A Walk About....

   For me a walk about isn't a long journey here. It's quiet on the porch ...no company for some time now.

  As I walked around with my camera looking for pretty things, I had a bird fly right past me. She came from this clematis. It was a wren. She was making a lot of noise for so small a bird.

    When I looked in ...sure enough, there was a tiny little nest with one egg.  This nest is the size of a teacup. Now I'll have to watch for a new bird baby. :)

  More of the lilies are blooming by the water feature.  From the looks of all the buds, there should be many flowers .  I trimmed some of the leaves.

  So here's a shot of that volunteer viola. Snugged into a crack near the steps. I did give it a drink of water everyday.
  Thank you dear blog family for your kind thoughts and prayers for my daughter Karen and my family. I truly appreciate all of you.   Wishing everyone a great day. XO

As Summer Has Started....

   This is an angel who sits on the edge of the flower pot that I  bought for my mother and keep here ,now, in her memory. I have red geraniums and petunias in this pot .

     The lilies are so tall and bloomed out now. The tiger lilies are yet to bloom.

    I can't recall this lily's name. It's bloomed now and more buds to open.soon.

    This was so pretty till the rabbit slept in the center of it. ....It is all mashed down now. I don't remember the name of this plant at all. I used to have two white ones like it in the back garden but they did not  survived.

    The coral bells have bloomed. The foliage is so pretty and the actual flower so tiny.

   This is not much of a shot ....but this is one of the mums starting to bloom. Is this too soon?? I am not sure. I have split some of my mums for Angie and Karen. Hope they take hold.
  I have to tell all of you....I am holding my breath, or so it seems...that I can barely breathe. My daughter Karen decided to get a heart scan that's been offered in Indiana for 49 dollars. She knows there's heart issues in our family...my uncles(on mom's side) all had heart attacks that killed them. My mother had a quadruple bypass.. So Karen was going to be cautious. When they did the heart scan they saw a node in one lung......so she is getting a biopsy on the 11th of July. I want to ask if all of you would hold her in your prayers and good thoughts. Please.  I will let you know how she does. Thank you so much.  Bless you.. XO

Sunday's Skies......

  The day started off  bright with blue skies.

  As the day went on into afternoon, clouds started to build up.

  By 7:00 it was raining in buckets.  You could not see beyond the over side of the road.

  Then sunset is starting , the skies are almost white from the sun's glare..

 Not even a half hour later the colors are pink and lavender.. Changing while you watched.

  My camera's flash went off during this shot to the east.

  Then back toward the west. The sky is turning orange.

This is after 9:00 in the evening. The fireflies were out by this time. Now that alone is a beauty you can only find in nature....golden skies from the sun setting and fireflies starting their evening light show.
  I had a great weekend.   I loved the  rain too. I will not be watering today. :):) Hope all of you are safe and ready for this week. It will be the 4th very soon and lots of family gatherings to help celebrate . Enjoy. XO

Good Deals....

   I took my Kohl's bucks and went shopping for two things...earrings and sandals. This is my haul. Two tank tops, pink casual shirt. A pair of sandals, golf socks (for Ted), silver earrings. All of this would have been $135. dollars plus tax. I go it all for 37 including the tax.

   The earrings were priced at 50 dollars....I would never pay that at Kohl's. Ever.  They were marked down to 20 and with my other savings , I paid 10.76.  Now that's more like it. I had a wonderful pair of silver earrings and lost one and can not find any more like it. So this will have to do. Plus they have the attached backs, that just flip up over the posts.

  Yesterday was a very nice day. Warm to hot at times.  It ended with a nice sunset. Still light out at 10:00 pm. Love that.  I am going to try to get up with the sun and be up when it goes down for the night. This is the prime time of summer for me , the long days.
   Enjoy this beautiful Sunday. XO

Now We Are Cooking.....

   Sunday afternoon, I was invited to my son-in-law's parents house.  It was a cookout for father's day. Even though it was  father's day, Fred, (SIL's dad)...did the grilling himself. That's what he wanted to do for his family.  It was a bitter sweet day for Mark's family.  Fred and Dee  had sold their home , that they raised the children in and lived in for 49 years. They have been going to Arizona for the past 5 years though winter.  So they decided it was too much work to maintain two homes.
  After living that long in one place, people can accumulate lots of "stuff". So Mark's mother was giving away purses and cookbooks.  I was delighted to get this cookbook for soups. It has so many nice recipes . It says there's 199 recipes for soups, chili, and chowders. This is my kind of cooking....the one pot meals. :):)
   We got our yard cleaned up yesterday. We picked up branches and debris. I swept the driveways and raked. Ted mowed. He also helped the neighbor do a repair to his siding. So it's peaceful here today. I am looking forward to a quiet weekend. Hope all of you are also. Enjoy. XO

What A Night....

    I was up earlier this morning than yesterday. At 1:15 Ted and I we up due to the storms. We are good here.  Just branches and debris in the yard. High winds enough lightening to clean the air for a month.

   So glad I had Ted bring the flag in. It was a rough night. The storms came thru in waves.  Lots of weather news on the TV this morning.

  Had to throw this duckie back into the pond, he had jumped out. You can see we have some clean up to do.

 I put most of my containers up next to the wall to try to keep them safe from the hail. They still took a whipping from the winds.

  I know you all wanted to know...this little fellow says, "What storms?" I am making this short, so everyone knows we are save here. Hoping all is well with you.   XO
 

Morning Skies...

