Tag Archives: flowers

Some Prettiness to Brighten the Morning

I take a break from recounting my own sweaty efforts (was it getting a bit old? I feared so) to share some of the pretty things that have been happening with no effort on my part.  I love it when that happens.

Pretty and impressive as well as pretty impressive, I think.

The rhododendron (is that how you spell it?  It did not show up on my predictive text thingy as I hoped it would) was here when we moved in.  The only thing I’ve ever done for it was to use my foot to break off some dead branches several years ago (my goodness, we have been in this house for fourteen years.  How the time flies once you reach middle age).  When I was running yesterday, I kept seeing large rhododendron and thinking they put mine to shame.  Then I got home and found it wasn’t so.  Good plant!

I liked it so much, I’m sharing two pictures.

I took two shots to make sure I got the forget me nots underneath.   They have always been there but only recently appeared in the front lawn.  I figured I might as well get a picture of them too.

I love these.

Now that I look at the picture,  I see an unknown bud.  I’m guessing daisy but will try to keep an eye on it to see if I’m right.

Speaking of daisies…

I think you are not supposed to allow things to continue to grow in between the sidewalk cracks, but how can I resist such pettiness?  Then too, I flash on Jeff Goldblum in the first Jurassic Park movie saying,  “Life will find a way.”  Of course it is a scary foreshadowing when he says it, but out of context,  I find it comforting.  Is that a case of reduce, reuse, recycle?  Let’s pretend it is.

So you may have noticed I did not make two posts yesterday so am two posts behind.  These things happen, at least to me.  It is early Sunday morning as I type this, so many things can happen, blogwise.  I await events.

 

Don’t Run, Walk!

There was little possibility of a Scattered Saturday post, as I spent much of the day fighting a headache and recruiting my energies for tonight’s performance for Morning’s at Seven at Ilion Little Theatre (just to continue my theme of All Morning’s at Seven All The Time).  When two naps did not resolve the problem, although 800 mg of ibuprofen took the edge off, I decided to try the effects of a little fresh air and exercise (am I the only on that every time I hear “fresh air,” a little voice in my head says, “Times Square!”?).  I took my Tablet along, thinking to make a Pedestrian Post.  Warning:  this post may be long and heavy on pictures.

I have not been running in too long a time, or I might have gone for a Running Commentary.  However, there are advantages in walking, one being that I could shower before and not after.  Also, the Tablet thing.  The only problem is, when I run and narrate in my head, I can choose not to use everything. When I take a picture, it just feels wrong not to use it.  No matter.  On with the post.

Yes, I still need to deal with last year’s leaves.

The first thing that struck my eyes was the beginnings of my peony bush, which magically appeared some years ago after Steven had successfully mowed down the wild day lilies enough times.  I said my stalker planted it, but I was just being silly.  Still, that is kind of a play on words:  plant, stalk.  Yes, I just have to be that way.  Anyways, I see I have to get out and pull up the day lilies AGAIN.  I’m not sure if the other greenery is violets or daisies, but I will let them live, because they don’t choke out the peonies.

Also in my front yard.

These are the same tulips I shared on my last Throwback Thursday post, two years later.  I hope to take another picture when they bloom.

Trinity Lutheran Church.

I walked up to German Street and turned right.  I hesitated to take pictures of people’s houses, because of privacy issues, but I thought a House of Worship would be all right.

You don’t know how anxiously I have waited to see green!

Further up the street, I got a shot of some white violets and dandelions.

This is an elegant place to stay, although I have never seen the inside.

I was certain a picture of the Bellinger Rose Bed and Breakfast would be good, because, you know, advertising.  I may save up for a night’s stay there, for the sake of another blog post as well as a romantic evening with my husband.

This is a relatively new sign, when they decided they no longer wanted to be called “H-Trip-C”

This is the sign at the bottom of the killer hill I run up when I am in good running shape (Preview of Coming Attractions, I hope!).

I didn’t realize I got my sneakers in this one.

I thought to include some purple violets along with the white ones.

I tried not to get the house in but loved the tulips.

