Nature's beauty

I mowed off an awful lot of these yesterday:

Most of them were beyond this stage, though, thankfully:

Look at all those seeds! No wonder they spread so profusely!

Here's one that was very wet but still kind of pretty after a light rain:

Fortunately we'd had heavy rain on Sunday, so most of the fuzz was washed off and I didn't have to mow through clouds of it in the air.

Here are some more lilacs, a bit darker color than the previous ones I showed you:

Just pretty pics.........

Purples

They made it! The lilacs! In time for Memorial Day! It was looking doubtful there, what with all the cold weather we've had, but they're beginning to open nicely now. They're not as full as some years, but at least they're there. Enjoy! (Wish I could post some of their fragrance, too!)

The irises aren't blooming yet. They're going to be VERY late. They don't even have buds yet. Update: As of Memorial Day morning, they DO now have buds! They popped out fast since I last looked on Saturday!

I have a new purple this year, though. I bought a couple of these plants on Friday. They're a type of osteospermum called "Lavender Bliss". Cool, huh?

Hope you're all having a great weekend. The weather has been stupendous here! Come back tomorrow and see my favorite little bunny in action! ;)

Signs of spring!

My favorite sign of spring right now is open windows! It got just above 70° on Saturday, and 78° yesterday. It was a perfectly beautiful Easter Day! Annabelle and Josie are pretty thrilled with the open windows, too:

Lots of green things are making their appearance. Snow on the mountain:

Irises:

Sedum:

The rhubarb peeked out before it got so cold the last time, and it appears to have been nipped a little bit by frost. That doesn't hurt it at all, though, and it's growing quickly:

I had to look closely, but the tulip buds are coming:

And the lilac bushes are getting a tinge of green to them, thanks to the leaf buds that are popping out:

(Click to enlarge... it's prettier!)

Spring is here! Now let's just hope we don't get any more ugly surprises, like last year when we got 4" of snow on the first of May.

Lilac snow

I took these photos last Sunday, June 2nd. The lilacs were at their peak, looking and smelling gorgeous!

I just noticed that bit of blue sky. We sure haven't seen much of it since... or all spring, for that matter. I am soooo Vitamin D deprived!!

I played with camera settings a bit:

Here's what a week of off-and-on rain, and then all-day rain Saturday, with heavy rain Sat. night did to those beautiful bushes:

So much for the pretty flowers. Still beats the white stuff, though, doesn't it?!

Yesterday's sightings

I took my camera outside yesterday when I went to meet Courtney at the bus. Below is what I saw. The lilacs are just beginning to bloom. And smell wonderful!

Last week on the way to meeting Courtney at the bus, I discovered this robin's nest, but I didn't have the camera along, and I never got around to going back out there with it. It had 3 eggs in it.

Yesterday I peeked in again, and two of the eggs had just hatched. These little birdies were still pretty weak, but one had its head up with mouth open wide right after Mama hopped off the nest. Unfortunately, by the time I got the camera focused, it wouldn't do it again. So new and fragile.

Then Courtney arrived and immediately decided to pick Grandma a bouquet of dandelions. Notice that she's still using the backpack I made her a couple of years ago. She usually has it loaded with a LOT of stuff, and it has really held up well! The only place showing any wear at all is the corners of the blue outside pocket, and it's minimal. Tough fabric! And it was well worth my time making it.

She found one of very few (so far) dandelion puffs and tried blowing the seeds off as she made a wish. Everything is so soggy from all the wet weather we've had, though, that they didn't blow very well. I'm afraid she's not going to get her wish for a "Kit" American Girl doll (not sure if she wants her own Kit, or mine!).

As we got back to the house, we discovered all these mushrooms (toadstools?) at the base of our hackberry tree.

Quite a crop here. I don't think I'll be harvesting any, though. ;)

That's all the pics I took yesterday. We did visit the kittens, who are just getting cuter every day, but we didn't take time for a photo shoot. Maybe next time!

Lilacs... or lack thereof

Our lilacs are almost nonexistent this year. We had such warm weather so early that everything got a head start. Then we had a hard freeze. Apparently, most of the flower buds were ruined. There have been a few little clumps of wimpy flowers here and there, but nothing like normal years when the bushes are covered with huge blooms. I kept waiting and hoping that more would appear, but this is all I could find a couple days ago, and I think they're the end.

Sad, huh?

On a brighter note, the poppies are doing well, and this first bloom has lasted nicely for going on three days now! Usually the winds we have around here makes for short-lived blooms, but it's been quite calm and gorgeous the last couple of days, and amazingly, this lone poppy is still there this morning!

Green!

Spring is bustin' out all over! It's no wonder, after hitting 84° today! Whoa... too much too soon! But things are turning green, and I couldn't resist going out and getting some photos of it this evening.

Tiny lilac leaves are coming out in a hurry:

The grass is greening up fast, too!

Have a closer look:

Ack! At this rate, I'll be mowing before too long! Noooo!!!!

I looked at the tulips a couple of days ago, and they were only 2-3" high. Look at 'em now! (But please ignore the dandelions.)

Can this really be only the 18th of March?  Seems more like May! But it's supposed to cool down into the lower 60's this week. There's also rain in the forecast, which we badly need. I hope the forecast is right, on both counts. I'm not in any hurry for summer, especially this early!

You can row it, Mark!

Click any photo to enlarge.

Not too bad, considering the spring we've had, huh?

For you non-farmers.... it's a field of corn just coming up. :)

And lest you feel left out, here are a couple for you, Cindy:

The lilacs are just beginning to open.

Wish I could send you some fragrance! :)

I stopped to smell the ro...

... er... lilacs! As I was mowing yesterday. I had to mow under and around them, so since they were so close to my nose, I did stop every little bit to take a whiff. Mmmmm!

(Click to enlarge. Wish I could give you the fragrance to go with 'em!)

Yes, I did mow yesterday. I waited till nearly 5:00, hoping the horrific winds would calm down some. They did some, but not much. But looking at the weather forecast, I figured there wasn't going to be a better chance (or a warmer one) in the next few days, because rain was supposed to be on the way. So I bundled up and did it. At least I didn't blow off the mower! And I was glad for every bit of winter clothing I had on, including boots and fleece-lined gloves. I actually didn't start to get cold until the last 10-15 minutes of the 2-hour job. So it was successful. And I'm glad I did it.

Now today I can work on my chicken family! :-)

I love green!

Especially the new green of spring!

And I love blue!

And lilac (victorian?), too!

Yellow? Not so much.

Though we seem to have plenty of it. A big portion of our lawn looked like this yesterday.

I mowed it off. But they're starting to pop right back up. Actually, the yellow part isn't so bad. It's the seed puffballs that really get ugly. And fly into your eyes when you're mowing. If dandelions start growing out of my eyeballs, I'll take a photo and post it here.