Jun9

My front step welcomes you

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Front step, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

This is just one side of my step. The fuzzy plant under the birdhouse is new, really pretty and called Nicolletta (I have a friend named Nicolette-I should root her a piece!). I added a few Nasturtium seeds in with it. I also have a pot of pansies and that unnamed pink daisy like flower keeping it company. I have a pretty coleus and peachy begonia on the other side.
Splish Splash Coleus
Splish Splash
We are expecting much needed rain today. My mom needs to come out this way and hopefully get her very pricey hearing aid. Unfortunately she isn’t the only family member who is hard of hearing, so is Bri’s dad and Bri was tested to have slight loss. I’m blaming headphone use! Bri is going to the eye doctor today(we are still trying to figure out why he doesn’t feel well so much). Sean and him were playing a little baseball and he thinks he hurt his knee and is limping around now. The poor guy!
I am so looking forward to Thursday evening as my ‘new’ high school friend Lorin and I are going to see James Taylor and Carole King down in south Philly. She asked me back in January if I’d like to go and I said sure, so she gifted me with a ticket. Will give you a report. If I take my camera, you’ll probably see a little video if I can sneak one in. And maybe Lorin’s hubby can take one of both of us. He’s driving us as she can’t drive at night and I don’t drive to south Philly! I guess I could, but I can’t drive Lorin home.

Jun6

Pond Garden 2010

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First of all, yes, this in on a slight incline. : )



Pond Garden 2010, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

This is finally weeded and edged so it is now worthy of sharing a photo of it. The Japanese irises were just ‘so-so’ this year. The foliage they leave behind looks nice next to the pond. The Red Hot Pokers on the other hand are gorgeous!
Red hot poker plant
I have them in about 3 places around the yard. My mom said she’d like me to dig some up for her. They are actually the orange topped plants. The large bunch of plants in the foreground are Shasta Daisies. They have a bit of a disease on them like last year. I have some next to the overgrown (never trimmed) butterfly bush there on the left. There are some Pinwheel Zinnias and Red Salvia around the gazing ball and also some potted Lantana
Orange Lantana
and another with white Salvia and a peachy Diascia.
Apricot Diascia and White Salvia
I have a pot of two tone white and wine colored petunias hanging up
Two tone purple/white Petunias

and some yellow calibrachoas there too.
The double light is solar powered and flashes different colors at night-very cool. The pond lights all got new batteries but aren’t working well. I have one frog resident that I see. : )

Jun6

The ‘C’ garden

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The ‘C’ garden, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

This use to be the Circle garden, but Bri kept hitting a few box hedges on the right with the mower and they met their demise. It now looks like a ‘C’ which is the first letter in our last name! I realized my box hedges are a few different kinds, but just this year. It doesn’t bother me a whole lot, but the 3-4 different ones are bigger and needed more shaping. This is the garden where my irises, dinner plate hibiscus (the deer like to munch them), some Gladiolus and Black-eyed Susans are planted. I added a Julia Child yellow rose bush (gift from Brian), a gorgeous orange Wall Flower,Orange Wall Flower
a pink Columbine and a few others. I think it needs mulch-I love and hate the stuff, but it sure gives the gardens a finished look, but my poor back is already bad this year.
Update-that’s a pot of Hens an Chickens on the white stand Hens and Chicks

and a shallow bowl with colored glass too. Where the bowl is use to be where we had one of the monstrous satellite dishes.

Jun6

Oldie but a goodie

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Hasselbergs-Caroline, William, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

I’ve been scanning old photos off and on over the last few months as I feel like doing so. It’s a bit time consuming. Brian was pulling out the photos and looking at them and this was in the bunch. I love this photo! I guess whoever took it thought it would be funny to pose my maternal great grandfather William right in front of that birdhouse! It had to be my grandfather Alan as I heard he was quite the shutterbug though I can see my Uncle Don being silly too. The little lady is Caroline and my grandmom really grew to look like her as she got older.
Yesterday, my mom and her friend Jim came out and other than looking at photos, I was showing him Ancestry.com. One thing lead to another and I found addresses of a long lost friend and niece for him! I also found that his aunt had passed away last year, but his uncle was still alive as of that time. It’s a pretty amazing site and I enjoy doing research. I think I missed my calling as a researcher of some sorts.
We are under a tornado watch for a few more hours. I stuck some flowers under bushes for protection. So far it’s been humid and windy. The guys are at Brian’s dad’s house. It seems every week Brian needs to food shop for him. His dad will be 87 in a few weeks and I don’t see him living alone much longer.
Tomorrow I get a new washer, so we had to tidy up the basement a bit. That basement is getting more attention in the coming months! I did wear a dust mask, but handling the dusty boxes after I took it off caused me to have a few gagging attacks. I see a yard sale in our future.

