Category Archives: Mother Nature

May 3, 2018 · 10:51 am

Rainy Day

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“Widespread heavy rain and strong thunderstorms will be likely throughout the morning and early afternoon. Another round of storms will be possible late tonight into Friday morning”. -Joe – meteorologist from KFSM, 5 News, Fort Smith, AR.

I’m so happy that we again dodged the bullet of a really impressive-looking, multicolored blob of severe weather that might have come through here. I hope that everyone who WAS in the line of bad storms is all right today.

We just had some rain last night and will enjoy being inside and dry today as several waves of heavy rain – but not severe – come through.

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May 2, 2018 · 1:01 pm

Before-After Power Company

Yesterday I told you that the Electric company guys were here to cut back trees where they encroached on power lines. This is to increase the changes that their customers won’t lose power in a storm and that they can actually get to the poles to repair any damage.

This is a trio of three evergreens essentially grown together to make one bird habitat. We had to have part of the tree cut back pretty severely several years ago when we added geothermal heating and cooling in order for the big tractors to be able to dig and maneuver. If you look carefully, you can see a power line essentially going through part of the tree.

This is one view of the ‘before’ the power company did their work.

 

 

 

After – This is a bit different view, but you can see that they really cut the top out of the trees to free up the power lines.

 

 

Here’s another ‘before’ shot, showing the encroachment of the tree into the lines.

 

After – You can see in this pic that they essentially cut down half of one side of the tree.

I’m a bit sad. I don’t know what happened with all the birds that were living there. Hopefully, they’ll survive the trauma and come back, even though their digs are looking pretty damaged. The power company didn’t come to make landscaping changes – they came to protect their power lines. We like power, and we don’t want our trees to be the cause of anyone losing theirs. We also want the men working on the lines to be as safe as possible. It’s just a sad day when trees that have been there for longer than 30 years have to be sacrificed…

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May 2, 2018 · 12:42 pm

New Iris

Last fall I cleaned out the planter where the ‘new’ iris were, the ones from Nanna’s Iris Garden in Charleston, AR.  I transplanted iris all over the yard, and still have some that need to be planted. This is one of our new ones and I think it’s really nice. I cut the top bloom and brought it into the house for us to enjoy, leaving the rest to bloom outside.

I love this time of year, each time I take a trip around the yard, I find something that fills my heart.

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May 1, 2018 · 10:50 am

Survey Tape

Arkansas Valley Electric Company

This picture shows some of the equipment being used, but the season is wrong, showing them clearing branches after a bad winter storm.

The Arkansas Valley Electric Company guy woke us up this morning, telling us that they were bringing their equipment today to cut branches that were too close to electrical lines. We have seen them on the main arteries of Greenwood over the past few weeks, sawing down countless branches so that we hopefully won’t lose power during spring severe weather due to trees falling on power lines and bringing them down.

I just came in from trying to mark all of our guy wires on the ham radio tower, plus electrical lines going low across the area where their equipment is coming up to make sure they see them. My husband brought a PVC pole we use in the garden for them to use to hold up the low hanging lines so the equipment can go under them safely. I also unplugged the electrical cord that goes from the house out to the greenhouse so it wouldn’t get run over.

They have a regular pickup truck, a big vehicle that has a radial type saw on the end of a long pole that can cut horizontally or vertically, as needed. There is something else that is causing big chips to fly in all directions, so we’re keeping our animals inside until they are finished.

The biggest problem area that I can see is our triple evergreen trees that are practically grown together, home to countless birds. The tops of the trees are really encroaching on the power lines. They might have to aggressively attack those to protect their power lines.

We are due for severe storms Thursday, so I’m delighted that they are out there now cutting away the stuff that might cause problems.

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April 29, 2018 · 10:21 am

Greenwood Arkansas Tornado – 1968

April 19, 2018 marked the 50th anniversary of a tornado that practically wiped Greenwood, Arkansas off the map. It happened just after school let out on that day in 1968. 13 people died and hundreds were injured. Half the town square was obliterated, the tornado blowing away over 400 businesses and homes in the space of 4 minutes.

