The Tortoise And The Geranium

I have many friends in my garden to keep me company while I water or garden.

There are quite a few frogs scattered throughout the garden.

When children are in my garden they like to find the frogs and count them.


Some of my garden friends make me giggle when I see them, especially the piggy.

Many of these friends are gifts from my two-legged friends!

Wishing you a Giggly day!

Mellow Yellow

Just a click will enlarge the photo.

There are so many places in the garden that just light-up when there is some yellow. It can be any season of the year when some yellow flowers are blooming or foliage is changing to the color yellow. One of my favorite flowering shrub is the fountain shaped Forsythia in the early spring when is has a profusion of bright yellow flowers. It is pictured in the top-center of the photo. There are so many pretties that it makes it difficult to choose. I think the fact that Forsythia is one of the first shrubs to bloom after the winter, makes it a little more special.

"Yellow shines with optimism, enlightenment, and happiness. Shades of golden yellow carry the promise of a positive future. Yellow will advance from surrounding colors and instill optimism and energy, as well as spark creative thoughts" according to color specialist, Kate Smith.

Now, let's go have some lemonade! Oh, please join me. By the way, the temperature here in the Seirra Nevada Foothills of California is over 100 degrees today!

"Mellow Yellow" was a love song released in the mid 1960's by Scottish singer-songwriter - - - - - - - - - - - Donovan.

Wishing you a SUNSHINEY day.

Big Beautiful Rose

And, it is a beauty! I do not know the name of this rose. I can tell you that it is one of my favorite roses in my entire garden. I don't know the name because the bush was here when I moved here. The house was built in 1973 and it appears as though it was one of the original plantings. There wasn't much original planting when I moved here. The flower has a lovely fragrance and the blossoms gets very large. As most of you know, it can be quite difficult to duplicate the color of flowers on the computer screen as we see it with our own eyes. I have done my best in my "trial and error" learning approach. The plant itself is quite large and the base looks like it has been here for a long time. The base is large in circumference and is very woody. Whoever planted it - I thank you.

Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns.
I am thankful that thorns have roses. - - - - - Alponse Karr.

 

Wishing you a SPECIAL SUNDAY filled with lots of love.

How Day Lilies Lost Their Longevity

Isn't this a beautiful day lily? The name of the day lily is "Joan Senior". It is a near white flower with a yellow and green throat that is 6 inches across, ribbed and lightly ruffled.

I came across this story about day lilies in my garden file. I have had it in my file for a long time and do not know the origin of the writing. I find the story to be very whimsical, but at the same time interesting, especially when I note the title of this blog - Everydaydelight. After you read the story, you will see how the blog title partners with the story!

How Day lilies Lost Their Longevity

Thousands of years ago in the heart of the Orient, in a kingdom that has long since disappeared from the earth, there grew a flower - - a delicate and fragrant lily called aionioncallis meaning "beauty forever". It received its almost unpronounceable name because of the amazing longevity of its blooms; picked or unpicked, aionioncallis lilies remained fresh and bright for years, often outlasting the people who gathered or grew them. To give you a better idea of how long these amazing flowers did remain unwithered, imagine a modern plastic flower's life, and multiply that by a hundred!

Furthermore, these lilies were so strikingly beautiful, so pure in color, so very fragrant, so downright elegant that everyone grew them in their gardens and included them in festival flower arrangements.

No one enjoyed aionioncallis lilies more than the beautiful Princess of the Royal Family, who loved to wander daily through her garden, which, incidentally, contained nothing but her precious lilies, in all colors. Although she was very conscientious in caring for her aionioncallis, the Princess was careless about almost everything else. In fact she had a very annoying habit that drove her parents to distraction; this otherwise delightful girl seemed incapable of doing anything promptly. She put things off, kept on putting things off, in spite of all parental reminders, urgings, and threats. She put off feeding her peacocks, put off writing her than you notes to her relatives, often put off even coming to dinner. All these normal obligations of a royal princess she kept procrastinating, to the helpless dismay of her parents, of her subjects, and eventually of the gods who controlled all their destinies.

Although the princess's bad habit did create much annoyance in the kingdom, it caused no real pain to anyone until she received her first proposal of marriage. An attractive, well educated, courteous, and very athletic young son of a neighboring king had heard of the princess's great beauty and way with flowers, but had not heard of her bad habit. Promptly he wrote her a long letter, presenting his credentials as a prospective groom, and proposing an immediate marriage. Her parents were delighted with the prospects and urged her to accept at once.

