Green!!

It's easy being green!

Green!!  Everything is covered in GREEN!  I really can't complain though...when you live in the middle of a pine forest...what can you expect?   It will all soon be gone and forgotten about again until next Spring.  If you double click on the pic of the porch, you can see the green on the floor and probably on George kitty.  He is actually saying to me " it's easy being green".  I try and keep the porches swept but that's almost impossible. We even have green kitties from them laying on the floor of the porches.    In another week, when the trees stop blooming ( those funny little curly things on the end of the branches) we will wash down the porches and furniture and be done with the mess.

Down at the Garden

Tilled and planted

Climbing rose that the BNOE gave me a couple of years ago.  It's getting ready to bloom. 

wild flower bed...tilled and planted 

Yes, we are going to have a garden this summer.  I was beginning to wonder.  It has rained and rained and rained.  So much, that Chuck couldn't get it tilled for the last time.  It now has all the llama poop and compost tilled into it and it is planted!!!!  It sure is a good feeling to have it all done.  The excitement all starts when the tiny little plants start appearing.

Geraniums

Yes, these are geraniums!!!  Don't they look kinda like pansies?  On the way down to Montgomery last week, we stopped at our usual stop at Durbins.  A HUGE produce/plant place.  It's known for their peaches when they are in season.  Their plants are always just beautiful and you want to take them all home with ya.  Well, these unusual geraniums came home with us.  When we were out looking for sweet potato vines for the garden, we ran by " Dorothy's".  She is the sweet lady who lives in the country and has the cutest little nursery.  She was the one that dug up two wisteria plants from her yard for us last year.  Her favorite thing to grow is geraniums.  She told me that she wish she could just fill her whole green house with them.  She also told me how to start more plants off of the ones I already have.  She is just so sweet.  It makes me want to just go hang out with her in her big green house.  I also have two more pink geraniums on the deck.  ...hence....the " geranium summer".

Around the Yard

Soon these white azaleas will be blooming. 

Fire place pipes with hostas

New flower bed around the little maple tree 

new rock border

I did some " changing" in the yard last week.  We moved the "fire place pipes" from the curve of the drive way  and planted four holly bushes in their place.  The pipes are now under the trees between the house and the TT, filled with pretty hostas.  The good thing is, I won't have to worry about replacing the flowers in those pots because the hostas will come back next Spring, after being left out all winter.  The BNOE gave us a little maple tree a couple of years ago and I ended up planting it right in the middle of the front side yard.  For two summers, I had to be care full not to mow it down with 'Little Red".  I had been toying with making a flower bed around it and I finally decided to do it.  Chuck brought up a cart load of big rocks that had been laying around the oak tree in front of the barn, for over three years.  They were left overs from all the rocks we had to put down for the drive way.  I had just enough for the round bed around the tree and then a line of them by the bed in front of the bird house fence.  Now, I wish I had more for the other beds.  I like the way they look.  I planted tons of flower seeds in the round bed.  I can't wait for them to all come up and bloom for the summer.  It seems like this is going to me my " geranium summer".  I have been drawn to them when I see them in the nurseries.  (you'll see what I mean, when I post more pics of the deck/yard)  Geraniums means summer to me.  My Auntie Barbara had two big cast iron pots of them at her front steps to the porch, every summer.  They were always red ones!! It makes me smile to look out and see the red geraniums in the blue chair out front.

First Time Wisteria

A couple of years ago, Chuck built a pergola to hang the metal swing on, down at the garden.  We planted two small wisteria plants on each side of it.  Well, it sure didn't take long for it to grow and provide shade for the swing.  The wait for the pretty blooms wasn't long either.  There are different kinds of wisterias.  Some take 10 to 20 years to bloom.  I know!!!  The BNOE has some covering their walk way to their back door and it's been there for over 12 years and it still hasn't bloomed.  I guess we were lucky.  This is the first Spring that ours has bloomed.  We were both excited to see the pretty lavender, hangy downy, smell good flowers, hanging over the swing.  Now, to only hope that the wisteria that I planted last Spring to grow over the pergola on the deck, will bloom in the next couple of years also.

Beautiful Spring

White Azaleas

Ya know it's Spring when both kitties  want to sleep on the porch bed. 

Blue Bells!

