.

/edit No, spouse says they curl that way when they are full of water.

New Additions (Flowers)

Gerbera Daisy

I mentioned to spouse that although I like what he's been doing with the front and back of house gardens, some hanging baskets would be nice--plus maybe something for the center of the mini-deck table. Voila! Today he brought home Gerbera daisies and...

Trailing Geraniums

...two hanging baskets of Trailing Geraniums. Since it's still early in the season everything needs to fill out so until then I'll probably hone in on the fuller parts of the plants.

Pink New Guinea Impatiens

Here's some of the pink New Guinea Impatiens which we have in a half-barrel. They are doing well but seem very slow to grow. I know next to nothing about them but it's my understanding that they are doing what they are supposed to do.

Finally, though it doesn't belong in this series I had to photo-manipulate the red flowers 'cos I have to be honest--red is among my least favourite colours.

Gerbera Daisies Coloured

How Our Garden Grows: First Blooms

Hosta

My spouse is a gardener. I like pretty plants & flowers (translation: I am not a gardener) so I'm going to document how "our" garden grows from now through the end of summer. On this first go-round I used my cellphone camera and got the expected results. Hosta plants tend to "pop" so true to form though this is a new bloom it managed to put it's best um, leaves forward.

Japanese Maple

We live in a two-storey condominium. It's not bad--our place goes the full width of the building--but just the inside walls on in is ours. It's tough on a gardener to not own your own land but my spouse has not been deterred (right down to building little garden walls and having the condo assoc. people have him rip them out. The neighbours were ticked. They love the flowers).

Plants & flowers in the back of the house~

New Guinea Impatiens

Begonias

Hosta~ 05.14.07