This beautiful little cardinal looks as if he was posing for me, taking the time to look up from getting a drink of water out of the backyard pond....ain't he a cutie?!?!?

















Some tiny phlox which grow sparsely in the backyard and the new shoots of bee balm. May need to look into some extra manure for them this year.



Creeping Jennie has done well since it's placed over the french drain. It and the violets have flourished in this environment and I no longer have the muddy wetlands that were once there. I have loved the creeping jennie and their bright green leaves ever since seeing them climbing the walls of the Visitors Center when it was in the old Cotton Exchange downtown Augusta on the Riverwalk. The Cotton Exchange has since been turned into a bank but they have kept the ephemera from the times when it was used and in its full glory.


The sweet autumn clematis and jasmine vines are sprouting and filling the railings of the porch nicely. This is the 3rd year for the jasmine and I am soooo tickled at all the buds and new growth on it!! I just love the wonderful fragrance they put off and am looking forward to it this summer.


















I have several crape myrtle trees which were all volunteers from the neighbors yard. I love their dark pinky color when they are in bloom and had wished we had some in our yard instead of the river birches out in the front yard. Color is very necessary to me and I was soooo delighted when the first volunteer showed up 3 years ago....2 more volunteers showed up last summer and this year I have this little guy who sprouted in the window box....sadly he is going to have to find a new place before too long....maybe in place of one of those big ugly bushes in front of the house if I can convince Doug to yank one out.....hhhhhmmmmmmm.....

Backyard Visitors

Once again I was taking pictures in the backyard...this time mostly of the little visitors that come foraging for food....

Unlike some of my friends who have had problems with them, I love squirrels....

when we lived in Maryland we had one that would get into the rafters, run across the skylights and recline on the railing on the front porch.....

they are bold little fellas, curious by nature and just plain cute as far as I'm concerned.....

we even have ones that will come up to the window in the family room and terrorize the kitty who is not allowed outside....makes Spunky nuts but it's really quite humorous....

For the first time in the 7 years we have lived here, I saw my first bunny rabbit in the back yard....no I did not get a picture of him although I did try....

mostly I was having flashbacks of when I was little and the cat had a bunny and dropped it....I was too afraid to pick it up (my grandmother made me a little neurotic after scrubbing out my mouth when i ate an ant...there was no telling what they would do to me after holding a bunny)...unfortunately the cat was quicker than Dad and grabbed the poor little thing...I will NEVER forget that...horrifying and I was only 6 at the time....

anyway....I wanted to see where the bunny was going and hoping that it was NOT trying to live in the backyard....I do not want puppies finding bunnies....NO NO NO....never did get a picture of the little critter and now I'll be paranoid and neurotic when I let the pups in the backyard...the up side to having dogs is that the neighbor cats tend to stay out of your yard so the wildlife has been a little safer since Wilbur and Charlotte moved in.

Whose Feet Are These?!?!?!

Can you guess whose feet are whose? We have the following choices: Kim, Rachael, BettyAnn, Ille, Carolyn, Margaret......

Playday at Rachael's

This morning was spent having my Moms In Touch group for Greenbrier High School. There are are a group of 3-4 of us who get together each week and pray for our children, teachers, administrators and everything dealing with our school.

Afterwards I headed to Rachael T's to meet with the girls who are working on Patti Culea's Stargazer Tomes at Fiber on a Whim in Atlanta.














We had lots of fun together, got to see Rachael's home for the first time....we spent lots of time ooohing and aaaahhing over her treasures and finds and the wonderful way she had decorated her abode....

















the lime green in her kitchen is way awesome isn't it????? Rachael is such a sweet person and is always smiling....















BettyAnn is not a fan of being on the receiving end of the camera but realized, just as my children have, that I am very tenacious and will not disappear until after I get the picture I want.








BA is also a hidden talent as we all saw when our watercolor faces were pulled out.....























(Top) mine, BettyAnn, Ille's (Bottom) Margaret, Rachael's......


Ille is another dear sweet soul who is also our resident 'girly girl'.....















these pictures of Margaret are a result of the picture in Charleston she took of me with my tongue stuck out...















looks much cuter on her than it did on me....















Rachael and her mom, Carolyn.....












one of Rachael's treasures, a portable paintbox.....


Margaret's sketches.....









and FOOD...we girls CANNOT get together without food.....



between checking out Rachael's treasures and eating and checking out our latest works we didn't get anything done on our tomes but, we did watch most of Lesley Riley's new video......

Dirty?! Who's a dirty dog?!?!? I don't see any dirt......

If I don't look at mom she won't think I'm dirty.....

Is she gone...she's not still looking at me is she????

Backyard Flowers

I missed the glory of the azaleas but was able to get pictures of a few later bloomers...

















the red honeysuckle have only just begun to bloom...they are a favorite of the hummingbirds and bloom sporadically throughout the summer months....


















The white iris were from my brother, Damon's, yard in Charlotte. They smell heavenly and are just gorgeous...these pictures almost do justice to the flowers.....





















purple iris came from the over abundance of my mom's garden in Stevensville....















as well as the lambs ears....













violet stragglers which were in their glory several weeks ago came from a friends garden in Centerville, MD and have travelled to Delaware, back to Maryland and then to Georgia with me....they are all over my backyard in what were difficult to get green areas.....














the first blooms of wild strawberries....



















wild columbine from seeds from mom's garden.....
















2 of the plants from my mom....they had gotten too big for her house and after taking them in and out of the house I finally planted them outside...they have come back the last 2 years.....if they can survive Wilbur's digging they should be fine!!






















new growth of monkey plant....
















hosta.....

















wisteria blooms......














some beautiful 'flowering grass' intermingling with the mint....















the pictures have turned out so well I may have to start drawing...oh my, did I say that?!?!!??