§ Bud's Siesta Time...My Time

Once again this week, I'm staying close to home. It's becoming a bit too routine, and I'd Rather B Birdin'!!!!! I have sketched some more, then using my oil pastels to add color. A couple of times, like I mentioned in a previous post, I nixed some of my sketches. I just wasn't pleased with the outcome of the outlining. I started two 'new' ones, and finished one. I had a most difficult time getting depth in the blossom [beginning of the 'coloring' seen here, the end result will be the last image shared on this post]. Anyway, we worked on the last of our jigsaw puzzle; almost done! And while Bud was taking his after-lunch siesta, I went outdoors in the yard to inspect the plants, etc. Just to see how much needs to be done in a week or two. Yes,  with some trees and plants going dormant, there will be a chore of winter kill and trimming. The temps are warming up again, Spring arrives shortly here in the south!! I did notice that my hybrid variegated hibiscus froze with the very low over night temps a few weeks back, but it survived and will have new growth showing up soon. In a way, the freeze probably did some good...revitalizing. Okay, so as I walked around noticing all the weed pulling and a vision of the electric hedge trimmer coming out of storage...this will be needed to be added to our work list, I took photos with the cellphone; the hibiscus [the insect on the blossom, by the way, is a Milkweed Assassin], the Christmas Cactus, and tea roses, the Mary Banks rose climber [Tombstone Rose] are all in bloom at the moment:

...and the last one, my finished oil pastel: Daffodil [aka "Sunny Delight".]

§ A True Hybrid of Prettiness....

Tropical Storm update: We here in Corpus Christi received only winds and rain. Along the coast quite a bit of flooding and dune erosion. The "eye" of the storm came on land near Port O'Connor, Texas [about 100 miles north, northeast of us]. There will be flooding advisories out for two days. Sunday, I drove out to the Gulf and witnessed some rough surf. Took pictures and will show them later this week.  Now, on with the show.  This found below was pre-scheduled in case of power outages during the storm threat...

 

We bought this plant nearly 16 years ago, and it doesn't bloom until late summer and all during the Fall. I love it. The blossoms are small in comparison to the 'regular' hibiscus, but the variegated leaves of christmas red, white and green just dazzles the eye. I would love to have more of this, but I've looked often at other nurseries in town, and can never find any more!

§ More Covid & Current Events HumorThis and That...

...and what do pigeons do to statues? They have a point!! Actually, so does the teacher.
not my two images, courtesy of the internet

...Can we uninstall 2020 and reinstall? Seems my [and yours too?] version has  a virus!!!

...They told me a mask and gloves were all you need to wear to the grocery store. They lied. All the other shoppers were wearing clothes.

...Sometimes I wonder if all this happening is because I never did forward the message a while ago to 10 other people!!

Lastly: I figured I could 'kill two birds with one stone" with this gesture. One, to keep my hands off my face, and two, to beat the heat here in South Texas. One cone in each hand works for me!

And what's this new thing the Governor is asking us to do during this 2nd time around? Ummmm, wasn't that we were to stay home? Enlarge this image to see the inbound traffic here in Corpus. This explains the huge uptick in Covid numbers!!




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What's on your phone's homepage wallpaper



.my afghan/crochet update:



Outside our patio door:

§ I have no title to describe this eclectic piece....

 This is just photos of our last few days with a small explanation to go with it all...

One of my patio potted pink hibiscus.


My car has to have a bit of bling too!  Even rhinestones [I haven't found a good bird decal yet, so I settled for a transparent butterfly].

This puzzle, Texas Bluebonnet Sunrise, was very easy!  Tho, when I opened the box to dump the pieces on the puzzle table, I was shocked to see each piece cut exactly the same as ALL.  I've never seen anything like it before, and I was sure it'd take a long time.  But, honestly, this was one of the easiest puzzles to work that we've had.  We  have three more jigsaws waiting to be put together...one, Cleopatra [art], T-Rex, and the Colorado Maroon Belles [mountains].

After making a huge pot of Chili Verde  [green chili] for dinner last night, I had to make me something special...a banana split with -sugar free frozen yogurt, sugar free caramel sauce and pecans.

Caughtcha!!!  He is up on the counter and looks guilty doesn't he?  He knows he's not supposed to be up there, breaking things....but hey, he's a cat.  Their nature!!

I've now finished 28 pansies for the afghan.  TONS more to go.

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To end this post I feel I must explain myself from yesterday. Most were okay with what I posted, yet...I was NOT trying to infuriate anyone with my rant as was posted in a comment.  None of my words were directed to ANYONE  in particular, and I would never call anyone on it. Let me explain further...Long ago, I was a tutor for Spanish I in Colorado; helping students learn to speak Spanish [and read it] properly. So, in turn, when I hear someone mispronouncing so many of Texas' cities [mostly with Mexican/Spanish names], etc. I am always gritting my teeth. Especially since this state is historically Mexico, and population for the majority shows it. I was not intentionally trying to compare NORTH to SOUTH pronunciations in the English Language...only the Spanish [and pointing out one German surname] speaking instances I hear so very often. And I realize there is more than one dialect in all states, and my words/names used yesterday were TEXAS Americanizing the Spanish Language...it's was just me voicing my opinion. As with peCON and peCAN, the same is, for instance, ColoRADo and ColoRAHdo... Sorry to step on anyone's toes. That was NOT my intention, just blogging about my thoughts on the subject.

§ ...and After the Rain Came

After Bud and I went to lunch at Jason's Deli, returning home in the rain, the aftermath of the drenching dictated to me that I go out in the yard with my cellphone camera primed, and get the raindrops on flowers. That 'raindrops on flowers' makes me feel like singing along with Julie Andrews on a bit of my favorite things...

§ Where the Flowers Bloom....

On Wednesday we had a mild cool front move in. High 70s to low 80s. After hitting the century mark in heat already this month, I took advantage of the cloud cover and 'cooler' temps to pull weeds in our yard. Naturally, when taking a break, I took pictures....

My favorite hibiscus...the PINK.  Yellow Hibiscus, Don Juan Red Climbing Rose

Strawberries and Cream Crepe Myrtle, Ixora,  Purple Bougainvillea, 1st blossom of the season of the Epiphylum!

Another favorite of mine...the Duranta!  Love the weeping purple flowers.  [one on the left is entangled among the hybrid variegated hibiscus which isn't blooming yet...but here's an image of the blossom]

Another view of a 2nd Ixora.  Both this one image and the one above in the other series are supposed to be pale yellow blossoms, but here are two confused flowers...with a striking red.  Notice the 1st one has a cream colored stripe in the center of the petal, while this one has two halves in pale yellow.

Y'all know how I love to photograph and see the Texas Wildflowers. While sitting after the noon-day dishes were done, I was curious to find out if poppies would grow in my area. My sister sent me a photo of her red poppies in bloom in her front yard. We texted back and forth about them, and she said she'd send me some seeds this Fall. I didn't know if they'd survive the damp air. It's worth a try. So, I look forward to attempting to see if they'll 'take' from seed. Anyway, my point of this is while I WAS LOOKING online, I found a great site. All about identifying [with photos] wildflowers. Not only Texas [which this site has Texas divided into areas of the big state]...but, EACH state in America!! You may be interested in it, so I thought I'd share the links.

https://www.wildflower.org/plants/

Use the drop down menu found on the site for each individual state [and Canada]