Rain in August in Kansas is fairly rare, so we were delighted to get over an inch of the stuff last night, with more in the forecast in the coming week. This is only about the second time we've seen the creek in the back out of its banks like this. It looks like we live at the river's edge!
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| The clematis is going nuts this year! It came to life before we had a chance to prune it this spring, and I'm thinking that was a good thing! |
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| The pink roses are blooming along with the orange butterfly weed. I love the color combination! |
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| It won't be long... |
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| ...before we have Shasta daisies galore! |
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| We so enjoyed watching this little clutch of robins hatch and grow up. Alas, today two of them met a tragic end at the paws of a squirrel! I'm still in shock and grief. (Didn't know squirrels would do such a thing! My opinion of squirrels has taken a nosedive. :( ) |
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| This hot little bunny cooling under the chair brightened our hearts after the robin tragedy. |
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| Though the days have been warm, the evenings are lovely, and I've sat our here many a night until after dark enjoying the sounds of our neighborhood. It feels completely like home these days. |
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| The jaunty tulips have given me joy all spring long! They were a gift from my Club Deb group in memory of my mom ,who passed away last October. I didn't get these planted until mid-November and was afraid it might have been too late, but no! |
The first week of spring and today, March 25, we're getting some much-needed rain. Our little redbud tree we rescued from the front entry flower bed a few years ago is thriving in the backyard. And the pansies I planted in a strawberry pot are loving the rain.
This goose got brave (or he was really hungry?) and came up under the deck to filch some bird seed from the cage we have set up there. Kind of cute, but not sure we really want the geese getting too cozy in our back yard.
It's a new year! 2017! The middle of January already, and I think we've finally gotten all the leaves raked up. It was a rather pleasant job with the wonderfully warm weather we've had. That can't be all the winter we're getting though. Still, the days are growing longer, so spring can't be too far away.
December 17 and we got our first snow of 2016. Only 2-3 inches, but it sure is pretty. (Of course, I'm not the one out shoveling it.)
Mid-December and one thing we really enjoy about this yard—especially in winter when we can see into the trees—is all the birds and squirrels and geese and other critters we get to enjoy just outside our windows.
I don't remember the leaves ever staying on the trees so late in the year!
These tulips were a gift from my Club Deb friends in honor of my mom. We got them planted in the nick of time (I hope!) before the ground freezes and keeps them from settling in in time to bloom this coming spring.
I love it when a morning fog hovers over the creek behind our house. It never lasts for long, but so magical for the brief time it is happening.
We found this barn red gate at a garage sale for $5. It matches the deck and makes a perfect backdrop to the orange cosmos (which came up wonderfully again this year!) and also offers a touch of privacy between the space beneath our deck and the space beneath our next-door-neighbors'.
Cuddled our youngest granddaughter on a chilly October morning. A bittersweet time. The kids were home for an unexpected visit for my mom's memorial service (see the lovely flowers sent to the service on the table). So thankful my mother is in Heaven after a few difficult years, but at the same time, it's hard to imagine a world without her in it.
It's been a very early and very pretty autumn. Mid-October found us sitting on the deck every chance we got. And watching the trees change slowly, but surely.
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| The rail pots have done SO well this year! |
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| The orange cosmos came back wonderfully. |
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| The story of how we got our orange cosmos here... |
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| Watering is one of evening's pleasures! |
