Thankful for the Gift of Spring!

Outside the Front Door

We only had a little bit of winter, if you can even call it winter.  Mostly milder days, a good bit of rain (enough to create a small lake in the backyard for a few days).  Seems like just a few weeks were below freezing. 

The grey rainy days chilled my bones but felt good, like the right kind of rest.  A state of suspended animation, close - so close - but not there yet.  We stretched our way from holidays through illness and then, quite beautifully, into the start of spring.

My yard and garden surprised me like they do every year, sharing blooms in the most unexpected places, giving color every which where. 

I hope to have a chance to wander outside with the camera this week and capture some of the ephemeral moments of beauty, although I have missed getting pictures of some of it already - the yellow and purple crocuses, the full blooms of the wisteria and the bridal veil.   I have been amazingly fortunate to enjoy the colors from inside the windows, and completely appreciate this gift of spring in 2012!

Today: I woke up late, luxuriating in the weekend sleeping in.  I went to yoga and had an amazing hot yoga class that left me trembling in the very best way.  Wait Wait Don't Tell Me! cracked me up as I rested with 32 ounces of water and some almonds.  A second shower and I am ready to go!

Now: Off to the grocery and then home to make a Baked Alaska.  Family Dinner will be Grilled Chicken / Pimento Cheese sandwiches, Baked Sweet Potato Fries, and Baked Alaska.  We are wrapping up Asa and Jaya's birthday celebrations tonight.  Baked Alaska seems like just the ticket to celebrate.

Gardening, Front and Back

At the back of the yard, Mr. Bryant plants the plants that are leftovers.  The ones that are at the edge of the nursery, the ones that are left to sit by the side, that no one wants to buy, the ones that the nursery eventually marks down to almost nothing.

When Mr. Bryant brings these plants home, they look bad, every time.  Like no one ever watered them.  Like really, they are probably dead.  Like doing anything with them was a complete waste of effort.  Like if you paid for them at all, you paid too much.

Mr. Bryant plants these sad looking plants in rocky soil, at the back edge of the yard.  He fondly calls the area his rock garden.  He waters the plants with dedication, but he doesn't do anything special otherwise.  Well, maybe a little compost occasionally - but many times not even that.  Amazingly, every dying plant Mr. Bryant has put into the rocky clay soil at the back of the yard has prospered.  While my front garden delphiniums have died and I have purchased more and they have died, and once again more.....Mr. Bryant's spindly plants have grown and showered us with blooms.

 
After much plant distress out front I let the garden just go for two years.  I pulled the big weeds, but didn't care much about most of it.  It grew wild and the birds loved the brush.  The poison ivy started to take over though, so something had to be done.  Now I have a gardener in the person of my son, who tends the front garden and fills it with glorious perennials.  Some of the hidden roses that never bloomed are blooming beautifully, and although the yellow rose is gone, the white one is prospering.  The garden is recovering and is filled with such beautiful plants that I am nearly to tears.  My son is a blessing to me, as are the flowers. 

And out back, Mr. Bryant's rock garden blooms exotic.

These men in the family, I swear they must have green thumbs.

Spring has surely sprung!

The beautiful white rose that was hidden by shrubs last year,
blooming this year. :)

The garden is really in bloom. More flowers come out and up every day, and even these pictures won't truly do it justice. ADR has been doing lots of garden work and this spring it is really paying off. Just for grins, take a look.

Lady Banks, lovely as ever.

Azaleas by the front porch.

And beside Stephanie's House.

Welcome Spring!

A nice walk

Spring is starting to come at last. I wonder if it is because we welcomed it with family dinner, singing and laughing about spring and summer, talking about vacations, having Banana Pudding cupcakes. Maybe....but I am sure it is on the way. I can tell, because the flowers are coming.

Mr. Bryant and I took Gizmo for a walk on Saturday early in the day. We knew he was as tired of walking in the dark, in the rain, as we were of taking him out them. Sometimes in winter you almost forget what the world looks like in the light of the day. So off we went through the fields near the house, and we found some treasures. It was still brisk even though it was the middle of the day, but Mr. Bryant found the first flowers I have seen this spring. Up before even the Crocus, these tiny little things were just blooming their hearts out for us!


The grass was starting to green, as were the trees, even though most everything remained brown and red (from that Carolina Clay).

And in that clay we found these large deer tracks. It makes me smile to think that the deer are able to come out at night and kick up their heels in the fields around the neighborhood! They are getting a place to run and play, and that makes me not only feel like spring is just around the corner - it makes me feel like we are living peacefully with other creatures, right here, right now.

When we got home we spent some time grooming Gizmo. He was covered in burrs. Now I can't IMAGINE how he finds them, seriously. In all the time we were walking, I only saw this One Stalk! He is a "sticky thing magnet," I declare.

The garden is beginning!

The earliest goodies in the garden are beginning to peek out at us from the winters dried leaves and the earliest springs weeds that haven't yet been pulled. Above is the dogwood from the back garden. This was a "throw away" from a local nursery many years ago, and Mr. Bryant rescued it, planted it, and take a look at it now! Plants are wonderfully resilliant - sometimes surprising everyone.

Here is a view of some of the things I found on this first of many garden walks.... I hope you enjoy these photos, and that all of you are enjoying a wonderful spring!

The Camellia usually begins things, right by the front door.

Some of the first flowers to bloom every year, these old perennials make me smile each time I see them!

These little pinks are a delight, and I plan to plant more.

The wandering Lady Banks is a favorite splash of yellow in the front garden.

The azaleas come in full right after Easter every year.

The back garden pink dogwood, close up - too beautiful to miss!

Wordless Wednesday 3-11-2009