Razzmatazlady

Category: Pictures

  • Pictures




    Just some pictures that I’ve taken in the past couple of days. The stepping stone was a present to “grandpa” from Courtney and Ryan, last year. He loves it and it’s right at the entrance to his veggie patch. The sign on the post is on the veggie garden fence, too. You can sort of see the rhubarb patch behind it.

    The church is on the way to our favorite country garden center. The drive is beautiful. You travel over some gently rolling hills and past a few blue-as-blue-can-be lakes, around some bends and there is that church just perched on the top of a rise. Pretty as can be.

    Last year, Jack planted a few annuals in the lakescape. I thought he was being silly at first because that’s all planted with wildflowers and native grasses. But the annuals actually looked very nice, there. And the pansies self-seeded this year, apparently, because there they were -blooming their little hearts out…brave little plants that they are. Jack’s a pretty smart guy, after all.

  • Our Trip to the Garden Center






    Here are just a few pictures I took while we were at the nursery.
    It’s a great little nursery about ten miles from where we live and it’s smack-dab in the middle of the country!
    It was really chilly so I was happy I had dressed warm. There were only a couple of others there besides Jack and me so we had lots of choices. You can see Jack’s veggies on one of the wagons and my flowers on another. I should have taken a few closer shots but, oh well…..
    I bought dahlias (tall and short), marigolds, petunias, pansies, sweet alyssum (white), dusty miller and a bunch of herbs. Dusty miller has a dusty gray-green foliage and doesn’t flower but it’s great for an accent. And I just love masses of white alyssum which really makes all the other colors just pop out.

    I actually don’t know what veggies Jack bought…will have to go check that out.

    Well, I do know he bought onion sets and potatoes and eggplant, which I just love – have a great recipe for eggplant parmesan and another for ratatouille. Ratatouille is vegetable stew, usually made with eggplant, tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, and onions, seasoned with herbs and garlic. It’s just delicious.
    Not sure what else was in his wagon but I DO know that whatever he bought will be just yummy! I love fresh-from-the-garden fare.
    So we planted all the flowers and today he’s going to put in the vegetables. Will post some pictures after it’s all said and done.

  • Gardening Day

    A Cute Little Bootscraper

    Thought I’d post this picture of a bootscraper that daughter MJ gave me a few years ago. (It’s not very clear but I’m in a hurry so don’t want to retake the picture.) Anyway, I pull it out in the fall and put it back in the spring.

    It’s fun to dig through all the things we’ve stored over the winter. For some reason, it’s just like opening presents. Exciting, even. Goes to show you how little it takes to please me – ha! We’ve been puttering around putting our garden art here and there. Once everything is how I want it, I’ll take more pictures. But I do love this little boot scraper.

    Today will be a gardening day in our household. We’re going to our favorite nursery to get vegetables for the vegetable garden (that’s Jack’s bailiwick) and I want to pick up some annuals to plant here and there. It’s supposed to be coolish (not a real word but it gets the message across), in the low 60’s but it’ll be sunny which is critical in my book.

    I put the Texas wildflowers in amongst the peonies a few days ago but just in case they don’t come up, having a few tall, colorful annuals will at least ensure that there’s color after the peonies stop blooming.

    Dahlias, probably – they are gorgeous and come in a hundred different colors. Zinnias are great, too. Even marigolds. You can get tall marigolds, short marigolds, yellow, red, orange and mixed colors. They’re perfect for a little color with not a lot of work. And one of the best things about marigolds is that they’ll put up with a little neglect.

    Planting annuals is a really good thing to do with kids, too. They can’t easily wreck them. And if you’re going to really do it right, you should snip off the blooms once they’re planted. It encourages the plant to spread. Kids love doing stuff like that. They can pick flowers right away. You can float the blossoms in a clear bowl of water since they’ll be too short to put in a vase.

    I think annuals are highly underrated. Well, I’m off to inspect the gardens. Might as well get an early start. Will report on our progress tomorrow.

  • The Chickadees & The Gardens

    White Tulips Finally Blooming!

    The chickadees are back. We were sitting at the kitchen table with some friends and I noticed one of the chickadees in the cranberry bush. I watched her hop down the branches to the birdhouse and then inside. So I feel much better, now.