   I had to be up early for this shot...it's 6:15 am. We are in for severe weather today. As I got out of bed and saw the bright skies, I jumped into my sweats and shoes and out the door I went. This is out front. The rain was moving from the west, so the rising sun created a rainbow.  I asked Ted to take the flag down yesterday in prep of today's storms.

   The sun is coming up .you can see the dust to dawn light is still on at the shop. It was lightening out , so I took some quick shots . LOL

   This from the back door, the skies were turning from pink to orange.

 One more shot from the front before running in the house. It was already raining. Ted was laughing at me the whole time. I told him when the skies are changing that fast, you have to be fast too.
  Yesterday was a nice day all day long. The lawn man came and treated the yard around 9:00 in the morning. We got a couple chores done, then went to Kokomo for lunch at Cracker Barrel. Using up some of our gift cards.  We went to Lowe's to get lumber for a project Ted is making for a friend. While Ted looked at lumber, I looked at flowers and patio things.  Then I helped Ted load the lumber and things into the truck.  It's always nice to help each other. I love to smell  new lumber. :):)
    I am praying we are all safe today...I really do not want to go to the basement. I guess I could do some sorting down there if I have to . LOL. I better check the flash lights. . Be safe. XO
  

After The Storms...

      So calm this morning, after the storms of last night. You can see by the way the flag is hanging there's no wind now.

 The day looks like it will be starting off very pretty.

  I found two bird nests this morning on my way to the mailbox for the newspaper.  They were built very sturdy , but not anchored to last in the winds we had. I'll dry this out and use them as decorations on the porch.

 My containers took a beating also. Geranium petals every where.

This tiny viola that has been growing by the steps , was not harmed. Such a beautiful little flower and so strong for it's dainty size.
  We have severe storms forecasted for our area  late today into tomorrow.  We needed the rain we got. I am just hoping the storms are not bad enough to cause damage.
     California  is in our thoughts and prayers. Those fires are so scary. Please be safe. XO

Father's Day...

    I will start this post showing Kathy's rose. Happy birthday sweet Kathy Jane. Your rose is in full bloom.  With your birthday coming up this week, I thought you'd love to know. Love you.

   This is me eating my lunch with all my friends yesterday. LOL. I stopped at the dairy queen for lunch yesterday , took this shot and sent it to Kathy. We laugh about it, because she eats alone lots of times.

   After lunch, I leave town to go back home ....I looked back and got a shot of the Co-op.

  Once I get home, I relax on the porch . Of course there's a load of laundry going. Our weather was just glorious yesterday. It's been nice this whole past week. We will get some needed rain coming this week.
   I would like to wish all the wonderful fathers out there a day of love and family. I miss my dad. So all of you who still have your fathers, be thankful and hug him for us who have lost ours.  Enjoy this good day. XO

In A Day's Work...

   Why yes, yard sales can be included in a days' work. I stopped at a sale on my way to the grocery.  I loved these dresser scarves and tea towel.  I admire the needlework of others.

   I knew the lady having the sale, so I felt safe buying this pillow for the porch. (No fear of bugs) The geranium print goes well with my potted geraniums on the porch. 

   A cute teapot from Japan. I thought I could use it in decorating, as I only make one cup of tea at a time here. I spent 4 dollars in all. Probably what I saved at the grocery with my coupons. LOL

   The highway department was oiling and chipping the secondary road to town, so I took the back roads.  This is a picture of the old school house near me.

   It doesn't look so shabby at this distance. Still sad , that our county hasn't stepped up to save it...it's history !!

    I found a yucca plant growing in with our lilies the other day. It's bloomed out now. Strange how this happens, a bird or strong wind must have planted it. We have a couple more under the pines.

   I tackled this birdnest bush...Trimmed the sides, so I could get to the water faucet behind it. We have a wooden box that holds the garden hose , it sits nicely behind this bush . This bush  was getting kind of wide, so I trimmed it back. It still looks round, so that's good. :):) I told Ted the other day, that the things I have planted that had "dwarf" on the tags, have not grown like a dwarf plant should.  If the label says 2 feet high by 2 feet wide....it should not be 4 by 4.  I think there must be a lot of mislabeling going on at nurseries.
   Yesterday was just about the most perfect summer day ever.  Well other than all the traffic on our road from everyone trying to get away from the oiling and chipping of Division road. Some driving way too fast for a country road.
   Hope all of you are having a relaxing weekend. XO

Around The Yard.....

   I finally planted the pachysandra in back . We had English ivy here, but Ted got tired of it growing under the siding, so he pulled it out.  I  know the pachysandra will fill in.

  Then it will look like this.  This bed is by the flag pole bed. I need to thin this one . But it is smelling so good and the bees are loving it.

   The lilies are in bloom and look so pretty.

    I love this yellow one and wish I had more of them.

  This is the west side of the house  I have thought of moving all these lilies to the fence line and plant some short things in this flower bed.

 Up front the bushes are looking for a trim. You know I am good at butchering things. LOL. The potted petunia is looking pretty.

   The flowers seem to be getting a bit fuller now. I keep moving the chairs around on the porch . :)

    The first bloom on Kathy's rose bush. It's a deep salmon color.   Kathy will have a birthday soon, so it's appropriate that this rose should bloom.

 Here's the last flower of our clematis for this year. It was a true beauty for a few weeks and I enjoyed it .  Summer is almost officially here.  We will have a full moon when summer arrives.  Wishing all of you a great weekend.  Please be safe. XO