First Blooms

I am enjoying the beautiful weather outside on my front porch. Reading e-mails and paying bills. The touch of the wind on my skin is so refreshing. I wish it stays this way. Surrounded by our big trees and old shrubs, the smell of the newly mowed grass is so uplifting. Indulgence! 

She is the first one to bloom in my yard. In a couple of days this rose shrub will be flooded with bright pinks. I was expecting an old rose but it's still asleep. 

Our mermaid tears are also blooming gracefully by the driveway. 

Last week, we went flower shopping. It was so much fun. We are still looking for more flowers so we are going back to the nursery or Lowe's next week. For now, we are still busy potting them. 

We got new ones for this year. Bought them from Home Depot, Lowe's, and WalMart. 

This bright purples is called, "African Daisy". Stunning! 

This matrix red lily is called, "Asiatic Lily". I wonder where in Asia. So dainty! Her bloom lasted for 3 days. Cool!

Because of the success of my pink Hibiscus last year, I bought another one and this time it's colored orange. I fell in love with it too. My old hibiscus survived the winter because I kept it inside the house. Now it's back outside.... growing new leaves and hopefully soon buds. 

On the other end of my front porch stands some new peonies. They were lovely last year too. 

Mr. D planted a variety of flowers near my craft room window so that I can see them. I got electric blue sage, lavender, verbena, and celosia. I told him they look crowded but he insisted it's fine. I hope I'm wrong. 

After all the flowers are potted and settled, we are going to work on our vegetable garden. Hopefully, my herb seed bed will be successful this year. 

Enjoy the sun everyone!

Spring Forward!

Spring is like a new beginning on everything.... not just the environment. It's like everything inside you just woke up as well. First thing I realized is that I need to start prioritizing my activities in life... which goes to saying on developing new goals. I need to expand my learning and hobbies. School perhaps? Or full-time work? Volunteer is not bad either. So many choices that neither won't leave me empty. Exciting! 

I'm spending more time in my kitchen now. 

I call this brownies, Cookies and Cream Chocolate brownies. So easy to bake. Thanks to Betty Crocker. I used the chocolate fudge brownie mix and added some chocolate creme biscuits (crumbled) in the batter. After topping the baked brownie with vanilla frosting, I sprinkled some remaining crumbs. Sweet and yummy. 

Cheers! I finally finished the last order of one client. 

I love the outcome of this saying. It's actually the request of the client. I just added the designs and came out with nice letterings. Now I am ready to sew them into pillows. 

I finished another square of an RR piece. 

 

Design is called "Temptation" from Joan Elliott's book, Cross Stitch Sentiments and Sayings. Another brilliant design by one of my favourite designer. The theme of this piece is sayings. I hope Louisa will love my square. 

Now, I'm off to finishing another square of an RR piece while watching Agent Mulder and Agent Scully's chemistry come out from my laptop screen. Hate-love relationship works. 

Happy weekdays everyone! 

Nature's Success!!!

Ask me what I had for brunch? I'm pigging on anything that's for sure even vegetables.

 

This is what I had. A serving of baby spinach and fresh strawberries topped with Ranch dressing. My favorite home made salad! Just don't ask me what I paired it with. As you can see the strawberries are kinda tiny. 

They were just picked from my potted plant. Amazing that everyday, I get to pick some for my salad. It has been weeks since we started harvesting our vegetable garden. And we have been boiling them in pots or frying them battered. 

Aside from the strawberries we got squash, green and yellow bell peppers, jalapeno pepper, huge tomatoes, and cucumber (not included in photos). And we have been making healthy dishes from them. Last week, when I was in the produce section of Wal-Mart, I noticed that the price of a paired squash and cucumber is $2.50. Wow! And here we are taking advantage mother nature's bliss. 

Travis is still eagerly waiting for his watermelons to produce. He and Tim have been working hard on the small garden. We take turns on watering them. My turn is at night. 

I harvested my herbs already and realized that I don't know how to prepare them for drying or packing. I used them on dishes and I still have some in the fridge. I noticed that it does not do well when planted on small pots because it becomes overcrowded. I learned my lesson. I need a huge herb seed box next time. Travis promised me one for next season. 

It's not complete without the flowers in the front and back porches, right?

From top to bottom: purple and yellow lantanas, pink hibiscus, red and purple verbenas, tickled pink, yellow and white moss rose, variety of purslane, pink petunias, and another red verbenas. I love them all and so are the humming birds and bees. We still have other flowers, like Travis' purple summer sky and my hardy orchid. Aren't they all beautiful? The lantanas are placed in our front yard. I hope they will scatter their blooms. The pink hibiscus is potted because I want to keep it for good. That way I can hide her from autumn and winter. The lovely verbenas are hanged in the front porch. But I still have some that are potted and placed at the back porch so that I can see them from the kitchen window. Tickled pink is my favorite! She is not that big of a plant but she blooms proudly and I saw a humming bird yesterday feeding from it's nectar. The moss roses are grandma's favorites. I call them cute roses. We have a variety of colors potted together in long pots. They are gracing the front porch too. Another family of moss rose is the purslane, even a staff from Wal-Mart doesn't recognize the difference. Their leaves are the same but the petals are different. Purslane is single-petaled while moss rose is petaled like a rose. I prefer the purslane because when the sun's rays kissed them, they bloom in a variety of colors.... like they are dancing! The pink petunias has the biggest pot but it blooms shyly. 