Jun5

To Wilmington we go!

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Sean and I saw that Friday, the 4th was the last day for the Greek Food Festival a stone’s throw away from here in Wilmington, DE. at the Greek Orthodox Church. It’s one of those events you hear and read about that are local and you never go. We decided we were in the mood for stuffed grape leaves and spinach pie, so we went! The ‘true’ festival was probably in the evening-you know with the music and dancing. When we got there it was mainly take-out, though inside the church they had a food line and tons of tables-all filled up. The tables outside in the blazing sun were almost empty. We decided to order and take it home. We got some samplers of all the Greek food and Sean got a big salad for his dinner at work. I really love the route down there (Route 52) with the scenery and quaint little towns you whiz through. The food was really tasty and different too. I think it’s worth the trip. But alas, no Baklava!
Sampler Greek Food
Mousaka-Eggplant and potato casserole, Spanakopita-spinach pie, Dolmades-stuff grapes leaves, meatballs and Tyropita-cheese filled pie.

Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church
Such a pretty location. I love church architecture.
Greenville, DE Post office
V.P. Joe Biden’s ‘home’ post office in Greenville, DE-taken out the car window! I love the sky in this shot. I still toss my little Canon powershot in my purse and it’s about 6-7 yrs old.

Happy 28th Anniversary to my brother Dave and his wife Mary Anne. Brian and I happen to meet at their wedding, so it’s an anniversary for us too!

Jun5

Photo Hunt-Sparkles

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This is a few years old, but I really like how the light sparkles in my little pond. I need add a waterlily in there this year. I saw one coming up, but it’s smaller than a dime. I usually have one or two residents living in there. Last year’s ‘couple’ passed as we had to fish them out, I mean Bri fished them out! This year there seems to be only on critter in there and he tends to hang out where I have to step to fix the pump. He better watch out. : )

Jun2

In a few weeks…

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ocboardw.jpg, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

…we’ll be seeing this sign for again! We wanted to take an exotic Caribbean trip, but that wasn’t in our price range. Through Ex*pedia, we found a hotel on the beach in Ocean City, MD! We haven’t been there for a while and we can just park for a few days and walk here and there. We may take a side trip to see a quaint town called Snow Hill, MD (which looks really quaint at Christmastime!) Assateague Island is nearby, but we’ve been there. We are staying closer to home as the extended family may need us too.

May31

Roses and Spookiness

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Happy Memorial Day. A day to reflect and remember the brave soldiers and those who gave up their lives for our freedom.



Yellow rose bush with 17 buds, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Yes, and they all have bloomed except one or two. My other roses, though not as big, are blooming nicely also.

Here’s a pink one:
Deep pink rosebud
The guys are both home today. Not planning to do too much.

We decided to take a vacation to Ocean City, MD this year as Brian’s dad hasn’t been well and it’s not a plane trip away like a Carribean trip would be. Plus, the prices are better and I told Sean we can stay right on the beach if we could find a reasonably priced place. We pinpointed a place through Ex*pedia, but he has to see when he can take 3-4 days off.
Yesterday I had the entire afternoon to myself. I read, I sat a spell, I cleaned lawn furniture and I planted the last of my herbs. The bugs are coming out, so I need to buy mulch. My flowers in the front garden are much happier and productive being mulched.
Saturday I planted some perennials in my round bush edged garden where I have mainly irises. My pretty irises did not like the 4 feet of snow and only 7 out of 15 varieties made a show this spring. I then went and planted flowers in the pond garden and Brian edged it for me. It looks so much better.
I’m reading a young adult fiction by a lady also named Dianne (K. Salerni)
Sean and I were in a bookstore a few weeks ago and he saw her name on the cover and pointed out that she spells her name like I do! I then remembered she was the daughter of prominent church members and that there was an article in the paper about her writing ‘We Hear the Dead’-so I bought it. It’s based on a true story about the Fox sisters from the middle 1800s who were said to start seances. There are yet other coincidences besides our first name. In the first 30 pages of the book, there are two names of people with the same first and last names as people I know or have known. The doctor’s name is my maiden name of Knowles and they have an older brother David! Spooky. I plan to have Dianne autograph her book for my niece and I will pass it on to her in a year or so. I found Dianne on Facebook and we friended each other there.