April

I am so happy to change the calendar page over to April. It always seems to me that we can expect warmer weather now although we've been so fortunate this last week of March with sunshine and warm temps.  
    My Bloodroot ( Sanguinaria) is blooming. Plants start to bloom before the foliage unfolds. After blooming the leaves expand to their full size.
Someone gave me this plant some years ago,  not knowing what it was and I had some difficulty getting an ID. It took a knowledgeable man at one of our local plant shops to identify it.   Later in summer it will go dormant and disappear, That is why I keep it safely in a pot.

     Leopard's Bane ( Doronicum) is full of cheery yellow daisy-like blooms.

The spectacular Magnolia tree makes a splash of colour. We don't have one but the park has several and many neighbours also do.

                            These last 3 pictures are taken from the internet.


Thanks for coming by today. Hope you are having a great week and maybe even great weather.



                                                Granny Marigold

This Week

The sun is shining and in my garden this week I have put out my tea cups. They sit quite securely on
their stands but I did make sure to put them as far as possible from where soccer is apt to be played.
On the left you can just barely see the corner of the day bed frame ( picked up free beside the road a few years ago).

 

So far only three tea cups have  been put in the front yard. They look a little lost right now but once everything grows they won't stick out so much.



       In my kitchen this past week.... Cranberry Biscotti

          I got out my old flan pans and made a couple of flans using a cake mix. I filled them with a cooked blueberry filling and topped them with Cool Whip before serving. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture until the day after we had guests..

       But there were leftovers and I did manage to take a picture of that.

                    
I made Easter bread ( Paska) using my breadmaker. I couldn't find my recipe so I adjusted my regular bread recipe and added eggs and sugar. They turned out great even if no two were the same size. For some reason one looks more floury than the others but that's my camera's fault I think.

We had extended family over on Good Friday and our own family ( those who could make it) on Sunday . So my house got sort of a Spring cleaning before and now what with leftovers in the fridge I am quite free to spend my days out in the sunshine.  Today the temperature reached 20 degrees C.
( 68 F) which I'm fairly sure will have set a record for this 29th day of March. I'm enjoying every minute of it.

Thanks for visiting and reading my long-winded post today.
I love reading your comments so don't be shy.

          Granny Marigold

Happy Monday

Hurrah for sunshine!!  We are enjoying a stretch of lovely weather. After all the weeks and months of rain we're not taking this for granted.  I have finished my Monday chores ( mainly laundry) and when I've posted this I'll be going out to enjoy an afternoon puttering in my flowers.


They're pulling down a gazebo in the park. It was a lovely old one but maybe it was getting rotten. I had hoped they'd replace it but this morning I noticed they've spread frresh black soil evenly over the area and it looks like it will be put into grass.

My Hellebores that looked so pathetic earlier in the year have recuped and are looking better. Lots of blooms.

In the same corner as the Hellebores the Bleeding Hearts have self-sown and are beginning to bloom.

             Grape Hyacinths spread merrily through the flowerbeds.

My garden angel watches over a few Hyacinths and a Daffodil. There are Tulips behind her, just forming buds.

I have exactly one white Bleeding Heart. It reappears every Spring but doesn't thrive like the red ones do.

                         Happy last week of March. I hope you are enjoying every day!!


       Thanks for coming by.

                               Granny Marigold
           

Happy Easter

                                                Have a blessed Easter

The Pigeon and the Dog

Several years ago my son rescued a pigeon which he found lying in the parking area of the complex he manages. It probably hit a window and was stunned. He put it in a box and brought it home. When it recovered we realized first of all that it was quite tame and secondly that it wasn't a 'wild' pigeon but rather some special breed. Conveniently we had a lovely big bird cage and it has lived there ever since. As you can see it doesn't mind being handled and my grandson has fun with her.( as much fun as you can have with a bird!)
Oh yes, we found out it is a her because last year she started laying eggs.

Incidentally, my GS's face is purposely cut off because my DIL prefers that the grands not be clearly pictured  on my blog. But at least you can see his adorable smile!!

DH is the one who most often fills the bird's food dish and maybe that's why she follows him around. Here she is sitting on his drill while he's fixing the picnic table.

