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Blooms for the Blog!

Posted on May 26, 2023 by mohawkvalleygirl

I looked out my upstairs window a few minutes ago and got a lovely surprise:  my rhododendron is blooming!  It was not when I was outside earlier this week and I thought it was not going to.  Yay!

I love it!

I had just put on sweats and slippers, but I quickly changed the slippers for shoes and went out to take a picture.  I don’t know why I feel the need to take a picture of every bloom ever year, but I do.

It looks like there are more blooms to come.

I backed up and took another shot.  I think the rhododendron has seen better years, but I am happy to see how many flowers there are.

Definitely more blooms here.

Here is a shot from May 2017.  That was a good year.   Does that picture make this a Throwback Thursday Post?   Why not?

A little more recently.

Here is May 2021.  Not bad, but I think 2017 was better.  Still, it’s a lovely tree.  I am glad we have it.  It was already here when we moved in in 2005 (wow, that was a while ago!).

I hope to do more work in the yard, plant more flowers and some vegetables, and of course make more blog posts about it (preview of coming attractions). In the meantime,  I am happy about my rhododendrons.

 

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Flower Friday?

Posted on June 6, 2020 by mohawkvalleygirl

They smell nice too.

This is a bouquet I purchased from Houle Flower Farm in Little Falls.  I mean to do a whole post about them, and potentially an article for submission to Mohawk Valley Living magazine,  but that is for the future. Today is Lame Post Friday,  and I am drinking wine and relaxing myself.  However, I also took a couple more pictures of flowers, and perhaps they will improve my post.

Yay! Irises!

Regular readers may remember that I shared a picture of iris buds recently.   Imagine my delight when I saw that a couple had bloomed.  I hope to share pictures of other blossoms in coming days.

Steven and I spent some time on our deck, enjoying our Friday.  Steven admired our rhododendron.  Naturally I took a picture.

I find it impressive.

While I was out back photoing the rhododendron,  I noticed how invasive my chives had become.  I took another pic.

The purple flowers hold the seeds.

I love my chives, but I hope they do not choke out my Black-Eyed Susans, which also reside in this area.  Additionally,  I see a tree starting to grow.  I am inclined to let a tree grow,  since my existing trees may need to come down one day.  But is this the proper spot for a tree?  Am I the judge of these things?  I DON’T KNOW!!!

These questions are too deep for Lame Post Friday.  Let us just admire the flowers and look forward to the weekend.

 

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A Blooming Saturday Post

Posted on May 31, 2020 by mohawkvalleygirl

Before.

Today I was determined to put these flowers into pots for my container garden.  I had a small-ish bag of dirt, because they were out of the bags of one or two feet square feet of of dirt,  which I have purchased in previous years. Oh well, you snooze, you loose; I took what I could get and used it.

One angle of my deck.

After filling two urns, I was outof dirt and had to return to the store.  However, I found that with smaller bags, it was easier for me to pour the dirt from the bag into the pots.

The other angle.

You can see the lawn chairs in the background.  I put them out in the lawn to take advantage of the natural disinfection of sunlight.  These chairs have previously resided in my garage,  which smells just a slight bit of mildew.  One cannot always control the moisture in these situations.

I took another picture, of my feet and and what you could see of the deck beyond, but I cannot find it now.  That is how technologically inept I am.  However,  I feel I have done a good job on my deck.  Steven and I sat outside and enjoyed the view for a while.  No doubt we will do so again.

In the meantime,  here is one more picture of my backyard.

I’ll get another shot, when there are even more blooms.

Here is our rhododendron.  I thought it would be blooming soon. I do love a tree that blooms.  I must plant a few more.  No doubt I will make another blog post when I do.

 

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Throwback Thursday about Future Flowers

Posted on May 15, 2020 by mohawkvalleygirl

I have a dreadful case of Writer’s Blank, complicated by the type-it-in-backspace-it-out syndrome.  However, I think I can just about manage a Throwback Thursday Post.

Pretty!

This is discouraging.  The above picture is from May 2017.  In May 2020, my rhododendron has not a bloom to be seen.

