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That's what I have been!..lol. I know it's been a while since I have posted and I have not forgotten any of you! I have been so busy! I found a new game to play on Facebook. It's called Farm Town and I have been playing that when I have not been outside trying to water or weed. It's a great game! Very family oriented and fun! If you have a Facebook account go and try it!
My garden is winding down here and there. My holly hocks are over and I have cut them back. The New Guinea impatiens in the hanging baskets are dying off as are the gernaniums that were hit so hard by the sun burn, pests and disease. However, my roses have taken and they have shot up new shoots and buds! I can't wait to see them! My pink cone flower is also blooming and I can't wait to plant more next year! My golden cone flower is doing great and it even left me a volunteer (as witt puts it) from last year in another spot. I am going to transplant it as soon as I can. I also have several volunteer holly hocks to transplant and I have harvested the seeds so that I can have more next year. Some little critter has eaten the tops off of my Cherokee Sunset rudbeckia :( and now that willl probably die off as well until next year. The lilies are dying off too. I don't know why everything is dying off early this year. We've had enough rain and I have watered in between. The only thing that hasn't really died is that English ivy! I have been spraying with round up and I have been trying to cut and pull. I still have not freed the azaelas from it's grasp yet, but I hope to soon. It's just been too hot for me to work out in that space. I have a big pile of brush, limbs and ivy from where I have been working but if it weren't sitting there as proof, you would never know I had been working on it :( . Well that's all the news from the cottage. I hope all of you are well. I think I am getting back to the point where I can sit and read your blogs and post a little more. Until next time take care and happy gardening!
Today I was out in the yard weeding and edging and I came in for a bit to rest. Then I decided to take the camera and sit on the porch for a minute while I was resting. I wanted to see if I could catch a bird at the suet feeder and practice getting closeups. I took a couple of shots that didn't look too good and the birds left. So I practiced on a citronella candle for a minute. Then I thought I should try and get a feel of focusing on the hummingbird feeder. My second thought was too bad there wasn't a hummer at the feeder. Just as I raised my camera, a hummer came into view and I just clicked away. I got 5 pics, but these were the only shot that was decent.
I realize that there are many pics out there of hummers and much better, but this is MY FIRST picture of a hummer. I have always wanted to take a picture of my very own hummingbird feeder and humming bird and now I have! The movement was so fast, his wings look almost transparent. After I ran in and called my hubby and posted the pictures, I went back outside to sit on the porch and the hummer came back and hovered right down in front of me about 2 ft away. He was just looking at me for a second and then flitted off! Hope you enjoy the pictures! - CG
You've all heard of that horrifying place called the "Concrete Jungle" haven't you? It's a place I call home for all those urban cave dwellers. I couldn't imagine going to one of those places to live. Just looking up at one of these tall cliff like cave dwellings aka skycrapers gives me a swift and furious attack of vertigo! Whenever I see a downtown city block I feel like I am in a nightmare and can't wake up! If there is a hell for gardeners, living in a concrete jungle would be it! Unfortunately I am sure when I am really old and crippled I will eventually land there. For those of you that have to live there now because of circumstances, you have my deepest sympathy. I think that if I had to give up gardening, I just might as well die. I can't imagine my life without grass and lots flowers! Thank God for container gardening or the concrete jungle would really would be a terrible place! Howeeeeeeeeever.....I have a different kind of jungle at the moment. I have a name for it now. The Raspberry Jungle. I have nothing against raspberries, The raspberries that have ripened are nice and sweet. It's just that they and the English Ivy are taking over . They are choking out everything! The ivy has already killed one tree that had to be taken down and is threatening the dogwoods. The ivy has also overtaken the azaelas. Some are barely visible, some you can just see tiny leaves here and there. The hostas that are there are struggling to survive. I would go hog wild and start pulling, but I am so afraid that there are snakes in that mess! I am thinking if I could get a foot hold so to speak and clear a space and work from there, I might be able to do it.and even English Ivy had some irritants in them that if people are sensitive to, they can get a rash from even those. So guess what?......yup......I am sensitive! The ivy and the raspberries have also inspired the pests. I have written about this before....the rat family. I have FIVE.....yes FIVE rats that come out in broad daylight to mingle around my birdfeeder. The only way to discourage these critters is to get rid of the ivy. They are nesting in an overtaken azaela bush. If you all would like to see and understand why I am so depressed about my backyard, Go to my album titled, The Raspberry Jungle. The tag below was inspired by Mitzilou's "Herbie" I hope you enjoy it! Have a great weekend! -
Hi all! I haven't got much gardening news this week. I've been busy with the family. We didn't get to celebrate on the 4th because of work schedules etc. It really irritates me that businesses no longer shut down to celebrate holidays. Especially major holidays like the 4th, Thanksgiving, Easter etc. Oh well that's another soap box matter. I had planned to go out and start tackling a really tough job and that is to remove the over growth from the back yard. We are supposed to maintain the yard but the landlord has let the trees, ivy, wild raspberries and poison ivy take over everything. It is killing the azaelas and the dog woods. Not to mention that we have vermin in the yard now. We have a nest of rats living in that mess. You know I can't lay poison down, some other poor critter would get into it. We have squirrels and chipmunks etc. I am careful not to go out at night because of the racoons and the bears. We haven't seen a bear lately, but not more than 20 minutes from here just in the last few days a bear was photographed and a mountain lion was seen. The mountain lions are rare but they are here. I dread doing the pruning, but someone has got to do it.
