Thursday 13: A Lot of Randomness

Today’s Thursday 13 is going to be all over the place.

1.    Mortimer had an emergency visit (fortunately to our regular vet’s office) on Friday due to eating plastic.  Fortunately, after x-rays to confirm there wasn’t an obstruction, fluids and an anti-nausea shot did the trick. 

2.    Unfortunately, I doubt this did anything to curb his obsession with eating plastic.

3.    We mailed out a total of 152 protest postcards on Saturday.

4.    We had severe storms and a moderate risk of tornadoes late Saturday night into the early hours of Sunday morning.  Pre-Helene, we wouldn’t have been very concerned, but almost everyone here gets nervous about storms now. 

5.    Because our house doesn’t have any rooms without exterior walls, we deemed our bedroom closet the best place to shelter in case of a tornado.  We didn’t want to have to round up five cats in the middle of the night with a tornado imminent, so we opted to lock all five cats in the bedroom with us.

6.    Catching and containing five cats is a big job! 

7.    Fortunately, there were no tornados, and we didn’t have to shelter in the closet.  We had a lot of rain, but no flooding or damage.  Unfortunately, we didn’t sleep well at all.  Caroline’s facial expression sums up the night well.

8.    Other than that storm, we’ve still been enjoying mostly sunny weather.

9.    The daffodils along the back fence have bloomed.

10. The daffodils next to the carport are at their peak.

11. The forsythia is just starting to get a few blooms.

12. There are a lot more flowers on the bush in the front yard.

13. And the hyacinth is still blooming,

 

How was your week?  

A Few Random Things

I keep meaning to do a Thursday 13 post to catch up on a few random things, but that hasn’t happened.  So, here’s a random catch-up post. 

Our hyacinths have bloomed!  I planted them a few years ago, and I don’t always have the best luck with bulbs, so it always makes me very happy to see them bloom.

The daffodils have also bloomed.  We didn’t plant these, but there are tons of them.  Fortunately, whoever did plant them has much better luck than I do with bulbs.

I love it when everything starts blooming!  We’re not beyond the possibility of more cold weather, or even snow, yet, but it definitely feels like we’re getting closer to enjoying warm weather every day.  We’ve even had a few days of perfect hammock weather.  I absolutely love spending part of a gorgeous day reading in the hammock.

Last weekend, Nick and I did a paint-and-sip event in Greenville, SC.  We have wanted to do one for a long time, but the timing has never worked out.  Lately, we’ve been trying to plan our weekends ahead of time, so we were finally able to find one with a painting we liked and get reservations for it.  It was so much fun! 

I’m not sure how much it varies from state to state based on liquor laws, but at this one, you bring your own beverage (I’m not positive, but I think it had to be beer or wine, not hard liquor), and the venue provides cups and napkins.   The event we did was adults (18 and over) only, and anyone drinking had to be 21.  Most people brought beer and/or wine in a cooler.  We opted for non-alcoholic drinks.  I love the mango sweet tea from Quick Trip, and we don’t have one near us, so I always get that whenever we’re near a Quick Trip.  You can also bring snacks, but I don’t see how you would have time for snacks.  I also kept getting paint all over my hands, so it would have been a pain to try and eat like that.

It's assigned seating (you’re supposed to let them know how many people are in your group when you make your reservation).  The easels, canvas, brushes, and paint are all set up, with a nametag and a picture of what the painting is supposed to look like.

Then they guide you through the whole thing.  This was a couple’s picture, so each person painted one half of it on their canvas, and they’d tell you when you needed to line certain parts of it up. 

You had to mix some of the colors, but they walked you through how to do that.  Then you had to dry the painting with a hairdryer before you put the leaves on the tree.

I’m almost as messy when I paint as I am when I cook!  It’s a good thing we didn’t bring snacks because I probably would have gotten paint on them. 

Here’s our finished painting hanging on our living room wall. 

I think it’s safe to say that neither one of us has a future as an artist!  But we’re both fairly happy with how our painting turned out, and it was a lot of fun.  We definitely want to do another one sometime.

We opted to go to Greenville in time for an early dinner and ate at Pita House.  The food is amazing!  I had the kibbi and grape leaves plate, and a pistachio baklava.  Everything was so good!  It’s right across the street from the main campus of Greenville Technical College, which is where I went for my Associate’s Degree, so it’s always a little nostalgic to go there. 

