Johnny Jump Ups On My Patio and "Mapp and Lucia" Fun to Read

Do you have favorite flowers associated with childhood? One of my favorites is Johnny Jump Ups which my mom always had in her gardens. Now I grow them every year in mine.

These are growing in a big pot on our patio. I think they have cute faces. Lilacs and bleeding hearts were also grown in our gardens when I was growing up Do you grow flowers that remind me of favorite people?

 

Have you seen the two TV series of Mapp and Lucia? I enjoyed them and recently read "Miss Mapp" and "Lucia in London", both by E.F. Benson. I think the TV series were BBC productions. The author has a great knack for gentle humor, a comedy of manners and I like all the characters in the two small towns they are set in. Plus London in the second title. Miss Mapp and Lucia have some annoying competitive habits which add to the plots. I think there are six novels in this series, plus other authors have written more in the style of E.F. Benson, I read one titled Mapp at Fifty by Hugh Ashton and it was also excellent. A fun series to read any time, and especially if you need a pick me up diversion from worry or events.

White flowers and pot and cross from Mexico

My recently planted Calibrochea plant in a new pot on my patio.

 

 I also bought a lavender color Calibrochea which I planted in a blue ceramic pot today. I like the flower pots like the one in these photos, that are flat on the back with a hole for them to hang on a nail on a fence or wall, plus the important hole in the bottom for drainage.

Pretty Flowers

 

Three views of my Pride of Madeira, a small bush when planted three years ago and now as tall as I am. Hummingbirds and bees like it as much as we do.

Note above the bit of flagstone patio and trellis I had installed in my front yard. A great place to sit and read, chat with people, and people watch. Bounce sits out there with us, of course.

My Santa Rosa plum tree's blossoms on March 10 of this year. 

My orange Four O'Clock vine from February of this year, it is vigorous and covers a lot of my back fence, one plant has grown to six feet tall and 15 feet wide. It keeps its leaves all year and always has some flowers.

Here is my trellis at night with solar powered lights, a Christmas gift from Lane.

"He hath made everything beautiful in its time." Ecclesiastes 3:11

Do you have pretties in your yard, balcony, patio or neighborhood?

Bounce, Fluffy, movie Edie, Melaleuca tree

Fluffy Kitty and Mr. Bounce taking a nap together on Bounce's favorite sofa spot.

Above is before I woke them and called to them so they would look at me. What is going on around your house in these days of Covid-19? Yesterday my book club met on Zoom, eleven of us, and we each reviewed one book, so I got some reading ideas. I shared The Warden by Anthony Trollope, I do love that book! I enjoyed all 27 of Trollope's novels that I have read thus far, out of the 47 he wrote, bless his heart. He wrote in the 1850s through the 1880s.

Above are my son Lane and Bounce enjoying the shade under the canvas awning Lane bought and put up for me.

I am standing in the kitchen when I took this photo of our new canvas awning on our back patio.

This is me under the awning, I am rather dark in the shade.

Melaleuca quinquenervia tree in my neighborhood, AKA broad-leaved paperbark. I learned that it is an invasive problem tree in the Florida Everglades and an important tree for wildlife in its native Australia. It is pretty with its soft white cloud like flowers.

Above is a close up of the Melaleuca flowers, a bit blurry, but you can see the flowers are attractive.

I watched a good movie today titled Edie. The main characters are Edie, a spry 84 year old widow, a young man she meets named Jonny, and the wild hills of Scotland.  Edie is played by Sheila Hancock and Jonny is played by the handsome Kevin Guthrie. Guthrie is in the new TV series, An English Game,  which I aim to watch. After short opening filming in London, where her daughter has Edie set to enter assisted living, all the filming is done in Lochinver, Scotland. Edie attempts to fulfill her long ago dream of hiking up Mt. Suilven. I recommend this movie. What beautiful scenery in the hills of Scotland and a story that is meaningful to me, about aging, looking back on life, and going ahead to try an adventure.

Photos of my birthday and some ideas

Yes, it is social isolation and my sons prepared a birthday celebration for me, which we celebrated on April 25, the actual day. They planned everything so the cooking etc. would be healthy and we would be outdoors on my backyard patio.

Above is a photo of Lane and me and below are photos of Colt and Lane.

We wore masks and maintained a distance, and stayed outside. The weather was gorgeous, 75 degrees, and it said 80 degrees on my patio. It felt rather hot sitting in the sun so my younger son got out his pop up canvas awning, size about 10 feet by 10 feet. He uses it when camping in his van in the desert. The canvas made it ideal to be outside and now I want a canvas shade for the patio, maybe one that will roll up when not needed. Below shows the canvas awning and patio as seen from the kitchen, and you see Bounce resting. The awning sets up in a few minutes and created a delightful shade.

