Our Memorial Day...

We had a nice relaxing Memorial Day.

After driving our oldest daughter, who came home for the weekend, back to Boston I spent some time in our little back yard. We've done a little tweaking out here, but not much.

The irises are in full bloom now, putting on a spectacular show.

Lots of weeding needs to be done! (Those are flowers -yet to bloom- in front of my flamingos, but to the center and left in front of the picket fence it's all weeds!).

One of our little hummers paid a visit while I was sitting up on the deck. He couldn't seem to decide whether to sip from the feeder or visit the flowers (yet to be planted). He opted for the sugar water in the feeder.

But the best part about our Memorial Day...

... was that we were able to go to the Emergency Animal Clinic Monday night at 9:30 to pick up THIS happy little guy...

... who after four days of not eating, finally has his ravenous appetite back!

Our boy is 13 and he's got his share of health issues, so it's often a guessing game as to what is going on. Long story short, after visits to the vet on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and then a 24 hour stay at the Emergency Animal Clinic Sunday/Monday, we have our boy back home!

Thank you all soooo much for your thoughts and prayers for Mr. J! We sure appreciated them!

This week I'm joining Brenda at Cozy Little House for Tweak It Tuesday and

Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show & Tell Friday.

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

Donna

The Butterfly Bush and Lucifer Crocosmia...

... are both in bloom right now.

I love the combination of purple and red.

Our butterfly bushes don't get nearly as thick and full as others I've seen (probably due to our "on the shady side" back yard); but nevertheless, what we do get is oh-so-beautiful!

(colored pencil filter)

There's also a white butterfly bush that sits behind the birdhouse. It's in an even shadier spot which is probably why it normally takes longer to start blooming.

The blooms on the butterfly bush are a beautiful purple with orange-red centers.

Hopefully I'll have the camera ready when the butterflies visit. This photo was taken last week before the lucifer crocosmia (to the left of the butterfly bush) came into bloom.

But they are in full bloom now, much to the hummingbirds' delight! I'm definitely going to try to get some photos/movies of my little friends at the crocosmia before their short bloom time comes to an end!

I hope you're all enjoying this fast-moving summer. I can't believe it's already the middle of July!

Have a great week, everyone!

Donna

Whitewashing the birdhouse...

 Our poor old birdhouse really needed some freshening up.

 It was inexpensive to start with, and has fallen apart over the years, but I love the shape of it and am willing to glue, screw, and repaint to keep it going for many more years!

This is what it looked like last spring after a very rough winter where high winds had blown it off its post. Hubby spent a lot of time putting the pieces back together again.

Hubby built a new, strong base for it so it wouldn't blow off anymore. But, boy oh boy, did it need a new paint job.

To be honest, I actually like the rustic, weathered look.

But I also want the wood to last a l-o-n-g time...

... so I got out my white paint and gave it a fresh coat of paint..

Hopefully that will keep the wood from rotting any more than it already has. Don't you just love all our landscape fabric? We desperately need more plants and more bark mulch back here. Hopefully soon.

These photos were taken just last Thursday.

Look at the difference in our flowering cherry tree, just 7 days later!

It won't be long before the salvia at the base of the birdhouse is blooming and the vinca vines are once again cascading out the birdhouse windows. I can't wait!

And take look at the difference in our honeysuckle vine. Again, the photo on the left was taken one week ago, and the photo on the right was taken today. It is getting soooo green and there are buds galore. I've decided to plant two more honeysuckle vines to climb the front posts of the swingset.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. We're looking forward to more beautiful weather. We're on a roll here in New England!

Donna

I'm seeing red....

The cardinals have been visiting often since our last snowstorm. 

There's no missing them, especially against the minimalism of winter's landscapes.

I spotted this guy in an instant from inside the house, so I ran to get my camera. 

Thankfully he was still there when I got back.

These photos were taken the day our major snowstorm arrived.

(altered with picMonkey)

A while later Mr. Cardinal ventured closer, perching on top of the plant hanger attached to the deck. From there, it was a hop, skip, and a jump to the sunflower seed in the screen feeder!

I think of my mom whenever I see cardinals as they were her favorite birds. 

I hope you enjoyed this little bit of red. It seemed fitting to share it today!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm linking up to Cindy's Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home this week.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Donna

Winterizing, honeysuckle, window boxes & Baby Cat

This is our typical winterizing process...

  

...which became a top priority last weekend with the threat of Hurricane Sandy.

Each year the furniture, planters, garden statues, etc. get arranged like an interlocking puzzle in the center of the patio.

 

Everything is then covered with a heavy duty tarp and weighted down by rocks from around the perimeter of the patio. The tarp is also staked into the ground in the front.

 

Do you have any idea how much I wish this was still the view? Winters and I don't care too much for each other.

 

And it's going to be a looooooong time before the backyard looks like this again. This is the birdhouse that was taken down off its pole last weekend, the one you saw in my last post where Baby cat made herself at home inside of it.

 

I forgot to share these short little videos that I took that day....

 

... so here they are!

 

Did you see the honeysuckle vine in the first birdhouse photo above, growing on the obelisk right next to the swingset deck?

 

It is actually still budding and blooming in a few random spots! I've decided that next spring I'm going to plant one at each of the front legs of the swingset so it grows up and then across the monkey bars. I'm already envisioning sitting there on summer evenings watching the hummingbirds flock to it! Our hummers have been gone for over a month now. How I miss them...

 

The honeysuckle also has these little berries which must be what is attracting the birds lately. Another plus!

 

And speaking of the hummingbirds, the nasturtium that I grew from seed started to bloom profusely at the end of September (sadly, it was after the hummers had headed south). Amazingly, it's still blooming.

 

Next year I'm buying plants rather than starting them from seed. Our growing season just isn't long enough. I'd love for them to be in bloom while the hummers are still here to enjoy them.

 

Elsewhere in the yard there are leaves, leaves, and more leaves.

(Photo with watercolor filter)

 

Almost all of the leaves have fallen now...

(photo with dry brush filter)

 

I don't think this fall was quite as spectacular as some we've had in years past...

 

... perhaps in part because we lost so many of our foliage trees in last year's freak October snowstorm.

 

The Bacopa is still blooming in the shed's window boxes, albeit under a canopy of fallen oak leaves.

 

Most of the trees in our side yard are pin oaks. Their leaves go from green to brown, and many hang on the trees until spring, when new leaf growth then forces them to fall to the ground.

 

So there is always an abundance of raking to be done in the fall and the spring around our little yard.

Look at the size difference between our brown oak leaves and one of our yellow tulip tree leaves!

Yes, lots and lots of raking...

 

Don't forget to turn your clocks back this weekend!

 

This week I'm hooking up to Brenda's "Tweak It Tuesday" at Cozy Little House!

Stop by and share something you've been tweaking!

 

Donna

 

 

 

(click to play)