Greenwood Tornado 1968 – GreenwoodDemocrat.com

On April 19th of this year commemorations were held all over the city. Books were published by the Greenwood Democrat that we could buy, showing photos and giving details of that day. Farmers Bank also published a book that they were giving away to citizens.  People gathered to see a video, ask questions of the survivors, and appreciate what happened.  Others gathered at the square. Survivors recounted their memories of the day that devastated Greenwood.  The tornado was national news in 1968. They figure now that it was an F4 tornado.

Through the tragedy, though, people rebuilt. Survivors with homes intact offered rooms, clothes, and food to those who needed them. Ham radio operators helped with communications. Surrounding towns provided help. Help was offered from far away, as well.

There were 2000 residents of Greenwood in 1968. Today there are around 10,000. Instead of giving up and going elsewhere, the strong people rebuilt the town, building a stronger sense of community than ever before.

The photos of the devastation tear your heart out. The people of Greenwood were stronger than 4 minutes of Mother Nature’s wrath, though – stronger than anyone knew.

My husband and I found Greenwood, Arkansas when he took a job in Fort Smith in 1987. We feel lucky to have found such a wonderful place to live.

 

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April 26, 2018 · 11:41 am

Nana’s Iris Plus “Volunteer Rose”

We bought three different colors of iris from Nana’s Iris Garden in Charleston AR about three years ago.  We have several like this blooming now. I think they’re wonderful.

 

And when I was pruning our new Rio Samba rose bushes, I found this ‘volunteer’ right beside the front planter! If it’s a remnant of one of the bushes we had to cut down, we’ll try to nurture it and see what happens.

You probably already know this, but a lady at Sharum’s Nursery in Fort Smith showed me how to prune rose bushes to encourage more blooms. Ever since I learned this, I have SO much better luck with roses! –

PRUNING ROSES

  • Take the spent bloom in one hand, and pull the branch out so that you can see the groupings of leaves. Find the first group of five leaves and prune at a downward angle right ABOVE the five-leaf cluster.

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April 22, 2018 · 10:52 am

Rain!

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The rain started just after we got into the car in the Walmart parking lot early yesterday afternoon, and we’ve had showers off and on ever since. It’s very overcast and looks like another one is coming any minute. No severe weather this time, and for that I am truly grateful. (I tend to get nervous when the weather alert is flashing red and the weather guys on TV are telling you to bend over and kiss your nether end bye-bye…)

THIS rain is one where you can almost hear all the trees, plants, and grass saying a collective “AHHHHHH!” A nice, soaky, healing rain.

It makes my husband cranky, though, because his only thought is that we’ll have to mow the lawn again soon, when we JUST finished doing that this past week.

I have mentally switched from my “OUTSIDE to-do list” to my “INSIDE to-do list,” both of which are longer than my arms right now. I know I’ll never actually get either list finished – that just never happens around here. I just keep plugging away, telling myself that it’s better now than it was before I started, and make myself content with that.

I’m looking forward to getting something accomplished today, enjoying the rain, taking a break and curling up with my current book, and maybe even catching a nap this afternoon.

 

GrowingBolder.com

Have a wonderful Sunday!

 

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April 16, 2018 · 11:21 am

Purple Iris

Deep purple iris are our favorites (although I like a lot of other colors). I’ve been working on trying to spread the purple iris all around the yard, since my husband loves them above all others.  Right now we’re feeling rich in purple iris!

 

This is toward the top of our driveway, on the right as you drive up. We have an antique computer tower perched on one of our brick planters. My husband put it there as a conversation piece years ago, but the birds now build nests in it each year. You can see some parts of the ’emu’ planters just past the brick planter. We’ll place my husband’s favorite periwinkles in those as soon as the weather warms up.

 

This is one of the clumps of purple iris that are finally happy along the side of the driveway. They make us smile as we go down the driveway. My husband remarks about them each time he sees them, thanking me for transplanting some there.

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April 14, 2018 · 1:14 pm

Mother Nature in a Snit

Mother Nature was in a snit yesterday afternoon and evening, bringing us a cold front with accompanying 60 mph winds, hail, rain, tornadoes, and flying hair balls. The sky was black in mid afternoon and I watched the hard-working local weather guys try to warn people in our area and all around us about when to dive for shelter.