This is a heirloom flower plant. It was passed on by grandma's great grandmothers. Whew! She was so anxious when the seeds were sedentary for weeks after Travis planted them. I took over the watering because she got worried. Then after another week, I saw the first peek of a leaf. And now they are growing fast. Soon we will see their beautiful purple flowers. It's called "weeping tears" by grandma's ancestors. But in the dictionary it's called "magic flowers". Quite ironic! It was cried by it's owner because it was not growing; then magically they just come out from the soil.

I am no expert on growing, I just love the mystery of the soil. Earth gives back when you take care of it. 

Happy gardening everyone!!! 

Home Gardening...

Two weeks ago, we did the preparations then shopping. I urged Travis to do his thing because I know he loves gardening so much. He adores nature like he adores me... with gentleness, nurturing, and kindness. We decided to pick our own plants and seeds. We chose different places on where to plant our vegetables and herbs. No flowers yet... We are going to check out a good place in Durant where they sell nicer and cheaper flowers. You have no idea how excited I am.

The first bloom of spring in our yard. Isn't she gorgeous? Just the perfect color that I love!

I hope you can see the rose buds too from this photo. I can't wait to see this rose bush in full bloom. I was told that this rose bush was planted by Sherman, Travis' late grandfather. He also planted all the trees around us now... cedar, oak, etc... I guess I knew now where Travis got his passion. 
 

My husband made his garden beds near the big old shed, along the driveway, because it has bigger space and away from the big trees (not away from Kaeleth though). He and his dad planted some vegetables such as cucumber, tomatoes, jalapeno, green bell pepper, yellow bell peppers, and onions. 

I love the way Travis made his beds because it was carefully and passionately made. They need to put some fence around it to keep away our dogs and other wild animals.

Last year, he planted some melons but the mules ate them and that broke his heart. Now he is so particularly careful with his new ones.  So he made his beds near our bedroom so that he can see them every morning when he wakes up. The other reason for that is because the ground is full of sand, not soil. Not beach sand, but old sand from their old swimming pool (during his childhood days). He said the mules won't have the chance to bore a hole under the sand. Smart guy, eh?!  Beside the melons, he made me a garden bed for my strawberries because I love them. 

You may wonder why there are dry leaves on the melons bed. Travis said it is something about fertilizing it. I forgot what "m" word was that he said. Look at that strawberry of mine! It got the color already. 

My part of a home gardening is at the back porch, outside my laundry room and in front of the kitchen window. I am into herbs so I started my herbs with this commercialized all-in-one bed. I wanted to start with seeds and not from the nursery. I got me an oregano, chives, parsley, and cilantro. 

I know it will take awhile for my herbs to show some leaves but I love the challenge of patience. It needs to stay in-door to keep away from direct sunlight for now. Travis planted a cilantro and strawberry in pots so that I can grow them at the back porch. I am so happy! 

In a few weeks we are going to shop for more herbs and flowers. We just need to do this step by step. It is not easy as how it looks. Gardening needs patience, tolerance, hard work, and lots of bending... oh, yes! There were muscle aches the following morning. Well, we both need the exercise that we have been planning for. Gardening costs a lot too. We spent more than a hundred only on plants and soil. The most expensive ones are the strawberries. 

This is it! We just need to wait and see. Happy gardening everyone! Plant wisely.

Nature's Spring

Finally it already started... the last season I haven't yet experienced here in America. Spring!!! New experiences to learn; new people to meet; new challenges to face; and new places to cherish. Travis and I will be very busy come April until May. Now I am trying to jot down plans and budget. Whew! 

On those last few days of February I already got a glimpse of spring (so I thought). I found the first flower that sprang from our front yard. 

It's called Dandelion. I wonder if it is really a "weed" and not a flower because everyone at home told me so. Too bad! Because now we have lots of purple ones. The next day, another one sprang right beside it. It was like they were twins... but how fast they grew. Well, of course it should be because we are already swarming with a variety of birds. The only familiar name I remember is a cardinal... because they are so beautiful and passionate.

Travis told me the other day that he saw them feeding each other (male and female)... isn't it sweet? I'll get my chances to watch them too. We can see them from our kitchen window. It makes us do our cooking with ease and harmony. We then installed a new bird feeder a few feet away from the window so that they will keep coming. And we were right! We got swarmed!

One day, I saw six of them feeding and there was one balancing on top of it. So cute! Every morning their chirping wake me up and I don't need an alarm clock (except Travis). And every afternoon their singing give me an ethereal peace of mind. We are so blessed to have our own place in the country. 

Last weekend, Travis called me and asked me to follow him because he wants me to meet somebody. Then I gasped when I saw him (or her).

Yeah, it's a snap turtle and first thing Travis asked me "not to do" is  not to touch it's head because it can bite me or snap. Ouch! Not my finger again please. I named it Lost. It is because Tim found him wondering in our yard but partially hidden. We agreed that probably it came from our pond in the woods. Well, it had a long journey then. I decided to keep Lost so Travis made it an improvised habitat. We fed it with shredded cabbage and carrots... but it doesn't eat. It tried to escape more than once. So we decided to free Lost. I guess it got depressed because of the oppression it felt in it's cage. So wild and so free.

During the illuminating night brought about by Supermoon, my husband invited me for a stroll; and yes, it was one of those romantic nights with him. He said he wants to show me something. We drove around our hilly roads and when we stopped he asked me to follow him. 

They are called Indian paintbrush. This is Travis' favorite wild flower. I can't believe he remembered the spot where he found them (by the road). He told me that a few weeks from now there will be an abundance of these around us. And we are both so excited.

I guess I am just one of those wives who are lucky enough to live in the country and who is happy and contented of it. 

Go out and enjoy mother nature everyone!