Flowers at the end of summer

My camera and I are having a disagreement lately so I need to show it who's boss.  It's been at the doctor more times than I want to admit and it blames me for dropping it..... It was only a little drop..... 

Flowers in the garden get less and less this time of year.

This one is Hot Lips Turtlehead

Beautiful Mountain Ash Berries that are now all gone, every last one of them was eaten by the birds.  I hope they are full!!

The night I was on my flower walk this happened.  

This posting may only have beautiful photos to look at and not much said but to tell you the truth I need to keep posting to make this a habit again.  So get used to random shit and I got a very busy fall with family and Senior photos so I'll throw them in there too if they so chose.  Happy Fall Ya'all it's coming quick.

Flowers and more flowers

Spring has sprung and flowers happened.  

Last year in a wind storm we lost 2 of our flowering crab apple trees, which happen to be a favorite of mine even though my nose and eyes feel differently.  The only one left is the one the kids gave me a few years ago for my birthday and mothers day.  It couldn't be more beautiful so of course I needed to get some pictures and bokeh.  

The worst flower for mine and John's allergies is the lilac, they must stay outside.  But they certainly are very pretty.

The tulips are just about done, they may be one of my favorites.

Pink forget me knots - The start out pink and turn to blue.

Last fall I got some of the gardens cleaned up and this Sunday I got them mulched.  So happy with the results even though it hurts me to throw all those flowers away.   I still have many more to go so if you need flowers come on over I am throwing them away by the wheelbarrows full.  

Globe Flower makes a dramatic yellow appearance.  This is the one of the only flowers that stayed where I planted it and didn't have babies everywhere..... just for that I love you globeflower, you are a good plant.

More pictures of the crab apple tree, it's hardly showing any leaves.

With my walk around the yard for color I just had to capture the orange pot lid that I found at a second hand store.  When you find color that fits in the garden you have to buy it, even if it's a pot lid.  Think outside the box :)

Bleeding heart being all cute and stuff.....

Saturday mornings are for bringing flowers in the house.  Spring must be pink in my gardens.

A few dramatic clouds with a bright sun peeking through.

A little sunburst to make a fun photo with my lanterns hanging in the tree.  

Even though I've showed you these flowers a million times I hope you enjoy them again as they make their 2015 appearance.  Every spring as the flowers start to appear it makes me think of my mother in her last months.  She was very sick and couldn't go outside anymore so when us girls would come to sit with her one of our jobs was to walk around her gardens and bring in whatever flower was blooming so she could see them. This was something we had to do daily because mom insisted that things were changing and new flowers were blooming....  I was pretty young and didn't have the garden itch yet so to me when I would bring them in it was fun for me to hear her name them off like one of her kids.  She loved to see her flowers, she knew that someday we all would be loving them as much as her.  One of the days when we were all called home "because it was time" we all stood around her bed waiting for everyone to get there, mom was not very verbal anymore but she would cry for who or what she was going to miss.  I remember her saying she couldn't leave her flowers.... she loved her flower beds and she spent many hours making them perfect.  What I wouldn't give for those days again.... being able to pick flowers for my mother.  

Up North = Neglected Flower Beds

A few years ago a house with beautiful flower gardens that I drive by everyday was starting to look a little weedy, there just wasn't the attention to them like I normally seen from her.  I started to worry about her, I told John she must be sick.  He of course thought I was crazy and he thought her flowers looked just fine.  The next year it was worse and the house became empty and the flower gardens became homes for very tall ugly weeds....... I feared the worst but we found out a few months later that her and her husband were getting divorced so she no longer cared to take care of her flowers.  

If you drive by our house...... we are not getting divorced and I am not sick.  Everything is just fine, however I do too many side jobs with working full time that I cannot weed my flowers like they should be.  After our Jazzed Up Junk sale I got to work on the back flower bed first, it might not be the worst one but it is the one in the sunshine after work.  

Of course I am not going to show you the before, I said I was busy not crazy.  

We have not mulched the beds since I was laid off and that was 5 years ago..... they needed it super bad, reason for the weeds.  Here is one shot of FLOWERS - no weeds.  We also got our pond going, yes I know summer is almost over, no speeches!!

