Take Three Thursday - The Bells of The Garden Ball

In an effort to notice more of the ordinary in my life, I have decided to share what I have noticed this week in Take Three Thursday.   The idea is to take 1 - 3 photos that are linked some how; by theme, by colour, by date, by moment,  by points of view. There is no formal link in but please feel free to join in.    What have you noticed this week?  

This week I seem to have a lot of white flowers in bloom in my garden.  I noticed that there seems to be some with similar shapes, so this week I give you the "Belles" of My Garden, a rhapsody in white.
 

Lily Of The Valley

 

Solomon's Seal

Giant Snow Drops

All of my "Belles" are clumping up quite nicely.  Lily of the Valley can be quite invasive but I forgive all because the flower smells so wonderful, plus the leaves stay green all summer giving a nice cover.  The Solomon's Seal were purchased as three stems & rather expensive but thankfully there is quite a gathering now & they have a fairly long bloom time.  I like the green edging on these bells.  The Snowdrops bloom quite early in most gardens but not mine, I think these are known as Giant Snowdrops & while they are clumping up nicely, this Spring there wasn't as many blooms as previously years so I'll need to ensure some heavy feeding over the Summer into the Autumn so I get myself a glorious amount of blooms next Spring. They also have a nice touch of green on the flowers.

Me On A Monday - May 28th

Good Morning All - it's bright new day.

 
Happy Spring Bank Holiday to those in GB & Happy Memorial Day to those in the US of A.

Source: internet

The SPSH list was published last week. I hope that you all join in with one or all that you find on this fun quest.  I have already printed my list off with notes of what & where I can find items on the list.  If you missed, the list.
2018 SPSH List

After such a cold start to spring, we have finally got the patio set up & oh it is such a delight to have morning tea there.  All my pots of flowers are planted & my tomato plants in.  We are still on a quest for a water feature. 

 My Hellebores have bloomed & I am most surprised that mine have flowers quite upright on the stems ... does this mean mine are mutant?!  No matter, I am just pleased that the wild bunnies did not get either of them over the winter.

On Saturday the farmer behind us sprayed the Winter Wheat with a herbicide that required as to stay indoors for a couple of hours while the spray settled.  It smelt horrible but I know necessary.

And speaking of war on insects & the like,  my little forest of Asiatic Lilies (pink) is growing rapidly but as soon as I see one of the nasty horrible invading red Japanese Lily bugs, I spray with insecticidal soap & if the spray bottle isn't close at hand, I keep two flat stones close by for squishing the little buggers.  I use to have another grouping but I was lax in my war on the beetle & they destroyed it & now this grouping is a last stand.

Ordering tickets for Man of La Mancha - this is the only musical that Mr Man likes.  We have seen before but this one is at a new to us theatre.                                 




I hope that no matter where you are, you get a moment or two to savour the day, I know I'll be having a cup or two in my happy place - the patio.

Take Three - Blooming Good Time

 Thank you everyone for your kind healing thoughts.  I really do appreciate.  I am returning to myself as normal as that may be ...

In an effort to notice more of the ordinary in my life, I have decided to share what I have noticed this week in Take Three Thursday.   The idea is to take 1 - 3 photos that are linked some how; by theme, by colour, by date, by moment,  by points of view. There is no formal link in but please feel free to join in.    What have you noticed this week?  


This week on my walks slow stroll about my community I have noticed some of the blooms on trees; in spite of that ice storm in April, most of the floral trees did not seem to suffer a lost of buds - yeah.  We don't have a lot of the traditional fruit trees in our neighbourhood, like apples, pear or cherry trees.  The houses built on my street now stand where once an apple orchard was, but there isn't a single apple tree left. 

Our next door neighbours have a very full on beautiful Crab Apple in blossom right now & while it peaked on Monday, the blooms are still quite lovely.  I was surprised upon closer inspection, there isn't much if any scent to it & a real lack of bees about.  I think this is more evidence that our bees are in trouble.  The owners of this tree do not use the fruit & I have never noticed whether the squirrels enjoy.

The next in bloom tree is the Choke Cherry, a weed tree really & it grows along the edge of most farmer fields. It doesn't get tall but can get quite full/wide.  We have one at the back of our property & it sends out all kinds of runners every spring, which requires us to chop back.  The little red berry fruit on this tree, the chipmunks & birds go crazy for.  I don't think this fruit is edible for humans.  Last Autumn, Mr Man decided to help it along by pounding around the drip line a few fertilizer spikes.  I was not amused, as I think it's doing just fine without our help.  So far this Spring, lots of blossoms which means lots of fruit & lots of runner shoots!

My last blooming tree is a personal favourite of mine, although this particular tree is really old & does need some attention.  I wish we had planted a Redbud when we were picking trees.  It's rosey pink blossoms grow so close to the branch before any leaves appear, plus they never really take up a lot of space nor do they make a dense leaf canopy blocking out light for plants underneath it, like the maples we planted.
 

"Spiritual blossoming simply means blossoming in life in all dimensions, being happy with yourself, being at ease with yourself & those all around you."   Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

A SPSH List For 2018

2018 SPSH 

June 1st to September  30th 
A Seasonal Photo Scavenger Hunt

A list for fun; a list for above & below the equator; a list for east & west;  a list that you look for on your travels or your wander at home; a list that includes some difficult to find; a list that includes some easy to find; a list that can be interpreted differently; a list for one item; a list for all items; a list not too long; a list of finds to share.  

