Cee’s Flowers of the day

AUTUMN FOLIAGE – Marilyn Armstrong

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As good as it gets 

The rain and the wind came and went and surprisingly, we still have a lot of foliage left. I expected to find it all on the ground today. There is a lot of it on the ground, but more of it is still on the trees.

So, from the beautiful wooded Blackstone Valley, here is our Autumn — as good as it gets.

Garry took a lot of these pictures, too. He was out on the road and this time, he took the camera with him!

Mid-October, on our road towards Rhode Island
Still hungry!
Vines on the wires

THEN IT WAS AUTUMN AFTER ALL – Marilyn Armstrong

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October 19, 2019 – Autumn Leaves

It looked hopeless. It was a month late and there was so much rain. And it was warm too late into the season. So most of us — especially me — sighed and decided we weren’t going to get a real Autumn this year. Kind of like last year where it just never happened.

Instead, after a huge storm of torrential rain and high wind — the kind of storm that usually knocks the leaves off the trees and gives us naked limbs. But that’s not what happened.

The deep orange maple over the little house with the blue door

Golden leaves in October

Wide view of the old stone bridge, river, and canal

Along the canal pathway

The storm came. It went and suddenly, it’s really Fall. The colors are up. It was impossible — but it happened anyway.

AN IMPRESSIONISTIC ARRAY OF PURPLE ORCHIDS – Marilyn Armstrong

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THE DAY OF THE PURPLE ORCHID – 9-17-2019

I just felt like playing with the pictures. I have such a huge array of filters by now, but I rarely do anything playful with the pictures. All of these are definitely playful and mostly, impressionistic.

Mostly, I think I like them. Mostly.

This is how it looked in September
.

THE PURPLE ORCHID – Marilyn Armstrong

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New Orchids in the Little Garden –  09/12/19

I couldn’t have hinted any louder and Garry got the point. Yesterday, he brought home a new set of orchids for me in a rich purple.

All the others were pink and I think one was white.

He brought me the purple ones. They have a few buds on them, so I hope to have them for a while.

My purple orchid

THE LITTLE GARDEN – Marilyn Armstrong

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The Little Garden – September 2, 2019

Although you can’t see it at this angle, there’s a very big branch of not-yet-budding transparent or maybe white (hard to tell since they look so much alike) orchids growing out of this pot. It keeps getting bigger. I’m waiting for it to set buds, but so far, it’s just growing longer with more and more prongs that will set buds. It’s a rather big sprout and just keeps growing. So when it finally decides to bud and hopefully, bloom … I’ll let you see. Meanwhile, it’s just facing northeast and growing. About once a week, I give it some water.

But what is that wide-leaf green plant? Anyone know anything about it? It also has a young Philodendron growing in it.

The second photo is the philodendron which was looking sort of pale and listless. I stopped watering it as often — it was only every other week, but apparently, it was too much for this particular plant. Now, after a trim, because it was long enough to be constantly caught in the sink or dishes.

Nicely trimmed Philodendron

When it blooms and I really hope that turns out to be soon, I’ll flip it around so we can all actually see the flowers. Meanwhile, I call this my little garden. Just one pot. The ivy is now about 10-feet long and I have it wrapped around the pot. I don’t know the names of all the flowers in the pot either.

I’m good on the Orchids (which you can’t see, but trust me, they are here) and you can’t miss the ivy or the young Philodendron, but the big green flat-leaved plant? Anyone recognize it? If you do, tell me because I’d like to know too.

#FOTD – THE FLOWERS AT RIVERSIDE – Marilyn Armstrong

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Flowers in the Medieval Garden at Riverside Healthcare

I lost a bunch of pictures from this chip be inadvertently deleting a folder. But they had some lovely flowers and these are the pictures that I didn’t delete. Sorry about that! It’s a mistake I’ve made before and every time I do it, I kick myself around the room.

And our lovely Renegade surrounded by flowers:

Renegade and flowers

HOSTA – Marilyn Armstrong

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Hosta – July 15, 2019

I think it’s possible that you can’t kill a Hosta unless you dig it up and throw it in a trash can. Otherwise, they seem to be impermeable to weather, drought, flood and getting eaten by miscellaneous wild creatures.

We had a few Hosta when we moved into this house. I moved them to a sunnier location and they have thrived ever since.

There are also some large violet leaves mixed in. Violets — at least the wild ones — are also unkillable.

Yellow and green

Dark green, yellow edges

All dark green

NOTES FOR THE HUNGRY:

Hostas are edible when young and sheltering when older. … In fact, the Japanese have been eating hostas safely for centuries. Known as urui, they’re commonly boiled, fried in tempura or eaten raw. With a flavor reminiscent of lettuce and asparagus, they can easily be substituted in salads.

I’m sure they are best when they are fresh and not when they’ve had a whole summer to turn to leather.

BACKYARD DAYLILIES – Marilyn Armstrong

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Backyard Daylilies – FOTD – July 13, 2019

Although I’ve taken a lot of front yard daylilies, I’m not kidding when I tell you they are blooming everywhere. Our entire backyard is full of them, too. You can also see our repainted deck.