 

I missed the buds in the tree. Rats!

These two were taken at the same house.  They also had tulips next to their front walk, but I did not get a picture.

I was afraid the colors would not come out quite right.

My favorite part of this time of year is the delicate green of the trees with brand new leaves. I’m afraid this picture did not adequately capture it, but it’s the best I could do.

These have actually spread to two places in my lawn.

When I got home, I went out back to get a picture of some perennials which came up.  I positively must get out there and clean things up so others can bloom.  After getting the picture, I went further back, to retrieve the cup I had seen this morning (and mentioned in my Late Lame Friday post).  It turned out to be a yogurt container, which no doubt blew out of somebody’s recyclable “one and done” container.  I picked it up and put in in ours.

Bunny and daffodils! Alas, not a good picture of either one.

I unfortunately startled a visitor to my lawn.  Yes, I know, these animals eat flowers and the vegetables I hope to plant, but I think they are cute.

The walk turned out to be just what I needed.  I am feeling much better, although it is almost time to start getting nervous for tonight’s performance.  Happy Saturday, all!

 

AND I’m in a Play!

Well, what’s wrong with being two posts behind, anyways?

Full disclosure:  I have no real excuse to take a blogger’s sick day today.  Yes, I have a headache and lightheadedness.  I ALWAYS have that, at least to some extent.  As I sit here typing away, I admit to myself that I am capable of making some semblance of a blog post. But not a good blog post.  I know what.  It’s Thursday.  I’ll look for some old pictures and go for a Throw-back Thursday kind of a post.

It’s always a good time for skeletons!

Here is one of the first pictures I ever put in this blog.  It was taken at Pumpkin Junction in Sauquoit, NY, one of my favorite places to go in October.  Hey, does talking about October in May make this also a Non-Sequitur Thursday post?  Who says I can’t multi-task!

Mmmmm…. champagne.

Here is a real Throwback — all the way to 1990.  Ooh, and it’s still October.  I didn’t do that on purpose; I was just looking for an old picture of me and Steven.  Look how young and handsome he was!  He is still handsome, of course.

Aren’t they pretty?

Here is a picture from May of 2017.  This must be my front yard, which does NOT look like this right now.  I need to get out and do some yard work.  Will that happen this weekend?  I’m afraid it is not likely.  It is the second weekend for Morning’s at Seven at Ilion Little Theatre.  In fact, I need to get off the computer and take a shower to get ready for our pick-up rehearsal.  At least I made some semblance of a blog post!  If I could only think of a catchy title…

 

Lame Sick Day, But Here Are Some Flowers

I keep telling myself,  it’s Lame Post Friday, the blog post does not have to be stellar. Well, it certainly is not going to be. For one reason, I am on my Tablet,  typing one letter at a time with the stylus.  I’m just not up to sitting at the dining room table, where the laptop now permanently resides (never mind why; long story,  not very interesting).

All this by way of introduction to another blogger’s sick day.  Yes, I had great plans to make two posts and be caught up again, but it is not going to happen.  I’m going to whine for a couple of paragraphs about how crappy I feel, hit Publish, and drive on.

But, by way of interjecting a somewhat more positive note,  here is a picture I took earlier,  before the crappiness completely overcame me.

Aren’t they pretty?

I didn’t think we would get any crocuses, because we never got all the leaves raked up before the snow fell last fall.  I was delighted to see these.  They are in our front yard.  It started to rain before I got a chance to check the back.

I  don’t know what is wrong with me.  I can only hope it is allergies,  so I am not contagious.   I only wish it was the kind of illness where I could make a better blog post.

 

Neither a Gardener nor a Photographer

I am posting on my Tablet, meaning it’s one letter at a time.   We’ll see how long that lasts.

I thought in lieu of my usual Wrist to Forehead Sunday post, I would give an update on our yard.  I confess, it is not looking good.  But I am going to accentuate the positive,  as the song says, so I just now went out and took a few pretty pictures.  I hope.  The sun was so bright, I couldn’t always see what I was shooting.

I’m nobody’s landscape photographer.