    Another little update (not earth shattering): Some time ago in one of my posts, I mentioned that someone told me that it might have been a wren that destroyed the robin’s nest last year (it made me sad). I thought it was Karen, my friend who was here this morning. Anyway, I mentioned that to her while we were having coffee and she said that she did not tell me that. She said that wrens are too little to destroy a robin’s nest.

    I don’t know who else might have told me about that but I am very relieved that it wasn’t the wrens. I guess my memory was just playing tricks on me…

    The peonies are about a foot high. You could hardly see them poking out of the ground last week so this nice warm weather has really given them some incentive. They say that peonies bloom by Memorial Day but there’s no possible way they’ll be ready by then. We have four of them in a little bed by the driveway. There are pink flowers and white flowers and one of them is kind of white with pink edges on the petals. I love ’em. They smell heavenly.

    It looks to me like the lilac bushes aren’t going to bloom. I was planting flowers in pots on our deck, yesterday, and when I walked by the lilacs it looked like the buds had dried up. I wonder why. They’re huge and they’re really old and we should probably dig them out and replace them but not this year.

    I didn’t get the Texas wildflowers planted yesterday (or whenever it was I said I was going to do it) so I’m heading out now to get them in the ground. It’s sunny, again, but it might rain later so better get it done!

  • The Chickadees and Rhubarb

    Strawberries & Rhubarb – A Great Combo!

    I’m really sorry to say that I haven’t seen any chickadee activity the past few days. Actually, there have been no birds in the cranberry bush AT ALL! What’s going on? I sure don’t know but I think it might be my fault.

    We moved the bird feeders to see if the other birds would go away and leave the chickadees alone to make their little home. Well, maybe the chickadees LIKED having the other birds around.

    Someone who knows a lot about birds said that chickadees usually don’t nest in a birdhouse. Maybe they decided to build their little home on a branch in a tree. Maybe, maybe, maybe…guess I’ll never know. But I’ll keep watching for them.

    I’ve been working like a madman the past couple of days on my Squidoo stuff. Just posted two new pages at midnight, last night. All about rhubarb…well, not ALL about rhubarb…one is on rhubarb pie and the other on a bunch of other things you can make with rhubarb. I’ve got tons more to add but this is a start.

    Here are the links: Rhubarb Pie – 3 Great Recipes and Rhubarb Muffins, Cakes, Sauces & More.

    I’ve also decided to donate any earnings from the My Quest For A Greener Life lens to the Elizabeth Glazer Pediatric AIDS Foundation. That’s the terrific thing about Squidoo. If you earn any money from your pages you can choose to donate it to a charity. I probably won’t make a million bucks but every little bit will help, I think. I’m probably also going to convert the Chocolate Chip Cookie page to charity, as well. I’m going to check that out, today.

    I’ve decided to create another blog, too. Hopefully, in the next week or so. It’ll be quite a bit different from this blog. Will keep you posted.

    Well, I promised Jack and myself that I would, by-hook-or-by-crook work in the gardens. First, I’m going to plant the flowers he gave me for Mother’s Day and the packet of Texas Wildflower seeds that I bought when we were in Dallas. It’s sunny and warm – going to be 74 degrees F. Got to get out there and enjoy our very brief summer!

  • More Signs of Spring

    Slowly but surely the flowers are emerging from the earth. It reminds me of a silly little poem I learned when I was a child. Don’t know who wrote it or who told it to me but it’s cheery!

    “Spring has sprung,

    The grass has riz,

    I wonder where the birdies is?”

    We have dozens of birdies and the grass is actually showing, finally. There are still patches of snow so I guess spring hasn’t exactly sprung, yet. Shouldn’t be long. I’m trying to be patient but this prolonged cold weather is getting a little old.

    Mark Twain said, “In the spring I have counted one hundred and thirty-six different kinds of weather inside of four and twenty hours. ~Mark Twain

  • The Loons Are Back!


    I took this picture last year, actually, but the loons are coming back at this very moment. Just read a couple of days ago that they’re hanging around the southern part of the state a little longer because it’s still so cold up North.