Behind this mess is a section of yard where all the wild raspberries are and you can't even see the clothesline! Even if you could see it, you can't use it because the raspberries have twined around the lines.
Wish me luck as I start this project...lol. Take care and I am glad you all had a nice 4th! -
This past Saturday night I took a nasty fall in my office. (Redzey already knows because she's on Facebook) Because of my knees being the way they are, I can't get up without help. I had fallen so hard that I skinned my knees on the carpet, jammed both wrists and my shoulder. Thank God for cell phones! I carry one just for this purpose. My youngest son Brett came across town in a hurry to my rescue. Once I was up, I was okay..just banged up. Later that night I took a new medication for my arthritis and lo and behold it made me deathly sick on top of what I had already been through. I was sick all night and most of Sunday. I did manage to get out and water those potted plants though!
Knowing that I felt so bad, my hubby Chris wanted to cheer me up so he brought me some beautiful bi -colored roses. So I thought I would share them with you.
Well, I hope you enjoyed the roses...I can almost smell them through the monitor...lol. Take care until next time- CG
Hi all and thanks so much for the welcome back comments! It's been a busy time for me while the site was seemingly down, but mostly weeding etc. I am a little frustrated and disappointed with the garden this year. Everything I have except for the tomatoes in the front of the house have been affected by some kind of blight or other. First it was the Hollyhocks and roses and now my Geraniums. Everything that looked so beautiful in my pictures now looks terrible. The Hollyhocks are blooming, but I have had to strip the leaves. The same with the Geraniums. The Hanging pots of Verbena have something too. ....not sure what. I just think it's from all the rain we have been having. And those dollar herb seeds that I got from Wal-Mart never came up :( Next year I will start treating the perennials when they come up and hope for the best. As for the herbs and annuals, I will just get established plants.
Witt 's friend Sid sent his friends to my house to pay a visit. I recognize this one as Chip....
But I don't think this is Dale.....
This guy comes out in broad daylight to mooch around the birdfeeder and today I think he brought a smaller friend.
This is my Rudbeckia - Cherokee Sunset in the plow bed.
This is Ice Star Shasta Daisy is also in the Plow Bed.
I haven't posted many pics of the backyard, because the backyard is still very overgrown. We have Azalelas but you can't see them because of the overgrowth and poison ivy. Raspberries are growing wild everywhere! We won't get to eat any because the birds are getting them first....but that's okay. I did put some perennial plants around the patio though..
These are the wild Raspberries. Our yard is full of them!
My Granddaughter Kaylee is asking "When will we be able to eat them Nana?"
In this picture Kaylee was asking me "Where does the water come from Nana?"
The last one of the backyard and patio is where the plant magic begins. When we moved I had to leave my old potting table behind because I didn't think I had a place to put it. Once we got settled in, I discovered I was wrong and missed my table. I began shopping around for potting tables and couldn't believe how expensive they were! My old one was just something a friend had built and discarded so I took it and made it my potting table. I came acrossed a design on the Internet and we knew someone who did wood working. I asked my husband if he would give him an estimate on building the table for me. When it came time to pay the man for the table, he refused any money! I was so surprised and blessed!
Now back to the front yard, I took some pictures of the lilies after the rain. I wanted to see how far I could zoom in on the raindrops. ( I don't think I posted these before....can't remember)
And lastly back to the Hollyhocks:
Well folks I hope you enjoyed the tour "Through The Cottage Gate" take care- *hugs* CG
Thank You Redzey for all your patience and help!!! I really appreciated it so very much! I don't know what happened, but the other day I went to log on to GG and all the text was gone. I just figured the site was down for maintenence or something and I kept checking throughout the day. But it didn't come back and that's when I emailed Redzey on Facebook. Thank God for Facebook...lol.
