Reflecting

Be still and know that I am God.

Am I listening carefully? I need to slow down and be sure I hear Him. "In the Garden" is one of my favorite hymns. It just says it all.

Summer Vacation

This crew is ready for summer and so am I! This year I'm not changing positions or moving to a different classroom. In the past I've been the Queen of Late! Not this year--I am on vacation!

Now it's time to get the rest of the pots filled with flowers and the pasture grass and lawn mowed.

School's almost OUT!

Only tomorrow and Thursday 'til 1:30. It's been years since we dismissed early on the last day. Thank you, school board, for letting us out early!

New Look

I was trying to clean up the gadgets on the side, and GONE, NO MORE BACKGROUND. Once it was gone, nothing could bring it back. Then the header looked funny, so I had to fool around and try to fix that. And since I don't know what I'm doing...well, things changed. So now I have a different look. I downloaded a new program, so I'll just have to play with it, but this is a day off from school and it's 9:15, so I've wasted a lot of time. It will have to do for now.


Must get outside before it get windy and rains again, for the third day. More pots to plant. I got to work at my mom's on Saturday and she was so excited to get her big pots planted. Today is her 85th birthday. She loves to be outside to work, but lately her legs are just hurting. I think it must have something to do with the fact that she had polio when she was three years old.

Sunday

Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
~~Hebrews 13:2

96 DEGREES!

Buster says, "It's too hot for May!" I agree with him.



My pink lilies will be blooming too soon. I would like for them to brighten up the garden in June, otherwise, things will look too green. My garden has many perennials that bloom from March/April on into November, if the weather is "just right".

Here are some wild roses that just started blooming yesterday. I transplanted this start from the family farm when we moved here. However, I thought it would be red/orange like my grandmother's bush and I must have dug up the yellow root, because they've always been yellow in my garden! This bush gets very little attention. However, it looks like a lot of winter kill is showing, so when school is out next week, I'll get to trim it back a little bit.

Violets

I just read the most amazing post at Rose Cottage Garden and Farm and had to add a picture of more of my violets.

Meditation in the garden

Every good and perfect gift is from above.
James 1:17

Yesterday I got the EKO mixed into the pots, but it was windy AGAIN, so am going to be outside getting the petunias in my containers. They are the best for continuous blooming and the FFA at school always has the nicest plants in my favorite colors. So while the meat is in the oven, I'll be playing outside!

The Color Purple

Since I 'joined' FACEBOOK, I've taken two quizes that indicate that purple seems to be MY color, as in aura and crayons. So I thought I must post a picture of my spring violets. My original plants came from my dear friend, Virginia. They have the prettiest heart shaped leaves in the summer that will grow again after a hail storm or after the grasshoppers munch and crunch on the leaves. Some think they are weeds, but to me they are a bit of heaven on earth!

Heat Wave-Goodbye Spring?

It's time to say good-bye to my daffodils. Summer is coming soon...with a high of 90 degrees today, it may be sooner than June 21! There are just a few tulips left, and with cooler weather tomorrow, they may last until the weekend.

Another sign summer is coming is the count down of school days. With only 11 more days to go, even I am starting to get restless. Usually, I don't keep track of what's left because I always have more, more, more for the kids to read.

REFLECT

Mid all the traffic of the way,
Turmoil without, within;
Make of my heart a quiet place,
And come and dwell therein.
....Unknown
from my Women's Devotional Bible

Happy Mother's Day

This lovely image came from The Feathered Nest and just seemed to be such a calm,living picture. I dedicate this post to my daughter, Sarah. She was a miracle from God because I had a tear in the placenta that should have resulted in no baby girl. But six months later she arrived healthy and perfect. Twenty eight years later my blessings are multiplied every time we are together. And, no one has a more loving spirit than she does. I love you Dot!

After school fun

I have fun after school (when it is nice outside) working in the garden. I am still gathering tumble weeds and loading them up to discard in the dumpster. There are so many weeds to deal with because of the water war here in Colorado. Farmers can't use their irrigation wells without augmentation; and without the water, the fields grow weeds. It is not pretty seeing the abandoned fields...

Blooms and new leaves

A close up for your enjoyment :)


Most of the buds are now open on my flowering almond. I just love this bush when it blooms in the spring. The rest of the time it has narrow green leaves, nothing special. I guess we all have our 'best' season.

Our locust tree is leafing out and with today at 82 degrees, it won't be long until the foliage is full size. Of course that means the weather is going to change in a few days, just when we are planning on going to the Rockies game on Friday evening. Then it's going to be in the 60's, with rain showers forecast!

playing with the camera again

Well, how can the tulips be standing tall and the birdbath be tilting so much? It can't be my technique or angle, can it? Anyway, it lets you see the garden I enjoy every time I go out the front door. In the background is the ramp we poured a few summers ago when my mom came to stay with us when she broke her leg. We've enjoyed being "handicapped accessible" for both families.

Tulips

These are the pink tulips I've been taking pictures of the last week or so. They really are bright inside and such a surprise since one would expect delicate pink inside! Yesterday Sarah and I got some cleaning done in the garden while the sun was out. The news said we've had six weekends in a row that have been cool and wet. I sure was thankful for her help because my broken arm last summer really put a damper on my garden activities.

Verse for today

John 1:16
From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another.


Flowering almond, from April 28

We had snow early Monday morning, so when I went out to leave for school, this is what I saw. My tulips were covered with snow, and it was April 25!


Later in the week I took this picture:


And today, the tulips are looking very pink and happy. With the cool weather we are having, they will last longer. It seems like we are either COLD or HOT and go from winter to summer in a day or two.


Of course, Sarah had to upload the pictures I took on her camera and file them for me, but I got them onto the blog. AFTER moving the codes I have them in the order I wanted them to be shown in. I don't get how the sequence I wanted wasn't what appeared in my first preview. But, I got it fixed!