The summer heat has hit … and Garry picked up the same stomach bug I’ve got and is not feeling at all well. Amazingly, now that he feels really lousy, he has become surprisingly sympathetic to how I feel. Funny how that works, isn’t it?

Vacation is deferred. I’m hoping we’ll pull out of this soon enough to actually still take one, but for now, Garry is in no shape to drive any distance. I don’t think he’s in any condition to drive into town, much less inter-state.

Backyard Daylilies!

Meanwhile, we’ve been living entirely on bananas, rice, ginger ale, and chicken broth. It’s not very interesting, but at least I’m not sick every time I take a bite of something. Well, I am, but I’m not AS sick as I was before.

No cooking going on in this house right now!

 

AND THEN THERE WERE MORE DAYLILIES – Marilyn Armstrong

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And then there were Daylilies

It’s not fair to say it’s ALL daylilies. As it turns out, we also have some roses. Pink and red ones. Not as many as usual, but to no one’s surprise, they have come back enough to flower. Still, the soul of the garden is definitely daylilies and more daylilies. Front yard, back yard, side yard, along the road in the front, too. Probably in the woods, if there’s enough light.

I took pictures.

Daylilies

A few more daylilies

Maybe tomorrow, I’ll see what I can do with the roses. But I think I need a longer lens. Small roses way in the back of the garden.

DAY OF THE BLOOMING DAYLILIES – Marilyn Armstrong

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Blooming Daylilies – FOTD – 07/02/19

And so, it did not rain today. No thunder or lightning. Only a few passing clouds. Warm, but not humid. In fact, as close to a perfect summer’s day as one could ask for.

We had a lot of errands to run today — and more tomorrow. But wherever we drove, there were daylilies along the road, in gardens, in the woods. I’ve never seen the roads so green.

Weeds and vines have wrapped the fences by the road, overflowed their usual locations and seem to be trying to enclose the whole world.

Old tractor with daylilies

And everywhere, you could see orange daylilies peeking out from between the greenery. Somehow, these originally imported flowers have become a symbol of summer in New England.

A clump of daylilies

My perfect daylily

I was grateful for the long day because I knew I would be able to photograph the flowers when we came back from doctors, pharmacy, garage, and grocery. It was a long day and I still have had time to go through my email. I don’t think I’m going to get through it today at all. All this evening, I’ve been processing the pictures I took earlier.

Now it’s late. I’m tired. Tomorrow is going to be very much like today. For that matter, Wednesday is going to be very much the same.

By Friday, I’ll need a gurney to move me to the exhaustion ward.

COLUMBINE – Marilyn Armstrong

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FOTD – June 20, 2019 – Columbine

While they were so busy blooming, I took pictures. I think the next time I look — tomorrow if it isn’t pouring rain — I will see the beginning of the blooming of the daylilies.

I think if there had been a bit more sunshine, they would be blooming already. I don’t know if the roses will bloom this year. We cut them all the way down and it may take them a season to grow back.

I’m sure they will grow back. They are much too stubborn to die.

Columbine along the picket fence

Closeup Columbine

RIVER FLOWERS – Marilyn Armstrong

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Wildflowers by the Rivers-FOTD – 06/10/19

After Owen chopped down the meadow behind our house, we decided to go out and take a few hundred pictures. I really don’t think we can take any fewer.

It was a lovely day. Warm, but not too warm, with just enough breeze to smell the freshly cut grass … or whatever it is we grow back there. I’m pretty sure there’s some grass involved, but there are a lot of other things in there too. Flowers and weeds and crabgrass and dandelions at the least and who knows what else. Probably some random flowers blown there from our garden — or someone else’s.

Buttercups

Yellow flowers in the river

River reeds

A field of buttercups

We saw a pair of Mallards on the river, too, though we didn’t get much of a shot. We both tried, but we didn’t have time to more than aim the camera and hope for the best.

The Mumford Dam – 1910

No children playing in the water today, but a father and his young son — he couldn’t have been more than five — were fishing and a couple about our age were kayaking. And there were people there to just hang out and watch the water run by — and of course, us. Cameras at the ready.

And more buttercups

I’ve never seen so many buttercups. There were also tall yellow flowers growing in the river in Uxbridge, reeds by the river … and I had to include one picture of the dam just because it was so lovely.

RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY! – Marilyn Armstrong

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Flowers Inside – FOTD – 05/16/19

It is cold. It is raining, just stopped raining, or is about to start raining. Most people still have their heat on. I don’t, but it’s not because we aren’t cold. We are cold, but I can’t afford another tank of fuel.

So, we wear layers of clothing. I’m wearing a wool-blend dress and hoodie with wool slipper socks. Garry is equally warmly dressed, except he’s wearing socks and slippers.

This is all one bouquet. It just looks different depending on the angle.

The flowers inside

The flowers are not doing well. They need sun and they aren’t getting any. I feel guilty looking at the garden. I feel I should be explaining that the weather is not my fault. Garry has to explain this to the dogs, too. They don’t like rain. I don’t blame them.

and some very pink daisies

And so, instead of a garden, we have a bouquet on the living room coffee table. It is bright and cheery. Let’s hear it for bouquets and home-grown flowering plants!