Blossom

What is a sleeping pig doing on my blog you might ask yourself? Well, this is a special pig. Her name is Blossom and we found her wandering in our yard last year when she was just a baby. Someone had picked her up, maybe for dinner, and she managed to escape. Only to find herself in a yard with inquisitive dogs who went crazy upon seeing her. So we quickly locked them up and then went about catching the piglet. Then the phonecalls! What to do? Until I remembered seeing a group of nice young girls at our Farmer's Market, asking for donations for Farm Sanctuary in Orland, CA. Managed to find their number, made the call and they told us bring her in. And today we got to visit her for the first time since she's grown up. Well, nearly, evidently she still has some growing to do. We found her snoozing away, after having spend the morning playing with her piggy friends who share a big, cozy barn with her. They even have a nice pond at the bottom of their enclosure. These lucky farm animals will never find their way onto anyone's dinner plate. Instead they get to live out their lives, being taken care of with lots of TLC. What a happy ending!!

Tehama Sunset

On the day we drove up to Mt. Shasta, we came home fairly late. So as we headed out of Red Bluff, into the open country side homeward bound, the sun started sinking into the hazy cloudcover, getting ready to disappear behind the coastal range.

Though my little camera isn't much, still a few of the pics, which I took hanging out the truck window, came out pretty nice. So thought I would share them here. It was a perfect ending to a wonderful day.

Mt. Shasta in June

Last week we headed up to the little town of Mt. Shasta. Wandered the New Age shops, ate lunch, sipped cappuccino in the book store. In other words, had a great time. Before heading home we decided to get a little closer to the glistening snow that blankets the great mountain. So got directions at the local tea shop and off we went, up the mountain. Finally had to stop at a little over 6000' as the road was closed at that point. The air was crisp and cool, about 20* cooler then in Shasta town. Blazing sunshine made the snow glisten and a good time was had by all. We had our granddaughter Ashlee along, who got a short reprieve from work to join us for nearly 2 weeks. This was our last outing with her before she had to head back home. Plus took along our Tai Chi buddy Jeanie. Of course before long Grandpa and Ashlee were lopping snowballs. :) It was a wonderful daytrip all the way around.

Black Elderberry

Last year we planted an Elderberry Bush. We do live on Elder Creek after all. But rather then plant one of the regular Elderberries, I found a black variety which features dark stems and leaves and delicate pink flowers, rather then the normal green leaves with white flowers.

It wasn't an easy starter. Sadly, the place we planted it was one heavily visited by the dogs while saying hello to our neighbor at the fence. So they nearly trampled it to death. Finally Richard came to the rescue and put a wire safety fence around it.

As the spring season started, the remaining parts of the bush came to life slowly. Then new branches sprouted from the base of the plant. Finally as time passed our Elderberry bush started getting taller and taller, with beautifully colored leaves and then flower buds started appearing. As time goes by, new flowerheads keep popping up. I love the color of both the shrub itself and the wonderful flowerheads. If they get pollinated, we'll even have Elderberries . Should we not have enough for jam, the birds will be happy to dine on them as well.

King Tut & Beauregard

This is an image I took 2 years ago this coming July. Our beautiful Beauregard aka BeauBear, left us 3 weeks after I took this photo. He's the regal looking Shepherd/Rottweiler Mix in the background.

The big, silly looking boy peering through the gate is King Tut who will be 7 in July. BeauBear did his best to teach Tutter all he needed to know before leaving us.

Tut is a Pitbull Mix. A lovely boy, though a bit nuts at times. When excited to see friends, he does a frantic, wiggly dance. Therefore he's also known as the Mambo King.

Sadly he has severe arthritis in his left hind knee, but despite the daily pain he endures, he's mostly in good spirits and takes his meds like a good boy. As long as they are liberally coated with catfood or liverwurst.

Succulents

This year, as I am starting to replace plants in some of my containers , I've decided going with succulents. They are much more forgiving when it comes to summer heat. It's amazing, so many colors and textures. I wasn't sure if I would enjoy them over the more colorful plants I usually keep in pots, but I am starting to enjoy them and they're thriving. The two I am sharing here remind me of tiny, little cabbages, or roses. Since planting them a month ago or so, they've already started spreading in their pots.

Roses

And then there are the roses.

We have about 40+ bushes of them. And though we give them only minimum care, they thrive. This year we are battling black spot, due to our long, wet spring, but they bloom regardless. Especially the lighter roses shine at dusk, just before night falls.

The rose in the first picture Richard bought me in a small pot at Trader Joe's a few years back. After it was done blooming, I moved it to a larger pot and stuck it in the corner, next to our fence. It must have send a taproot into the ground because it now takes up the entire corner in that area. It's probably 3-4 ft. wide and again that high. Covered from head to toe in fragrant, sweet blossoms and buds. I don't know the name of it, nor the name of the exquisite bud below the first picture. That wonderful, butterscotch colored rose gets the most perfect buds and open into huge, long-lasting flowerheads. The open flowers are as big as my hand.

I could post pages and pages of rose pictures alone. But you'll enjoy them more a few at a time.

Happy Mother's Day

Gathered a bouquet of flowers and thought I'd share them with you. The roses are amazing this year. loaded with blossoms. At the moment rain is threatening, but they shine, even on this grayish day. What a joy!! Though the garden work seems to be endless, what a wonderful, scented reward in the end.

