Pretty Flowers & Pretty Butterflies

Jimmy & I went over to Allan Wayne & Lucille’s house…that’s Jimmy’s brother…and Lucille has the most beautiful flowers. She definitely has a green thumb. They’re the ones who gave me the original hibiscus that I have growing in my yard.

While they were cleaning out a fence row, one fall day, they dug out three hibiscus roots and dropped them in our driveway while we were gone. The roots laid there a couple of days before we planted them and below you can see how beautiful they are.


These hibiscus are in my yard and are blooming right now. This is a view from my back porch, looking down the back side of the house. The flowers are also visible from the inside of the house.

This is looking at them from the corner of the house. The flower closest is a Rose of Sharon…but if you look towards that telephone pole you can see the hibiscus.

While I was wandering around Alan & Lucille’s yard, admiring the flowers and taking some pictures, a butterfly decided to flitter in front of my camera. It seemed to sit there and want to pose for pictures. So, who am I to pass up a good opportunity to photograph a butterfly.


You just have to hang around the right kind of flowers, if you want to see butterflies….And next year, I’m growing some of these beautiful flowers in my yard!

light in the midst of the storm

We saw the sky lighten up and quickly went outside to enjoy a little sunshine. It had rained all morning, so when we noticed that it had stopped, out the door we went. Our time outside was short lived...we were again driven back inside by this quickly approaching humongous, big black cloud. It brought with it wind, loud cracks of thunder and more heavy down-pours...just what we needed more of. I think all of our water sheds are over-flowing.


When the first rains of the day stopped and the sun came out, Jybow peeked out of her house to see if it was dry enough to come out. This was before the arrival of the big black cloud and the storm that followed. I think I actually woke her up when I was walking by on my way to look at the watergarden...I could see the lillies from the dining room window.


Since Jimmy took the turtle out of the watergarden pool, the waterlily's are beginning to grow again and we are seeing a few blooms. I haven't seen any other color yet. I'm hoping that the turtle didn't eat all of them.
To read more about the Thing in the watergarden CLICK HERE,
and to see the Mystery Solved & the turtle that came out of it CLICK HERE.


Despite all the rain we had this morning & through the night, there wasn't a drop of rain on any of the leaves as I took these pictures of the Giant Hibiscus flowers. I can see a few raindrops inside the flower when I enlarge it though. It wasn't hot, but just a perfect day with a very nice comfortable temperature, and it was nice being outside.


There's Jimmy pulling off old dead blooms from the Giant Hibiscus plants. You need long arms to be able to reach em....I did say that they were GIANT Hibiscus plants didn't I? They're usually taller and I thought they loved water, but I guess I was wrong. They've had more rain this year than ever and are shorter.

All I had time to do was take these pictures and then that big black cloud came by and chased us back inside. So here I am waiting for the rain to stop.

Surprise, Surprise...

Last Friday evening, as I walked outside I noticed that my giant hibiscus had made some beautiful seed pods that were beginning to break open. Last year they failed to make any usable seeds, so I was very excited and asked Jimmy to go get us a bag, while I retrieved the scissors. My plan was to gather the seeds and run them over to Motherkitty & Tomas, but Jimmy said that it was too late in the day to start on the journey to their home across our very long state, so he suggested we start early the next morning while it was cool.

We gathered the deep dark pink and some light pink seeds, but when we went to the white hibiscus bush we discovered that those seeds weren't any good. Tomas had mentioned in his blog that since he was as old as he was, that he was going to celebrate his birthday for the entire month of August so the wheels in my brain began to turn and I decided to surprise him for his birthday...which he now had opened to any day in August.

Of course when you surprise someone there is always the possibility that they won't be home when you come to call. That had happened to us once before, so I made a plan just for that occasion. I found some of my hibiscus pictures after much searching and made an 8 x 10 collage of pictures with planting instructions. I stapled shut the brown paper bag with the seeds in it. My plan was to slide the paper bag with instructions into their kitty door and then head back towards home, leaving no note. As I did before, I would have taken a picture of us in front of their home, this time holding the brown paper sack and emailed it to them later.
This was not a good day to be on a motorcycle, it was much tooooo HOT, but we were over halfway there before I realized this and it was closer to keep on going than to turn around and go back home. Thankfully they were home and you should have seen the surprised look on Tomas' face when he answered the door. Motherkitty was either napping or changing out of her bathing suit...I really don't know, but she was also very surprised to see us. And boy was it nice to be in their air-conditioned home. I needed about an hour to recover from the hot ride. Their thermometer said it was 104ºF and I felt like a baked potato when I arrived. Once Motherkitty made me a nice cold drink, followed by another and another I felt much better, so then Motherkitty & I went for a swim in their refreshing pool. The swirling water felt very soothing to my aching shoulder muscles. I must have really looked over-cooked & in distress when I first arrived, because Tomas even came rushing to me with a glass of ice cold water. I had a drink in each hand.