Happily, though we got wind and rain, all the bad stuff either went north or south of us. We came through her bad temper well. I checked this morning when I took the doggies out, that the greenhouse was still standing, we didn’t have any damage to the house, my roses were still intact, and the square foot garden was still looking good.

We planted 3 new rio samba rose bushes recently. I’m just thrilled that they seem to be happy.

 

 

 

Even though it’s too cool to be comfortable outside today, I’m thankful to see the sun and our thriving plants.

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April 11, 2018 · 10:16 am

Roses “A-bloom!”

We planted three new Rio Samba rosebushes recently. THEN, we of course had 2 freezes….. I’m happy to show you that the roses came through the freeze well and are ‘a-blooming!” (If that’s a word)

 

We love the Rio Samba because it’s like having several rosebushes in one. The bloom starts out bright yellow with a faint coral edge on the petals. As the bloom opens, more and more coral shows up.  As the bloom matures, the coral fades, but covers most of the bloom. At any one time you’ll see buds, bright yellow new blooms, and various shades of older blooms.

 

 

I’m delighted that so far, the new bushes seem to be very happy, blooming their little hearts out.

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April 6, 2018 · 4:14 pm

Thoughts About the Rain

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“The richness of the rain made me feel safe and protected; I have always considered the rain to be healing — a blanket — the comfort of a friend. Without at least some rain in any given day, or at least a cloud or two on the horizon, I feel overwhelmed by the information of sunlight and yearn for the vital, muffling gift of falling water.” ~ Douglas Coupland

______

“Do not be angry with the rain; it simply does not know how to fall upwards.” ~ Vladimir Nabokov

_____

“Never run in the rain with your socks on.” ~ Billie Joe Armstrong

 

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April 4, 2018 · 9:17 am

Good Morning!

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I just took the doggies out, walking straight out to the garden to see if our plants made it through the night. It was due to get close to freezing this morning, and I debated whether to try to cover things up. I finally decided I had too many things to cover and would just hope for the best.

It wouldn’t have been the end of the world if the plants had frozen, but they were doing really well and I would have been very disappointed if Mother Nature had zapped everything.

Everything is good!

I hope that the weather is good where you are this morning. I wonder what the day will bring?

 

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April 3, 2018 · 11:46 am

I’ve Definitely Quit Dancing!

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Okay. We were in the middle of a drought and it even caused bad problems with our water supply, making the turnovers in the lakes cause our water to have a bad odor and taste.  Wildfire danger was high. Warm, windy days were worrisome.  I started doing mental and physical rain dances, trying to get our area over the problem.

Mother Nature listened. I’m not sure if she saw and heard ME, or if a whole lot of people were also doing rain dances, but she delivered. Big Time. We’ve had rain, rain showers, heavy rain, storms, sleet, and more rain. I’ve definitely STOPPED even thinking about rain dances, but now I’m thinking Mother Nature is saying, “You wanted rain. Okay. Here it is!”

Today we’re due for MORE storms, particularly between 11:00 and 3 this afternoon with possible severe weather.  We did a group of errands this morning, paring our list down to one appt this afternoon, in an effort to be ONLY blown away, rather than blown away and DROWNED trying to get our stuff done.

The doggies came and demanded that I take them out a couple of minutes ago, insisting they would blow up if I didn’t take them out NOW. I complied, then came back for my camera, to record some of the beauty I found while walking around the yard. The storm today might wreak havoc with our yard, so I wanted to try to catch Mother Nature at her BEST – first.

Every day the wisteria gets more lush and more purple.

It SMELLS wonderful, too!

We have purple iris blooming in planters, in clusters around the yard, even off the edge of the civilized part of our yard, plus down our driveway.

 

We have buds on the three new Rio Samba rose bushes, and now some of the buds are starting to open up!

 

A knock out rose bush is starting to have blooms.

 

This is the north side of our square foot garden.

And the south side.

The winds really picked up while I took pics and walked the dogs. We’ll probably be right in the heart of the thunderstorms this afternoon, since we have to be out at 1:30. It’s a good thing we don’t melt in the rain. We’re thankful for our warm, dry home. Our doggies have already snuggled down for a nap, and even the two cats came in with us.

