Category Archives: yard

Mar2

Ah fresh air!

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We mixed up our Sunday a bit and went to church today instead of last night. If I went one more Saturday night, I would have screamed! Really, it gets old. We headed down to a little coffee shop in Delaware for a sandwich afterwards and came home. I suggested Bri trim back the two sadly overgrown pear trees we have, but it may be too late for them. Fruit trees, especially the smaller ones, do take some care. They shouldn’t be over a certain height (I’m thinking 7 feet) and you have to trim out all the sucker branches. Plus you should spray them when they bud. We never did any of that. We lost a dwarf apple tree last summer when it fell over and pretty much destroyed half of the veggie patch. I helped Bri a little, but I suffered with a stuff upper back yesterday and didn’t want to aggravate that. I did promptly have to apply Icy Hot to my lower back though. My neighbor has cut down four trees (I think) 3 leaf trees and one evergreen. We still have a row of evergreens between our house and his (that belong to him).

My father’s half brother emailed me late last night and said that my father’s apartment was all cleaned out-all 6 boxes of the stuff. He gave away a table and a few other things. He had a broken 486 computer too. My uncle said he had some high school annuals, and things from the time he was in the Korean war on a ship. Sadly, he mentioned no photos. My brother wants the stuff, he can have it. The taxi driver who befriended him almost had the same last name as me, change out one letter and add a ‘s’ to his name-isn’t that weird?

I’ve been making some ATCs as gifts and really enjoying it. My one friend’s dad loves to garden and if I post a photo to tribe.net, she nearly always prints it out to show him.

Not sure about the Philly Flower show. I do want to go and I don’t . I have the pass to Longwood Gardens and usually don’t have to worry about crowds. My mom could go with her friend on Tuesday. I was thinking about Wednesday as I am getting my hair done and we could go afterwards. I was also hoping my brother could inspect my van and see what the funny hamster wheel noise is under the hood. I guess I’ll end up going. Any excuse to use my camera!

Dec6

Snow captures

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After I ventured out and got the mail, which had the cutest photo of my friend, her husband and their two poochies on a Christmas card, I grabbed the camera and took some photos. I was afraid I’d slip if it was icy, but the sun melted the snow just enough to make walking on it okay.
My little angel flag to greet people:
Angel flag

My fairy garden…all it’s inhabitants are tucked away for the winter-good thing!

Snowy fairy garden

Nov22

Photos by Brian

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I was so glad he is finally using our camera! An array of maples:

Japanese Maple

Another Japanese maple

Yellow maple
Pretty nice, huh?

You know how things happen in threes? Well, yesterday my outlet next to the bed (or is it the wall switch) went. The house is going on 48 yrs old. So this is not good. Bri will try and replace the outlet, he’s done that before. Hope that’s it. He has my light plugged into another outlet by means of orange extension cord!
I also broke the stopper in my fairly new kitchen sink. The metal part that holds it in place so you can have water in the sink, broke off.
And finally, I went in my china cabinet to retrieve my crystal turkey that I use for cranberry sauce. I noticed that before I even opened the door, that a wooden egg in an egg cup had fallen over. Well, try as I may, I couldn’t open the door without the egg falling, and it nicked a Waterford crystal bowl that I’ve had for almost 24 years. Yikes! That’s it please!

Oct20

My old mug

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From college days
This mug was my favorite mug back in the late 70s. Mom just gave it back to me. I’m enjoying a mug of jasmine tea right now!

Halloween tree
This is a little tree that I hung some tags on that I bought from a lady on eBay. I love other people’s art work and these are sweet. This artist is Honeygirl Studios.

Mums
Bri and I planted 3 mums on the side of the evergreen in the front yard. I also dug up my Persian Shield plant. It wore me out as I had about 4 hours of sleep last night. I got up to go in the bathroom at 6 am and heard the answering machine in the family room beeping. What? So I went in and it was my mom’s # on the caller ID at 2:37 am this morning! I listened to it and it was a lot of muffled stuff. Now it sounded like she had been mugged or something! I didn’t call her at that time of the day, but waited a few hours and she has no recollection on even touching the phone which concerns me. Weird.

Oct18

Around my house

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Here’s most of the front step area. You can’t see another little scarecrow on the other side. That’s a ‘fake’ pumpkin! I don’t carve pumpkins anymore, but I like them. This is ok until I grow them again. I do hope to get more than one though!

The front door
My pretty salmon colored nemesia came back in the front window box!
Nemesia made a return
And finally-to show some damage a chestnut tree burr can do-I was pushing my garden cart with the decorations from the lawn to the shed, one popped up from under the wheel and hit me full force in my ankle! Ouch! (It’s not a bump…it’s a few dozen little puncture wounds!)

My boo boo

This (laryngospasm) is what happened to me yesterday morning. It’s happened a few times over the last few months, especially when I have a stuffed up nose. I believe yesterday my sinuses were trying to drain too. Not fun.

On the news they just said MRSA, a staph infection, is spreading in schools around my hometown. Not a pretty thing. If you get a weird boil or something on your skin that doesn’t heal, you better get it looked at before it goes into your bloodstream.

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The last hotel that we stayed in down in Atlantic City got imploded tonight! It was the Sands and we stayed there to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary back in ’04. Sean and mom were with us. I believe some of my first blog entries were about this funky trip.

The Sands implodes!

My sinuses were fine walking around Longwood Gardens yesterday, but today they were annoying. We had the warmer than usual weather again. My mom went home in the late afternoon after we went to Walmart. I was hoping what I bought in there for Sean’s birthday could have been mailed, but we went through the town at 4:17 and the post office closes at 4:30.

Some good stuff :

A bought item from Walmart that is so yummy:

Strawberry Milkshake Whoppers!

You can’t eat just one!