But the princess thought to herself; "Maybe tomorrow I'll decide. Yes, tomorrow I'll probably give him my answer. But for now, I'll just take a relaxing stroll through my precious garden and enjoy the fragrance and beauty of my aionioncallis lilies." And that's exactly what she did that evening, and the next, and the next . . . for weeks.

Meanwhile the prince, anxiously awaiting an answer became depressed over the apparent rejection of his offer, caught a bad cold which turned into flu, which developed into pneumonia. In a matter of a few more days, he was dead. His parents were heart broken to lose such a promising son. Her parents were understandably dismayed to lose the prospects of such an attractive son-in-law. But the gods, who had been watching the whole situation with increasing disapproval were enraged.

This young lady must be taught a lesson," they agreed. "Of course she must be punished a little too, but more importantly, she must be reminded daily, for the rest of her life, of how foolish it is to procrastinate." They further agreed; "And while we're at it, we might as well remind everyone else every day of their lives, to make the most of every day before the sun sets." Eventually they devised a brilliant strategy. They would let the beloved aionioncallis flower with its phenomenal longevity, become their silent teacher.

We shall, from this day on, take from the aionioncallis flower its long life," the gods announced, "and give it instead the life of a single day. It shall be renamed as the hemerocallis meaning 'beauty for a day', and shall keep all its loveliness, all its diamond-dusted brilliance, and its pure, and bright colors - - but only until nightfall. Then it shall wither away - - like the day's opportunities wasted, like the day's promises unfulfilled, like loved ones lost forever."

Finally, so as not to punish to harshly the weakness of a thoughtless princess, the gods designed the new flower to bud in grape like clusters, so that each day or so a new flower would unfold, offering everyone another and another, and yet another opportunity to marvel at the beauty of one of nature's perfect patterns, and to be reminded of the briefness of its life - - and our own.

The fence behind the white day lilies is covered with fragrant and flowering star jasmin. I can smell the perfume of the flowers in my house, especially in the evening! And, it is so nice.

CHERISH each day!

I Live In The Trees

And, you thought I was kidding. Here is the proof.

I didn't say, "Up in a tree".

The two cedars trees on the left side in the next photo are quite interesting because they are conjoined at the base and shaped like a V in their growth pattern. Shortly after I moved here, I noticed that during a storm or heavy wind, they would sway a great deal. So I arranged for an arborist to take a look at them and he recommended cabling them together. The cable helps them to stabilize one another when there is a strong wind. The cables are about 30 feet from the ground. Since the cabling, they have grown straight up from the cable which is more like normal growth. Of course, there is no guarantee. I really don't want to have a tree in my bed!

The next photo is from 1996 when the tree man was going up the cedar tree to cable the two trees together. Can you see him? The trees certainly have grown a lot since this photo was taken.

There are many trees (Oaks, Cedars and Pines) on my "little piece of heaven". Trees are beautiful but they are very messy. They have a lot of dropping pollen, acorns, sap, seed pods, pine cones, branches, leaves and the shade causes roof moss. If the patio, driveway and garden paths were cleaned everyday, it would be just fine with me. And, Lily (my four-legged companion) would stay cleaner and bring less dirt into the house. But, I still am happy that I have my trees!

So, the roof has to be cleaned two to three times a year. Today was the day to remove "clean the roof" from my list of things to do. It is so nice when everything is cleaned up.

I don't have any problem being on the roof. However, I am very cautious and pay special attention to the "little voice" that is often discarded in our thoughts. My biggest concern is getting on and off of the roof from the ladder. It's a little trickie. Each time I finish, I think it may be the last time that I should be doing this activity. I guess I will know when that time comes.

There is music among the trees,

but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it.

M. Aumonier

Save The Bees

It is so important to SAVE THE BEES.

Bees are the main pollinators nearly everywhere in the world. Many plants are completely dependant on bees to reproduce. Without pollination, all the plants would die off and not reproduce. Without the plants, all the animals on the earth would die, too. Humans are considered animal life.

And now, some interesting trivia - - - - "Archaeologists recently unearthed in Israel an amazing 30 intact beehives dating to around 900 B.C., approximately the period that King Solomon reigned. The hives were stacked in neat rows, three tiers high, in a room that would have contained some 100 hives total and been able to produce as much as half a ton of honey per year. This is an extraordinary find, because it is the first time that actual beehives have ever been discovered anywhere in the ancient Near East, and it indicates that early beekeeping was much more highly developed than what had been previously thought. The Old Testament uses the term "honey" 55 times; 16 times as part of the image of Israel being "the land of milk and honey." But many scholars had concluded the word "honey" usually referred to a type of "honey" produced from fruits such as dates and figs, partly because bee's honey is specifically mentioned only twice. This discovery confirms that nearly 3,000 years age, real bee's honey was produced in much large quantities than previously thought possible."

