Tag Archives: peonies

Pictures of Plants without a Plan

Posted on July 23, 2026 by mohawkvalleygirl

I do not have anything particular to blog about today, unfortunately, and I have very little brainpower with which to blog.  I do, however, have a couple of pictures which I just walked into my backyard to take specifically for the purposes of this blog.

So cheery and yellow!

I noticed this morning that I had some Black-Eyed Susans blooming.  I was very happy, having missed my peonies, wild daisies, rhododendron, and Rose of Sharon (why do I capitalize Black-Eyed Susans and Rose of Sharon but not the rest of them? Discuss amongst yourselves).  As you can see, I have not missed the Black-Eyed Susans by any means, because there are a number waiting to open.  I hope to get a wider view later, showing the full scope of my Black-Eyed Susan patch.

More greenery growth.

Now this is a plant my late, dearly missed husband Steven and I purchased at a garden day or some such at the Herkimer Home in Little Falls, NY. I forget what it is called, if I ever knew (it is hard to say what I may or may not have known).  It is not where we originally planted it, but it is much larger than the original growth.  It used to have little pink flowers, but I have not seen any this year.  I live in hope.

It seems every year I have great gardening plans, and every year I disappoint myself.  But let us face facts:  I do not really have plans: I have daydreams.  Any time I make an actual plan, the plan goes to hell, pardon my language (I was going to say “the plan goes to pot,” which has the charm of alliteration, but then you might think I am talking about marijuana and it all gets too complicated).  Well, never mind.  I will enjoy what happens to grow and deal with what happens.  And write a blog post or two along the way.

 

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We’ll Call This a Scattered Saturday Post

Posted on July 11, 2026 by mohawkvalleygirl

Oh dear, look at the time!  I was about to begin this post with “That was exhausting!”  I got a new phone yesterday.  I got it for free for being a loyal TracFone customer (don’t know how to spell it, so you see how loyal I really am; I am just to lazy to change these things once I have them).  I think I got my stuff switched over OK, all except for WordPress.  Well, I wanted to download (or is it upload?) two pictures I took yesterday to make a fast post today.  Full disclosure:  I only took the pictures to see if I could email them, because I am off to cover an event for the Daily Sentinel and it is of prime importance that I be able to include pictures.

I do babble on, don’t I?  Quick, throw in one of those pictures!

I do love purple!

These are the purple flowers that I am letting live in my front lawn after the daisies and peonies died.  Alas, they are not as plentiful, but they have the advantage that I can see them.  I was trapped on my couch or transporting to various medical facilities when the daisies and peonies were spreading their joy.  I hope other passers-by enjoyed them.

Can you count them? I can’t, so there will be no contest for guessing the correct amount.

These are the little pine cones that grow in profusion on the former Frankentree.  I took the picture, because my sister Diane was quite taken with them when she last visited, and I meant to email the pictures to her, since I knew I had her email address on file and was pretty sure she would email back.  I wonder if I could do some artsy-craftsy thing with a lot of little pine cones.  Additionally, I thought pincecones was one word, but my computer is underlining it, so I guess not.

I must get off my Chromebook and get ready to go to the Annual Wellness Fair at the Town of Herkimer Park.  It starts at 9 a.m. and runs till 1 p.m. will lots of vendors, information and activities, for any local readers who would like to check it out!

 

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Fought the Lawn, Fought the Deck, What Next?

Posted on July 6, 2026 by mohawkvalleygirl

I got out early in hopes of making a Lawn Order post instead of my usual Wrist to Forehead Sunday blog post.  Well, fighting the lawn (and the lawn won) did cause me to swoon, dramatically posed with the back of one wrist to my forehead, but I felt I got something done, so I took a few pictures and I will attempt to make a blog post recounting my adventures.

No, really, this IS the “after” picture.

I maybe should have taken a “before” picture.  I spent some ten minutes yesterday and a little bit longer today with clippers, chopping away at dead daisies and past their prime peonies (I made up the alliterative titles while I worked) while trying to let the purple flowers live.  There was a insidious invasive species I tried to do away with as well.  One sprig of purple blooms ended up in my green waste container, but I clipped it with a pair of scissors and it now resides in a bud vase in my living room.  Sorry there is no picture of it, but my living room is quite cluttered.  I hope to fight that mess to a standstill as the week progresses.

Not party ready yet, but getting there!