Steven has been quite pleased with our Rose of Sharon.  The Rose of Sharon should be proud of herself, too, considering how many times she was mowed over when she was just a wee sprout (I’m just guessing it is a girl, because, you know, Rose, Sharon) (Rosey Grier and Sherry Boehlert notwithstanding).

A better angle.

Fewer shadows in this shot.

Kindly ignore the weeds,

Our Black Eyed Susans are looking well, too, and spread further every year.  It would not bother me much if they took over the whole yard, but I guess that might take a few more years.

They are also called Rudbeckia.

Our Brown Eyed Susans just magically appeared one year and have spread as well.

Now they are on two sides of the deck.

I studiously avoided photographing the shabbiest sections of the lawn.  Maybe I’ll try to do something about it before the leaves fall.  Or maybe I’ll just let the leaves fall and cover it all up.  That’s called making a virtue out of necessity.

 

Spring Into Wuss-Out Wednesday

Let’s see if I can finish my Wuss-out Wednesday post before my ride to rehearsal gets here.  Rehearsal is for Spring Into Murder, the interactive murder mystery dinner theatre at Morning Star Methodist Church in Ilion, NY on Saturday, April 28.  I’ll try to get a number for tickets, in case any local readers are interested.  In the meantime, I thought I would write about spring.

WHAT SPRING????  you may well ask.  I ask it too.  My thermostat said it was 41 degrees out this afternoon.  I am in desperate need of exercise, so I went for a walk.  I love to walk and thought I might be able to write a decent Pedestrian Post about it, but I’m afraid it was a depressing walk.  Everything was brown and crappy-looking.  We are over half-way through April, for heavens’ sake.  Would a few flowers, maybe some green spouts, buds on the trees be too much to ask for?  Apparently so.  Additionally, I have some things on my mind which I will not bore you with (Freudian typo:  I started to put “now bore you with,” which tells me it is boring of me to mention them at all, so sorry).

When I got home, I thought I saw a tiny flash of yellow in my back yard.  Was it… could it be… it WAS!  A crocus!  I rejoiced. Then I got my Tablet and took a picture:

Note the brown grass. Tsk, tsk.

Then I took a better picture:

It does my heart good.

I went out front, to see if there were any more crocuses.  There were not, but I saw some green stuff that might eventually be tulips and lilies of the valley.

I think this is the tulip.

I think these are lilies of the valley.

As you can also see, I have some yard work to do.  There are lots of last year’s leaves still to be raked, and some garbage to be picked up.  It isn’t my garbage; it blew there in one of the recent wind storms.  At least nobody came along and dropped a house on me.

While I was out front, I took a picture of what the sidewalk plow did to us, and to almost everybody else in the village.  I had wanted a “before” picture of that, so when I fix it I can see what a good job I did (or not, let’s be honest).

You know, I think those are new cracks in the sidewalk as well. Damn!

Look at me, I’m over 400 words!  I think that’s fine for a Wuss-out Wednesday!  Now I’d better get ready for rehearsal.  There is nothing like a little murder to perk things up midway through the week.

 

Thirsty or Non-Sequitur, It’s Thursday

So I had a real post yesterday and I am not going to continue the trend.  I’m exhausted!  Never mind what all I did after work (and work wasn’t easy).  I ran around, I wrote some stuff,  I did some housework.  I did not work out.  Don’t judge me.  Oh, what do I care?  Go ahead and judge me!  I’m pathetic!

Oh dear, that sounded suspiciously like whining.  I apologize.  I recently made the observation that we do not have the luxury of giving in to despair. I guess I don’t even get to be too tired to make a blog post.   Well, too tired to make a good blog post.  But perhaps I can rouse myself enough to say something reasonably entertaining.

“Do you need a shave?”

Looking through my Media Library, I find a picture that mentions Thursday, which is today (that’s two days in a row of me knowing what day it is, for anybody who is keeping track).  It reminds me of a thing in my high school.  Some girls started this thing of running a hand along a guy’s face and saying, “Have you shaved?”  I was, of course, too shy and geeky to do such a thing myself, but I witnessed it on several occasions.  The practice stopped when a guy grabbed for a girl’s leg and said, “Have you?”