Have a wonderful day. Stay warm and dry!

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April 1, 2018 · 5:10 pm

Rain

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“Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby.”
Langston Hughes

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March 31, 2018 · 9:45 am

It’s “Wissing!”

When our wisteria starts to bloom each year, my husband says, “The wisteria is wissing!”

Each day it get a bit more lush, a bit more purple. We just love it.

 

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March 31, 2018 · 9:40 am

Roses: New Growth and Buds

This is the Joseph’s Coat climbing rose bush that my friend Kay bought for me for my birthday. It’s putting on new growth, so hopefully it’ll be happy in its new home.

We planted three new Rio Samba rose bushes recently. All are showing nice buds, and SOME are about to open! Here’s bush # 1

 

Bush # 2

 

Bush # 3.

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March 28, 2018 · 1:02 pm

Between Rain Storms

“Raindrops on roses….”

 

 

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March 28, 2018 · 10:26 am

Before the Rains Came

Before the rains started last week, things were sprouting all over the yard. This is the lovely black elephant ear plant that Kay got me for my birthday, plus some iris and some phlox.

 

Amber hasn’t discovered the other hyacinths in the yard yet, so she has ONLY eaten one…. Also some iris and a rose bush.

This hydrangea is sprouting in one of the two brick planters we have to demolish soon.

 

The rose bush on the left is the Joseph’s Coat climbing rose bush that Kay gave me for my birthday. We’re hoping it will climb up the wisteria truck next to it. The plant on the right is a camellia that will soon have blooms.

 

Some of our twice-blooming iris!

 

A close-up of one of the branches of our redbud trees.

 

Surrounded by redbud branches….

 

This is one of the 6 or 8 redbuds we have in the yard.

As we stay in the house, or run through the rain, it’s nice to have so many reminders that wonderful weather is on its way.

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March 28, 2018 · 9:42 am

Splashing

My Colorful World via Tanglewood Forest via Cathy Ruggiero

 

This span of rain is continuing through tomorrow. Friday is forecast to have NO RAIN, but then it starts in again Saturday and Sunday, and then again Tuesday and Wednesday – so far. Do you suppose the awful drought we’ve been in could be considered ‘over?’

Our washer and dryer have been running almost non-stop, trying to keep up with all the wet towels from drying our sweet animals. Why is it that animals love you most – and want to cuddle – when they’re wringing wet?

I’ll be almost afraid to look at my veggie garden and new plants after all this. Just a little too much of a good thing….

MEANWHILE – you would THINK I would be super-productive in the house, and even playing in my art room.  I have found that these rainy days are lazy days for me. I’m on the computer, reading good books, falling asleep under my cozy throw in my recliner….

I hope that you’ve been enjoying the week.

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March 27, 2018 · 10:15 am

Mother Nature is Angry!

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Mother Nature is shaking her fist at us this morning. A tornado warning was just issued from our weather radio. I went online to find that the area in question is actually north of us. We’re just supposed to get “torrential rain” – up to 3 inches – today – or as far as I know right now. Since the rain is supposed to be pretty impressive all day, I took the doggies out to take care of things before the heavy rains start. It’s really getting dark outside now, as if it were evening turning into night time.

Today is an excellent day to have a warm, dry home. I’m talking to myself now, trying to get motivated to give our master bedroom and bath a good cleaning, since I won’t be able to do anything outside. I MAY opt to dive into the Lee Child “Jack Reacher” book I started yesterday, curled happily up under my snuggly throw in my recliner…

Cindy Basnett Thurman

“The richness of the rain made me feel safe and protected; I have always considered the rain to be healing — a blanket — the comfort of a friend. Without at least some rain in any given day, or at least a cloud or two on the horizon, I feel overwhelmed by the information of sunlight and yearn for the vital, muffling gift of falling water.” ~ Douglas Coupland

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March 24, 2018 · 12:41 pm

One of the Perks of Living Out in the Sticks

One of the many reasons we love living on top of our ridge line outside the city limits of Greenwood, Arkansas is the privacy.  We have our space without having to speak to lots of neighbors or having them look harshly at us because we don’t make sure each blade of grass is cut to the neighborhood specifications.  We have created out own little world up here and we love it.