I bought a bike from an action like 4 years ago and John thought the seat was worth selling on Ebay, yep he was right, we got more money for the seat than we paid for the whole bike..... but now my bike has no seat and we cannot find one unless we pay more for it than we bought the bike for.  Yep super dumb move so an upside down water can will be my seat so I can finally get this bike out of the garage.   And yes garden shed needs to be painted but that will come.  

Pink Cone Flowers are probably my favorite flower and I have tons of them.  I even throw them away by the wheelbarrows full. 

Another problem I have with getting work done at home is going up north.  

Summer - Up North - Water - Relaxing 

Our turtles are back again this year.  I braved a walk through the river with my camera to get a closer picture of them.  Didn't realize the water got so deep and I was too far in to turn around.  Camera is up above my head and the water is above my chest and I'm walking in the current.  Thank goodness it got shallow again just as quickly as it got deep.  

Turned around to get a shot of where I started from.  

When not on the kayaks or pontoon we are sitting right here.

I got one close up of the turtles before the jumped in and of course then I freaked that they might swim over to me.... I quickly turned around and headed back, up current this time, water to my chest and camera held above my head.  Okay so when I told you I wasn't crazy.... just maybe I am.

Up North = Neglected Flower Beds

 I've taken actions to slow down on working.  Life is too short to work days, nights and weekends.... I will get them cleaned up, and it's become far less stressful.  

Happy May Day - POTW - Week 18 - Spring

April showers bring May Flowers.

So that means we should have buckets hanging from our doors for May Day full of flowers but this is all I have in my garden. 

But remember last year on this weekend we had 7" of fresh snow...... if you don't believe me check out my post from last year here.  

Happy May Day to all, if I could drop you all one of these sweet May baskets on your doorstep tomorrow I would but one...... I only have this many flowers in the garden and two.... it's cold and rainy and I might melt, and three...... I have to go to work.  :( 

POTW Week 7 - Flowers

During our month of LOVE this week was flowers.  Since it's a bit cold for the garden I had to find flowers in other places.  While taking the g-kids photo with my grandmothers old music there were two covers that caught my eye.  I love the colors of them and the vintage look they have. 

This first one I did a bit of photoshop magic on it to remove the torn edges and give it a brighter color.

Here is the orginal 

This one has my grandma's name on it before she was married.   I don't remember if my grandmother was a piano player or not.  My mom was and she made DiAnn and I take piano lessons for 6 years.  We had recitals more often than I want to remember.  We would have chairs lined up down the hallways of the school and everyone sat in their chair until their time on stage was up.  Watching the kids leave their chairs and the rows in front of you getting emptier and emptier made the butterflies in your tummy go crazy.  Then it's your turn and you get on stage at the piano and everything disappears.  BUT when you have a sister you have to return to the chairs for your duet and the butterflies come back again.  

I couldn't play a note now if I wanted to.

I found a dried flower in my bedroom.

I try to back up and get the whole scene but I'm an UP CLOSE kinda girl.

We might just have to POTW flowers again this summer. 

May Flowers

A pretty site I couldn't pass up tonight on my drive home.  Well I didn't have my camera so John and I took the wheeler back to the location.  Gotta love the 4 wheeler road right a-ways :)

Something new

Tried something new, not sure I like it but took a while to understand what I needed to do and how to do it and still get a photo that I could understand what it was suppose to be.  

Might not be a favorite but for now it's a sign of spring and I'll take what I can get.

Everyday fall

August.....

I can't believe we are already into August...  I was so enjoying those hot summer days when everyone else was complaining.   Now it's back to sweatshirts, long pants and more laundry.  

August is the Sunday of Summer.  

I took a little garden walk this weekend and played in Photoshop a bit.  Here are a few fun shots to show you.  

Fence Friday

Here is my fence friday photo.

My flowers are exploding everywhere.  There is so much color right now, I love it.  This is the garden behind the garage that was normally covered with Kiss Me Over The Garden Gates and Poppies that I finally got rid of.  The result is stunning.