“Who were you expecting me to dance with, Deborah Kerr?”

I was looking for a related picture when I remembered:  It is Non-Sequitur Thursday!  I can be random as well as silly!  So here is Vincent Price dancing with a skeleton.  Who doesn’t love Vincent Price?  If you just raised your hand, you are probably reading the wrong blog.  However, I will not judge.  Love whoever you like!

This is what I’m waiting for!

To make another non sequitur, I go from monsters to flowers.  I am waiting and waiting for things to begin to bloom around here!  Today at work, I overheard some guys saying things like, “I keep hoping it will snow,” and “I can’t wait till it’s winter again!”  Eventually I called over to them, “Say, are you fellows doing some of that there sarcasm thing?”

Speaking of Thirsty Thursday (see first picture), I think I’ll have a glass of wine.

 

Sharon, Susan and a Swan

Steven has been wanting to get a picture of our Rose of Sharon in the back yard.  I finally got one today and thought, hey, let’s do a Backyard Picture Post.

One day, I think, “No blooms this year.” The next day, “Wow!”

My mom gave me a shoot of her Rose of Sharon some years ago.  Hers is enormous and gorgeous by now.  Ours got mowed down a few times as a wee sprout.  However, it grew back each time, better than before.  First it was big enough so Steven noticed it and didn’t mow it down.  Then it was so big he couldn’t have mowed it down if he tried!  According to Steven, the plant was saying, “Mow ME down, will you?”

While I was taking the picture of the Rose of Sharon, I noticed the swan in our neighbors’ pool which Steven has been envying (I have been envying the pool myself).

The picture is a little dark, but I wanted to share the swan.

I had also been wanting to take another picture of our Black-eyed Susans, which are looking better and better.

I don’t know if you can see that a little Queen Anne’s Lace has worked it way in.

We originally purchased the Black-eyed Susans at a sale to benefit the Herkimer County Humane Society, back in 2011 (are you impressed that I remember the actual year?  I am).  They have gotten bigger and spread.  Now they are battling it out with the chives for control of that little patch.  While I was admiring  them, I noticed some little yellow flowers behind the garage.

The little blooms look better in person, but if you want to stop over and see them, please call first.

I really need to clean out behind the garage, cutting down a pricker bush that is expanding to tree-like proportions.  We just never see that part when we are sitting on the deck, and, you know how it goes: out of sight, out of what’s left of my mind.  Then I remembered the Brown-eyed Susans, which grew with no input on our part.

The green shoots are part of some irises which are done blooming now.

The Brown-eyed Susans are growing in two places in our yard, so I took two pictures.

The green stuff in the background is the beginning of some trees that I need to get out from under my deck.

Some years ago, I read the Rudbeckia is a good plant for bees.  Imagine my surprise when a guy at a greenhouse told me that Rudbeckia is Brown-eyed Susans.  It sounds so much fancier!

So this is how pretty my yard looks in mid-August.  I wonder what September will bring. Will it be worth a blog post? We’ll see.

 

Scattered Sunday?

I wanted to have another Severed Head Sunday.  I thought it would happen when Steven agreed to watch The Brain That Wouldn’t Die, one of my all-time favorite cheesy movies.  From there we could have gone onto a number of other features, cheesy or otherwise:  Hush… Hush, Sweet CharlotteStraitjacket, Sleepy Hollow (or, as I like to call it, The Headless Everybody), even Jaws has a scene with a severed head (I believe Jaws was a feature of my first Severed Head Sunday).

Then we decided to go for a walk, because  I finished a letter I wanted to mail.  I brought along the Tablet and took some pictures, so why not do a Sunday Stroll post?  While Steven was changing his shoes, I went into the backyard and got a picture of our Black-eyed Susans that I have been wanting.

The three bushes in the background are in the neighbors’ yard.

 

I took two shots, thinking to use the best one, but I now I think I’ll use both.

I don’t know if you can tell, but we’ve got quite a nice batch of chives next to the Black-eyed Susans.

