Thought for the Day

'Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.'

Author unknown

Dragon Arum Update

Took these pictures on Sunday. The Dragon Arum finally opened, exposing this spear like pistil, one pedal going half way around the pistil and the stench of rotting flesh to go along with it. It is no wonder the flies are all over it. I think Arum means breath in which case I can see where this particular specimen got it's name..."Dragon Breath." :) Truly, it was horrible.

It was almost difficult to be in the garden. However, I got my Blessed Mother with the help of my friend Mary Ann and we improved on the spot I had prepared for her. Not sure I like that spot any more but isn't that the way it always works. I think it is because of the background. I will have to work on that before I move her to an alternate spot.

The stench of the Arum did not last though. It rained Sunday night and washed away all the odor. The flowers are drooping now and I will be cutting them off very soon. So.......the build up of anticipation and lesson in patience gave way to this very short lived, undesirable, unique and unusual but less than satisfying bloom. In actuality, the bloom was very interesting, it is the smell that was . . . inconceivable :)!!! I thank the good Lord it only lasted a day.

Here I am fixing the geraniums I have planted around the Blessed Mother. Those geraniums looked nice with the little angel I had there but the larger statue, they just aren't quite cutting it. Guess I'll have to think about this for a while. In the mean time, here is my garden with my Blessed Mother so far. Her purchase gets me that much closer to attaining my goal for this garden which was a five year plan. This is the third year so I still have two years to complete it. Though the stone patio which I was hoping would be a weekend project has turned into. . . well I hate to admit it, but I fear it will take me the summer to finish. After working on it for so long, i see how long a 3 foot square takes. I am going to do my best to have it done by the end of July but well.... we shall see. Then next year I would like to build an arbor. Then it will be just finishing touches like edging and proper placement of some plants.

A sincere thank you to you Mary Ann for all your help, especially for accompanying me to the Art Show to make this purchase.

JW

How very kind of JW to forward this picture (Didn't want to be left out of our TNT group.) of himself when he crashed his plane into the Living Seas Aquarium. I think he said it was at Epcot!?! Yes, it was by accident!!! :) And someone was sitting right there to get the picture of him under water. You can see he had his pack on in case he needed to eject but he didn't . . . guess he decided to take a swim instead. Wouldn't you rather glide along the air waves checking out all the sites? I mean if you are going to crash why not make the best of it. Good Grief! What a bozo! (tee hee)

And I was thinking of asking for a ride along :-) YIKES!!!

TNT - Thursday Night Therapy

We all need it now and then don't we? Therapy that is, or perhaps something else ;-). After our usual choir practice last night we all parked ourselves out in the church parking lot to spend some quality time together. Yeah, we figured we'd give those college kids a run for their money. They are always hanging out on the porch across the street makin lot's of noise. What? They think we are too old to make noise? We are not 6 feet under yet!!! We will show them! Just because we have a few years on them doesn't mean we can't have any fun. Oh yeah, we pulled out all the stops we did!!! Bet those younin's never had what we had in a church parking lot.

It started out last week when we were all hanging out talking after practice and JW stated harassing one of our own Catholic Daughters coming from a meeting in the Parish Center. I had just shared my cookies (I make it a point to have sugar with me at all times :-))) and JW wanted this poor Catholic Daughters 2 liter of soda. The poor thing, I'm sure she didn't hear half of what he was saying but I sense she feared for her life, or perhaps her car, or maybe even her soda! This post could get quite lengthy so I'd better just get on with it. To make a long story a little shorter, he didn't get any of her soda. We did however start talking about other drinks and JW said he would bring us something to drink next week so we planned on having a tailgate party. We actually had a grand time of it. Put those loud college kids to shame too. :)

What a bunch of characters. Unfortunately JW is taking the pic with his cell cuz someone didn't bring a camera...can you believe that? I know you all want to see him so I will be sure to bring my camera to the next tailgate party. Okay, so we are all asking what we are going to get to drink with our dessert. He doesn't answer just continues filling our glasses with a smirk on his face. I'm getting a little nervous. I tell him we still have to drive home. He says we will be able to. Finally, when all glasses were distributed, we toasted to TNT and then he passed the bottle around. Why couldn't he just tell us what it was? Well, you'll see. I mean, I can't say it. If I did I would get all kinds of . . . well . . . who knows what kinds of advertising I'd be getting on my precious little blog. . . . . . then again. . . . . It could draw an international crowd :).

Perhaps. . .