I like these too!

Another flower I have not seen yet this year are my irises.  However, since this picture is from June 2017, I do not despair.

Please don’t eat the daisies.

We are also waiting for our daisies.  I’m seeing a lot of greenery for them, so I live in hope.

I LOVE my peonies!

Last year I did not get any peonies at all. I think something came along and ate the whole bush.  How greedy!  However, since I am known to hog down a lot of goodies myself, I suppose I should not criticize.

Pretty little blooms!

Here are my forget-me-nots, which look about like this now.  I previously said they were only out front this year, having inexplicably moved from the back yard.  However, today I noticed that they are also out back.  I am delighted to have these flowers spreading out and taking over my lawn.  I even dare to hope that they will obviate my need to mow, but that may take a few more years.

It is nice to look back on flowers past.  I look forward to more in the future.  I hope to visit the Flower Barn in Ilion to purchase some to plant.  I will certainly make a blog post about it when I so.

 

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Cheery Pictures on Tired Tuesday

Posted on April 22, 2020 by mohawkvalleygirl

One of our talented local artists.

I thought I would open with a picture calculated to cheer myself up.  This was some neighborhood sidewalk art I took a picture of a week or more ago (regular readers know I rarely go back and check these things).  There was more artwork there recently, but it faded before I got out there with my Tablet.  I have been sitting here trying to psyche myself up for at least a Tired Tuesday post.  Sharing a picture finally got my mind moving.  Slowly, but any progress must be appreciated.

Another bit of cheer.

Here is a picture from last May, of a neighbourhood yard.  I hope to have a few tulips in my own front yard. I may purchase more bulbs to plant.  When do you plant tulip bulbs?  I’ll have to look that up.

I find this impressive.

This is our rhododendron in a previous year, just to share another picture of something I am looking forward to.  I guess this makes today’s post a Preview of Coming Attractions.

Irises are so graceful.

I also hope to see my irises again.  I really must plant more perennials.  Then I will have even more to look forward to in the future.  In any case, I have cheered myself up, and I hope I have done the same for you.

 

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A Little Walk, a Little Post

Posted on June 5, 2019 by mohawkvalleygirl

I went for a walk with my Tablet and the specific intention of making a Pedestrian Post.  The other reason was that I had not gone running this morning and thought exercise would be a good idea.

When I ran yesterday, I was struck by some overgrown bushes with overgrown grass opposite.   It was not a problem to run through,  but there would not have been room for two abreast.  I reflected that when I was a kid, I would have pretended it was a tunnel.

I had a vivid imagination as a child. I guess I still do.

I turned onto Church Street and walked towards my beloved Herkimer Historic Four Corners.   First, however, I passed Temple Beth Joseph Synagogue and admired their rhododendron bush.

At least as good as mine if not better.

Next I noticed one of those garden balls I have always liked, in front of a nearby house.  I read a great thriller in which one was figured prominently.

One day I’ll have one in my garden. When I have a garden.

I turned down Main Street at the Four Corners and walked to Basloe Library.  Some major construction is going on there, so I took a couple of  pictures.

I made sure to get the sign in one.

 

I made a mental note of days the library will be closed.

When the construction is completed, I will have to do a whole post about it.  I was at Basloe yesterday (I should have made a post about that!), and it looks like great changes are in store.

My walk was not that long, but I enjoyed it.  Tomorrow I hope to go for a run.  A woman my age needs to keep up on her exercise!  And her blog posts.

 

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Some Prettiness to Brighten the Morning

Posted on June 2, 2019 by mohawkvalleygirl

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.

 

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It’s a Blooming Blog Post!

Posted on June 3, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

There! I feel better now!

I like flowers.  They make me feel better.  I was sitting here trying to begin my blog post, and I backspaced over several leads, erasing others while they were still in my head.  What IS my problem?  Oh, I don’t expect any of you to figure it out.  Just throw your hands in the air (like you don’t care), and enjoy  a few pictures of my yard.  The above is my front yard.  I do not remember what year the daisies showed up, but they are sure out of control now.  I love it.  I only hope they don’t overpower the peony bush

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Come on, Peonies!

