A Walk Around Our Yard

Admiring the fruits of our labors.....HA!  Not OUR labors at all...These plants do ALL the work and we CONSUME the fruits.  That is, if we get there before the wild critters!

The Fig Tree (with 6 foot tall  handsome scale model)

Folding a leaf back to reveal where the figs are hiding..

(Yes, Mark's hand has a tattoo of

lightening which he and a friend put on each of their hands

by themselves, way back in their army days!!)

Will we get to these before the birds??

Here's a plum tree.  With helpful scale model :)
That's a blueberry bush on the right.
More on those later...

There are the two plum trees, one in front of the other...

with the fig to the right, blueberry bush to the left...
And the red spot on the right which is the neighbor's truck.
Guess he didn't get the message that a photo shoot was going on!

Here is a beautiful plum on the tree. Yum.

But here are many beautiful plums that have fallen to the ground.

We may not get many to eat this year.

But some little animals WILL !!  Yum for them.

The Two Blueberry bushes...

 ---biggest bush with many berries

                 smaller bush, but with sweeter berries---

and here's what THEY'VE been doing...

Some of them may look edible, but don't be fooled.

They're crunchy as carrots and sour as a pickle.

But OH, will they be tasty in a month!!

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And then, surprise, surprise, we have a

Pomegranate Tree!

It didn't bloom the first year we were here.

Last year it gave out a few fruits that sure looked like pomegranate on the inside,

 but we just weren't sure if they were edible.

Then I saw the neighbor's father sneak over, grab one and eat it.

He didn't die.

So now we know we have a real Pomegranate Tree...

And this year it is wildly happy blooming and fruiting!!

Stay away neighbor!!

Here it is at the corner of the house, taller than the house!

And here are blooms and fruits...

Thanks for visiting...

Smile whenever you can!!

Birdie Buddies

It's no secret that I love the bird life around my little piece of earth, and that I try to keep the camera ready at all times because birds have a VERY active social life and are constantly on the move.  I can walk past a window and there sits a cardinal at the feeder, as red and shiny as a bottle of nail polish.  Or on another window ledge sits the impishly cute Tufted Titmouse who watches for me to bring out the peanuts.  And then at another feeder, the tiny Handsome Chicadee flits in, grabs a seed and flits out so fast that it is almost impossible to get a photo shot that is not a picture of the air where he just was!!

However, I try my best...and sometimes end up with an enjoyable photo...

 

 May day!!  May day!!

Coming in too fast...rudder stuck...save yourselves!!

Can't a bird stuff himself in peace around here??

Yes, my head comes to a point, what of it?? 

I'm a little house wren.

I'm a nervous wreck.

I search for bugs here, there, everywhere.......

OH, these are seeds.

I'm such a dope.

And she's got a picture of it.

I'm watching you watching me.

That peanut down there on the left??

MINE.

Now, take the picture so I can eat. 

Tufted Titmouse

WAIT!!  Don't fly away....

Oh, but if you let me have a gorgeous wing-fan shot, then OK!

Note: Female Cardinals like this one don't get the attention they deserve,

their colors are subtle and lovely.

You shouldn't need to be Fire Engine Red to get ALL the attention!!

Enjoy the day  :o)

Spring Sprang Soon!

Oh dear, here it is nearly May and I wanted to show what was happening back in March around our little corner of the world, a time when our plants should have been just considering the idea of Spring...but instead were budding and blooming all over!! 

Hey, wait just one goll-darn minute..it's my blog and if I want to pretend it's still March, well then I will!!

You see, warm weather arrived early this year (last year we had record snowfalls for the South!) and since there was no early frost, our plants showed out with some spectacular blooms and beginning fruitlings!!  

The Azalea Bush pictured from inside the front room window...

And from the outside...
That is one BIG AZALEA bush!!

See the raindrops on the petals!

Dogwood Tree in our front yard.

Dogwood Tree at my folks house...

The Fringe Tree
It really seems to glow in the morning sun!

The Fig Tree-
Already finished blooming...

Pre-Figs on the Fig Tree!

The Real Pear Tree, named not because we have fake trees stashed
around the yard, but because we DO have a Blooming Pear Tree
which doesn't give edible REAL pears.