As for clearing Cache and cookies, rebooting ect. I had tried that and nothing worked.....This was just the darndest thing...lol. My thanks to all who tried to help as well! I am looking forward to catching up on the blogs! Take care and happy gardening! - Karen
Yesterday seemed like an ordinary day in the yard. I weeded and edged out the plow bed. The heat was so intense at mid day I came inside and took a nap. Hubby came home early from work and mowed the yard. By late afternoon, I was up and moving again and fixed dinner. After that it was time to get some more chores done outside.After putting that stuff on to cook, I went back outside and watered. Chris helped me to fill bird feeders and helped me to clean out the garden pond. As twighlight decended we sat and watched the fireflies slowly rising from the ground. There are so many more than last year. The whole yard and the neighbor's yard was twinkling like a fairyland. As I sat there watching all the twinkling, I felt so blessed to have such a nice yard and the yard's of our neighbor's. That is a nice plus. All the neighbors in the subdivision take very good care of their yards and homes. We also have a couple of bats that fly around in the evening too. Just as we started to go inside for the evening, a little fox appeared across the street. It went up the street into the other neighbor's yard and disappeared. After working in the yard all day I was filthy dirty. It felt soooooo good to take a shower and wash my hair....I sat up late and read blogs and did a few necessary things on the computer and went to be. I drifted off dreaming of the fireflies and I slept peacefully for the rest of the night. Now I must be off to start the day. I'll be cooking all day in preparation of our Father's Day dinner so no playing in the yard today. I hope you all have a safe and happy weekend! -
Once again, I say thanks! It seems that my hollyhocks have a rust blight (which I suspected, but never have seen on a hollyhock before..) and I believe that my roses have thrip and I will treat them accordingly. I will start pruning the hollyhocks and cleaning the bed tomorrow to make sure that there is no debris to infect the other plants. I will have to keep spraying...it's been raining everyday and will be doing that for at least the rest of the week. I thought the bed was so pretty...well I guess there had to be some kind of pests in the garden to spoil it right? Guess, I will have to kick rust and thrip in the butt and get my garden back, right? TTYL,
Thank You all so much for your kind thoughts and prayers. My proceedure went well and there is no sign of cancer or ulcers. My dad had to have part of his stomach taken out because of the ulcers and we were pretty worried that I would have something like that. My throat is still pretty sore as is the rest of me. I haven't had much sleep in the last couple of days, but it's getting better. :) I didn't get to play in the garden today because I wasn't up to it, but I did go out and take a few pictures. When I got out there I realized that my roses are not in good shape. I will have to get the rose book out and find out what is causing the deformity in the petals. I am also going to have to investigate my Hollyhocks. Something is eating them and I am not sure what. Something has also affected the other big hollyhocks. It looks like rust or some sort of scale. So that's on my to do list tonight - research. I also discoverd some baby hollyhocks. One of them bloomed! I can't believe it did that! I guess I am going to be really good at growing hollyhocks....lol - That is if I can conquer the disease that is consuming them. One picture I got was of Easter Lilies that decided they didn't know what time of year it was. But I am grateful they are blooming!
And to Yardgranny, yes I did make that tag myself. Thanks so much for asking. I made it with my Paint Shop Pro progam. I am glad you enjoyed it! Well below are the pictures I took, for better and/ or worse. Tonight will be dedicated to finding answers.
My bee balm is not as pretty a red as Bill's :(...lol. I'm jealous! But it's still pretty and I love my Shasta Daisies!
Easter lilies, that don't know what time of year it is....lol.
Hidden Hollyhock - This is the baby Hollyhock that thinks it's big stuff! It's already blooming!
Something is so wrong with my roses and Hollyhocks :-(
Shasta Daisies again with the tomatoes getting ready to bloom in the background. Pink Coneflower stands by the daisy's side getting ready to bud.
And the worst for last, my big Hollyhocks :( This just makes me want to cry....