Hybrid Blackberries

Cherry Blossoms

It seemed like it took long enough for "real Spring" to come to Brambly Pines this year but once it did, it's beautiful!  Other than the severe weather that comes this time of year, it's my favorite.  April/May is our " tornado season".  At least it doesn't last for six months like "hurricane season" does in Florida. I just hold my breath for a couple of months before we get into summer where we are able to grow our garden and fun flowers around the house.

Alabama Quilt

My block is the top right hand corner one

 The trip down to Montgomery was great.  It had been  last summer since we had seen Gene and George.  That is way too long.  We all laughed and said that we used to see each other more often when we lived in Florida.  It's always funny to Chuck and I to be in Gene and George's house since it's kinda like home.  It was inspiring to see all the new changes that they were doing to the house and the yard.  It always gives me ideas for home.  I got to spend several hours with Gene's Mom while we were waiting for Gene to come home from work.  I always look forward to spending time with her when we go down.  Gene and I stayed up late talking and catching up on everything that has been going on with each other.  After a big breakfast, Gene went off to work and I spent a couple more hours with her Mom before it was time to leave for the luncheon in town.
    The luncheon was held in the Convention Center down town Montgomery.  What a fun anticipation it was waiting to see the quilt and to find out where my block ended up in it. Each block was wonderful.  It made such a nice Alabama Quilt.  I wanted to take it home with me.  I was talking to one lady and she had entered two blocks and both of hers got picked for the quilt.  I was really impressed.  After we finished eating, we were told that they were sorry to say that the "First Lady of Alabama" wasn't going to be able to attend.  Her mother had died the day before.  The lady that was ahead of the quilt contest, had told me this and she also told me that we were going to get an invitation from the First Lady to come back to Montgomery and have a private tour of the Gov. Mansion, later on down the road.  That's even better than having her there for the luncheon and having our picture taken with her.
   Right after the luncheon, we headed for home because there was severe weather coming.  We were hoping to make it home either before or after it came.  Well, that didn't happen.  Just as we got to Cullman, both of our phones rang, with " weather call" from the TV station telling us to go to our basement.  That was a scary thought.  We could see the dark wall clouds to the West of us as we were driving.  Also, they kept saying on the radio that if we were driving on I65 heading towards Hartselle, to pull over and find cover.  That was just where we were headed until we turned off onto 157.  By the time we made it home, the storm was going through Decatur and heading to Huntsville.  We sure were glad to be pulling into our basement and that Brambly Pines was safe....just really wet!!!

Changing of the Closet

It makes a BIG mess

Twice a year, it's a job that takes a full morning but it's actually kinda fun.  It's like getting all new clothes because you forget what Summer or Winter clothes you have after being packed away for a season.  The real job is, dragging up the big tubs that I keep the off season clothes in, from the basement.  Then, when I'm through, they have to go back downstairs.  It seems like it took forever for Spring to finally get here.  In fact, the day that I changed the closet, the high was only 49 degrees.  I left a couple of sweaters out, to wear with my summer clothes.  It is warming up but it's always cool at night during Spring.  I feel like I'm walking into a whole new closet and can't wait to wear all my new clothes.  :-)  

Happy Easter!

Traditional Easter Brunch 

Shell's bunny mug I made in 1981

We always had Easter brunch outside from as far back as I can remember.  All the years that the kids were growing up, our Easters were spent in the back yard of the Blomberg's.  It consisted of beautiful brunches, egg hunts and lots of laughs and fun with people we loved.  Kids grow up, people die and times change.  We are so lucky to have such memories to look back on each Easter now.  This year, we were lucky to have Shell come home for the weekend.  She had signed up to run in a race Saturday morning in Nashville, so we hadn't really planned on her coming.  Last week, she decided that she could do both.  So, Saturday afternoon she came pulling up to the back door.  Come Sunday morning, we were forced to have our Easter brunch inside because of the rain.  It ended by the time we ate and got the dishes cleaned up.  We all headed outside to get some yard work done.  Shell helped me move a lot of the plants over by the TT to the yard and Chuck moved two heavy urns that were at the front steps...to the back steps.  Shell also dug up lots of plants to take back to Nashville to plant around her little house.  The day went by way too fast and it was time for Shell to pack up her little car and head back north.  A Happy Easter was celebrated again.