After puffing and panting out front (bending and straightening is not fun for my age and weight) (yes, I KNOW I can do something about the latter, I’m trying, but these things take time, give me a break!) (you know who you are), I went out back to my deck.  There were still leaves on it from last fall, which I know is extremely harmful to the wood.  I huffed and puffed first with a rake then with a broom.  I feel I met with some success.

Luna, the dog next door, came out on her back porch and barked at me.  There were no balls handy for me to throw for her, as I explained to her.  She watched me work for a while, making sad noises from time to time but in general acquiescing in my refusal to play with her.  I felt bad, but there is only so much an old lady like me can do, after all. Quite frankly, if there had been a ball handy I might have thrown it a few times and let some of the leaves go hang, but we’ll never know.

Yes I know the lawn needs mowing.

Three containers is the most we can leave out.  Also, they don’t like stuff to stick up over the top of the containers.  So I felt I was in compliance.  I went back in the house and like any normal person got on the internet for a while.  After scrolling around, I noticed some weird brown puffy things on my shirt.  Oh dear.  This is what happens when you don’t get into the shower right away.  It was awkward to get a picture of the shirt (I do like to document these things), but luckily there were some on my socks.

It’s an old pair of sneakers.

This is turning out to be a long blog post.  Isn’t that nice?  Maybe I should try to write a few other things.  Maybe that novel I keep talking about.  I’ll let you know how that turns out.  Maybe a horror novel about invasive species and little brown puffy things who terrorize old ladies who just want to have parties on their decks.  What do you think?

 

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Throwing a Little Wild

Posted on June 19, 2026 by mohawkvalleygirl

Hello and welcome to another post from the couch.  It is a good day for a Throwback Thursday, I think.  I had a chance to go to breakfast with my Elks friends (the Breakfast Club, the son of one of the members calls it, I like that) but feared my leg would not cooperate.  I am in better spirits these last two days, because I managed to brew some coffee.  Two cups yesterday, and I am on my second cup today.  AAAhhhh!

Behind the coffee cup is my biggest fan.

I just scrolled all the way down and all the way back up my Media Library and could not find the picture of the coffee mug I am using.  I settled for Dyn’s Cider Mill, so I can plug an area business.  I just looked at their Facebook page and saw a post from July 2025 saying they would be closed for the upcoming year.  I wonder if that means they will be open sometime in 2026.  I can only hope.  And hope if they do open I can make my way over there.

I do not currently feel fresh as a daisy, alas.

I said this was going to be a Throwback Thursday, so I share this picture from June 2017 of my lovely front lawn daisies.  I missed the daisies and my peonies this year. Who knew the season for them would be so short?

A dignified group, yes?

This is a kind of guerrilla theatre group I was in in 2019, Mummers Along the Mohawk.  We performed at the Great American Irish Festival, the last year it was held in the Herkimer County Fairgrounds in Frankfort, NY. What fun it was.

The house had no tenants.

This was in 2020, a barren year for activities, theatrical or otherwise.  But I see I took time to decorate my front yard.  Why did I not do that again? Note to self: decorate the front lawn.  After I get rid of the dead daisies and peonies.

I see I am over 300 words.  That’s pretty good.  Coffee, theatre, daisies… I could bill this as a Non-Sequitur Thursday, too.  As always, I thank you for tuning in.

 

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I Love Flowers

Posted on June 12, 2025 by mohawkvalleygirl

Hello and welcome to another Waste Not Want Not Wednesday.  I know I threatened to make this blog All Pride Stride 5K All The Time, and I did go for a long (for me) run this morning, but it was not very eventful.  Besides, I have some flower pictures!  I love flowers.

I forget who this guy is.

I pass by this statue many times per week on walks and runs.  It is Meyers Park, which is fairly close to my house.  Somebody takes very good care of the plants around the statues.  Next time I’ll get a shot of General Herkimer, who stands on the other side of the park.

Yay! They bloomed!

And here is my house, made extra cheerful by peonies and daisies!  I think the daisies may have gone a little too far this year.  I may need to get rid of them entirely and plant something else.  I also need to get around to planting something anything elsewhere in my front and back yards.

Ignore the mess, enjoy the daisies.

I cut a bunch of the daisies to make a cheerful bouquet for my living room.  I would like to cut a couple of the peonies and bring them in, because they smell so nice, but I am afraid of bringing in ants with them.  Ants help peonies open by crawling inside the buds and eating something.  That is about the only good thing I have ever heard about ants.