Well folks it is what it is. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Have a great week! -*hugs to all*-
Hi all, I haven't had time to play in the garden for the last couple of days - I have been catching up on housework. I am having a proceedure done on Monday and I will be out of commission for a couple of days. It's not serious, just enough to make me miserable. Anyway, I had to go out and get groceries and went to Wal-Mart. On my list was spray for the roses, rooting powder for the lavender and slug bait. Found the spray, couldn't find rooting powder and forgot the slug bait. That was because when I was looking for the rooting powder, I found an herb starter kit. It had a nice oblong tin/copper like planter, herb seeds- basil, parsley and chives and the peat pellets were included. This kit had been $10.00 and they marked it down to $1.00. So I snatched one up. Now I can get started growing herbs!
Well that's about it for now. I probably won't be online much tomorrow, but I will try to read the blogs if I do get online. Hope you all have a blessed week to come! *hugs* -
Well good afternoon everyone! Here I am a day later and if it's possible to have a hangover from gardening, I most certainly do! I came in last night when it was dark and I took a shower. I scrubbed from head to toe, shampooed and scoured but I could still smell mulch! When I wrote that blog last night I was sitting here and I could still smell ....you guessed it....mulch. I asked the DH if I smelled like mulch and he laughed and said "No dear. You probably have mulch in your nose." I went to bed smelling mulch. I dreamed of mulch. I spread mulch in my sleep! I woke up this morning and could not move and you would think I had spent the night in a bar! I looked aweful!...lol. My eyes were swollen (probably from all that bending over) and I had a headache that would have made a college party kid proud! I do declare after yesterday I am convinced I picked my GG name to early. I should have signed up as Mulchin' Annie! I can hear the titles now. Instead of " Anne of Green Gables", it will be Anne of Black Mulch. "Annie Get Your Gun" will be Annie Get Your Garden Spade!" "Anne, Queen of Mulch." etc. And it's not over...not by any stretch! I couldn't wait to get some chores done so I could go out and take some pictures. Due to my hubby's schedule, most of the time he leaves in the dark of the morning and get's home at dark. He has little time to see changes in the yard. He didn't get to see the mulch last night and he left before dawn this morning. When he got home he saw how nice the mulch was and I told him I was going to take pictures for the blog. So I ran in to get the camera and came back outside. Before I could take the pictures, DH said "Wait wet the mulch down - it will look better." I hung my head for a second and thought...Okay....I'll wet the mulch down. I put the camera down and grabbed the hose. After having the wet t shirt contest for mulch, I turned off the hose and grabbed the camera again and started clicking happily away. :D . I excitedly ran back into the house to pull up the GG site and got my graphics program open in anticipation of resizing and uploading pictures. When I opened the camera to get the memory card out, I had another "hang my head" moment. I had forgotten to take the memory card out of the computer and put it back into the camera last night. Hence, I had to put it back into the camera, go all the way downstairs and out to the front and retake the pictures. Before my hubby left. He asked me if I wanted to put the last bag of mulch in the plow bed which is in our side yard. I said no, there isn't enough to do the whole bed. His reply was okay, we'll just go ahead and get a truckload then! My eyes got very wide for a moment and then I hung my head and shook it side to side and walked back into the house....
To Carolyn: I have never had problems with Cypress mulch either. I just noticed that the dianthus was dying and I wasn't certain why. There could be several reasons, but I think the slugs are the main culprit. Anyway, I think the dark mulch makes the colors of the bed really pop! Thanks for the comment :)
To Mountain Sprite: I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina. We have black bears, coyotes, foxes, ground hogs, bob cats, racoons and we also supposedly have mountain lions however rare or endangered. No one has reported seeing one lately. For birds we have a variety. All sorts of finches and grosbeaks, cardinals, eastern blue birds, titmouse(mice..whatever) hawks
, geese etc. I hope this helps.
To Mitzi: No need to be afraid of your lilies. If you keep them well spaced and trim the dead out of them and keep them mulched, you shouldn't have a problem. It's when they become too thick for mice and rodents to hide in there is a problem. The snakes hunt the mice and when humans come into contact by accident that's where we freak out. The crews cleaning out the interstate medians and rest stop areas that have daylilies have a severe problem with copperheads - but that is because those beds are undisturbed for long periods of time. I have only had the mistfortune of crossing spades with grass snakes and the occasional baby copperheads. As long as you tend your beds you should be fine. A piece of good advice and a cardinal rule for Girl Scouts. "LOOK BEFORE YOU REACH!" As for the rose graphic you inquired about. No, I didn't paint it but thanks for the compliment. I used my graphics program called Paint Shop Pro to create that signature tag. It's a process called "tubing" Tubing means to take a subject out of it's background and save it to a particular format. After it's saved you can create anything you want with it. Once you have learned to use the tools and to tube, the whole world is your oyster! You can create anything you want! You can create wall papers for your computer, email stationery, paper stationery, greeting cards, business cards, flyers and papers for all sorts of scrap booking. All of that led to the side job that I have now of photo restoration and enhancements.