Well, whatever it is, these two should be cut off!!! This one here's ready for take off on a bike with a cake in a basket on the handlebars...a real winner :)! The other, trying his hand...and mouth at the harmonica. Not bad Woody!

Okay, so what were we drinking?

As I said, I can't say :-)) so I'll have to show you. This is it! YUP! This is what we had.

What's that you say? You can't see it? Morons! You just want me so say it louder. Okay, how is this?

One thing I'll always remember is stumping MaLu. She was dumbfounded and speechless when I suggested a pajama party to watch an old time movie. Now if you knew her you would know that she always has something to say. She just sat there starring at me with her mouth hanging open, trying desperately to think of something to say in response. But to no avail. HA! I got her good.:) Our TNT - Tailgate Party was a huge success. We had a great time and packed up at about to 11:00. Oh, you think it was early? Well, we were out later than the college kids!!!

This is a picture JW included when he sent the TNT pictures. He took this on his way to work the next day, yeah, can you believe it? He flies to work every day! What a life huh?!? Awesome pic!

ELEPHANT EARS :) !!!

Ha! Finally. I have Elephant Ears peeking through the soil. I thought I'd be waiting for mid July for these little babies. But low and behold I was out there this morning and there it was, peeking up about an inch. It is quite yellow right now and if you click on the picture for a closer look, there are a few weeds but I was to excited to take the time to weed. So if you see green, it is the weeds. Pay no attention to them!!! I will get to them soon. I just had to post it since my friend and I are in a race to see who's pops up first. I hope I am the winner :-)))))). So what say you to this Ms. MaLou?

I have also included another picture of the Dragon Arum from a different angle just because I think it is so...striking.

Dragon Arum

Out strolling through the garden this morning. Actually, I went out deliberately to check on the Dragon Arum. I have been thinking about it and wondering how long the buds...well, I'm not sure if you would call something this size a bud. It seems like there should be another name for something so big. I mean, look at this thing. You will never guess how big it is. I've been thinking, I've just got to measure these things so I did that this morning. The "bud" on the right is 26" from the base of the bud to the tip and the one on the left is 23 1/2". I am just so excited about this thing and check on it every day. I can't wait for the bud to open and reveal....well, I don't exactly remember what the bloom looks like except that i think it is a wine color and I had no idea it would be this large. If you look close you can see the color where it is starting to loosen up.

Here is an updated picture of my patio. I haven't gotten much further. It is very time consuming. But I am enjoying working on it and can't wait for it to be finished.

And here are the two Amaryllis buds. These are my update so far.

Garden Glamour!

Well, as you can see I have not changed or even attempted to change my most recent pic. But that is not what this post is all about. That will be for another time. I will get to that some time. I have only done a little on the patio I am working on. I am liking the way it is turning out. There have been many things that I have put off and they finally needed attention. However I am hoping to work on that this coming weekend.

Actually, the weather hasn't helped. I can't take the heat, sun and mosquitoes any more. I didn't put on sun screen on Friday and was out for a few hours. Didn't realize I was burnt until I came in and cleaned up. Drank a gallon of water and was a complete vegetable the rest of the night...the next day too actually :). Yikes, won't do that one again. AND I have so many bites they have been keeping me up at night. So I definitely need a break from outside. Plus with all this heat watering is a necessity so I am forced to be out to do that and those mosquitoes just don't let up, neither do the black flies. Good God...what were you thinking?!?

Anyway, I was walking through the garden after work...quickly, since the sun, heat and mosquitoes are getting to me and I noticed that I have some buds growing on my Amaryllis bulbs. Yes, I have them planted in the garden. Remember last year I went crazy buying those bulbs because they were reduced. I have a difficult time resisting a sale. :) Anyway, I had to many to pot up in the house so I saved them for spring and put them outside. I have twelve in the ground and one in a pot on the deck. So far, there are two with buds on them. I am so excited. I was thinking I wasn't going to get any flowers cuz my experience has been that when I bring them up from the basement the bud is already there and waiting to be planted and watered. But this year there was no growth of any kind....not even those precious buds. this is very exciting. Can't wait for these flowers. Tee Hee!!!

Here is the second one and a close up of it. Remember you can click on the pictures to enlarge.

Also I purchased this bulb called Dragon Arum in the fall of 2006.

In 2007 it grew a few leaves but did nothing impressive. This year it has these spikes on it. Take a look. Again......TEE HEE....I can't wait to see what they are like. I will keep you posted.