The pictured yellow rose  at the top of this post is from my garden. It is a floribunda named "Sunsprite" and it is a terrific bloomer.

Bee (haha) careful when you smell the flowers!

Fruit Punch

Just a click will enlarge the photo.

This post is Part Two - - - - of the June 15 post. Let me present to you "Fruit Punch". It was a delightful project to work on; and even more delightful when I finished it which was not very long ago. It took about three months to complete this beauty. I worked on it quite intently during which time I was going through some difficult times trying to make sense out of senseless. As the saying goes, "When life gives you lemons - make lemonade". I thought fruit punch would work as well as lemonade!

I just discovered that if you clicked on the June 15 photo, you would have been able to see the full correct picture and you could have guessed what it was, all be it with a little cheating!

The pattern is Babette Blanket from Interweave Crochet Magazine - Spring 2006.

I chose Cascade 220 wool yarn and I used about 20 different colors. That's a lot of yarn to wind into balls. After, I finished winding about half of the yarn, I decided that I really should have a yarn swift. They are a rather pricey item. For many of us, the budget doesn't have much wiggle room.

It is time for me to put on my thinking cap. I like these kind of challenges. And, I especially like "making something out of nothing". So, I searched the Internet and found that several people have come up with ideas to make their own yarn swift out of things that can be found around the house/garage. So, I'm going to be working on this project.

Happy yarn winding to you - if you have yarn.

Along Came A Spider

I had such a HUGE surprise in the garden when I was watering this past week. It was the first time that I have ever seen a Black Widow Spider. I could hardly believe my eyes! But, there was no mistaking that it was a black widow spider. His body was quite large and very shiny. And, as he tried to scamper away, I could see the red on the belly.

This sighting made me think of the Little Miss Muffet rhyme.

Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet

Eating her curds and whey,

Along came a spider,

Who sat down beside her

And frightened Miss Muffett away

This is one of many stories about the Little Miss Muffet rhyme:

"Little Miss Muffet was a small girl whose name was Patience Muffet. Her stepfather, Dr. Muffet (1553-1604) was a famous entomologist who wrote the first scientific catalogue of British Insects. Whilst eating her breakfast of curds and whey Little Miss Muffet was frightened by one of his spiders and ran away! This particular Nursery Rhyme of Little Miss Muffet reputedly dates back to the 16th century as indicated by the birth date of Dr. Muffet!"

In my quest to find a little information about this rhyme, I came upon this artist's rendering by Scott Gustafson of Little Miss Muffet. I think the picture is especially fetching because there is a little Cavalier King Charles Spaniel dog, just like my Lily, sitting next to Miss Muffet! I love it.

PLEASE WATCH OUT FOR SPIDERS,
ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE A GARDENER.

Honoring Our Fathers

I do not have very many photos of my father. Not because he wasn't around. I simply don't have very many photos of him. However, I located this photo of him on his wedding day - to my
mother, taken in 1928. And, I think it is quite lovely!

Just a click will enlarge the photo.

My father was a good man and a very good provider. It seemed as though he was always working. But, that was not all that unusual for the times. At home, he was a quiet man but we all knew that he was the one in charge. He was a business man and was very active in the community. He passed away in his sixties of cancer. Rest in peace.

Happy Father's Day to ALL the fathers.

Unexpected Interruption

It happened. Wednesday evening, my COMPUTER CRASHED and had to go to the tech guru. Thank goodness I have a good guru. I guess I treaked a little too much! And, I was running low on memory. So, he added some memory and cleaned everything up nicely. I picked up the computer late today. I think I was going into withdrawal without my computer! Don't laugh. It could happen!

This Is A Burmese Harp

Just a click will enlarge the photos.

I had the wonderful experience of attending a fascinating and educational concert last night in my neighborhood. In respect for the artists, these photos were taken without flash. I have done my best in editing them so you can enjoy the magnificent beauty of these unusual instruments.

Rick Helzman is a multi-instrumentalist and ethno-musicologist who has studied the music of many different countries and ethnic groups, primarily in Burma and bordering countries.