I still have not done much about making my own garden grow; regular readers may recall that the daisies and peonies come up with no effort on my part.  But the second week of June isn’t too late?  Is it?  Discuss amongst yourselves.

 

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Slacker Day, Silly Post?

Posted on June 8, 2025 by mohawkvalleygirl

It is a Slacker Saturday Post.  I have done pretty much nothing today.  Can I yet make a blog post about it?  We shall see.

I do see this building almost every day.

I managed to write and mail my usual Saturday post cards.  I do this most weeks, because I know it gives a smile to my post card peeps.

Who me? Have a glass of wine?

I did not have this shirt on, and I was not in the place shown here, the Waterfront Grille in Herkimer, NY.  However, I confess I did have a glass of Chadonnay this afternoon.  Judge me if you are so inclined.

Crazy daisies!

These are my daisies from last year, when in fact, they were looking a little better than this year.  They are looking a little blowsy this year, if you know what I mean.  Perhaps I will get out there tomorrow with a pair of clippers and do some major trimming.  On the other hand, they are holding the peonies up.  You know how peonies like to flop down once they bloom, as mine just started to do.  I love peonies.  I wonder what happened to the fence Steven bought one year to help them stand up.

One of last year’s peonies, for good measure.

So it’s another silly post, but one does what one can.  I did some other writing today, besides the above mentioned post cards.  I worked on a letter to a friend, and I wrote two character sheets on my latest murder mystery.  So perhaps the day was not a complete slack.  Discuss amongst yourselves.

 

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Still Hoping for a Garden!

Posted on June 6, 2025 by mohawkvalleygirl

Can I manage a Throwback Thursday post, that is the question.  I know, you thought it was to be or not to be (you know who you are).  I guess the main question is, can I make a blog post?

Wow, look at how tame they are!

Here is a nice picture from June of 2017. My front yard does not look like this now!  The daisies have taken over the place, although the peonies are still there.

More daisies!

This is my daisies in 2024.  I just can’t make myself get rid of them; they are so cheerful.

When did I ever have THESE?

This picture is from May 2018, but I do not remember having four orange tulips.  How pretty are they!  This year I had one yellow tulip, which I was very grateful for but did not get a picture of.

So pretty!

And here is perhaps the last time I had a container garden on my deck.  I thought I might go somewhere to purchase flowers and herbs for this year but did not manage to.  I did not even manage to sweep the helicopters off my deck and get it ready for containers.  Oh well, there is always tomorrow.  We’ll see what I can do.  As always, I hope you’ll stay tuned.

 

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I Try to Run After the Rain

Posted on May 8, 2025 by mohawkvalleygirl

I started to go running yesterday with the idea of A. Looking at the flood damage (luckily not too much of a flood around here) and B. Making a Running Commentary Post.  I was only marginally successful. I was to begin with a little surprised it was not still raining.  A glance out the window showed me the street was no longer a river, so I suited up and went out.  I put on my Road Guard Vest (as we Army people call it; civilians call it a reflective vest) in case I went out in the road.  It also has a handy zipper pouch for tissues.

Right away I saw running in the road was ineligible.  It was all mud!  As I ran down the sidewalk, I encountered a lot of mud, too, then a bit of debris, mostly sticks of varying sizes.  The main problem I had was when I got to the corner:  the mud was super concentrated where I wanted to cross the street.  I turned a couple corners where I hadn’t meant to.  Sometimes I ran in the grass to avoid the mud. I don’t mind getting dirty, but I try to avoid falls at my age.

As I turned back onto my own street sooner than envisioned, I saw a cavalcade of two mothers and several children of various ages, some in wagons, on their way to the corner to catch the bus.  I have seen them before.  I almost always greet my neighbors.  Sometimes I accuse the groups waiting for the bus of having a party and not inviting me.  These neighbors were just setting out for the corner.

“It’s the parade!”  I said.  I have called them a parade before. They warned me to watch out for the slippery mud.

I made it across the street and around another corner before I admitted defeat.  I had gone something over 17 minutes (too lazy to go get my Garmin and check), and I just had a failure of resolution.  I turned and walked back towards home, a thing I almost never do.  When I got to the corner, the parade had almost reached the bus stop.  They only had to cross the street.  Some boys already at the bus stop hollered at two girls about to cross to wait, because cars were coming.  We look out for each other in my neighborhood.

I called across to one of the mothers, “I gave up!”

She gestured to one of the girls and said, “She fell down twice!” The girl ruefully displayed her muddy legs.