I bought a small bottle of this at the Longwood Gardens gift shop, Thymes eucalyptus lotion:

Thymes eucalyptus lotion
Delightful and strong enough to smell like nice soap.

Oct16

Trying something else

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You know I’ve been on a kick to lower my triglycerides even though I haven’t had them tested in like 15 months. I gave Flaxseed oil capsules another whirl-not good. I couldn’t even eat a Ricola this morning it burnt going down. I also read that Flaxseed oil should be kept in the frig. I have mine in the cabinet and the expiration date in 2009! I bought it off the shelf too. I cut one open and it is really strong, so maybe they are not fresh.

I happen to catch Martha Stewart yesterday and she was talking about the essential amino acids. She mentioned ‘lysine’ and said it is good your triglycerides! I did a search and lots of foods have it-soy, green beans, etc. I’ll have to write them down and eat a ton of them!

Mom went to my uncle’s yesterday. My aunt is improved but talking jibberish. Maybe she had a fever or it’s just her age. Bri’s dad has some weird rash on his tummy and is getting that checked out. He has lost weight over the last few years (teeth issues) and I think it was chafing that got infected. Of course he’s thinking lymph nodes and the ‘C’ word. No use scaring yourself and stop playing doctor!

I have several piles of lawn ornaments to deal with. It’s nice weather again. Mom and I will probably hit Longwood Gardens tomorrow, but I’ll push her around in a wheelchair, because she won’t be able to walk around there like she use to.

I was looking at some really old unfinished stitching projects and decided to finish a few. One is a little Amish girl and boy. I have had to tear some things out, but it will make an adorable box cover. Not sure when I started it, but the leaflet is from 1985! Remember I have finished a few things like the turkey wreath and the stitching girl. I also have ‘kissing babies’ that I remember doing in our apartment and we haven’t lived there for over 21 yrs! I think I did add to it a few years ago, but the border and background is all that it needs now.

I’m getting some goodies together for Sean’s 21st birthday which is on the 24th as we won’t see him that day. I need to get the gift cards and a few other things. We will have a little get together for him when he comes home in November to make it special for him.

Oct12

What colors define you?

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Brian is meeting with a new ‘big wig’ at the newspaper company where he works today. His boss told the guys to ‘wear a tie’. So he opened up a new shirt that has been kicking around for over a year that came with a matching tie (that was fun to iron). It’s a moss green color, definitely one of his colors. He looks good in white too as he has a sallow/ruddy complexion. He looks good in greens because of his green eyes.

Me-I like to wear browns, reds, black and throw a little chartreuse in for good measure. Not to say I won’t wear brighter colors like pink, but mostly in the warmer months.

What colors define you?

I need to put away my lawn decorations, pots and stuff. There are a bunch of them. I also need to decide if the ones that are faded, rusted or chipped are worth keeping. I bought some sunflower seeds at the store yesterday, but need to figure out where to hang the feeder as the raccoons and squirrels both make a meal out of the seeds if they can get to it.

I’ve been laying low, but not really, as I was running some errands yesterday. The weather is getting chillier and my joints and muscles were aching. I didn’t take anything for the mild aches until the evening. It seems the inflammation or whatever went from my neck, down my back and to my hips. I seem much better today-go figure! I am trying Flax seed oil again, so maybe I’m getting oiled like a fine machine or something like that-lol

I need to go back to the LNS for my refund or additional item, so maybe in a few hours. I may hit Trader Joe’s for some goodies we can’t find in the local food store.

Have a great weekend!

Sep10

The summer can’t quit here

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The a/c is blasting again. If it’s not on, it gets stuffy in here. I was hoping for temps in the 70s and I see on the weather now that we will be getting some rain! It’s been dry too.
Here are the promised photos of the compacts I got at the weekend yard sale. My mom recognized the name of the designer on the aqua one, Richard Hudnut and it may be from the 1930s.

Outside of old compacts

Inside of old compacts

I was going through a plastic shoebox and found a list of bushes, trees and perennials that I identified around the yard in the 1990s(which may or may not be correct):
Spotted Dead Nettle-spreading perennial
Emerald ‘n’ Gold Euonymus
Golden Euonymus
Dwarf Lily of the Nile (purple flower looks like hyacinth)
Laceleaf Japanese Maple
Barrenwort
Crepe Myrtle
Chinese Dogwood
Little Princess Spirea
Columbine
Azalea (I added 2)
Daffodils
Tulips
Vicary Ligustrum shrub
Lily of the Valley-perennial
Bradford Pear
Bird’s Nest Spruce
Japanese Painted Fern
Mugo Pine
Autumn Joy Sedum
Yucca
Yews along the house
box hedge
Lilac (purple)
Wild begonias
Several Rose of Sharon bushes
Burning bush
Maple
Snowball bush
other trees along the back
Hollyhock, though I have another one that was divided now.
And of course two American Chestnut trees.
(We still have most of the above!)
I added:

3 butterfly bushes (2 purple, 1 white)
Bleeding heart
Shasta Daisies
Bluebeard/Mist Spirea
3 hydrangeas–2 blue, 1 lacecap
Viburnum
Grasses
Variety of lilies
Variety of roses
variety of irises
Rhododendron
trumpet vine
Clematis
peony
2 white hydrangeas (thought one was a mock orange blossom)
Sweet Bay Magnolia
Cinnamon, fiddlehead and a couple more ferns
Waterlilies
circle of box hedge
barberry bush
Mums
Variegated hosta
hosta
phlox

Here’s my photo set at Flickr if you want to see a lot of the above mentioned greenery. I’m proud of myself for knowing so much of what is in my yard!

Speaking of IDs-here’s the one from about 1981 when I was young and free. : ) It’s now West Chester University, but it started out as West Chester Teacher’s College. I was born in that town too.

WCU ID