After our nice swim and catching up on all the news, Motherkitty fixed us one of her wonderful meals. I've only seen one other person who could whip-up a delicious meal in an instant and that was grandma H. Motherkitty surprises the heck out of me with her quickness at getting a meal together on such short notice. That's another reason we don't call before we come because she'll go out and shop and spend lots of money on groceries. Another thing she apologized for was the house...she said it wasn't clean, but I've never seen it dirty and I tell her that we don't come to see her house anyway, but to see them. I think we all react the same way when someone just drops in...right away we think we should apologize if there is a dust bunny floating about or a newspaper laying on the couch out of place. It must be a woman thing, because the men never apologize for anything that might be out of place...and I'm not saying that anything was out of place in their home, I was just speaking in general.
Jimmy & I spent the night with them and on Sunday morning we all went out to eat for breakfast and said our goodbye's. The ride home was hot, but thank God it was overcast and cloudy. I was wishing for rain to wet us and cool us off, but no such luck. We stopped often to soak a cooling cloth into the ice cold water of our cooler which I draped around my neck and back to keep me cool as I rode my motorcycle. And to be honest with you, I was wishing that we were riding in our air-conditioned car, but once we left that half of the state the weather seemed to get a little cooler. The heat doesn't bother Jimmy at all...the hotter it is the better he likes it.

We had a wonderful visit but I can't say the same for the ride. I only wish the weather would cool down a bit or that Jimmy would consent to riding in a car once in a while on trips. But until he does we will continue to ride for as long as we can, but next time we are taking both of the cooling cloths with us, not just mine and I'll use them both at the same time. Of course...if Jimmy gets too hot, I'll share.

On another note....We have some sprinkling of rain as I write, YIPEE! I can't remember the last time it rained...I'd have to look it up in my archives, hehehe. It's just a light sprinkling but a light sprinkling is better than none at all. Rachel of Sliding Through Life is on her way here for a visit, so I think she is bringing the rain with her as she usually gets more rain than we do. Thank you Rachel and you are welcomed here anytime. I'm only kidding...you can come to visit any time even if you don't bring any rain with you.

Hibiscus: Before & After

My large Hibiscus bushes are beginning to bloom and I really look forward to their beautiful blooms. We have several bushes around the yard in many locations, but these 3 along the fence bloom first and I'm assuming it's because they get sunshine all day long.
The large flowers range in colors from a deep pink which is almost red...I also have light pale pink blooms and some bushes have white blooms.
A few years back I gave my son some seeds from the red hibiscus flowers and when his row of plants began to bloom they consisted of red, pink & white blooms. His bushes were soooo BEAUTIFUL that everyone who saw them wanted to know where he had gotten his plants. He dug many of his bushes up and gave them away. They are so easy to start from seed and also transplant well. Above is a picture of these young bushes, which are about 6 feet tall and below is a picture of them this morning...after a violent thunderstorm we had last night.
Several of my tall flowers got knocked over by the strong winds last night and it was like old times here in the house with no power either. We lit the oil lamps and my husband told me stories about having to read books using the dim lights of the oil lamps...He concluded that his eyes must have been much better, when he was younger because, he could hardly make out the printing on a magazine he was trying to read to me. I told him that they probably made the printing MUCH bolder in those days, when electricity was not around.

Lilys and mind control

How wonderful it is to wake up on a sunny Sunday morning to find these beauties still in bloom. It was over 90 degrees today and we have about seen the last of these flowers. They're making way for the Giant Hibiscus who are just beginning to open their lovely large buds. I hope I'll have some pictures to show you of them at a later date, but at the moment the Japanese Beetles are having their way with them and they are opening up and looking a bit ragged.
I don't want to put any poisons on them because I don't want to harm the bees who have finally made a nice come back into our yard. The Hibiscus are 'a buzz' with beetles & many varieties of bees right now..
I love this red colored day lily and if you're not careful you'll get a red stain on your hands while removing the dead flowers. I have them planted in two separate areas and the ones close to the house tend to leave their mark on our house. The rains wash the stain from the house, so it's not permanent.

These Tigerlilys are my favorites. I love their spots and the way they curl up.





These are the blooms on one of my Hostas. I have several varieties of Hostas in my shade garden, but unlike last year, only one type of Hosta bloomed this year. They really aren't known for their flowers, but last year all of them had very impressive flowers. I thought these were pretty.

We went on a little ride today but it was much too hot to be in the sun for very long. Jimmy's nephew from Florida bought a piece of property w.a.y. out in the boon docks and he had given us the general direction of where it was, so we went in search of it and found Ed's property...at least we think we found it. It was our third attempt at finding it, but if we didn't find the right place we did at least find the right road.

