Category Archives: PA.

Jun9

Welcome Roamy to SE Pennsylvania-mushroomland!

Posted on Thursday, June 9, 2011 by Dianne

Lots of Mushrooms too!, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Roamy arrived from Canada, nodded his cap and disappeared out in my yard for the longest time. I knew exactly where he was-with the gnomes and fairies. This ‘special’ group resides in the town (outskirts) next to Kennett Square, ‘The Mushroom Capital of the World’ where there is a Mushroom festival every September-the 26th year is this year! There are lots of ‘magical’ mushrooms in our garden! Roamy is posing here on one.
Look at this interesting group!

Roamy in particularly liked this guy as he looked so ‘cool’ with his shades and cocktail. Said he loves Jimmy Buffet-no kidding! : )
Roamy knows I love gardening and he said he wants to be a florist-so he stopped and smelled the Sweet Bay Magnolia:

Checked out some petunias:

And wondered if he could take some of these viney things with him so he could pretend to be Jack in the Beanstalk:

He visited a girl and bunnies in the herb patch:

After his tour of our yard, he was swooped up and taken on a weekend trip to Baltimore, Maryland.

He had lots of fun and saw interesting sites:
First we took him to the 27th floor of Baltimore’s World Trade Center. He was a bit scared until Mr. C. showed him the wonderful Baltimore sites!

He look bigger than the cars way below:

And look at the snazzy Oriole jersey and hat!
We here are big Phillies fans (just to let you know).
He saw the sign for the Flag house, but we didn’t go in as it was closed.

We went to the Baltimore Aquarium but Roamy hide in my camera bag as he didn’t want to be fish food!

Our last stop was Ft. McHenry where the battle of 1814 to ward off the British inspired Francis Scott Key to write the national anthem “The Star Spangled Banner’ when he saw the flag still flying overhead. See the cannons behind him, there were lots of them!

So Roamy would have been happy to stay here in PA with all my special pals:

Even the inside ones!

Always remember to…

Roamy will be moving on to Sherry next….
Surprise!

Jun7

Wall of Pockets

Posted on Tuesday, June 7, 2011 by Dianne

Standard

I went down to my hometown to get my mom to stay over as she has a hearing aid appt at a place that is local to me. I almost didn’t get this shot as the mirror phone protector was making it hard to capture this shot. Aren’t these neat? I think they are made of fabric. I guess I should take a closer look next time I go. My mom looked at was this huge hanging basket that was $85! This place has a display at the Philadelphia Flower each year and I love to see their color combos and other things. You just can’t touch the prices-$5-$8 for small plants is my limit. I got a Coleus, a Throatwart , a black ornamental pepper and a fern on sale. Mom got a black Petunia and a yellow Lantana.

Tomorrow the temp will be around 100 and the three of us (Bri, Sean and me) had tummy issues-from our dinner last night so I hope we are all better then. Sean and I are peppier, but Bri is still blah. We had wheat pasta and a salad with alfalfa sprouts on top (the lid said they were tested for e.coli-so I hope that’s so).

Isn’t this a sweet terrarium?

May27

Lilytopia Revisited

Posted on Friday, May 27, 2011 by Dianne

Standard

Lilies against the window, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

As I had done last year, I made sure I went to Longwood Gardens before the 30th to see the amazing, abundant and absolutely gorgeous lily display. I was not disappointed. It was warm, but a nice breeze kicked up a few times. I am planning on trying to go to LG a few times a week to walk. I feel better on the new hbp med-more like my old self and I hope it’s helping. Anyway, here are more shots, enjoy and have a great weekend.

May21

Catching the bride

Posted on Saturday, May 21, 2011 by Dianne

Standard

Catching the bride at the reception!, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

We had a lovely time helping Jenn, a sweet Collins cousin celebrate her marriage to Mike. Wasn’t she a beautiful bride and look at that gown!

MaryAnne-my sister-in-law and also cousin of the bride; Mike the groom; Jenn and Aunt Sue, MaryAnne’s mom.

Jenn and Sean are 3 months apart in age, though she graduated a year before he did from the same high school.

I love Mike’s face here! That’s Jon, Jenn’s dad.

We were entertained by the little ringbearer-his mom was a bridesmaid and not amused. I think he’s about 4.

Pronounced Mr. and Mrs.
Taking photos at the lovely country club:

Brian and me at the reception
Here’s an update for Zoey about the food…
We had a choice between salmon with crab imperial or chicken stuffed with sun-dried tomatoes. We chose the salmon-a very large piece with delicious scalloped potatoes and green beans. They had a spring garden salad first with blue cheese, cranberries and red pear tomatoes with a Balsamic dressing-really good. I saw the man near me pick out all the good stuff! And there was an hour of appetizers with appletinis (they ran out-but they had an open bar) and coconut shrimp, spring rolls, sushi in a little ice cream cone like cracker (I don’t like sushi) and a few others. Wedding cakes and homemade cookies for dessert-the groom’s family are bakers! : )

May10

Snooping around the Brandywine Valley

Posted on Tuesday, May 10, 2011 by Dianne

Standard

Dianne and Miss Gratz the Cow, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Sean and I were going to Winterthur in Delaware to see the azaleas in full bloom yesterday (actually he was just going to take me, he is kind that way). We get to the gate and the gardens are closed for maintenance on Mondays! We were disappointed and headed down Route 1. I asked him to stop at the Brandywine River museum so I could take some photos as I had toted along the camera. We had a nice time looking at the statues, wildflowers and river! Here are a few shots. This is me with Miss Gratz the cow. There is also Helen the pig and a 9 foot statue out front called ‘Boy with Hawk’.