    We live about as far south as you’ll find loons in the upper midwest. I’m so glad we’re still in their territory because there’s nothing quite like lying in bed with the windows open in the summer and listening to their mournful call. It’s so beautiful. I’ll try to get a picture this summer of the babies on their parents’ backs. That is cool.

    Jack cleaned out the wren house, this morning, and then positioned it in the cranberry bush so that we’ll have a “bird’s eye” view of the comings and goings this year right through the kitchen window.

    Soon we’ll be out cleaning out the lakescaping and the perennial beds. I. CAN. HARDLY. WAIT!!! We’ve only been back from our winter travels about six weeks and I just said to Jack that it seems like we’ve been here all winter!

    It’s only 29 degrees right now. High is supposed to reach 43. We’ll see about that. Sunny today and tomorrow and then I think we’re due for some more yukky stuff. Will keep you posted .(natch).

  • Flicker Pics

    Flower Pots at the Korbel Winery in Sonoma County, CA

    I discovered Flickr awhile back because of Squidoo. It’s a place to store photos or borrow photos to put on our Squidoo lenses. So I’ve got a Flickr account now and I’ve uploaded a bunch of photos. You can see them all at http://www.flickr.com/photos/razzmataz/. It’s really cool, I think.

    I’ve just got a basic free account but if I run out of space I can upgrade. Anyway, I’ve been searching through some of the pictures I’ve taken while traveling and I’ve put them on Flickr.

    It’s still kind of cold, today. Looks like the sun is trying to struggle through the gloom and I’m hoping it makes it. I can take a little cold as long as it’s not gloomy.

    So enjoy this photo of the flower pots. I’m hoping it won’t be too long before I can have flower pots outside on my very own porch!

  • Snow Birds



    April 26, 2008

    Yes, we have been visited once again by Old Man Winter as you can see by these brand new photos. Yesterday, it snowed all afternoon and well into the night. The snow has stopped but the winds have whipped into a frenzy, blowing snow everywhere. The photo of our kitchen window attests to that! Can hardly see out of it. I like the little “snow birds”.

    I kind of like the picture of the lake – no more ice. Quite a contrast against the snow.

    The leaded glass pane that’s hanging in the window is actually the transom that was above my grandparents’ front door in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The address was 10 Roosevelt Street. Years ago, when my grandmother came to the United States, my mother had the stained glass replaced with something else so she could bring the #10 back with her. That’s what we always called my grandparents house. Number 10. You know, like “I got a letter, today, from #10.” I have very fond memories of #10 although I haven’t been there since I was twelve years old.

    Jack went out to get the newspaper, this morning, just as it was being delivered. The delivery guy asked Jack if he’d please take one to a house about four doors down because he didn’t have four-wheel drive. That’s how much snow there was on the road. So Jack, being the nice guy that he is, delivered it – on foot!

    We’re pretty much housebound, today. I envy the human “snow birds” who are still basking in the sun down south or out west.

  • The Ice Is Out!

    Fishin’ Off The Dock

    Yesterday the lake was covered with islands of ice. It was dark so we knew it was thin and the breeze was moving it all southward. You could tell that the lake was in the last throes of winter.
    Today…no more ice! It won’t be long and the docks will be hauled back into the water and the boat lifts will be lugged into place. It’s a nasty job involving hip boots (sometimes leaky hip boots), a lot of stamina and a couple of hours work. And that water is C.O.L.D.! It used to be that all the guys on the street would take a day and help each other do the job. It was something that had to be done and much easier if everyone joined in. It was also kinda social.
    They’d come in freezing cold at the end of the task and swear that “next year I’m hiring it done” and then, next year, they’d all head back out and do it all over again. But the past couple of years most everyone has hired someone to haul the docks out in the fall and put them back when the ice is out.
    That pretty much happens by Mothers’ Day. Not as a tribute to mothers, you understand. No, it’s because Mother’s Day weekend is the opening day of the fishing season! Yep, it’s a big day in lake country. One nice benefit for the mothers is that, in order to ease the guilt of fishing on mother’s day, most mothers do get treated to a nice Mother’s Day brunch! Hey, I’ll take it!