Today we do the A-H part

Hi Kids! Just in from taking pictures of everything going on in the garden...Amazing what can happen in a month, you know? March 9 was completely dismal and there were just the tiniest of tiny little green shoots from the bulb plants coming through the ground. Now? We've got bits of color here and there and TONS of green shoots and buds and definitely things are starting to really wake up. FINALLY!! Yaaaay!

So, as I mentioned earlier, this is my challenge for the month of April - to find things in the garden related to each letter in the alphabet. I was supposed to start with "A" on April 1st, but, oh, well! Better late than never, right? So, here goes!!

A -Lovely, fragrant amaryllis just starting to come in. I think this is a white one.

B -
Bleeding heart bushes coming in ever so slowly. Holy crap. Look at the difference from last year...This was taken on April 11th last year:
Can you even believe the difference? If anyone is asking, I'll take an early spring again anytime in the future. K? Thanks.

C - Cheerful crocuses still blooming!

Conch shells are all through my garden. I have no idea why!

Chives that I've had for years and years now. I rescued them from a garden I was doing over and they didn't want them! Imagine that!!

D -Dianthus. They are also called "pinks" even though they are not necessarily pink! Mine are mostly white with some pinky flecks on the petals when they bloom.

My one, lonely daylily. I'm not the biggest fan, but I can't just throw it out!! I have moved this a zillion times, and I think it'll stay right over there for now.

This is technically an "M" since it is a Montauk daisy, but it's got tons of leaves coming so I thought I'd put it here for now!

And, this is technically not my garden, it is next door, but it was so nice to see daffodils in bloom!!

E -European Ginger! I was doubtful about having an "E" something in my garden, but there it was!! I love this plant. They are evergreen and I just adore the heart-shaped glossy leaves. Only downside is that they are veeeeeerrrrrrryyyyyy slloooooooooooow grrroooooooooowing. Really slow.

F -These are the fritillaria! I planted these last fall, so this will be the first year to have them in the garden. They're in a tiny little plot in the back yard between two benches I have back there. There are also tulips and grape hyacinth in this plot that are coming in! (And also tall phlox that is well on its way with lots and lots of green leaves!)

G -Grape hyacinth coming up! This might be one of the white ones I put in, which I also planted last fall for the first time! I had a ton more in this little plot out front, but someone plucked out 3 or 4 of the bulbs last week, so I will not have as many as I had hoped. People stink sometimes, you know?

H -Hydrangeas putting out leaves on the stalks. They look so icky in the winter, but SOOO lovely in the summer. We had a stellar year last year for hydrangeas with all of the spring rains we had.

And, finally for today, the good old standby, Holly! There is really not more of a versatile evergreen - they like shade or sun, good soil or bad (I've got bad on that side of the garden - really sandy stuff) and they just can withstand about anything!

Ok...I'm now caught up with the challenge and you definitely have a better idea of what's going on in the garden now! Waaaay behind last year, that's for sure. But we really had an outstandingly early spring last year. It was heavenly!

Hope everything is good in your garden & hope that you will check back again soon to see the rest of the alphabet!

Ciao for now!

A-Z blog challenge

Hi. I'm late to the party. AGAIN.

I just found this blog called Tossing it Out that challenges bloggers to post 26 posts for the month of April, starting with a post related to the letter A and then going through each day except Sundays, to post through a subject with the letter Z. Sounds kinda fun! Also, I'm hoping to get myself back on a better blogging schedule. I have lost a ton of readership over here with my boring, unbloggy self! Bad girl!

Since I'm late to the party, I'm going to challenge myself to do a post today including subjects from A to H, and then I'll be caught up! K?! K.

See the new buttons over there to the right? ------------------>

Check it out!

So I'll do that later on. Right now I have to go do this thing called the Epley Maneuver in an attempt to alleviate my recent vertigo symptoms. Years ago I had terrible vertigo and I found out from the Ear, Nose & Throat specialist doctor, that it is commonly brought on by these little calcifications that can break off inside the inner ear. They bounce around in there and make the person experience dizziness. It's especially bad rolling over in bed and getting up. Today it's been bad just in general, so I'm going to go do the Epley maneuver again. I did it a couple days ago and felt pretty good yesterday, but now today it's back with a vengeance.

Wish me luck.

Then, I must eat something. The vertigo makes me feel mildly nauseous, so I'm not all hep on eating at the moment.

Boy, this is cheerful today!!

I promise to lighten up the mood in the next post...There are flowers to discuss and impending 70 degree weather, so things are definitely looking up!

Ok. Talk at you soon.

The proverbial April showers

Well, it was kinda poopy here, but at least it wasn't snow. Kinda rainy on and off, warm yesterday, but then in the afternoon it got cold really quickly. I was in my car and the radio announcer told us that the temperature in Boston dropped 15 degrees in just one hour! That's a lot of degrees if you ask me!!

Not much exciting going on over here in the world of plants. I just have some crocus and tete-a-tetes blooming, but nothing else. It's still getting SUPER cold at night, like 30 degrees, so it's just been too cold to think about doing flowers or planting anything. I do need to clean out the back yard and the side yard - there are still a ton of leaves and twigs and stuff from the fall and winter, but I also need to finish another painting project I started last week. And, of course, I do one thing and then it makes you notice how dingy and gross another area is, so the project keeps expanding!! Ack!

Last weekend we had a fun couple of nights. We had some really good friends over to watch the March Madness games on Saturday night and got terrific sushi takeout. We also went to see a play at our local theater or "theatre" as they spell it. We're suddenly in England or something. Whatever. Anyway, it was amusing and the theater where it was done is tiny and intimate and really, quite nice because of that. Check out Salem Theatre Company - they have some interesting productions.

In other world news, I'm getting my first mammogram on Thursday. Totally freaking out about it, but will do it. Have to do it...

Many have been asking about Koty's progress, and he's doing wonderfully. Stitches are out, wound is healed up nicely, and he's back to his lively, happy self. He plays with his toys every day and has great energy for our walks and is just generally a very, very happy boy!

Now, if we could just do something for our little, rickety girl...Her arthritis is so bad in her back legs now, it's just awful. She's on a lot of meds to ease her pain, and they seem to be doing the trick for now. We tried acupuncture on her last week, but it was too much for her sensitive little self. She proceeded to poop and piddle in the house the next day - she gets overwhelmed, I think, when things change at all in the house. She likes her quiet, normal environment, and since she's a geriatric dog, we totally respect that. So, for now, she just walks VERY slowly and has to be fed from her new, elevated dog dish that makes it easier for her to reach the food...

This was the scene when I got up a few mornings ago and found her sleeping like this:

Now, mind you, these are not her toys. These are Koty's toys. Sadie is not one to play with toys except very, very rarely. So, this was doubly adorable for me thinking that she fell asleep surrounded by toys that smell like her brother.

Adorable!

Ok. Enough ramblings...Must go paint!

Have a great rest of the week!

Ciao!