From Wikipedia:
The Brandywine River Museum is a museum of regional and American art located on U.S. Route 1 in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania on the banks of the Brandywine River. The museum showcases the art of Andrew Wyeth a major American realist painter, and his family: his father, N.C. Wyeth illustrator of many children’s classics, and his son, Jamie Wyeth a contemporary American realist painter.
Housed in a converted nineteenth century gristmill, the museum’s permanent collection features American illustration, still life works, and landscape painting by Jasper Francis Cropsey, Harvey Dunn, Peter Hurd, Maxfield Parrish, Howard Pyle, William Trost Richards, and Jessie Willcox Smith. The glass-wall lobby overlooks Brandywine Creek and rolling countryside that inspired the Brandywine School earlier in the early 20th century.
The museum also owns and operates tours of the nearlby N. C. Wyeth House and Studio, as well as the Kuerner Farm, inspiration for nearly 1,000 works of art by Andrew Wyeth from the 1930s until his death in 2009. Outside the museum are beautifully maintained Wildflower and Native Plant Gardens.
The museum was founded in 1971 as part of the Brandywine Conservancy thru the efforts of “Frolic” Weymouth. He has been on the board since its founding.
(I see a few places here I haven’t been to!)

May6

Walking path at the park

Posted on Friday, May 6, 2011 by Dianne

Standard

Walking path, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

I decided to take a walk here today. I made it around twice (ouchie knees) as the wind almost blew me away. I did take my little camera but didn’t see any Bluebirds this time. They were just finishing cutting the grass and I had the place practically by myself. Pretty there isn’t it? I did 1/4 mile.
I made a few more stops-gas (never have filled the tank up in the Mariner since I got it); Goodwill to get rid of a few things and Big Lots. I wanted to go to another nursery but there wasn’t any place to park. I got home from Big Lots and my house keys were gone! I had to go all the way to Sean’s work and get his keys. I was hoping (praying to St. Anthony) that they would be inside the house, but I don’t see them anywhere. Thinking the cat pushed them someplace out of sight as I swear I don’t remember seeing them since yesterday. I called three places and the park lady is calling the police to see if anyone turns them in . I just hope they weren’t in the driveway and someone got them. Brian is at his dad’s tonight, so he may have a set for me. Crossing fingers.
May go to a plant sale at Brandywine River Museum tomorrow or Sunday. They have unusual plants, but a bit pricey.
Have a great Mother’s Day my fellow moms!

Our township building

May2

Dianne loves Coleus…and shopping for plants

Posted on Monday, May 2, 2011 by Dianne

Standard

Dianne loves Coleus, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Brian was kind enough to take me on a little excursion up in lower Lancaster County plant farm. Such a pretty area! We cross from our county Chester to Lancaster over the Octoraro Reservoir.

It was in the 60s, but not really sunny. We had a good time looking in the greenhouses and looking at about half of the perennials-I think there were 20 rows of them! I only bought a couple as I want to do a little more research on the ones I really want. It’s nice they offer two sizes- a $2.49 pot and the bigger one to see if you like it I guess. I did buy one apricot color iris and a few other perennials.

We then went down the road a bit to a flea market.

The place is poorly lit and the prices were a bit high. I found a Snowbabies music box-it sure looks like one and I got this strawberry ceramic ‘house’ that went right in the gnome and fairy garden-she gave them to us for $5. The music box was really dirty and I had to dunk the top in soapy water and sand off the old glitter. The one baby came off and he got a bath. It looks like new again and plays ‘Twinkle, Twinkle..little star’.

We came home and grilled up steak, chicken and hot dogs, some for other meals. I made homemade mac and cheese with chives and a variety of cheeses. We had a nice day and it was especially meaningful when we heard that Bin Laden was deceased. It’s about time!

Apr22

Photo Hunt-Dusty

Posted on Friday, April 22, 2011 by Dianne

Standard

Mercer Museum antique fire engine, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

I could show you some ‘Dusty Miller’, a pretty gray plant, but I decided to go the true ‘dusty’ route. Like who doesn’t fight with dust in your house weekly? And I’m really allergic to it!
So this is the awesome Mercer Museum in Doylestown, PA. Brian and I’ve been twice, once with Sean. It has all these awesome old pieces like the fire engine. Guess they can’t find anyone to dust them on a regular basis maybe?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hope to do some creative paper things tomorrow. My head has been full of wondering about cars and such. Sean got his computer today and when we got it home he started to delete stuff. Then he found he couldn’t get on the computer. I called the man who fixed it and told him the issue and about 10 minutes later he called me back and took me through the steps to uninstall and reinstall the network adapter-it then worked-thank you very much! Then the internet explorer wasn’t loading properly. Sean came home for dinner and installed I.E.9 and he’s back to business. I also changed a few setting-start up menu, etc. Fred (the computer guy) said Sean had 8 browsers and 36 things loading on start up! So Sean got rid of a few and I got the start up down to 20 something. I learned a lot over the years. And I keep the 2003 (I think) desktop kicking. : )
I’ll try to write a post again in the next few days. I am disappointed I didn’t decorate more, but I may still add a few bird nests, etc. to the mix. What I have out now are newly bought.
Happy weekend and Easter!

Apr8

Photo Hunt-Tree(s)

Posted on Friday, April 8, 2011 by Dianne

Standard

Scary old redwood tree, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

This wasn’t an easy choice as I have 555 Flickr photos of trees! This has to be one of the scariest trees around here!

Apr1

Photo Hunt-Closed

Posted on Friday, April 1, 2011 by Dianne

Standard

Birds of Paradise, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Here are some Birds of Paradise flowers at Longwood Gardens opened on the left with their ‘plumes’ on the top and ‘beaks’. I don’t remember ever seeing them closed up, but they certainly are very bird-like.