We can pretend we own all the land we can see. :0)  We own about 8 acres. Our land goes down to the street in the front. Picture a hill with the top part cut off horizontally. That’s our land.  We keep a small part ‘civilized’ and let the rest be natural.

We absolutely love our view from our back yard. We can watch the seasons change. We can enjoy the firework displays of our neighbors in the valley below.

If we can SEE it, it’s OURS, isn’t it? :0)

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March 24, 2018 · 11:57 am

Radiating Spring

We are enjoying a pretty early spring here in Arkansas. It makes me feel a bit guilty, so I’m trying to send some nice spring weather in all directions.

In my trip around the yard with the doggies, I found some nice things –

Even though it’s cloudy, the redbud is till showing up nicely around the yard.

Here is a close-up view of some of the redbud blooms.

The tulip tree is fragile, already losing a lot of its petals in the gusty winds we’ve been having off and on, but it makes me smile each time I see it.

Here is a close-up of some of the blooms.

These hyacinths are in one planter beside the front porch. We have some more in the planter on the east side of the house.

 

I love the contrast between the lingering winter and the redbud, plus the nice greens of the iris.

 

The first blooming iris of the season!

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March 23, 2018 · 9:29 am

The Unofficial State Tree of Arkansas

The official tree of Arkansas is the pine tree. I thought it was the Redbud, but that’s the state tree of Oklahoma, where I lived much of my childhood. We have three or four Redbuds on our property, and we carefully cut stuff away from around them, trying to encourage them to get as large as possible and have a nice show each year in the spring.

 

 

 

You can also see our larger propane tank and the shop here.

 

HAPPY SPRING!

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March 22, 2018 · 11:31 am

While Walking the Doggies….

White hyacinth and frog

The daffodils are starting to fade now, but the hyacinths I planted last year are bursting forth now. Such a showy, happy flower.

 

Purple hyacinth and kind old gentleman

 

 

New Joseph’s Coat Climbing rose birthday plant and camellias.

 

 

Purple hyacinth and hydrangea.

It’s a good thing I planted several purple hyacinths, since Amber ate one of them.

 

Hyacinths

glorious purple hyacinth

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March 20, 2018 · 9:33 am

1st Day of Spring 2018

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“Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush.” – Doug Larson

 

“Spring Flowers” – Paul Militaru Photography

“Be like the flower, turn your face to the sun.” — Kahlil Gibran

 

“Redbud” – Stephanie Youmans Wilson

“In the spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours.” – Mark Twain

 

The Farmer’s Daughter – Opening Day

“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.” – Margaret Atwood

 

“Wisteria” – Stephanie Youmans Wilson

“The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful.” – E.E. Cummings

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SPRING!

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March 18, 2018 · 4:23 pm

Spring Has Sprung!

I love this time of year when I can walk around our yard and find beautiful flowers or buds everywhere. They renew my faith in the world and make my spirits soar. Right now there are daffodils blooming all over the place.  This is a sample of what’s in our planters.

 

This bunch is off the edge of the civilized part of our land in back.

 

And this is off the edge in the front.

 

The blooms on the tulip tree are quite fragile, but they’re putting on a nice display right now.

 

The beginning of the blooming of our wisteria that starts at the end of one of our brick planters and now grows all the way across our outside firewood rack and up into the tree on the other side of it. I hope we have a good, healthy display this year. It creates a small canopy of sorts across the corner of the driveway now. When it’s in full bloom, I love to stand under it, look up and breathe its glorious fragrance in.

 

And this is the purple hyacinth that Amber HASN’T found and eaten yet….

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March 12, 2018 · 10:01 am

Has Spring Sprung?

We’re still due for some freezes before spring officially starts, but it sure LOOKS like spring in my yard and flower planters!

 

 

 

 

 

My husband and I are going to go to town in a few minutes to see if we can find some veggie plants. It’s too soon to plant them, but I’ll put them in the greenhouse to hold over until it’s time to plant. I also need to see if I need to start spinach seeds.

My heart goes out to those suffering through the series of nor’easters and power outages.  I’ll try to send some spring in your direction. Stay safe and warm.