I had just been remarking to Steven that our spearmint seems a little out of control, so I got a shot of that, too.

I should have gotten Steven to stand next to it for perspective.

I was glad I had taken two pictures at home, because I did not find as much to shoot on our walk.  However, I knew I wanted a picture of our post office, because I think it is kind of cool and historic looking.

I stood across the street so I could get the whole building.

As we walked up Main Street, I saw some flowers in front of Basloe Library which I had not taken a picture of, I don’t think.  I think I only took a shot of the ones in the park next to the library.

I wish I had focused in on the big pink blooms more, but you can’t see on the Tablet really well in the sunshine.

I was glad to get back home, because it was hotter outside than I had thought.  Also, I had not worn my sunglasses and the bright sunlight was bothering me.  Just to piss and moan a little, so this is more of a Wrist to Forehead Sunday after all.  However, my headline promised a Scattered Sunday and I began by talking about movies, so I will close with a photo I downloaded from one of my monster movie groups on Facebook.

Is it just me or does the building in the background look a little like Stone Mill at Canal Place in Little Falls?

It is a rare close up of Max Schrek in make-up as Nosferatu, who, as regular readers know, is one of my all-time favorite guys.  Happy Sunday, everyone.

 

Pedestrian Post with Pictures

Steven and I decided to take a little stroll after dinner, so I brought along my Tablet to take a few pictures.  It was a lovely afternoon for a stroll.  After stopping to chat with  neighbor, I saw some flowers I wanted to snap.

This is an apartment building that used to be a school.

Hmm… I guess that one did not come out very clearly, but I liked the purple flowers.

Maybe I’ll go back after dark and try to get a picture of these lit up.

Steven noticed some solar lights and wondered if ours still work.  We did not put them out this year.  It’s kind of a rebuilding year for our lawn; we have not done much with it except get the nice young man who lives across the street to mow it for us.

Steven thinks this would make a delightful movie/opera house.

Eventually we turned down Main Street, and I suggested I take a picture of this building, which we have long admired.  The “for sale” sign that I had noticed there previously was gone.  I wondered if somebody had bought it or if they were just doing the trick of taking the sign down for a while so when they put it back up folks will think it is a new listing.

I love the color; the picture does not fully do it justice.

Continuing down the street, we saw a building that had seen better days, but there was one lovely flower in front of it, so I took its picture.  Soon we were approaching the Historic Four Corners, which regular readers may recall is a favorite spot of mine.

I wrote a blog post about this cemetery once, a long time ago.

This is the Herkimer Reformed Church.   I love the old gravestones.  Next I wanted a shot of the Suiter House, home of the Herkimer County Historical Society.

It’s even more interesting inside.

The house was built by Dr. A. Walter Suiter, who played a pivotal role in the trials of Chester Gillette and Roxalana Druse, two famous historical murderers of the area.  Steven played Dr. Suiter in the play Roxy, presented by the Historical Society at Ilion Little Theatre in 2015 (I played Roxy.  Perhaps you read a few of my blog posts about it).

Across the street is the Herkimer County Courthouse, where Chester Gillette and Roxalana Druse were tried for their respective murders.

Still a magnificent-looking building.

Of course I had to take a picture of the 1834 Jail, which housed both Gillette and Druse.

Who put that tree in the way!

Steven suggested I take a picture of him on the steps.

“Try to look like Dr. Suiter,” I suggested.

“In my party shorts with my Mr. Incredible t-shirt,” he said, as if he thought that was a problem.  He just smiled handsomely instead.

“Romeo, Romeo, wherefore are thou…” Oh, wait. Wrong play.

Continuing down Main Street, I took a picture of Christ Episcopal Church.

Another handsome, historical building.

We cut though the little park next to Basloe Library (another of my favorite places), and I got a picture of some nice flowers.

I did not read the NOTICE on the building. I hope it did not say not to take pictures of the flowers.

After that, I thought I had taken enough pictures, so we continued our walk back home.  Now I see I am over 550 words and I have successfully avoided having another Wrist to Forehead Sunday post.  I say, not a bad ending to the weekend.