Astute readers may notice that I capitalized Peonies in the caption while I did not do so in the preceding paragraph.  That is because in the caption I am directly addressing the buds, so Peonies are like their names.  I guess they all have the same name (I just flashed on a Dr. Suess story about a certain Mrs. McCave, who had 23 sons and she named them all Dave).  I saw some other peonies in the neighborhood that bloomed (must try to run by them and take a sniff on tomorrow’s run), so I’m sure mine will be opening soon.

Hmmm…. It looks better in real life than it does in the picture, but you’ll have that.

Also under the heading Preview of Coming Attractions is our Rose of Sharon.  At least there is more green on it than previously.  My mother, who gave us the plant, told me we did not have to prune back the old branches or even pull off all the brown stuff.  At least, I think she told me that.  I’ll have to double check the next time I call.

Another plant that is better in person. Next time I’ll try to zoom in on them. If I can figure out how.

I do love forget-me-nots.  These just magically appeared near the rhododendron and spread a little more each year.  I would love to have a whole yard of flowers and never have to mow.  Maybe one day.

A little overshadowed by the pine tree, but beautiful blooms.

I think the rhododendron is lovely, too.  That is another one we did not plant.  It wasn’t looking so good until one year when I broke off a bunch of dead branches.  Who knew I could do something right in the garden?

I supposed I should have weeded before I took the picture, but I think you can see how beautiful they are.

This is the reason I was outside with my Tablet on Camera Mode: my irises, another gift from my mother.  She has had irises at her house for as long as I can remember, and periodically she has to thin them out.  Her iris bulbs have bloomed as far away as Arizona!

As these pictures show, I have not done much with my flowers except let them grow.  I hope to get outside tomorrow and do some weeding.  Maybe I could take some nice After pictures of neat, orderly flower beds.  That would be a change from Wrist to Forehead Sunday.  If it rains, I’ll probably watch monster movies.  It’s always nice to have a back-up plan.

 

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Woo Hoo! They Grew!

Posted on May 31, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

I am resorting to pictures for this week’s Tired Tuesday post, but I went outside and took a few of my backyard.  My impetus for doing so is that the rhododendron is in full bloom and is lovely.  I was worried it would not last another day so wanted to take a picture.  Naturally I could not find the Tablet.  Steven and I searched almost all of the house except for the dining room chair it was sitting on.  Eventually I found it and was thankful it had not started raining again by that time.

An old boyfriend used to call me his “little rah-d’den-DRAHN”

The bush gets bigger every year and has since a few years ago when I broke off a couple dead branches.  I suppose there’s a metaphor for life there, but I really do not feel like figuring out what to prune off myself for improvement.  Having captured this picture, I moved on and snapped a few more shots.

That’s the neighbors’ pool and house in the background.

My mom gave me the Rose of Sharon in 2011.  After Steven accidentally mowed it down a couple of times, it started to grow bigger.  I’ll have to take another picture after it blooms.  If it ever does.  And speaking of wait till it blooms, here are a couple more shots of plants that are going to look better later.

I suppose I could have pulled some of the weeds first.

I got the Black-Eyed Susans from a sale at the Herkimer County Humane Society back in 2011.  The chives are, I think, from Tripple’s Produce in Schuyler, NY.  They were in my container garden some years ago (I forget when but prior to 2011).  After the season, I put them in the garden to see what would happen.  Woo-hoo, they grew! (Hey, that might be a good title for this post.)

Ooh, even more weeds over here.

The irises are from my Mom.  She’s had irises in her yard for as long as I can remember.  Periodically she thins out the bulbs.  This is the first time I had a yard to put any in.  There are more very year, so woo-hoo once again.

You can just about see all the other stuff in the background.

This last shot is another preview of coming attractions.  These are the plants I purchased at T & J’s Fruits and Vegetables in Herkimer on Sunday.  They will eventually be part of my container garden. I hope to share some pictures of that eventually.  When I’m not too tired to put them in the containers.  Happy Tuesday, everyone.

 

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