Lastly, I finally updated my Blogger profile and profile picture.  We were dressed up for something a few weeks ago, and I remembered to take a picture, so I used that one.  The last one was from 2007 when I had short hair and sometimes wore contacts instead of glasses.  I decided it was time for an update since I have longer hair, haven’t worn contacts since 2008, and am definitely not thirty-something anymore. 

So what have you been up to lately?  Does it look like spring for you yet?  

Flowers

For my F post, I thought I’d show you some of the flowers that are currently blooming in our yard.

The timing of the blooms seems to vary quite a bit from year to year.  Some years, the azaleas are in full bloom by now.  This year, they’re just beginning to bloom right now. Hopefully, in a couple of weeks, we’ll have a lot more flowers. 

The daffodils are always some of the first to bloom and are almost finished for the year.  There’s one little cluster still holding on.

And there’s one pink tulip in full bloom.

The scilla, transplanted from GrandMommy’s yard, is blooming.  She’s the one who taught me to garden, so it always makes me happy when these come back.  Her flower legacy lives on.

I’m not sure what this one is called.  It’s a bush in the front yard.  I think the tiny flowers are so pretty.

What’s blooming where you are? 

Snapshot Sunday: The Hydrangea Is Blooming

Our hydrangea bush has gotten huge, and is in full bloom right now.

From the left:

From the right:

A close-up of a bloom:

And one more close-up:

I know it should probably be trimmed back a little, but I can never bring myself to trim back anything with flowers.

What’s blooming where you are?

We Have Blooms

Today has been cold, rainy, and dreary, but the warmer weather is well on its way.  We hit 80 degrees over the weekend.  We’ve cut the grass two weeks in a row, and we have blooms.  The cold weather is finally on its way out.  Hooray!

If you’ve been visiting for a while, you may know that I’m NOT a fan of winter.  Not at all.  I’m always delighted when spring arrives.  The first blooms always delight me.  They’re a harbinger of warmth and longer days.

This year, they seem especially hopeful.  In a world where not much is certain right now, it’s nice to know that changing seasons and blooms are a sure thing.  Seasons pass, and so will this.  Right?

It’s early, and things aren’t in full bloom yet, but here’s what’s blooming now:

The azaleas are just starting to bud.  Give it a few more weeks and they’ll be absolutely gorgeous.

 Here’s a close up of one of the few blooms.

This scilla was transplanted from GrandMommy’s yard.  It always makes me happy when these bloom.   She’s the one who taught me how to garden, and to love it.  Lately, that has been an incredible gift.  It’s soothing to go out and pull weeds. 

Here’s a close up of the blooms.

This lone tulip has bloomed.  I don’t have the best luck with bulbs, so it’s the only one.  I love the bright pop of color.

And another view of the tulip.

And the lilac bush is just beginning to bud.  Once it’s in full bloom it will smell amazing. 

So what about you?  Has it warmed up, or is the cold weather still holding on?  Do you have anything blooming?

We Have More Blooms

I think it’s finally safe to say that the warm weather is here to stay.  The days have consistently been sunny and warm, and it seems like something new blooms every day.  I love this time of year!  Here’s what’s blooming now:

The lavender petunia I bought at the plant sale at the community college.  It has more than doubled in size and blooms.

One of the snapdragons from last year.  These don't usually come back for me, so I'm pretty excited to see it making a return.  And I love the coral color.

The azalea bush on the side of the house.  Most of the azalea blooms are withering now, but this one is always a late bloomer, so it's going strong right now.

And a closeup of the azaleas.

This rosebush.  We bought it on clearance a few years ago.  It was sad and sickly, and we weren't sure it would make it.  It was puny for a year, but now it's doing well.

And a closeup of a rose.

There were several bushes planted in front of our house when we bought it.  I didn't care for most of them, so have been slowly replacing them with bushes I do like, which basically means flowering bushes.  This yellow rose bush is one of the replacements.  I like yellow roses, and I think the yellow looks nice in front of the blue house.  It was pretty small when I bought it, one gallon I think.  It makes me happy to see it growing.

And a closeup of a yellow rose.

Can you guess what my favorite season is?  What about you?  Do you love spring?  Are the flowers blooming where you are?