Su Wai is a master Burmese harp (saung gauk) player and vocalist in the deep and virtuosic ancient repertoire called Mahagita. She also performs contemporary Burmese and Western styles of music and sings in Burmese, English and Portuguese.

Rick and Su Wai met in Burma several years ago and worked together often. This past March they married and live primarily in San Francisco. They travel to Burma often for Rick's volunteer work in Burma doing educational and aids projects to assist the democracy movement.

The stage was filled with many instruments that I had never seen the likes of. There were several different guitars, not surprising since Rick is an accomplished classical guitarist and teacher.

They played many of the instruments during the concert. And, the concert was WONDERFUL!

Let there be music in your heart, WHEREVER you are!

Mr. Crow

This is "Mr Crow". Isn't he a handsome fella? I think he looks very proud that he garnered such a regal location in the garden. He swings on his perch when the breeze blows. He takes his status very seriously and tries to keep the blue jays off of the blueberries!

I sure hope he appreciates all the work it took to dig the hole in this wonderful soil!

Today was the day to dig. Can you see why I have to be in a special mood when I'm going to dig a hole for planting plants or - - - planting "Mr. Crow".

Have a DIGGIN' happy day.

Special Garden Tool

Well, I got a lot done in the garden. And, I want to tell you about one of my favorite new tools. It is a three pronged cultivator made in Japan. Boy, is it sharp. Just like a cultivator should be. It works great for breaking the soil crust to loosen and aerate the soil. I kid you not, I think I live on a pile of rock and clay. See the rock in the photo? That kind of rock, mixed in with clay is what I have to dig into. I always say that I have rock on rock soil. There are some very large rocks that sometimes win over me and I have to change my mind about where I want to plant something. I call them "non-negotiable rocks". I don't use a pry bar because I have had back surgery. I don't even own a pry bar because I know I should not use it. I can't trust myself with one because when I get frustrated with a big rock, I would probably use the pry bar. And, that would be a bad thing for me to do. It is typical for me to have a two-gallon bucket full of rock when I did a hole to plant a one-gallon plant. I am not "Mrs. GotRocks", but I sure got rocks!

I really do love the rock but it would be nice if there weren't quite so many. Planting the garden has been quite difficult because I have not been able to bring in several layers of top-soil. I think the plants would grow more robust if they had a better foundation to grow in. However, I do fertilize somewhat regularly and I know that helps.

The is a very nice rock wall that is right outside my front door on the outer aspect of a patio.

Just a click and the photos will enlarge.

This is one of my little garden helpers! Can you see him/her?

This is Red Tip Photinia when it gets new foliage each summer. It is bright coppery-red. The top

of the wall is a different soil height from the patio. And, it gives nice privacy for the patio.

If you are a gardener - - HAPPY digging.

I'm Out Of Here

Yep, I'm out of the house today. With all of this indoor activity with the computer, my garden is screaming at me, saying, "I'm here too, don't forget me. I am thirsty. Where have you been?" So, out I will go. Unfortunately, I do not have a drip system or automatic watering. So, the garden is an "eater-up" (do you like that word?) of my time with just the watering. I must run.

See you soon.

What Is It?

I had to reload the picture and could not reproduce the first picture. I'll try again another time.

Isn't this an interesting picture? It happened by accident. But, aren't some accidents the best things that happen to some people? I like it. What do you think it is? I guess we could play 20 questions. Nah. But, I must say I think it's a very interesting display of colors. It is made with yarn. That could have been one of your 20 questions. O.K., we won't go there again. Actually, it has a name, which I gave it after I finished making it. Fruit Punch is the name.

I think we will wait for another post to talk more about it. I don't want to take a chance of loosing the photo if I try to add another photo and find myself doing some blog tweaking which could get me in trouble; and, it usually does.

Keep guessing.

Iris Mosaic

Be sure and click the photo so you can get the total effect of the beauty of these iris. Oh, look, how did Lily get in there? She is always full of surprises. I guess this is better than when she brought a mouse into the house!

Let me tell you a little about my iris garden. Most of them were planted many years ago. The first year they bloomed profusely. After that, not so much. My property has many, many big trees and they have grown considerably since I moved here. Thus, I have a lot more shade then when I planted the iris garden. Iris really like a lot of sun. Well, I was feeling badly that my iris weren't blooming year after year. And, then a surprise of all surprises. This year they put on a show like never before. The photo has 23 different colors. They didn't all bloom. There are about 35 different iris. I hope next year will be another "banner year".

