May Flowers

"April showers bring May flowers" is what's humming around in my head. Temps are getting high enough that some hose watering help is needed almost daily. After the fence project was done, my landscape plans finally began to take shape. Kenny Muse Landscaping and his crew created a new bed across the front and planted and established a rock garden. The new plants are happy and thriving.

Getting a fresh start

Rain water will go through a buried pipe

Rain runoff will hit near the largest rocks

I asked for a small new bed in the backyard as well as azalea bushes against the fence. There is still mostly shade here, so he planted hostas and ferns, with plenty of areas for me to add some bedding plants. I'm watching for the zinnia seeds to come up and will get some other plants in soon.

New backyard bed with fence in background

Tallest hosta bloom I've ever seen

Hosta and hydrangea blooming

View out my kitchen window

June is Bustin' Out All Over

Borrowing this line from Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel, it is perfect for all that's happening. After being fully vaccinated for four months, we are seeing events opening up that have been sorely missed. We were treated to a concert of sacred music and hymn arrangements by Taylor Hightower (baritone) and Zhaolie Xie (pianist) this week. They lead us in worship every Sunday at UBC, but this hour-long concert was a special treat. 

Taylor Hightower and Zhaolei Xie
Xin Zhang turning pages

I am enjoying my flowerbed and watching the growth of hostas, hydrangeas, even tomatoes!, herbs, and begonias. 

Hostas

Parsley, hoping for caterpillars

Basil so tall it became a bouquet

It was time to change the art in the living room. Interleave Symphony has been hanging over the fireplace, but Elizabeth, My Almost Perfect Cat is back in her place of honor.

Elizabeth, My Almost Perfect Cat
34" x 25"

Interleave Symphony
34" x 31"

I enjoy sending cards of my artwork, so I had these four designs printed. The hydrangea is a photograph from my yard, while the others are fiber art pieces.

Note cards

One of my granddaughters and her family visited me this week. Kiesha Baker is a midwife and her husband Robert is a photographer in Dallas. We had a great time and I could brag on the sweet children. They were introducing their new baby girl, and I could see why the brothers adore her!

Their pug Olive came with them, which caused Tarbaby and Rahrah to retreat to the top of a closet. Elizabeth wasn't very happy to have an interloper in the house, but she handled it better than her buddies.

Brody making friends with Elizabeth

Loving this May Weather

 I think going through COVID and being deprived of ordinary social events makes me especially aware of this beautiful May weather and the ever-growing beauty springing (pun intended) up. The hydrangeas are beginning to bloom, turning more blue every day. One of my hostas is huge and overshadows the other ones nearby. 

My Mountain Snow Melt is complete except for the hand-stitching the facing to the back. The technique is Katie Pasquini Masopust's Artful Log Cabin, where the piece is constructed of Log Cabin blocks using a photo reference for choosing color placement. Katie taught a workshop in Hattiesburg in October 2019.

Mountain Snow Melt, 32" x 24"

Detail 

Inspiration photo with superimposed grid lines

It was a treat yesterday to get to hear and be present for a concert by three graduating USM orchestra friends, the Amaná Trio, composed of Rodrigo Quintana (violin), Patricia Vanuci (cello) and Luciana Simóes (piano).

     At our Pine Belt Quilters Zoom meeting this week I gave a talk entitled Making Art During the Pandemic. It was satisfying to look back over the year and realize how much enjoyment I got from my art in spite of sadness and anxiety over the news. Sometimes it seemed that the days flew by in a kind of time warp, but I located pictures of leaf projects, online classes and webinars, fabric postcards, and even breadmaking experiments that reminded me of many days well spent.

     Our OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) group has a Friday afternoon Zoom social, and last week several friends joined me in playing Word Games, my home-grown take-off on Password and 25 Words of Less. We gave clues to each other, trying to get participants to guess the word being portrayed. It was a fun afternoon, and we will do it again on May 28. 

     One of the best things that has happened beginning May 2 is getting to meet in person for worship again at University Baptist Church. Our sanctuary is getting some repairs and a new roof, so we are in Kelley Fellowship Hall. We had met on the front sidewalk and lawn for several months but have moved inside for Sunday morning services and the monthly Celtic service.

Spring is here

Everything is so green now! The trees are covered in leaves; azaleas are blooming in many yards, and the temperature is perfect for sitting out on porches and patios. Here is the view from my front porch. I even spent several days power washing the paving stones along the front. I may be the only one who sees them, because everyone except the mail carrier and UPS guy use my back driveway. But for springtime it seemed like a neat thing to do.

In my backyard a Lady Banksia rose bush is getting established and I am training it to run along the fence.

We don't have Texas bluebonnets, but this little ground cover, Ajuga, is making a nice substitute.

 My pansy bed was planted in November and I have enjoyed blooms ever since. There is a huge parsley plant (enlarge to see) and lots of oregano; I added basil and a rosemary plant. My "Rosemary Christmas Tree" didn't survive the winter.  You can see it here if you want to look back.

The oxalis (fighting for space with oregano) looks like large clover that I want to pull like weeds. But then it has these lovely little pink blooms that make me realize I shouldn't think of it as a weed after all.

The hostas die down and are covered in pine straw for protection over the winter. It is exciting to see them beginning to fight their way through the straw.

I have only one houseplant--a Christmas cactus. It lives on a table by an east window all year. Even though it is supposed to get a certain amount of dark in order for it to bloom, it forgave me for this neglect and produced a slow but constant blooming period from November through March. Here it is at the end of March with perhaps its last three blooms.

Two blog posts this month! There is hope I will do better next month.

Amaryllis and Hostas

My favorite amaryllis is blooming again, probably for the tenth year. It was a gift I enjoyed in a pot which I then moved to the flowerbed outside. It has multiplied and has two scapes each year with about four blooms on each. Here it is from beginning to open on Day 1 up through Day 4:

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Hosta blooming

Young hostas in shade

Several years ago I made a wall quilt inspired by this amaryllis; nothing as beautiful as the real thing!