A Visit To My Garden

Poppy Central!

This always happens every June, the garden is in its full glory and all my friends are out of town or way too stressed to come over for a garden party. So I take copious pictures and hope to save the beauty to share whenever I get the opportunity. Thankfully you are here to visit.

Geranium Buds

My late friend Meredyth always said, disparagingly, that anyone could grow geraniums. Yes, so I do.

Blue Columbine

Most of the blooms hang downward so you can't see their lovely faces, but this one is reaching for the sun, so he gets the picture. Once you have Columbine, you always have Columbine.

Cranesbill or Hardy Geranium

This plant, like all the rest of my cranesbill collection, reseeds itself or sends out plantlets until it forms wonderful mounds of flowers. Its leaves look just lovely when the flowers are over, so it is a favorite here.

Crowds of Poppies

One day they are all green buds and then pop pop pop, they explode and are a glorious red bouquet.

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The early morning view of the west garden boxes. I have two larger versions on the east side of the deck, which hold many more beauties. To be continued tomorrow.

21 Days of Virtue

Dara and Gerrie are doing this thing, which is like a diet, but without any specifics that I could easily locate, and I decided to join in. I have been a slacker of late, allowing stuff into my mouth that really should have been avoided.

My husband was wearing a pair of very baggy jeans and we both thought he looked like he had lost weight, so he stepped on the scale, after eating dinner, fully clothed, including work boots and he weighed only 156 lbs. He is 6' tall. Yipes! That means he is really about 150. How did he lose this much weight? He got transferred to a store where the manager did not buy donuts every morning. And he is married to a woman who makes him eat salads every night for dinner.

But what about me? I have been feeling a tad bit stuffed into my shorts of late and have been studiously avoiding the scale...so, swallowing hard, I lept upon it and eeuuuooow, I had gained 8 pounds!!! Well, really four, but I want to weigh 8 pounds less than I currently do, so I am leaping back onto the diet in a serious way.

Here's the plan. No wine. Put the wine in the upstairs kitchen, where I can't even see it. (We are such daily wine drinkers that we buy boxed wines, so they stay fresh between glasses, a vacuum process).

Walking every day after dinner. This also gives me ideas on landscaping, and makes us want to shape up the front plantings. Eating dinner before 5pm, which means eating alone since Dave doesn't get his dinner until after 7pm.

Yoghurt and fruit breakfasts. Veggies for lunch with eggs or tuna, and salad for dinner with the famous skinless grilled chicken breast.

It is already working! I didn't want to announce this, read: be accountable, until I had put it into action. I am down 1.5 pounds and already feel less bulgy.

My Mantra: I must not overflow my jeans.