“Oh NO!” I said, with great sympathy.  I said that falls could be dangerous at my age, to which the mother agreed.  I managed to reach home without mishap.

Some of the May flowers I hope the rain will bring!

No, I did not take a picture of the mud.  However, for the sake of including an illustration, here are a couple peonies and a few daisies from last May.  I guess this wasn’t an April shower, but sometimes one must make do.

 

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A Blooming Throwback Thursday

Posted on June 21, 2024 by mohawkvalleygirl

After another hot, steamy day, I settle down on my couch in front of a fan and hope to make my Thursday blog post.  I think a Throwback Thursday might be fun.  Only I fear I may repeat myself.  Then again, perhaps some readers did not see these pictures the first time or any of the times I threw back to them.  Or they may not mind a re-run.  I can only hope for the best.

Wow! Look at all the grass!

This picture is from June 2017.  Look how subdued the daisies are!  They are not marauders squeezing out the peonies and forget-me-nots.  And Frankentree looks quite small and manageable.

Don’t they look ruthless?

This is a picture from this year, a couple weeks ago when they were still blooming.  It is definitely time to cut down what is left.  I hope to have at it with the clippers this weekend.

Where or where did my irises go?

This is from June 2018.  Did I really have that many irises?  Apparently so.  I had none this year.  Perhaps my mother will thin hers out in the fall and I can get some more bulbs.  I do love irises.

Some more blooms that looked better in years past.

And here is my rhododendron in June 2019.  I had some blooms this year but not as many.  Branches from the pine tree behind it encroached on its space.  Something else to have at with the clippers or perhaps a hack saw.  Nothing like being a little bloodthirsty in my yard work.  There are some wild grapevines and pricker bushes that also need slaying.  It might make a good blog post.  As always, I hope you’ll stay tuned.

 

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Don’t Wuss! Walk!

Posted on May 30, 2024 by mohawkvalleygirl

So there I was, sitting on my couch feeling utterly exhausted.  I mean not just tired, but entirely used up.  It is a feeling I get a lot lately.  Oh, stop playing that miniature violin (you know who you are)! One thing I do not need is condescension.  My original plan for today was to go running after work.  Unfortunately, I did something to my back and it was quite painful by the end of my work day.  At first I thought I would go ahead and run anyways.  Worst case scenario:  I stopped running and walked.  Then I thought the real worst case scenario is that I wake up tomorrow with an even worse backache, so I told myself don’t be stupid.  Run tomorrow.

Picture to pep things up.

Still, a walk might help a sore back.  It probably would have been a better idea to take said walk right away, before I sat there on the couch feeling like a big lump of I Don’t Care.  It was the thought of taking a couple of pictures on the walk for blogging purposes that got me into my sneakers and out the door.  I can’t break my streak of posting daily, can I?

The first place I walked was into my own backyard, to check on my rhododendron.  I had seen some neighbors’ rhododendrons blooming and hoped mine was doing the same.  It is blooming but is being overshadowed by a pine tree that grows nearby.  A few years ago I cut a bunch of branches off the tree for that very reason.  I felt like much woman, as my sister Vicki would say.  I guess I need to do it again.  I tried to get a picture of what blooms there are, but the sun was in the wrong place, so I couldn’t get the shot.

While I was out back, I could not help but notice how badly I need to mow.  I need, in fact, to do more than mow, but do some major yard work.  I almost opened up my garage and hauled out the mower.  Once again, consideration for my back stopped me.  Even opening the garage is quite the effort, because some spring or other broke after not being in the right place to begin with (I don’t properly understand these things).  I promised myself to try it tomorrow.  Or the next day.  Saturday at the latest.

Out front, I realized I could take a picture of my daisies, once again taking over the yard.  I just can’t bear to cut them back till they stop blooming.  They are so cheerful.  I put the picture of them after the first paragraph, because I did not want to make my readers wait too long for an illustration.  Then I took a picture of the two peonies that managed to bloom.

I love the smell!

My back was still hurting, but I at least walked around the block.  There were not many photo ops, because I do not like taking pictures of people’s yards without their permission (although I have done it on occasion).  I saw a flowering tree in front of one house, and I wondered what it was.  I took a picture, zooming in so you can only see tree, nothing of the house.  That makes it anonymous enough, doesn’t it?

Perhaps one of my readers knows what it is.

I felt somewhat revived after my walk, at least enough to open the Chromebook and make the blog post.  And I believe I have successfully avoided having a Wuss-out Wednesday.

 

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