Wishing you all a Happy Mother's day!! And yes, those with fur children only do qualify! ;-)

Iris

This year has been a good year for Iris. Even those who hadn't bloomed in a season or two suddenly decided to surprise us this year. So I wanted to share a few of the more spectacular ones with you. I hope you enjoy viewing them as much as we do.

In Memory of Teddy

Today we laid to rest our wonderful boy Teddy. He was 14 years old and will be missed sorely.

He was born here the year after we moved permanently to the country. His only direct remaining sibling is Siegfried, our Silver Tabby.

He was laid to rest next to his brother Cheetah, on a bed of Lambs Ear leaves, mixed with Lavender buds, Rose petals, cedar chips and Lemon Balm branches.

We planted a Magnolia on his grave.

It will be some time before the pain of his leaving will get easier.

But he will live on in our memory always. His deep purr, his abiding affection and love. And last but not least, even his annoying drooling no doubt. Every passionate encounter with him would leave me full of damp dribbles. You were well loved my boy, and will always be in our hearts. :)

Flutterbye Rose

As you can properly tell by now, I love capturing visitors to the flowers.

I think this might be a Wood Bee, it's nearly all black with just those few, thin stripes on the abdomen. I don't often see them visiting. Mostly we're inundated with Honey Bees and Bumble Bees. Right now everything is in fresh bloom and the bushes are humming with activity.

Chinese Foxglove

I thought it only fitting to move into May with the flowers that are bursting into bloom throughout the garden. This is one of my favorite ones. Chinese Foxglove. A much looser habit then the ordinary Digitalis. I reseeds itself year after year. I love the intricate patterns in the throat of each flower.

Butterflies

With spring finally arriving at long last, everything is in bloom. At our house, the bees and bumble bees are present in huge numbers, which is a blessing. Especially given the honey bees precarious state in so many places.

But the other day, while walking through the Botanical Gardens with a friend, I captured this beautiful butterfly, enjoying a sip from the blooming Ajuga. While this species is bright metallic blue-green on the inside of the wing, didn't realize until I downloaded my images the even the outside has color. What a beauty

HAPPY EASTER!!!

Easter Wishes to all! Hope on this rainy Easter Sunday you will still find many bright spots to greet you. As I did, wandering the yard in the fine mist. Finding blooming things, turning their faces towards the sky , drinking up the delicious watery bounty. While we might mutter at the long rainy season, Nature savors each and every drop, as do the many flowers in bloom.

Lavender Bumble Bee

I know this picture isn't terribly crisp and clear. But I loved the way that Bumble Bee was hanging onto the Spanish Flag Lavender. His heavy, striped body, dangling on slender legs, with his wings down behind him, translucent. You can see the flower head behind , through the "windows" of the wings. And though they are plump of body, they move rapidly from blossom to blossom. So very difficult to capture them sitting still for a moment. By the time I would focus and bring him up close, he would usually be gone again.

Tulip

Every year this tulip surprises me. Each time it unfolds its many petals I am astounded on how nice a tulip it is. The open flower reminds me of a Lotus blossom. I don't remember the name or even where I got it. But it comes back faithfully, year after year.

And each year we're delighted to see it slowly unfold those petals. It's been open now for well over a week. So before you know it, it'll die back once again. So wanted to capture it's beauty before the petals fade and fall.

Spring Bee

For the first time, in what seems to be ages, we had a Spring Day. It was heavenly.

Spend most of it outside, wandering around to see what's popping in the garden, other then knee-deep weeds.

And there it was, our little crabapple tree, bursting into bloom. To the delight of the bees who were swarming it in large numbers. You could hear them hum in content at the bounty of the fragrant, newly opened blossoms.

I love that little tree. In the spring it puts on such a show, which is followed by sweet, golden applets with red cheeks.

Sleeping Tree Frog

As I am sitting at my computer this morning, I can hear the voices of the tree frogs, happily talking to each other from the ponds and puddles all around us.

The rain has been relentless this winter, it's seems never ending at this point. But the frogs are thrilled, as I am sure are ducks and other water creatures.

Note to self, check for webs between the toes!!

As I was listening to the frogs chatting away in that funny voice of theirs, I remember a picture I had taken of a tree frog sleeping it off in one of my roses a few years back. And here he is.

Stormy Creek Clip

I've never tried the video option on my blog yet. So thought I might as well give it a whirl this morning.

Roaring Creek

We've been getting hit by some heavy storms this year. Seems like winter just doesn't want to leave us. On this day, the Spring Equinox, we'd given up all hope of even seeing the sun.

So imagine our delight when the big storm, though roaring through on the Coastal Range to the West of us and the Sierras to the East, seemed to hit and miss us.

Not only were we able to do our doggy walk up into the woodlands this morning, we also walked down to the creek to see how the mountain rains were impacting it.

We could hear the roar as we walked toward the back of the property. The closer we got, the louder it became. How delightful to find not only churning waters, racing along with bits of debris and logs bobbing on the waves, but also clouds of all colors. Dark gray ones. Fat white ones. And in between, bright blue pools of sky and quick bursts of sunlight as well.

It feels like spring will come...........even if it's not quite ready as of yet.