The whatchamacallit bloomed!

I snapped this photo yesterday by our driveway.
It's sunny here in "southern" Connecticut but it's still chilly. 

The sunshine is most welcome. Happy Spring!

Hi, hyacinths

It's cold out, but at least it's April. I hold out hope for nice weather on the way. 

What are you looking forward to doing outdoors when it gets warmer?

I'm ready to start a flower garden. That's my goal.

I used to have a pretty good one, but the past few years not so much.

I took these photos this morning. It's so nice to see spring blooms again.

I think these are hyacinths, but photos of hyacinths show spiky leaves. These aren't spiky, so now I'm not sure.

I must check this out.

Oh, nooo! Not my hyacinth

Yesterday afternoon our friendly pest-elimination specialist stopped by for our monthly check.

About a decade ago we came down with termites and had to have the underground tubes installed around the foundation to kick those guys back to where they came from. And we haven't had a problem since, thankfully

But yesterday the guy TRAMPLED the budding hyacinth that I wrote about here last Wednesday to get to one of the underground tubes he checks.

Here's the result:

 This is what it looked like a week ago:

I know this is a silly concern in the scheme of things, but it's temporarily keeping my mind off of more serious (financial and health-related) issues we are attempting to deal with around here!

Shadow Shot Sunday ~ ooh la la

I'll call this one "April in Paris." I left the date stamp on it so you can see I'm not making it up.
haha

If you like shadowy photos I urge you to visit our awesome Aussie friend Tracy's blog, Hey Harriet. And join the weekly fun!

They're bloomin'

Straight out of the camera this morning ~ I've been watching these lilies under the front window grow for the past several weeks and today I got my reward!

Shadow Shot Sunday

Another week, another chance to seek shadows in our world. And take photos of them. And post the photos on our blogs!

I didn't have to go far to find these shadows.

Below I give you a mystery photo:

Any guesses?

Go check out lots of shadowy pix at Hey Harriet, hosted by our Aussie friend, Tracy, in Brisbane.

I wish a Happy Mother's Day weekend to all!

More azaleas

I just went outside and took a few more azalea photos. They won't last much past Mother's Day, unfortunately.

Yes, they do need a bit of a trim. We'll get to it.

Happy Friday to all!

Sepia scenes ~ Springtime

Here are some primroses I planted several years ago. I love perennials. No muss no fuss!

Below is what they really look like ~ I took this photo in the bright sun at noontime today.

Happy Spring to all!

Visit Mary T, The Teach, to see many more sepia-fied photos.

Happy vernal equinox

Today is the first day of spring. Time to celebrate with some cheesy clip art!

I'd photograph flowers if there were any in our yard.

But alas, it's only March.

Sign of spring

A touch of green peeking out from the leaves in the front yard caught my eye, and I ran inside and got the camera. First sign of spring! Woo hoo!

I used edge blur on the surrounding leaves and mulch because it's raining and everything looks a bit blurred around here. It's wet and muddy, but at least it's not snow.

Spring is on the way...

* * * Springtime shots

Last week I posted a photo of a single rhododendron blossom. Today I post the entire rhododendron, which is now in full bloom. Woo hoo!

According to Wikipedia the word rhododendron is from the Greek, rhodos, meaning "rose", and dendron, "tree."

Mystery perennial and some bloomin' trees

It was another sunny day today, so I took a few pix. I hear rain is on the way for Monday.

I don't remember what kind of perennials these are, but I'm glad they survived the winter and reappeared this week. They offer some color to my otherwise dried-up flower garden. Must get working on that!

The apple (or cherry?) trees that line the high school driveway have bloomed. The high school is right around the corner from our house, which was convenient when our kids attended.

Aren't they eye-catching? I love the pale pink.
As you can see, I'm welcoming spring around here. Yay!

It looks like Spring, it smells like Spring...

It must be Spring!
I seem to be in a yellow mode. It wasn't intentional. I need to find some other seasonal colors to photograph.

Happy Saturday ~ let the sun shine!

* * Springtime scenes *

Yesterday we couldn't use our computer until about 9 p.m. I don't know about Ralph, but I was definitely suffering some withdrawal.
Our son, Kid Two, cleaned the hard drive and Windows XP and other stuff I don't understand, and the job took much longer than he had thought it would, almost 12 hours. That's why I didn't post until way past my bedtime...almost midnight!
* * *
Today I'm sharing some pictures I snapped Thursday in the backyard of my mother's temporary house. Looks like whoever lived there certainly enjoyed gardening.


This backyard is also where the infamous (to me, anyway) silver pheasant was hanging out for a couple of weeks last month. I wrote about him on March 22.
In a strange twist another "exotic" pheasant, also native to southeast Asia, was found five miles from this yard.
At first people thought it was the same bird.

When I got the message about the bird (Pheasant Two, I guess you could say) I called my mother to tell her not to worry any more about "B.T." (short for Big Tail). He was at the nature center! Being cared for!!

Wrong. Different bird altogether.
This one turned out to be a Lady Amherst pheasant, not nearly as large as B.T. But a local resident's discovery of this pheasant, who has an injured leg and was just sitting in the man's garden, did make for an interesting follow-up story for me to write for the newspaper.
Where are all these exotic birds coming from? Don't their owners/breeders keep them in their pens?
Inquiring minds want to know.

Another bloomin' quiz (and a riddle)

Odat posted this quiz. I love tulips; this is what I got. Give it a whirl ~

What These Tulips Say About You

You are very popular and universally admired. You are often hopelessly in love, and you connect to other people easily. You are a naturally cheerful and upbeat person. You have an amazing smile.

What Do The Flowers You Pick Say About You?

~

What happened when the cat ate a ball of wool?


She had mittens!