flower

CHRISTMAS CACTUS BLOOMING AGAIN – Marilyn Armstrong

/ Marilyn Armstrong / 20 Comments

FOTD – 02-11-2020 – Christmas Cactus

I didn’t even realize it had started blooming because part of the table cloth on which the plants stand is red. But it’s blooming. Not with quite the verve it showed last November and December, but definitely blooming. And I gave it a shot of 10-10-10 fertilizer because it’s a cactus so I thought what worked for an orchid might reasonably work for a cactus. I hope I’m right. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

Red blooms

Wider shot

Warmer

PINK CHRISTMAS CACTUS BLOOMING – Marilyn Armstrong

/ Marilyn Armstrong / 9 Comments

Pink Christmas Cactus – FOTD – 04/06/2019

The pink cactus is blooming up a storm. I think I got the color a little better today, maybe because the light was better yesterday when I took the pictures.

It was a bright but not sunny morning, which is good for portraits and pictures of plants, but not much fun when shooting outside.

The latest flower

The full plant!

CHRISTMAS IS A COMING & THE BUDS ARE GETTING FAT – Marilyn Armstrong

/ Marilyn Armstrong / 15 Comments

And the buds are getting fat! – FOTD – 11/29/2018

The buds are fatter and today, I finally watered the plants. Worriedly because watering too soon can kill all the buds. I did it last year and had to start the whole process of growing buds all over again.

Full bloom

Amidst branches

Which one will bloom next?

Amazing what a little light will do for a macro photograph, isn’t it?

Is it ever going to bloom?

Just so that you understand what I mean that even with the best conditions, you can’t know exactly when your cactus is going to bloom, I included at least one picture of the other cactus which has not one single bud on it. It has stood in the same window and gotten the same light. I watered it exactly when I watered the other cactus.

Buds!

Yet this plant has not a single bud. Which only proves that no matter how good a gardener you are, you just can’t force everything to come out your way. But you can try.

 

DAYLILIES – Marilyn Armstrong

/ Marilyn Armstrong / 9 Comments
Flower of the Day – July 2, 2018 – Daylily

I got a new camera today. If I should ever figure out how to properly set it up, I’m pretty sure I will love it. It is very similar to the one I gave to Garry, but it has a larger sensor and the lens is only 25 – 400 mm. Garry’s goes from 24 – 600 mm. Otherwise, the cameras are very similar, though mine is heavier. In fact, it’s as heavy as a full-size DSLR.

I have not figured out why it is so much heavier. It’s got a 1″ sensor, but how much could that possibly weigh? I think the lens is a bit bigger, though also shorter. Maybe it’s the body. It certainly feels sturdy enough.

I spent several hours today trying to find specific information in their so-called manual. I found some of the information I wanted, but not nearly enough. There’s no index, so I don’t even know if the information is in the manual at all.

There are functions which are not explained at all. I don’t know what job they perform,  so being asked to set it “on” or “off” is meaningless.

You can see Garry back behind the garden, chatting with the dogs.

I really wish they would do a better job on the documentation. I know it’s futile for me to say that, but I spent a lot of years working hard to make the books I wrote correct and accurate. These flimsy half-assed “documents” offend me.

MISCELLANY OF ODDBALL PHOTOS FOR CEE’S CHALLENGE – Marilyn & Garry Armstrong

/ Marilyn Armstrong / 22 Comments
Cee’s Odd Ball Photo Challenge

With a mere hint of Narcissism

I was reading through Rich’s story of ye olde days of vinyl records and remembering when we had probably a thousand pounds of them — between all of mine and all of Garry through 30 or more years of collecting — and how getting rid of them was really easy after they were all soaked when the basement flooded.

As for narcissism? Regard this and ponder the word and its meaning:

As I was remember fancy sound systems with speakers all of the room so you’d get the sound “just right” — if you sat right in the middle of the room which was pretty much impossible because there was inevitably a table or something else already in the middle of the room.

While thinking about this, what should pop out of the bottom drawer of my night table, but …

One Sony Walkman

I was pondering whether I should call a  museum and see if I could get a few bucks for it … and whether or not it might work, assuming there wasn’t an exploded battery inside it. I had to take a picture of it anyway. I mean — who has an almost perfect Sony Walkman anymore? I remember when this was THE device to have. Before cell phones and a thousand versions of listening thingies, this was the one to have. Now, they are trash. So goes the world.

And then, Garry found this one. What is most interesting is the question: you mean, we have water slides in Uxbridge? Where?

Photo: Garry Armstrong – Waterslides?

I also took a picture of what has to be the very last cactus flower.

Finally, the very last Christmas Cactus flower

On one of the many long rainy days of the past couple of months, a wistful picture of the Duke, looking out the window into the gloppy, muddy yard.

Duke on a rainy day

And finally, a laboring gardener, optimistically assuming that we are going to have a summer … if it stops raining. Any day now …

Photo: Garry Armstrong

Happy Sunday. Since I started writing this, we have had rain and sun, rain and sun. Right now, sunny … but I see the clouds coming back so soon? Who knows?

THE CHILLY NORTH NEEDS FLOWERS – Marilyn Armstrong

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Flower of the Day – April 14, 2018

Painted daisies

Garry was such a good husband today. He picked up the fallen flamingo and stood him up nice and straight. Now, all he needs is to be surrounded by flowers. The flags — our day lilies — are coming up strongly, despite the weather, though the daffodils seem rather stuck, half-grown, half waiting for a spot of sun.

We are all waiting for a spot of sun!

LAZY DAISY

/ Marilyn Armstrong / 16 Comments

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As the chilly winds of winter are beginning to blow, my toes go into frozen mode. The rest of me isn’t cold, but until the sun comes back, my feet will never be warm. So … what could be more soothing than flowers? From this past summer, my favorite late summer blossom – Black-eyed Susans.

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