As before, there's no formal link in, but I thought we could share as we did last year by me indicating your blog site on the days of sharing on my blog post for that day.   Just let me know in the comments you'd like to be included in this list.  Link in days will be June 29th; July 27th; August 31st & September 30th

1. The Rosiness Of Red
2. Stripes
3. A Framed View
4. Wings
5. Pedal Power
6. Glorious Green
7. An Unexpected Reflection 
8. A Pile Of
9. Looks Smaller Than You
10. A Field of Plenty
11. Pretty In Pink
12. Bell(s)
13. Equal Portions
14. A Trilogy Of Three
15. Out Of The Blue 
16. Something That Could Be From A Favourite Book/Movie
17. Re-purposed
18. Currency; Coinage or Paper (the odd, the different, the beautiful)
19. Picture Postcard Perfect
20. Mellow Yellow

Alternate A: a shopping bag (not the store's plastic)

Alternate B: a coupon to use

Thank you to the four (you know who you are) that sent me some suggestions for this list.

Me On A Sunday - May 13th

I would first like to apologize that I haven't been around reading & commenting on everyone's blogs, it's just that I had taken ill in the earlier part of last week & spent a few days in hospital.  I am now home & resting but not much to blog about right now.

I shall be back in form hopefully by next week, with my version of a list for the 2018 SPSH.

Please know that I keep all of you in my thoughts & send happy thoughts even if I'm not about in blog land.

                                            ...Mary-Lou 

 

Take Three Thursday - Questions

In an effort to notice more of the ordinary in my life, I have decided to share what I have noticed this week in Take Three Thursday.   The idea is to take 1 - 3 photos that are linked some how; by theme, by colour, by date, by moment,  by points of view. There is no formal link in but please feel free to join in.    What have you noticed this week?  
 
Have a look at what others have  noticed this week:  
Maggie at Farmers Wife Day by Day
Karen at Random Reflections

Answering the age old question & now that we have the answer, I move on to other questions.  (I always knew it was the egg that came first ...)

  Hello, Mr Skunk, where did you come from & more importantly where do you live?  Under the easterly neighbours deck?

Photo taken from our kitchen window

What are you hunting?  Naughty girl, it better not be my chipmunks.

Me On Monday - May 7th

Good Morning To You All

Source: Internet

We have had a fair amount of rain over the last 4 days combined with a day of marvelous sunshine.  The garden is coming on very quickly, making up for the delay to spring.  Happy to say - Hallelujah - spring flowers:  

Yellow Daffodils

White Hyacinthe

Blue Scilla

Pink Tulip

Pink Hyacinthe

White Daffodills

Bi-colour Tulips

 
 " I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose, I would always greet it in a garden. "   Ruth Stout

Five In Five On The 5th

Joining in with Sandie's Five in Five On The Fifth at: Sandie At Itchifingers

On Friday in Southern Ontario we had a major storm go through the areas, some of us had wind gusting at force 1 hurricane strength.  We lost power twice on Friday, once for about 45 minutes & the second time for about 5 hours.  Most thankful for the hydro crews working through the night to clear downed trees falling on to hydro lines, which was the major cause of power outages.  Of all the downed trees, it seemed healthy evergreen trees fell from the roots pulling loose.  Near us there is a stand of mostly dead trees & surprisingly enough there was only one knocked over.   We did not loose any trees on our property, just lots of twigs & small branches down & all the roof shingles are still accounted for.

So my Five in Five On The 5th were actually taken in more than 5 minutes ... so  give you 5 of the trees knocked down near me.

f you reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees. Khalil Gibra
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/khalil_gibran_105414?src=t_wind

f you reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees. Khalil Gibra
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/khalil_gibran_105414?src=t_wind

"If you reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for telling them to the trees."   Khalil Gibran

Take Three Thursday - Pushing Through

In an effort to notice more of the ordinary in my life, I have decided to share what I have noticed this week in Take Three Thursday.   The idea is to take 1 - 3 photos that are linked some how; by theme, by colour, by date, by moment,  by points of view. There is no formal link in but please feel free to join in.    What have you noticed this week?  
 
Have a look at what others have  noticed this week:  
Maggie at Farmers Wife Day by Day
Karen at Random Reflections

This week what I most noticed while cleaning up winter's debris in my garden, was the willingness of the spring bulbs to push through what I had yet to clean up.  Tulips in my garden are often the first to push through with the large alliums & bearded iris follow.  My daffodils seem to hold back to be sure it's safe to come & bloom.  I am only too glad to see these shoots coming on strong.  I will not see it as a reproach on my tardiness in getting things tidied up (col).
The first is the tulip growing up through a hollow stem from a daylily - amazing

 

The second is the giant allium pushing through the leaves & now the leaves provide a sort of skirt.

And lastly is the bearded iris pushing through the leaves.

Truly I can now say, welcome spring, you are most longed for in your true arrival.

"She wore her yellow sun-bonnet, She wore her greenest gown; She turned to the south wind And curtsied up and down. She turned to the sunlight And shook her yellow head, And whispered to her neighbor: "Winter is dead.”  AA Milne