I’ve taken advantage of some of these unseasonally warm November days to clean up the perannial gardens.
And I’ve been surprised, more than once, at what I’ve found.
Just see what a little persistence can do.
We planted a little ‘wild flower’ garden this spring, and it’s in full bloom now. Lots of pretty blossoms, mostly annuals, reaching for the sky.
Today one of them opened.
I smile everytime I walk past this patch of flowers, but now with the sunflower I positively grin.
Hope you are smiling too!
This week it’s been hard for me to find something to smile about.
The news was filled with awful things. The virus killing over 100,000 Americans. The protests and violence stemming from the death that reminds us of other similar deaths.
No, this week I didn’t feel much like smiling.
And then my silly girl wouldn’t sit pretty for a picture and I had to smile…just a little.
Yes, this week I looked really hard for something to smile about.
And I found it right here at home.
You know when you’re growing your grey hair out, how your hairdresser tells you that you should use this purple shampoo once in awhile? You don’t? Well let me tell you, there’s a lot more to understand about having grey hair than I realized when I made the decision to stop having it colored way back in October.
But that’s not what this post is about.
Late yesterday afternoon I suddenly couldn’t stand being in the house a minute longer.
I’ve been good about staying home, only going out for groceries. Yes I did take Katie to the woods for a walk one day — we saw no one else on the damp, drizzly forest trail. And four weeks ago I took a drive by myself to photograph barns, another instance when I just couldn’t stay here for another moment.
Yesterday I just had to go somewhere so I went to a local park, the one where nature trails wander up over grass covered hills. Getting there around 7:00 p.m. I thought the sky looked interesting. Maybe there would be a sunset worth watching.
I had fun just wandering around. Especially when I found a patch of little lupine hidden among the tall grasses. With the sun slowly lowering the blossoms were lit in the prettiest light. I spent some time walking through the grass, crouching down as I tried to get that light just so.
And then I walked the rest of the way up the hill to see what the sun and clouds had planned for their last show of the evening.
Turned out the sun slid behind a tall pillar of cloud long before sunset officially arrived. And there wasn’t really much color. Still I took a few shots before I wandered back down toward the car.
And that’s when the storm front moved overhead. The sky darkened and became absolutely beautiful with tall white clouds the center of attention against the black ones following close behind.
I took a lot of pictures of that combination, the black and white clouds hovering low over the rolling hills. The darker it got the more dramatic the sky became.
And the more the mosquitoes swarmed. The swallows began to fly lower, scooping up the bugs and the sky grew darker and I hurried to the car, making it to cover just before the rain set in.
I was pleased with the pictures I had, but less pleased, later that night when I found two ticks, one on my leg, and one on my neck. Well darn. I’m not sure those lupine shots were worth it!
The rest of the night, and all day today I kept thinking I felt things crawling on me. Finally I decided to take a hot shower and before I got in I remembered that purple shampoo I’m supposed to be using once in awhile. It’s been more than awhile since I used it, so I grabbed it out of the cupboard and shampooed up, wondering why grey hair needs purple shampoo. And then I felt it. A little bump, right on top of my head. About the size of a tick.
Frantically I squeezed it between two fingers and put it on a shelf where I tried to see what it was. Not wearing glasses I couldn’t see anything. I turned off the water, stepped out of the shower and tried to grab my glasses from the vanity. That movement made the purple shampoo drip into my right eye. It stung. Now I really couldn’t see anything.
Dripping all over the floor I grabbed a towel and tried to clear up the stinging eye, but no luck. And whatever it was was still lurking in the shower. So I put my glasses on and using one eye went back into the shower to examine the ‘bug,’ hoping it hadn’t crawled away.
Turns out it was a bit of dried up purple shampoo, from the bottle that hadn’t been used in longer than awhile.
Well that’s a relief. Apparently the cost of the walk in the hills was only two ticks, I guess those pictures were worth it after all. But next time I take a shower to make sure I’m tick free I’m going to put my glasses somewhere I can reach them without getting out of the shower.
And maybe not use the old purple shampoo.
Too much travel lately made me lose track of the weekly smile. It definitely wasn’t intentional, because I truly believe the world can use more smiles.
So today, when I remembered I hadn’t officially smiled in a couple weeks, I headed out to find you something to smile about.
Sure I could have just given you the Canadian images, but those weren’t from this week. And even though looking at travel photos always makes me smile I figured I should find something new.
Just about a mile up our country road is a corner filled with pyramid shaped goldenrod and dark purple asters. If I happen to go by when the sun is low I can’t help but be mesmerized.
So I smiled a lot as I wandered in this little patch of pretty, even though my target for today’s smile was another place a few miles up the freeway.
Yep, just a couple exits north of here is a swanky subdivision that I drove by yesterday on my way to buy birdseed.
I hadn’t been up there most of the summer, so I was amazed to see the entrance, full of huge canna lilies and tall dahlias heavy with blossoms.
Somebody in this subdivision has a green thumb and a whole lot of money.
Still, it was stunning in an entirely different way than the little yellow and purple field near my home.
Every year, at the end of summer the annual gardens just glow. We could have a frost any time now, and all of this will be gone.
So I was happy to capture a bit of it so that I can remember it during our long winter months.
I hope the colors made you smile too. What else made you smile this week? Write a post and link to Trent’s blog so we can all share smiles together!
When I got home from the latest camping trip this week I noticed the zinnia garden in the back yard was in full bloom.
Can’t frown around a big ole patch of zinnias, in fact every time I notice them out there I break out into a great big smile.
What made you smile this week? Write a post, link it to Trent’s and join a merry band of smiling people from all over!