I hope I have answered some questions and comments. Aside from the delerium, I truly do love my mulch and I am so grateful to have it. Below are the pictures I took. I hope you enjoy them :) - Karen
Good Evening All, It's late but I decided to post the bits and pieces of my week. First of all, I can't recall who suggested the bbq skewers for getting rid of slugs, but THANK YOU SO MUCH! I came across a few of them today and those skewers were very handy! After discovering the little buggers, I skewered them and threw them into the roadway to die a thousands deaths! I am convinced they have been the culprits that have been eating everything I have planted this year! But those slugs are not alone in the list of pests I have in my yard. I found that we had moles last year, but did nothing about it. I was too stressed out to deal with a lot of stuff in the yard. This yard as I stated in another blog was totally neglected. Daylilies had been planted all over the front yard. In fact, half of the front yard was nothing BUT daylilies. The neighbors had stated that they hated it because the owners would not allow any mulching of them and the weeds were impossible to handle so the former renters just let it grow up and it got very weedy out there making the house an eyesore. Now I don't exactly hate day lilies, I think some of them are quite pretty. However they tend to attract rodents which in turn attract snakes. So I don't care for them for that reason and another they tend to look tropical and I hate anything tropical looking. ( I know I am going to get some boos and hisses about that statement...lol) Please don't hate me! I was born in New Jersey and taken to Florida as a child. I never like it and I hated the heat so badly. I couldn't wait to escape Florida and come back north (but not so north that I had to leave the South. So anyway, DH and I kept the lilies mowed down, but they kept growing back. Then we noticed fewer and fewer and the ones we kept were dying off too. It finally came to me that the enemy of my enemy was my friend! The moles were eating the daylily roots, thereby killing them off. Now the yard looks a lot cleaner and at least well mowed. We still have lots and lots of weeds in the lawn, but we are working on that and the lawn is mowed and neat. The latest pest is cute, but a pest none the less, it's a racoon. We have 4 feeders and 2 suet feeders, but he chose this one particular feeder in the back yard. He would come about 1 am and sit atop the feeder post and then reach down and lift the bar of the counter balanced feeder and feast away. Of course I would watch him for a few moments always torn between scaring him away and delighting that a beautiful creature had come to our yard. Scaring him away is the best thing I could do for both of us and I was determined to find a way to keep him out of the feeder. I searched through the internet to find out what I could do and came across a website that described racoons as walking coyote pot roasts...lol. Apparently they are a favorite meal of the coyotes. I took some tidbits of information and I thought and I thought. I needed wire that he couldn't chew through and heavy enough to keep him from being able to un twist it. (Racoons are very good at that you know.) Finally I had that Ah Ha moment. I sailed by my husband and "I said I am going to fix that walking pot roast's little happy behind." and I got an old wire coat hanger and cut it with the bolt cutters. I twisted one end around the counter balance bar and then made a loop at the other end. On the post I screwed in an eye bolt. I then inserted a small padlock through the loop of the hanger and the loop of the eyebolt and voila! The feeder bar is locked down so tight he can't get the bar up.
So far it has worked. I have not heard a sound at night from the feeder and the other feeders are not disturbed. Now if we can just keep the bear out of it this winter, we'll be doing fine :D
That brings me to today. Today was mulching day for me. Actually, I have been trying to get it done for the last week, but I haven't had much success. Today I was determined to get the front porch beds done. I had cypress mulch in the beds there but I think it was killing the dianthus. So, I decided to rake out the cypress and replace it with hardwood mulch instead. You would think that would be easy enough, but nooooo. First there were the slugs that I discovered. Then raking and digging out I found little weeds here and there to be pulled. And oh yes, what to do with the old "new mulch" I still had two bags left of that to put somewhere. So I opted to put that around a large azaela bush, one of the suet feeders and the lilies that are around that so not pretty street sign in our front yard. After that, it was much too hot to work in the yard so I had to wait until the afternoon shade appeared. It was about 5 pm and I finally was able to lay the mulch in the beds and be done with at least the front. I laid down so much mulch I found myself making up mulch sales slogans. - Mulch! Get it while it's hot!: Got Mulch?: Mulch..better flowers for a better tomorrow. : Everything goes better with Mulch! I decided that I was having mulch delirium and that it was time to quit for the evening. So, after giving everything a good watering it was time to "go to the house" as they say here in the south. All in all it has been a good week ...except for the slugs. I can't wait to take some pictures tomorrow of the newly mulched beds. I hope all is well in your sunny patch tomorrow. take care, *hugs*-
My friend Joy and I started our journey from my home and we made our way to the golfing community of Champion Hills. Being a golfing community, there are many beautiful homes in that area and I was eager to see what kind of garden this kind of home would have.
