A Little Bit of Egypt

We had a palm tree by our back door. But it was only inches away from the wall. So we decided that it had to go. I dug it out myself. It took me three days, but don't underestimate the power of my stubborness.
That corner gets a lot of rain too. The roof funnels it right down in. And it can get a few inches of standing water. Thankfully, it drains quickly.
But what do I plant there?




I had seen Egyptian Papyrus about a week before I had dug out the palm.
It doesn't have to be wet all the time. But it does like boggy conditions.
It took a while for it to finally come back to the store. But I was able to get it today.
And I got a few bags of river rock to help keep the moisture in.
I'm really happy with how it looks.
This stuff is the real deal, what ancient Egyptians used to make paper.



My friendly neighborhood toad seems to like it.
















My morning glories are doing really well too

Gardening again

I really enjoy being out in my little yard. And I like to take photos of my progress.
I'd forgotten how much I love being outside until I got some dirt to dig in.

I needed to thin my swiss chard. And in the process, I had a bowl of the greens.
The first day, I put them in a salad. They were a little bitter, but nice.
This morning I sauted the rest with olive oil and garlic, and added two scrambled eggs.
Pretty tasty.
I'm thinking of making a quiche when I'm able to pick some more.




My morning glorys are growing. It's hard to believe I planted the seeds about a month ago. They're blooming already. And when I checked this morning, they were about a foot up the trellis














A cardinal has been visiting my bird feeder. The picture isn't the best, I had to take it through the window.
I haven't seen the red wing blackbird in weeks.
I had two young male cardinals visiting for awhile. I started calling them "The Brothers"
But I've been just seeing the one lately. I think cardinals are territorial. So the other, (and the black bird too) might have been run off.

Hair Cut

I'm posting these for my sister to see (Hi Mary!) She doesn't use FaceBook.
So I finally got all of my hair cut off again. I've been planning on getting my hair cut for months. But one thing clinched it:
I had it done on Monday. I got in the car to drive to the salon. It was a little breezy out, and I had my hair down.
And I closed the car door on my hair!
It's been 3 1/2 years since my last hair cut. And I was really glad to see that Karen still works at the salon. She understands my cow licks
I donated my hair to Locks of Love. It's a great organization that makes wigs for children who have lost their hair to cancer or other diseases
http://www.locksoflove.org

Spring!

A few new pictures around my yard. I have seeds springing! Here are my baby basil and swiss chard. I also have coleus (an ornamental plant) coming up. I just put in some tomato seeds a few days ago.

There's a story on my swiss chard. It's a green. But I've never eaten it before. I have no idea what it tastes like. When I was a kid. We would get seed catalogs in the mail. Mom and Dad never really bought any thing from them. But they were fun to look at. The "exotic" plants always got my attention. And I would tease my parents to buy them.

"Mom! Mom! Get the 3 foot beans, get the hollow tomatoes, you can stuff them!" No deal.

We would get the same boring (But yummy) vegetables every year.

When I went shopping a few weeks ago, I looked at the seed packets. And I saw the "Bright Lights, rainbow of colors" variety of swiss chard. Swiss chard has a stem, almost like rubarb. I believe it's normally white. This comes in yellow, orange and hot pink!

I smiled. It was a dollar a packet and I knew I had to buy them.

I have strawberries! Last month, my husband and I went to the Strawberry Festival at Plant City. And I bought a hanging basket. These are berries #4 and 5.

I was so excited when my first berry started to turn pink. I called it my 7 dollar strawberry. (What I paid for the plant)

It was almost ready to pick. I decided it needed another day of sunshine. I went out the next morning to take a picture of it. And it was gone!

Something stole my $7 strawberry! I think a bird got it. The stem was neatly snipped off. If any more berries come up missing, I'll get some netting to wrap around the basket.

Here is one of the flower pots given to me by a neighbor. I put it by my front porch.

I planted dianthus and dusty millers in it.

You can also see my pink azalias.

Flower and Garden Festival

I went to the Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot a few weeks ago. I went by myself, but I had a nice time

The fairy garden was was really sweet

And I loved the butterfly house

Topiaries, etc.

Some of the famous topiaries at Epcot

A pair of mallard ducks made the fountain in front of the American Pavilion their own private pool

Off Kilter

This is the band Off Kilter. They play at the Canadian Pavilion at Epcot. It's a rock band with a bag pipe player
(Yes, you think Scotland instead of Canada, but remember Nova Scotia means "New Scotland")
They're pretty wild. They put a rock twist on traditional Scottish tunes. They do a little southern rock, a little John Denver...even some Jimi Hendrix.
I picked up a CD