§ In Recovery!

The yard work is near complete! At least the winter kill from last February. A long time coming, but we have only two more to cut out...the pomegranate tree and another red bougainvillea. Then, of course, the never ending job of weeding. We just did that last week, and more have sprouted. But, there is a bright side of this too!! When last week our job for the week was to cut out the frozen, dead, brown, gardenia bush. I cut them out, Bud clipped them so they fit into the trash bin so we don't have to haul it to the landfill ourselves. Then, what I couldn't get the large hedge clippers to fit around the limb, Bud sawed them to the ground level. Two days later, when I was out in the morning, watering the patio potted plants, I saw NEW growth....right where we cut out the dead! The gardenia is coming back from the roots!! That instigated a more detailed inspection of all the OTHER winter kill - both front and back yards....I was elated. Most is coming back up from the ground. It will take a few years to get it all back to normal, but most have survived!! Ones I thought would need replacing.   There were some that I knew would come back from the cold snap, like the crepe myrtle and the Mexican Bird of Paradise and the Esperanza....

Our yard is looking like home again.

...and to continue showcasing my Trolls...

↓ My 15th Troll Share ↓

TROLL DOLL COLLECTION Last of "Regular" Trolls...Twins! Remaining Trolls are Holiday Themed circa: late 70s

§ Dissertation...Book...Flowers...Hearts

It's been a while since I've shared nature's hearts.  Here are some from my archives where I save for future postings like today. Three leaves and one broken nest from a Kiskadee bird...

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This will be my last update on the birthday's Table Top Garden. I think most of the bulbs shipped in the planter have either bloomed or is now in full bloom, as you can see in the first of the series of 6 photos, before they all too soon fade away. I'm thinking of experimenting with them over the non-growing season for this temperate zone and its high water ground table and see if I can't encourage them to bloom next year. Wish me luck.

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Lastly, I realized this morning I never did a critique on the last book that I was reading when I posted on my blog. All I can say is, don't bother even opening the cover. It made no sense throughout. Well, it did somewhat, but all I can say after finishing it, what was the purpose of writing this in the first place. I am now reading "The Queen's Fortune". A historical novel of Napoleon's first love. By Allison Pataki. It was recommended to me from my sister. It's a hit and miss reading since I've been helping with the English grammar and punctuation of my son's PhD dissertation on Churchill. That is taking up a lot of my time which I don't mind helping...but, he'd better dedicate his work to "For My Mother" lololol.

§ TableTop Garden Update...

Seems I have to wait for the best to bloom last. My favorite Spring Flower is the daffodil. The all yellow [none of the hybrid colors...the original. ---the bud, seen 2nd down on the right or, 4th in the series]

§ Table Top Garden...

I've been testing the waters, so to speak, with my new smartphone, and wi-fi connection and camera options [I like cameras...this one has so many nifty things...even a photo GPS!].  With our new senior plan, the internet connection GB are a lot less than what we previously had, so I think I'm not gonna like it much without a wi-fi connection and MORE internet browsing GB. We'll see. For now, today, instead of hotspot through the phone I'm going thru wi-fi. I guess. LOL...at least I think so. Not sure. Will find out sooner or later. With all phone carriers using hotspot, if after you use your allotted monthly giga-bytes the connection speed really slows down to a snail's pace. I cannot handle slow! I feel the need for speed!!

Anyway, it's been foggy for the last few days, I'm not going out, birding. Instead we work in the yard with winter kill clean-up for a couple of hours and call it quits for the day. There will be much more this year than the previous years, I do not lie!! But, I wanted to show you something...

For my birthday, my sister had shipped to me FEDex a "Table-top garden". She knows I love Spring flowers that we took for granted in Colorado. But, for here, zone 9, for planting such as daffodils, tulips, hyacinths...they don't do well at all. The bulbs rot in the ground with the water table being so high and warm ground. Hence, my "table-top garden"...

I kept it boxed in the garage during the 17 degree nights, and once that front moved out, I put it outdoors on the patio, and it's doing well...

The first to show signs of budding flowers were the hyacinths...

...and it didn't take long for a bee to find the blossoms!

§ Ola Amigos! I Had Mexican Food...the Spanish Speaking Comes Naturally After Beans and Rice!!! ----

---and not only speaking the language, a bit of Gas!!! :::wink:::


Spanish to English:  Ola Amigos = Hello Frends [Amiga is feminine]

A cold front moved in with a 20-25 degree drop in temperature from mid week last week...with rain! For the most part of two days I stayed home. Before the rains came, I did a bit of work outdoors. Mainly on the patio and the bird feeding station. Three times now, one feeder kept breaking [probably with the weight of a half dozen or more heavy white winged doves on the perches at one time]...that called for a replacement instead of repairing it for the fourth time...

Now, we have a colorful BIRD HOUSE, with windows and chimney. It's kinda comical, the doves have a difficult time of steadying themselves on plastic instead of wood like the old one. It won't take long for them to get accustomed to the newer surface; they're not dumb!

I did some re-potting with some of the patio plants. I need to get more potting soil also! Next trip I take to the store. My Christmas Cactus is blooming again, and the geranium is getting new growth and blossoms [I love geranium scent]...

After pulling a few broad leafed weeds from the lawn, I just perused the yard a bit....the pomegranate tree is blooming, and is in need of trimming to get the 'weeping branches' off the privacy fence. Some amaryllis are budding. The tombstone rose [lady banks] is blooming. The purple bougainvillea is heavy with blooming. One of my favorite sub-tropical plants, the hibiscus, are beginning to get heavy with blossoms and buds....

When I figured I was done with the amount of yard work I was going to do for the day, I went indoors to see Isaiah in his basket....

"You can't see me, but I see you!!"

"boo!"

"Scare ya? Did I?"

After showering, Bud and I decided to go out for lunch, and then visit the book store. We went to a new Mexican restaurant...Something Del Sol of Mexico. Good food, but I was most impressed with the tables and chairs...very authentic style! Leather, upholstery tacks galore and beautiful rich laminated table tops. Each chair backing there was a painted scene. That part, I really liked. Plus the chair legs. Bud took a photo of it on his cell phone for me...

We watched movies, and finished a 2nd jigsaw puzzle to complete our days indoors. Home sweet home. Now, I'm ready for the weather patterns to get back to partly sunny to clear skies to get back birding.