I was VERY happy to see some cloud cover because I thought I was going to melt out there in that hot sun. I was so hot that I finally decided to make the best of it and think of something pleasant, so I pretended that it was very cold, I mean really cold, and that I was lucky to have a warm fire going to keep me warm on this very, very cold day. I kept telling myself how cold it was away from this nice warm stove...and I shivered. Can you believe that? I shivered. My body is so gullible. I've been reading a book by Dr. Caroline Leaf called, "Who switched off my brain." The book is very interesting and explains in lay terms how your thinking affects your health, so I thought why not put this little brain of mine to the test and see if we can't just change this heat into something good & tolerable. I must say, that after I shivered I was pretty proud of myself.

It doesn't take much to amuse me, but I guess you already knew that.

Who needs a title.....

It's another beautiful day here in Paradise.  The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and all is well.  I couldn't ask for a better life than the one I am living at this moment, except of course for the usual money tree growing outside that is missing in my yard.  We can't have everything now can we,  and if God wants me to be a rich wealthy woman then he will provide me with such wealth, but as for now I am very happy just being me at this moment. 

Today as well as yesterday I haven't done a thing that could even be equated as work.  Yesterday I dragged the cut down Hibiscus bushes to the back, and today I went out and paid three bills.  Not such great fun, but I'm thankful that I even have the money to pay my own bills.  I'm richer in that respect than over half the world's populations.  I have a roof over my head, food to eat and a little money to spend on whatever I like, within reason of course.  I'm blessed.

My jeans were looser fitting on me this morning and I don't know what I have done, but they are suddenly tighter and a bit uncomfortable.  It might be gas.  You know that stinky stuff that comes shooting out of your butt at inappropriate times.  I better say goodbye for now before I say something more to embarrass myself.

Goodbye......

While weeding around Hibiscus sprouts Jimmy found sunflowers

The turtle is still here

The Hibiscus are in full bloom right now with beautiful big flowers in shades of pink, red, deep pink and white. All of my Spring and early summer flowers have quit blooming and Jimmy is in the process of cutting down the old dried stocks now that they have reseeded themselves.

We had an early morning thunderstorm that lasted about as long as it took you to read this sentence. It came, it went and the lights went out...but only briefly. Everything is back to normal and the sun is drying the grass.

The turtle is still in the watergarden and it's a very small turtle. Jimmy saw it's head while it ate a waterlily blossom. In the picture to the left you can see the scattered remains of the blossom all shredded up. Jimmy stood there watching the turtle eat and I must have scared it away when I walked up. I haven't seen it.

I do remember the last time we had a turtle in our little pond and Jimmy told me that it was a tiny little thing. As he pointed the little turtle out to me, I told him that this wasn't no little tiny turtle but that he was only seeing the tip of the turtles tail, and that he needed a bigger net. He argued about the turtle's size with me, and then he dipped his little tiny green aquarium net down into the water after the turtle and quickly brought it back up and said, "I think we need a BIGGER NET!!!"

We're being lazy again today not doing much of anything but relaxing. I need to go to the grocery store but I don't know what to buy. I just may get a few essentials and wait to do the rest of the shopping after the weekend is over. I really hate to go shopping on the weekend when everyone else is out and the stores are so crowded.

Hope everyone is having a good day today and that you are keeping cool. Some of my grandchildren are at Kings Island today and some of the others are at a super-sized water park in Somerset keeping cool in the wave pools, waterfalls and water slides, but wherever you are whether it's traveling or just spending the day relaxed around the pool, be safe and enjoy yourself.

Cool Night by Paul Davis

Bikes of all sizes

I'm taking a break right now.  I've been outside for 4 1/2 hours mowing and weed eating, but I'm not finished with the weed eating yet.  I just needed a snack so I decided to post some pictures that I took of our rides in the last two days and also of some more flowers.  I took the pictures of the flowers while mowing as I passed by them.

I love riding whether it's on my trike or my small moped.  The moped is more fun because it is so easy to maneuver in tight places, and it's light enough to take it anywhere, and it doesn't use much gas.  We all started with full tanks of gas left over from a previous ride and came home with the gas hand showing that our tanks were still full.  Rick even opened up the gas and looked inside and sure enough, it was still full.

Here I am.




And here are Tommy & Rick resting on a shady bridge.  I like to stop here to watch small planes fly over and to watch turtles swimming around in Silver Creek, and chipmunks playing on the piled up drifts of wood that are caught under the bridge.  I saw three turtles yesterday, all different sizes swimming around below the bridge.



And now for my deep pink hibiscus followed by various pictures of  a Rose of Sharon that is growing near my driveway.  The pictures of the Rose of Sharon are all taken from the same big bush.






And of course I can't forget my trike.  This picture is different than any other because it shows my new reflector strips on each fender.  Rick thought these would make the bike safer, so that cars at night would be able to tell that it has those two trike wheels sticking out farther on small country roads.  He's always thinks of things like that.  He's very safety conscience.