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March 7, 2018 · 11:07 am

“Blow Me Down!”

as Popeye would say.

We had really gusty winds yesterday. I decided it was nuts to try to do any mixing of Mel’s Mix, since I knew the vermiculite and the peat moss would just swirl around my head and end up inside my ears, nose, etc. We didn’t have any tree damage, thank goodness, but we did have a casualty.

We left to go to the Chinese restaurant in Greenwood. When we got to the bottom of the driveway, all we could see of our robot was his FEET!

 

He weighs between 175 and 200 lbs, my husband estimates, and he’s really unwieldy – heavy, bulky, and really hard to work with. He’s blown over one other time and we practically killed ourselves getting him to stand up again. I made two suggestions of what to try to get him up again. My husband blew both of them off right away, so he’s thinking about how two old folks can tackle the problem. We need some good luck, if you could send some in our direction.

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March 7, 2018 · 10:46 am

Smiling Daffodils

As far as I’m concerned, you can’t have too many daffodils. Happily, this year, they’re pretty much in full bloom right now, not having been caught by a freeze (though one is forecast tonight.)

 

After years of spreading them around, they are finally going all the way across the front yard. I’m trying to move some each year to the rest of the flower planters and across the back yard, if I live long enough. :0)

 

This was the original patch of daffodils I planted beside and around the base of the well house. Then we decided to dig them up and plant them elsewhere around the yard. No matter how many bulbs I did up and plant, more come up here each year.

 

This is Debbye’s bouquet that I told you about recently.

 

These are in one of the two brick planters we’ll have to take down and rebuild.

 

We have a trio of planters that divide our driveway area from our front lawn. This is one end of it.

 

This is the middle of the trio.

 

You can get an idea of the trio here.

These are some growing in the back yard.

I absolutely love this time of year where old friends sprout up and smile at me.

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March 3, 2018 · 11:39 am

Debbye’s Bouquet

My friend Debbye Hughes was fighting cancer when she got me into art. She was creating watercolors, actually giving me a couple, and got mad at me when I oohed and ahhed over her work, wishing I could do something like that. She glared at me, saying, “What’s keeping you from it, Linda? You have no excuse. YOU have the time. YOU can practice until you do as well as you can. Who cares if your paintings don’t go anywhere but your own refrigerator door? JUST DO IT!

When I went to her funeral several months later, there were two huge bins on either side of the chapel door. At the end of the service, we were told to take a handful of the daffodil bulbs from a bin and plant them. The idea was that we would think of Debbye (just in case we didn’t remember how special she was by herself) each spring when the daffodils bloomed.  I had never heard of anyone asking this and loved the idea.

I planted mine all in a bunch in the front yard, hoping that when they came up, they would form a kind of daffodil bouquet. This picture shows you that the idea was pretty successful.  Just an added reminder of the wonderful lady I had the opportunity to know, and a reminder not to give up on trying to create art.

When I was out walking Amber (she’s now clamoring for me to take her out again, putting her head under my arm and bumping my fingers off the keys over and over while ‘complaining’ in her dramatic whine) and saw the sun shining through the greenery and flowers in this group of daffodils in the back yard. I hope that Mother Nature doesn’t send crushing cold through here, freezing all the nice blooms that have come up all around the yard.

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February 25, 2018 · 10:07 am

In Case Anyone was Curious…

Sonia Rod via Nora Hall

The sun is shining! It’s not raining!

We lucked out in our area of Arkansas. My greenhouse is still standing! We’ve received about 5-1/2 inches of rain in the past 6 days. There is some bad flooding and some damage in the state, but none that I know of in west central Arkansas where we are.

I found some pictures this morning that I wanted to share –

 

Heber Springs AR-Marcy Effinger via Cindy Basnett Thurman

Heber Springs is south and east of us.

I did find some really glorious pictures of Arkansas taken after the latest – and worst – of the storms by talented people from Arkansas Pictures –

 

“God’s Rainbow Artwork after Storm” – El Paso AR – Amazing Shotz by David K. Niece – Arkansas Pictures – via Cindy Basnett Thurman

 

 

Four Winds Chapel – Conway AR – Mike Hall – Arkansas Pictures via Cindy Basnett Thurman

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