Please take note of the white iris at the right side of the photo. It is very special to me because it was given to me this year by a friend. It has been in her garden for years and we don't know the name, so I named it "Gerber Iris". It is so beautiful, tall and stately. And, she has a big plot of them at the entrance to her home. When they are in full bloom, they are breathtaking. It is the only iris in her entire garden and I have lusted after it for years, prior to her moving there. But, now I'm a "happy camper" with white iris in my garden!

Wishing you a fulfilling day.

On The Grasshopper And Cricket

The poetry of earth is never dead:

When all the birds are faint with the hot sun,

And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run

From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead:

This is the grasshopper's---he takes the lead

In summer luxury,---he has never done

With his delights, for when tired out with fun

He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed.

The poetry of earth is ceasing never:

On a lone winter evening, when the frost

Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills

The cricket's song, in warmth increasing ever,

And seems to one, in drowsiness half-lost,

The grasshopper's among some grassy hills.

by John Keats

Listen carefully, you never know what you might hear.

Shall We Have Coffee Together

Would you like sugar and cream? And, Oh, please try my Spicy Banana Bread.

It's good - - - It's really good. Don't you think? Oh, I wish you were really here to taste this with me. The flavor is a little different than other banana breads I've made. It's not too sweet and has a faint spicy taste. It's nice and moist, but not too moist. I like it. It's "a keeper".

I have not had very much time to do anything else of interest because I'm still spending a lot of time learning about blogging and my camera. The camera is a nice little Casio 7.2 mega pixels digital camera EX-S770. It fits into my purse nicely and I must remember to put it there more often so I can take more photos out and about. I have had it about two years. My last digital camera was a big Minolta and of course, it couldn't do all the things this little one can. Don't get me wrong, it was a great camera for that time in technology. I have never spent very much time learning all the things my camera can do. And, I know I can take better photos if I just spend some time studying the manual. My photo program is nothing special. I have been using Picasa photo editing. No Photoshop here. I would like to get it but it's just to expensive for me. I am still having difficulty placing my photos. They always come out at the top of the post unless I go into HTML and do some tweaking. And, that can be very dangerous because I have gotten myself into trouble more than once, loosing everything on my post. I have never looked at computer code prior to this new endeavor. But, I will learn it through trial and error, I am sure.


Have a Beautiful Day.

Let's Bake A Banana Bread

These bananas have been talking to me for days. If I don't listen soon they will say "to late, you had your chance, I'm out of here". So, today is the day to make banana bread. I will be using a recipe for Spicy Banana Bread from a sweet little book called "A Token of Friendship". It is a "collection of sentiments, thoughts, gift ideas and recipes for special friends". I have had this little book for many a year. This will be the first time I am using this recipe. Wish me luck!

It looks pretty good to me. Perhaps, I will share it with you! Remember, The Way To The Heart Is Through The Stomach - - or something like that.

The Meaning of the Color Red

The color Red is such a wonderful color. According to Color Expert, Kate, Smith, "Red has more personal associations than any other color. Recognized as a stimulant, red is inherently exciting and the amount of red is directly related to the level of energy perceived. Red draws attention and a keen use of red as an accent can immediately focus attention on a particular element."

I recall when some of the first books on "Dress for Success" were published for women. The color red was recommended for a job interview. In 1979, I wore a red dress for an interview at a Fortune 500 company in the Occupational Health Department. I was hired? RED WORKS.

Around the same time I bought a metallic red Datsun sporty car. I enjoyed every single day that I drove that little red car. It was so much fun!

Believe it or not, this post is leading up to the subject of knitting. Recently, I finished knitting a scarf. What color? You say. Of course - - - - - Red. The pattern for this scarf is Canterbury Memories designed by Carol Bristol (http://www.carolbristoldesigns.com/). I knit it in Lamb's Pride (wool-mohair blend) worsted weight yarn. It was a very enjoyable pattern and the yarn is yummy!

Wow, I just added a link and I really didn't know I was doing it. I'm not going to touch it for fear it will disappear. Just kidding!

I am still on this "creating a blog" learning curve. And wow, it's been steep. The biggest challenges have been the spacing and the photo layouts. I can't seem to position the photos where I want them to be on the page. I wish I knew more about computer code. I sure hope it gets easier.

In the meantime, here are a few things that are RED at my home. I hope you like them. Yes, they are mostly from the garden, which is such a passion of mine. The fireplace corner photo is one of my favorite "red spots" in my home. It was a lot of fun creating and painting. There are two more strips of red on the other side of the living room. That photo will be for another day.

Enjoy and take time to smell the roses~