This rascal is a big problem because the bird likes him and insists on getting way too close. We've been unsuccessful in getting the dog to stop trying to "catch" her and unwittingly ( or maybe not) injure her. So far we've kept her safe and hopefully we can keep it that way. Never a dull moment around here.

Thanks for visiting today. 

Granny Marigold

Friday Flowers

We were off to the plant shop this morning. Such a gorgeous display of colour.

It was hard to choose but I finally chose some of these Primroses. It's a variety I haven't seen before. After I enjoy them inside for a week or so I'll plant them out.
 

                     Have a great weekend.



                       Granny Marigold

St. Patrick's Day

Happy St Patrick's Day to you!!   I hope you make it special in some way or another. Here the day is extra special because it's my granddaughter's birthday.  She is now a teenager.  Loves reading, sketching, writing stories and being her sweet self.  

We had a sunny day today, so much so that I actually have very rosy cheeks!! I was  out there tidying up after the wind we had.  And... the forecast is for a few more of these lovely days so I will be spending a lot of my time outside.

Thanks for dropping by.  I love to read your comments so don't be shy. 


             Granny Marigold

This and That

I found this lovely quilted Easter/Spring table topper at the thrift store.  It had a sign that said it was hand made and it certainly is well made. You can't see it but it has shiny threads throughout.

You know how much I like my Teddy bears and they in turn like new clothes from time to time. This pair was lucky because I found two nice things on the dollar rack. The green dress would have looked much better if I'd have taken the time to put the bear on a stand. The dress is actually quite cute. It has a darling ruffles on the skirt.

The pink sweater is adorable.  Look at the cute ribbons and embroidery.

My turn to make supper for the six of us. Since we won't be eating together on St. Patrick's Day we're having green food today.  Pea soup, fresh bread ( not green), lime jello and chocolate cupcakes with green icing. I didn't ice all of them since the rest will go into the freezer.

I keep my cupcake papers and trimmettes in this box. Sorry the photo is dark. I seem to have trouble with dark pics.

I hope you've had a pleasant Tuesday. Thanks for visiting today.

Granny Marigold

Violas

Just one 6 pack of Violas gave me enough to fill three tea cups and one pot to set outside. Flowers do such a good job of saying SPRING.

I wish I'd thought of turning the flash off. Sorry for the glare. A good photographer I am not.

How do you bring Spring into your home?


Thanks for dropping by.    Granny Marigold

Nasty weather

We have had 24 hours of strange weather. Strong gusty winds that blew in clouds and blew them out again so that from one minute to the next you didn't know what to expect. We had heavy rain and even heavier hail. Needless to say the power went out a few times.  
We went for a short walk this morning to look at the trees that had fallen in the night.  Walking in one direction we were pushed by the wind then walking back we had a hard time of it. Hopefully this system will soon blow itself out and we'll be back to normal.

               No doubt this is what my DH will be doing tomorrow.......

and I will go out and see how my early Daffodils have fared with all the wind. If any have fallen over I'll bring them in. Already the slugs are active and I've noticed that any flowers that lie on the ground have been munched on. Happy end of the week...

                                 Granny Marigold

Wistful Wednesday

I was reading Far Side's Wistful Wednesday post and I thought I'd take her idea and do likewise because often I'm at a loss what to blog about. Incidentally, her Farm Diary post is very interesting. Let's see if mine will be. It will be wistful because in these photos I am so young. Not much more than 30.

       DH ... one of the few pics of him with no beard. Here he is with the oldest three kids.

              The kids and one of the various cats we've had. I think this was Minou. Looks like one last      hug before bedtime.  Those wild slipper my son is wearing were knitted by a neighbour. She had a wool shop and knitted slippers when she wasn't waiting on customers. Her slippers were so thick and warm ( and very colourful).

 This picture is very dark but it shows my garden shed the way it was when we moved here 38 years ago.

 This Queen Elizabeth rose has been moved a few times in the last 30 some years but still blooms every summer.

Once again, thanks for visiting. I hope you've had some sunshine today ( we are having rain again. lots of rain.)  Maybe the sun will shine tomorrow. 
Ever hopeful,  Granny Marigold