Yup, Pre-Pears on the Pear Tree

 

The snowball bush beginning to create green snowballs...

Whoops!!  Now the plant remembers that snow is WHITE

and begins making the adjustment.

Smart bush.

And at my parent's house, the azalea bushes are Showing Off!

And this one was a lucky shot of a large, happy bumble bee!

 OK, it has to be said and I'm sayin' it...
What a Bee-utiful Time of the Year!
 

The Great Wall of Dirt

Last year, when the father of my next door neighbor was  moving excessive amounts of dirt around his son's property with a bulldozer, he created a Wall of Dirt.  

It was easily viewed from my bedroom window.  I thought it lacked charm.

I really hoped it wasn't a permanent backyard feature.

Or that he would at least PLANT something on it.

Well, lo and behold, last week the dad finally brought back the bulldozer!!

I cheered and watched as he set to work.  

With the claw end, he began to scrap away at the Wall of Dirt...

Then he turned the dozer around and filled the shovel with dirt he'd scraped off...

Turned 'round again and moved it to another dirt pile, away from the bedroom viewing area.

Back and forth, back and forth and into the early night; there were lights on the thing.

Because he had rented this dozer,  he would get every last cent out of his rental.

He's that kind of a guy.

And lo and behold by the next afternoon the Wall of Dirt had been flattened. YAH!!

(It is now awaiting landscaping, we think, we hope)

However since it is now a flat pile of dirt for awhile, and the neighbor has a 5 year old little boy...

Look for something yellow around the middle of the picture....

Yes!!  It's a Tonka truck, big  and bold...

Perfect for this great big dirtbox! The boy raced around for hours.  I'm sure he slept well that night!

Now we'll wait to see what the next move in the landscaping department might be.

Imagine what a delightful, deep mud wallow it will be after a BIG rainstorm!!

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UPDATE:  A storm rolled in last night...

 But Tonka Truck managed to hold a precarious position despite the eroding floodwaters!

 And now there's more play equipment for this playground.

See the little green football that floated in?!

Gotta love some rain!

"Suessical the Musical"

This year Amanda's high school  presented a most delightful musical called Suessical!!  Yes, it's a story about many magical characters from about 15 of Dr. Suess' books....from Horton the Elephant to Sour Kangaroo, from Yrtle the Turtle to Cat in the Hat, all brought into one whole new story with many fantastical songs.  Bright colors, fun sets, dancing and singing galore!!

These kids work like crazy to put these productions on...rehearsals are all after school and weekends.  The musical itself was chosen on the end of last school year, by the dedicated directors and staff.  Then all the paperwork for buying the Rights to perform, and the scripts, musical score, and renting the sets and costumes is begun.  Auditions were done near the beginning of this school year.  It's a big project...there are about 90 parts in this musical!

Just imagine putting all these Suess characters together...what a riot...and the Cat in the Hat

is the one who is running the show!!

Amanda didn't sing this year, 

she was in the Fish and Water Ballet.

Why were there fish and water??

Because a bathtub overflowed on stage and

filled it up like an aquarium!!

It's Suess!!

Due to very strict copywrite laws, I couldn't film the actual musical, but I got some great pictures of Amanda, who played in the Underwater Ballet...there were 3 performances, and her make-up a little different for each day...

First full dress rehearsal...

All make-up and hairstyles were done

by other cast members.

Not by her mom...ha-ha!!

That's quite a hairstyle!  It took about a billion bobby pins.

After Opening day Performance,

look at those sequens and glitter!

Here's how the whole outfit looks...wow does it shine!

Here's the look for the 2nd performance...

 Final performance, a Saturday matinee.

Everyone's getting pretty tired by this time!

And grandma was there to cheer her on!

And here's her best buddy, Matthew, 

who played JoJo, the son of the mayor of Who.  He's a singer,

you can see the microphone near his mouth.

They agreed that Amanda would bring him one fine rose,

and he would bring her six.

At curtain call of the final performance,

I managed to get a photo of the underwater dancers,

pick out Amanda!!

 Alot of work brings together another great performance and fun, fun time!! 

And what's on for next year??  No news until the end of this school year!!