We had shrimp on skewers, fresh salmon, marinated steak, and zucchini, onions. asparagus and mushrooms, all cooked on our grill by the superchefs, my sons.

My kitchen table is full of flowers, plants and cards. If you look closely you can see a gift of a new orchid, on the left. We agreed this is the best meal we have had since the lockdown. I said it is the best meal I have had this year. This is the first time since the crisis we have enjoyed a meal together and lots of laughter and bonding time. It seemed like normal life. Except for the masks, ha ha. And no hugging.
Here is my purple clematis.

My sons, Zoom meetings and Jesus are keeping me sane, or maintaining a semblance thereof.
It is helpful to remember the words of Jesus: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life ... Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?" Matthew 6:25
And James wrote "Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise." James 5:13
Til this crisis passes and we meet again, be safe.

Hope In Shadows and Wavy Mirrors

You might have noticed that I like to take photos of appealing shadows. Here are some from shadows on my patio, from a hanging flower pot and a wind chime.

The word "hope" is what caught my attention and my heart. This wind chime was given to me several years ago by a friend.

Can you see me in my butterfly hat in the mirror reflection? These are two bouquets in my kitchen, one from one of my sons who brought them to my house and one from me, to lift my spirits on the second anniversary of my hubby's death, on November 12. Flowers always get a smile from me. Do they have that effect on you?
I treated myself to the orange roses, an upbeat and unusual choice for me, and my older son surprised me with the gorgeous mixed flower bouquet. There are lavender roses in it, so pretty, and a favorite flower for me, oriental lilies.

The above shows my kitchen table last week with a different bouquet, as I wanted you to see my wavy mirrors. I saw these mirrors in my friend, Barbro's, home and wanted some for my house.
For my friends in the USA can Thanksgiving be here soon? I ordered a smoked turkey to be picked up on Thanksgiving day from the local BBQ restaurant. We had that last year and it was delicious.

Patio pix of watchdog on duty, flowers

Above are two scenes showing my watchdog at work on the patio while he sits / naps on the chaise longue. He is a cutie. Do you think he is extremely fierce? LOL, well no. He is a love dog.

The first Star Gazer Lily blooms from my new bulbs in July 2017. In the first photo you see to the left of Bounce the leaves of the lily before blooms.

Another photo of my Star Gazer Oriental Lily blooms. You can see they grow well in pots; you can grow them on a small balcony or in a small yard. My yard is large but the lilies enjoy the well drained soil in their pots which also keep them safe from nibbles by gophers.

Above is a closeup of my Cantua flowers which grow on a shrub and are two inches long. My friend from Chile told me about these beauties and we ordered some together. They are the national flower of Chile and can grow up to a second story, where she told me they grew outside her bedroom window there. I later bought a more rare yellow Cantua which never did bloom for me.
My patio is a place that gives me moments of peace in this time of grief for the loss of my husband. I enjoy sitting out there facing the garden, reading a book and drinking ice tea with ice cubes and no sugar in it. My dog and cat nap nearby and birds flit around, bathing in the bird bath and eating seeds I put out for them, up high where they are safe from cats. I think everyone benefits from a personal place of sanctuary and I hope you have one too.

Our patio, yard and quote

Here are some photos taken this month, which show the view from my kitchen through our patio doors. When I stand at the kitchen sink and look left this is what I see on our patio.

The plant on the left on the table is a pot of pink roses and on the right is a planter of purple petunias, rose cosmos, white bacopas and dusty miller, both of these are gifts from my sons for Mother's Day. Note grey kitty Fluffy on table.

Here is Fluffy on patio, near some potting soil. She chose us by showing up in our fenced back yard about five years ago.
My friend has this quote as her email signature line:
"Occasionally weep deeply over the life you hoped would be. Grieve the losses. Then wash your face. Trust God. And embrace the life you have." by John Piper

Dreaming in the Garden

Sometimes I gather the chaise lounge cushion, set it on the lounge in dappled shade, find a book to read and head out to the patio.
At the foot of the chaise lounge this is what I see.

Do you like to relax on your patio or lawn, or anywhere special in your yard like I do?

A cool drink is always welcome too, and any favorite book.

Can you see the blue bird playing a saxophone? I got him in honor of my dad who played alto saxophone and clarinet, and earned money for expenses while attending college by playing in a jazz group. 

The yellow lilies are tiger lilies and they have tiny brown spots on their petals. I planted them in honor of my mom, as she always grew them. The tiny gnome sitting on a pot edge has a story; he lay for many years under a cover of leaves in my garden. Last month I saw his blue legs and thought it was a long lost toy. But no, it is a garden gnome, returned to sit with his plants on my patio.

Happy Garden Dreaming.