News from home

 There was a storm through Minnesota on Friday night, many people are without electricity. Luckily our home in the woods is okay. Grandgirls Savannah and Paige both had trees down…in fact a tree blocked Savannahs door. My sister has no electricity and my friend Susie has no electricity either. It will be a number of days before electricity is restored. The weather people are calling it a hurricane.

Neighbor  Leah sent me a photo of the Flax field blooming across from our driveway! I wish I could have seen it, maybe next year!

Such a beautiful sight to see! 

In other news, Miss Minnesota was crowned…and she is the beautiful Emma who lives near us and just so happens to be dating our great nephew Mason! You can check out the Miss Minnesota Facebook page to see a photo.  She is a nursing student and her platform is Water Safety Knowledge which is perfect for all the lakes we have in Minnesota.  Onward to Miss America..wouldn’t that be something!  Just so you know she is as beautiful on the inside as outside. 

Far Side

Spring Blooms

 It has been a week. 

The Pin Cherries are blooming.  They make a wonderful jelly if you can pick enough of them. The fruits are small and the seeds will make you sick if they are crushed.   These are a perfect candidate for my juicer if enough berries can be found.  

The Wild Violets are so tiny...this patch needs water....it rained about as much as I can spit yesterday. 

Far Side

Water Hemlock

Water Hemlock is one of the most poisonous plants in Minnesota.

My baby brother has a whole bunch at his lake place.  When I saw them blooming last week I figured I had to make sure and properly identify the plant.

It was not blooming last year because of the construction.

The big identifier on this plant is that the veins in the leaves end at the notches in between the teeth.
It is the root that is poisonous...it is long like a carrot and if eaten will kill you.
Far Side

After some more research all parts of the plant are poisonous, some people have died after game birds ingested the seeds from Water Hemlock...and they ate the game birds and died.

First Wild Rose

Even if you are not perfect you can bloom anyway!

Wild Rose

Busy week with appointments everyday and travel.  One day Far Guy dropped me off at a Hobby Lobby and I walked up and down every aisle while he was at a really long appointment.  I finally got tired of walking and sat outside in the shade people watching, there is the perfect little spot to sit in between two stores.  I bought some yarn for a project, some card stock, some envelopes and some “stuff” to put on the wreath outside for the 4th of July and Flag Day which was yesterday!

I broke my toe (again) this time it bled all over…what a mess. Tis very sore and I walk a little funny…it hurt too bad to say bad word bad word…but I may have thought them.

Chance had a very boring week as he was left safely at home all but one day…one day it was rainy and cool so he got to go along.

Bingo Report:  Dad and I didn’t win a thing.  Dad says “Maybe we should stop going to bingo?”  I told him “No we will try again next week.”

Today I will mow unless it rains…and make some potato salad….and stay at home!

Saturday’s Bloomers

The purple plants are in bloom.

Campanula

Blue False Indigo or Baptisia australis

The first of the Lupines is in bloom.

Veronica

We attended the 50th Anniversary celebration for my cousin Chuckie and his wife Mary Ann, we went shortly before the doings started to avoid most of the perfume soaked women that would be there.

We came home and Far Guy worked on leveling the road (getting rid of some ruts) and I put away rummage sale stuff and cleaned part of my garage.  Far Guy came back and I tried my hand at leveling…I did just fine moving dirt from one area of the road to another…trying to level it out. It was a very humid warm day. 79 F or 26 C eh with 75% humidity.

The Wild Gardens

If you can brave the skeeters the wild gardens are beautiful this time of year.

I do nothing out there except mow some trails so I can walk through.

That is Obedient Plant or Physostegia virginiana off to the left, Black eyed Susans  in the front and Liatris or Gayfeather in the back.  Way in the back is the Marge Grass that is looking good this year.

After so many years of greenhouses and gardening it is a treat to see what comes back year after year with no extra water, fertilizer or deadheading.  Years ago I tended this garden, I weeded by the five gallon buckets and always worried if I got behind weeding. Not so much anymore.

I am a lazy gardener. This year the good Lord has provided enough water for the gardens to flourish.  Let go and let God works for most people and I guess flowers too!

Volunteers

I managed to get three sunflowers out of the five or six seedlings that were in the ground under the bird feeders.  Volunteers is what they are called, seeds you never plant but come up all by themselves to bloom.

The wild gardens have lots of volunteers.

Liatris and Rudbeckia in the wild gardens….and a whole lot of raspberry canes.  I suppose if we left them alone we would get raspberries….I mow the entire area every fall. 

Now for different types of volunteers. All the hoopla from the All School Reunion is over.  Far Guy did an excellent job getting arrangements made for his class get together of 47 years.  Just down the road Jo and classmate Barry planned their 50th Class Reunion.  I saw all the work that went into both events.  All the volunteers that made the weekend a success deserve a big thank you!  Unless you have done it yourself or helped you have no idea the hours that are spent.

We ordered prints of the photos from Far Guys Reunion and one day this week they will all go into the folder he has full of class memorabilia. The last of the bowls and misc. items left behind have been returned to their owners. All three of “the old farts” that worked so hard are exhausted and wondering what to do next …besides relax and look back on what a good time they had.

Roses and Hearts

We visited Living Legacy Gardens near Staples Minnesota recently.

They had some very impressive roses.

This one was not marked.  It is some kind of hardy rose to withstand our winters.  The foliage was nice too.

This one is part of the Explorer Series it is called George Vancouver.  That is one stem with all those blossoms..like a bouquet!  I was impressed with the blooms but not with the foliage. The foliage had blackspot and looked sparse and not real pretty.

The Bleeding Hearts were still blooming. 

Dicentra spectabilis

Dicentra spectablis ‘Alba’

The Tall Garden Phlox will be in bloom in a few weeks and all their Lilies were heavy in bud.  The gardens have something blooming all summer.  All the work is done by volunteers. It is a great place to visit but they have a bumper crop of skeeters this summer. Much like the rest of Minnesota:(

Whats Blooming?

The Pussy Willows...the joy of finding these was kinda over shadowed by the dead as a doornail drowned beaver.

These little green berries are on the forest floor among the Oaks.  I have no idea what they are. I have searched all my references..I will have to tag one with a piece of fabric and wait and see what happens next and what kind of leaves it gets...I hope it isn't the Poison Ivy.  I may have known what they were once upon a time, I just cannot recall at the moment, then again maybe I never knew.  It is okay to say that you cannot remember or that you don't know..there are no stupid questions.

We have been in the woods, getting some of the dead trees hauled out and branches cut up for firewood. The brush has not yet begun to bud.  There is no Poison Ivy in sight yet..so the in the woods adventures can continue.  This is one of the first years in a long time that we could be in the woods without two feet of snow this time of year.  I heard a rumor that we could get to seventy degrees this week...practically bikini weather.  Not that I even have a bikini to wear..or that I would consider wearing one.. but just in case I wanted too, it will be warm enough.
I went and did it and got a new blog template..what do you think?  Can everyone read it OK?  Decision..decisions..from font size to color..after awhile my brain just said what looks good with beige. :)
Thanks to Erin P..I found out that the little green berries are Poison Ivy Berries..good thing I didn't get too close:(