~ in my garden this morning...

...so lovely I made it my new blog background! :-)



Click on photo for a better view ;-)

~ temperature 70 degrees farenheit, humidity 55%, winds 2mph from southeast

~ happy sunday...

...hee...hee :-)

~ after some delay...

...they are on their way! :-)

This morning, Lovey, Eric and Lea are on their way to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic -- for a week of fun in the sun.  Hopefully the sun is there, because it is certainly not here.

I will be following the flight tracker on the internet to monitor their progress.  This is the closest I get to flying myself...hee...hee... :-)

~ nothing to report...

I spoke to Aunt Ida today.  She was so excited to tell me that her son (my cousin) has published his first book!

                        

I purchased the kindle edition from Amazon.  Here is the link:  http://www.amazon.com/Nothing-report-Patrick-Abbruzzi/dp/1494738074  Her son, Pat, sent Aunt Ida a copy of the book and she has finished reading it already.  Now, I need to do some quick reading so I can discuss this with her during our next monthly phone call!  :-)

~ practice makes perfect...

In order to pass the road test for your driver's license, you need to know how to parallel park.  Nicholas was going to take the road test in my SUV -- so that added to the pressure.  He and Rick practiced the parallel parking...again...and...again...





...and, this past Friday morning (on a very rainy day) -- Nicholas passed his road test! :-)

I just noticed that I can't see the video when working on my ipad. If you are having the same problem, then here is the link:  https://flic.kr/p/nE9K8r

~ phlox in my garden...

...looks so lovely :-)



All that phlox started as a single plant :-)  It's in the black pot in the photo below taken in May 2009.  Also, look at the size of the dwarf alberta spruce...hee...hee... it is so tiny :-)  The variegated shrub next to the watering can was moved to the backyard and replaced with the dwarf english boxwood shown in the first photo.



Also, this year, I found the dichondra!  YaY!  Last year I looked all over for it after falling in love with it in the gardens at Great Adventure Park --but it was too late in the season and unavailable at the local garden centers.  I planted it today in those square containers in the first photo.  I am looking forward to seeing the plants spill over the tops of those containers and work their way down to the pavement -- hmm...I think I might need to raise up those containers with some bricks or pavers.

~ one year later...

...May 9, 2013 view of the shade garden in the front yard.




...May 9, 2014 view (photo taken this morning).



Mother nature must be tired.  As of this writing: Hydrangeas have leaves only at base of plant.  Azalea buds have just started to open.  Lamium has not yet filled in.  However, the phlox is looking gorgeous!  Not sure if you can see the grass blades growing through the phlox in the 2013 photo?  I struggled with that annoying problem for years -- and I seriously considered pulling out all the phlox because I got tired of maintaining the persistant invasion of the grass blades.  But last year I finally found a solution -- Grass Be Gone spray.  It works! :-)

Now if I could only find some miracle spray to cover up the brown patch at the top of my dwarf alberta spruce...sigh... :-(

Note:  You can click on the photos to enlarge them :-)

~ april showers...

...the conservation area was our rain gauge for yesterday.

From our front porch -- looking left (northwest)



From our front porch -- directly across street (north)



From our front porch -- looking right (northeast)



We had tons more rain after dark, so the catch basin could have filled more after these photos were taken. According to the wunderground website we had rainfall accumulation of about 5 inches.