Category Archives: Garden & Yard

Happy May 1st – Red Peony Bloom Buds

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Looks like my red peony will have some healthy blooms soon. The ants are working the blooms pretty good.
Supposedly, peonies need a lot of sunshine and don’t need ants on them to bloom. However, I’ve learned over my many decades of trying to grow them, that the varieites like this one would have a lot of bloom buds shrivel away if they didn’t get much attention from ants or other insects and bugs.
My old white peony bushes out in the yard has only one viable bloom bud between 7 of them and they get plenty of sun. Early on each bush had several bloom buds but no ants insects nor lady bugs. Sure enough, all the bloom buds shriveled away but 1.
Happily, this red peony is giving a great promise of several blooms.
(If the wind doesn’t flatten them to the ground first.)

Wishing you all a month of sunshine and smiles.

 

Crochet – diamond painting – garden – pc issues

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I wasn’t happy with my crochet shawl project. I unraveled it and started again with a c2c v-stitch pattern. It’s taken me some time to work it out, but so far, it’s going well.

I finished my diamond painting. I’ve decided not to frame/hang it up. I’ve added it to our portfolio folder-notebook. I used to just roll up the finished diamond paintings (dps) and keep them on a shelf. Whenever we’d want to look at them, I’d have to unroll them all, then roll them back up. It was okay, but not really enjoyable.
Fortunately, my blogging buddy Claire mentioned on her blog how she keeps her dps in a portfolio. It’s such a great idea. I leapt on that idea and ordered us one. The portfolio can hold 60 or more depending on size. That works our great for us.
“Thank you so much, Claire. You’ve helped make our diamond painting more enjoyable. ❤ ”

My husband is really in the gardening mood this year. He tilled up a small garden spot. I might add that since he tilled the garden spot, we’ve had several rainstorms and the temperatures have been running as low as in the mid 20°F. So, for now, we wait… Come on warm weather and some dry days to plant!

I wish all of you oodles of nice Spring weather.
Have a super rest of the week!

P.S. I’ve ran into some pc issues the past few weeks. I’ve pretty much got them worked out. A new battery and a factory reset did the trick. Hopefully, it’ll be smoother sailing for a while. Now it’s time to play catch-up on my visiting and blogging. 🙂

Big Beautiful Daffodils

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We bought 4 pots of big, beautiful daffodils to plant. We figure we’ll have a nice showing in our yard for a little while before they die-down. There were 6 to 7 bulbs in each pot and with the 50 bulbs that I’ve recently bought we’re hoping to have oodles of great big beauties in 2024. We planted the daffodils and the daffodil bulbs yesterday. The weather was perfect for it.
I apologize for the quality of my photos. Yesterday was a wonderful 58°F, no wind, but it was overcast, and my camera has issues with dimmer settings.

Here’s wishing you all a week full of sunshine and smiles.

WIP Wednesday – Shawl – Daffodils

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I’m crocheting a new shawl using a new type of yarn for me. I’ve reworked the pattern a few times and raveled out the started project 4 times. I think I’m finally at a happy place with the way it’s going.
I’ve not used this yarn before. It’s ‘Red Heart Unforgettable’ Meadow color. The yarn is super soft. I love the color.
The pattern (of the moment) is a simple V-stitch. I like how it looks, so far.
I ordered 50 yellow ‘Dutch Master Daffodil’ bulbs. They arrived this morning. I’m so happy to have them here. I’ll plant them soon. They won’t bloom this year, but hopefully next year they’ll make a pretty showing.

I’m still working on my diamond painting. It’s coming along, but it’s time consuming with all the many colors.

The sun is shining, and the temperature is a comfortable 77°F. It’s such a nice day.
I know there’s some freezing weather moving across the states. I wish the warm winds of Springtime would blow into your areas and chase the winter cold away.
Take care and stay safe.
Have a pleasant rest of the week!

 

 

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Diamond painting – Daffodils – old thoughts

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I’ve gotten a smidge past the middle point of my diamond painting. In real-life it looks pretty. It’s a real adventure trying to get a fairly clear photo of diamond paintings. The diamonds reflect light and can make it a mess of spotty bright spots. I’ll be happy to get it finished, framed and displayed on the wall. However, to me, it’s a bit monetish in that I need to step back from it to see its real beauty, which works out well for where I plan to hang it.
*(Monetish (moe-nay-ish) is not a real word. I made it up using the last name of Oscar-Claude Monet a French impressionist painter. I use to describe ‘something’ that one needs to step back to see ‘the something’ more clearly. A metaphor of sorts, I suppose.)
The weather has been absolutely lovely. It’s been mostly sunny and near 70°F. The daffodils in our area are blooming lovely. When we’re out for a drive, they’re like splashes of sunshine fallen to Earth, lined or splattered about the landscape.
I particularly love the fact that when the daffodils are in blooms you can look through the trees or across a field and see where the old homeplaces were. It’s quite a bittersweet view sometimes; to think once-upon-a-time a home stood amongst the trees or in the midst of a field. Perhaps it was a small place or a big place with a few children or oodles of children. Perhaps they danced around, picking daffodils and laughing as they discovered the yellow glow or pollen on their noses. I wonder how their lives progressed. I suspect it was much as it is today. I figure some of them grew out of their daffodil collecting days and scattered about the country making more dancing children and more homesteads. I wonder if any of them told their generations of offspring about the daffodils left behind. I wonder if their following generations ever appreciated that the daffodils are like a beautiful reminder of what once was.

Here’s wishing you all a wonderful rest of the week.
May your dancing with flowers days never end in your heart.