Thursday 13: A VERY Random Edition

Since we’ve had so much snow, and I’ve been staying inside so much (because I HATE snow), I don’t have much for a Thursday 13 this week.

So, it seems like a good time to share a very random assortment of pictures that I’m fairly sure I haven’t posted here before.

1.    Of course, I’m going to start off with a cat picture.  I think Mortimer looks adorable here.  

2. This was at a vacation rental that we stayed at in 2023.  I think these hand mirrors are antique (or at least vintage).  They were displayed on a wall in the bathroom, and I thought it was a great idea.  It seemed like a fun way to display a collection without really taking up space.

3.    I enjoy taking pictures of the sky, and I thought it was beautiful this particular evening.

4.    I’m not sure what these little white flowers are called, but I think they’re pretty.

5.   This hibiscus was at a vacation rental we stayed at in 2022.

6.  This was on vacation in 2021.  It was insanely humid that day, and the camera lens fogged, but I liked how it made the picture look kind of mysterious and moody.

7.  Theodore loves it when we get a suitcase out of the closet. 

8.    So does Mortimer.

9.    This was sunrise on Kiawah Island on our 2024 vacation.

10.  This was the first time I successfully built a cooking fire entirely on my own after Hurricane Helene.  I’m not the outdoorsy type, so it felt like a major accomplishment.

11.  This was when a possum stopped by the critter corner.

12.  This was one of the few beach pictures I took on vacation last year before we got sick.

13.  Finally, here's a flower picture that, according to the date stamp, I took on February 29, 2024. I'm trying to remind myself that the snow will melt and spring will eventually arrive! 

Are you also eagerly anticipating warmer weather? 

 

A Cold Hour in the Yard

Once Christmas is over, I am ready for winter to be over.  After the Christmas lights and decorations are (mostly) put away, it’s just cold and gray.  The winter blues really set in.

I know spending time outside in the sunlight, even when it’s cold, really helps, but I struggle to make myself spend time outside this time of year.

I really hate to be cold.

This year, though, to make spending time outside in the cold weather a little more pleasant, I’ve decided to focus on yard/garden chores I can do in the cold weather.  It makes it seem like spring isn’t quite so far away.

It seems like there are always things to do in the yard/garden, and I want to make it as beautiful as possible.  So, getting started on things now makes sense in addition to getting me outside in the sunshine (even when it’s cold).

Last week, Nick and I did a lot of pruning/trimming and general yard pick-up.  I forgot to take any progress pictures.

This week, I decided to prune the hydrangea that had grown out of control.  This is the ideal time of year to prune hydrangeas, anyway, so it was the perfect cold-weather yard task to tackle after work today.

Here’s the before.

I told you it had grown out of control.

I also trimmed the holly bush next to the hydrangea.  It was out of control, too, and I needed space to get behind the hydrangea to get the back of it.  I’m not sure if this is the right time of year to trim the holly bush, but I don’t especially like it, so I’m not really concerned.  I eventually want to get rid of it and replace it with a camellia.

This was my first pile of branches to haul away.  I ended up hauling away six wheelbarrows of branches. 

Here’s the after.

I still need to do some more trimming, but it was getting dark, so I called it a day. 

One day closer to spring!  

Do you have any cold-weather projects you're working on? 

Azaleas (Blogging from A to Z Challenge)

Some of our azaleas are starting to bloom.

They tend to bloom anywhere from late March to late April. 

Some years, we’ve definitely had more blooms by April 1^st, and some years, they’re just barely starting to bloom around this time. 

I love azaleas, so it always makes me very happy when they bloom.

So what about you?  Do you like azaleas?  Are they in bloom where you are?  

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?  

A Video Tour of Our Yard

I feel like this video needs all kinds of disclaimers.  First, as you’ll definitely be able to tell, I’m not the best at taking videos.  Second, it took a while to get this uploaded.  I took the video on April 18th, so what’s blooming now is different.

But, since quite a few of us are being hit with a cold snap, it seemed like a good time to post a video of flowers and bushes. 

I hope you enjoy it. 

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?

Fun With Photo Editing

I freely admit to being one of the least technologically savvy people on the planet.  It’s also no secret that things sometimes go pretty wrong for me with my phone.  So it really shouldn’t surprise me that I just discovered a feature on the phone, three years after I got it.

Better late than never, right?

My big, happy discovery over the long weekend has been that I can edit pictures on my phone.  It’s actually pretty simple to do, and once the changes are made, it saves the edited photos in a separate album.

It has rained incessantly for the vast majority of the weekend.  There are lots of flood advisories, and a neighboring county even had a voluntary evacuation in some areas.  So I’ve spent most of my time inside over the weekend.  That gave me lots of time to play with some of the editing features on the phone.  I still have a lot to learn, but I’ve had fun trying different things on different pictures.

I love how much you can change a picture just by adjusting the lighting or color.

Here’s the original picture I took of a tree in a park about two months ago:

This is the tree in documentary style:

To begin with, I thought documentary style was just another name for black and white, but it does actually look a little different when you choose the black and white option.  Here it is in black and white:

Next  I played around with the saturation.  This is the tree with the saturation maxed out.  I like how bright and vivid it makes the colors.  I think the grass is absolutely gorgeous in this version of the picture.

While I was experimenting with maxing things out, I decided to play around with the warmth.  I think it makes the picture look like it was possibly taken during the fall rather than the spring.  It just has a very autumn look to me.

Next I played around with the fill light.  I adjusted the light to make it light and bright.  I think this version of the picture definitely looks like it was taken during the spring.   I think it makes it look like it was taken earlier in the day, and on a brighter day.

I tried the option to have the picture as a negative too.  It's usually not one of my favorite options, but it's nice to know I can do it if I want to.

Last of all, I decided to try the picture out in sepia.  I usually really like the sepia finish.  I like how it makes pictures look old.  I liked it for the tree, but it wasn't one of my favorites.  I think this particular picture just loses something when it's not in color.

I think my favorite version of this picture is the one with the saturation maxed out.  I like the vivid colors, and I think for this particular picture it really adds something.  The version with the fill light adjusted is a close second.  Again, I think that has a fair amount to do with this actual picture.  It makes the tree look bright and airy; very springy.

Even though I don't think they were the best versions for this particular picture, I love having the sepia, documentary, and black and white options.  I want to do some experimenting with some of my pictures from Charleston, SC in those finishes.

The negative and the one with the warmth maxed out were my least favorite versions of this picture.  The negative finish isn't usually one of my favorites, so that wasn't a surprise.  I did think I would like the warmer version better than I do though.  I think my biggest issue is that it took a spring picture and made it look like a fall picture.  I prefer spring to fall, so it makes sense that I wouldn't like the fall version as much.

Do you have a favorite version of the picture?  What about a least favorite?

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?