As I stated before, the Blessing House was just that – a blessing! It was a blessing to see such a well designed garden filled with meandering paths of perennials, annuals and roses. On approach to the home we pulled into a cul-de-sac drive way surrounded by gorgeous red Knock-out roses. We immediately felt we had been surrounded by mounds of red velvet that welcomed us at the entrance of the driveway. Further on to our left was a low stone wall covered with white roses creeping low over the wall. In front of that was an arbor covered with purple blossoms. Right away I recognized the purple star like blooms of the Clematis but hidden beneath were spent blossoms of Wisteria vine. Both had been intertwined so that when one stopped blooming the other would begin. There was no front yard to speak of. Most of it had been made into beds for the roses and what little front yard there was up close to the house had been made into a bed for annuals. Right up against the house was something I had never seen before. Two grapevine trellises held beautifully manicured Black Eyed Susan vines.
The real adventure began as we made our way past the carport into the back yard. We were instantly awe struck by the intricate design, cultivation and detailed identification of each group of plants and beds. This garden was not something that was built in a few seasons and it certainly wasn’t an amateur project. According to the owner Mr. Blessing, he had bulldozers running back and forth until as late of April this year. Many of the beds had growing medium suited to the plants particular needs as well they should be. But most of us peasants have to sometimes make do with what we have…lol. We use what we can afford, not what we would like to have. All the pathways were carefully mulched. Not a weed in sight for this garden! The pathways meandered and spiraled in a downward terracing that presented something new at every turn until it finally split off and circled around the cascading waterfall and stream. In the middle was a stone bridge that brought the two paths together again. Onward and downward the paths continued until we reached the bottom path where a large double wooden swing allowed visitors an inviting rest. Just beyond that inviting spot was the garden’s end with one last unexpected garden area. It was a moss garden. There we listened to a moss expert tell us how mosses reproduce and how they shape and mound themselves. After that we made our way back to the main garden pathway and ascended the pathways up to a set of stone steps with a rail made from wood and vine. At last we were back at the top of the yard and out into the driveway. It was kind of let down that the tour was over and we were back to reality. This garden really accomplished its goal of making us feel as though we were in another world.
When I came out of the garden I felt rather let down coming back to reality. I really didn’t want to go home again. I wanted to stay in that “other” world for so much longer. But I was also itching to get back to my own little garden and implement ideas that I had seen in that lovely garden that seemed so far away from reality. I hope I have done justice to the tour and to the Blessing House. I am not a writer and I have never done any creative writing. I hope you will visit my albums so you can see what a beautiful blessing this was for me. Hopefully, it will give you all some inspiration or just a little cheer from looking at some beautiful flowers. Until next time,
* hugs *..
Wow! And Good Afternoon! Thank you all so very much for the warm welcome! I wish that I had found this community a long time ago! I am grateful for all the friendship invitations anyone that would like to add me is more than welcome! You can't have too many friends! I must say that I saw a common thread with all the welcome notes/comments that I recieved and that is to take lots of before and after pictures. You might have to remind me of that a time or two..lol. You see, for so many years I couldn't afford a really good camera and those little throw aways don't do a lot of justice to your subject so I just didn't bother. Well, this past Christmas my DH (Dear Hubby) bought me a new digital camera and I am learning how to use it. I had the opportunity to go visit a grand garden in a golfing community in Hendersonville, NC. It's called The Blessing House and indeed it is! It was a blessing to go and see all the wonderful roses and plants. It's also called the Blessing House because the people's last name is Blessing. Well you would think I would get that camera ready and waitng by the door. You would think that I would have charged the batteries and made sure they were in the case. I was up early and ready to go when my friend Joy came to pick me up. We got all the way to the Blessing House and I said " Shoot! I forgot my camera!" Joy said not to worry, that she had her camera with her. So when I post those pictures to an album please remember that I didn't take them - my friend Joy did. The only thing I will be taking credit for is resizing them and maybe an enhancement or two. Thanks to all again who wrote to welcome me! I will be working on resizing and uploading those pictures soon. Until then take care *hugs*
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