The hope of spring always brightens the heart.

Dear friends,

It’s a warm feeling to be missed enough to receive a few sweet notes asking about my whereabouts since the last day of October of last year.  I was struggling back then, and all fell apart on New Year’s Day of this year when I was rushed to the hospital not being able to move, all rolled up into a ball in that horrible bouncing buggy ride in the ambulance to hell, as every minor blemish of the road was magnified tenfold.

My stay at the hospital lasted a week, as I was being treated for meningitis, until a MRI revealed I had a staff infection in my spine in my neck area, and an area just behind my heart.  A week later I was released from the hospital and transported by my husband to an approved rehabilitation center that was rated only two stars by it’s previous guests, all to learn how to walk again and be on IV drips of antibotics every four hours..

Two months later, and here I am, still suffering from neck and upper back pain and finding some relief with opioids for a little bit longer.  I have heart issues that may clear up on their own after my medication is finished or may affect the quality of the rest of my life.

Time will tell.  I am told I am lucky to be alive.  We shall see if that is actually true.

For some reason, it is extremely difficult for me to get used to the layout of my bedroom since I returned home five days ago.  The light has to stay on in the hallway, to keep me from feeling trapped in my own bed when it is adjusted for sleeping.

The last set of unpublished photos are of November 2024 in my garden, and that is what I have added here, as I am using a walker to stay upright and move about my home, so no current photos will be forthcoming any time soon.  A rollator walker is in my near future with all terrain wheels and a tray, so I may be more self-sufficient.   I have exercises to build the strength of my legs back up, and it's a ton of work to tackle on my own after my month of in home exercise sessions are over.  

Looking back to last autumn and its beautiful colors -

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Male Cardinal

Fall Crocus

Swamp Sunflower

 

Copper Iris bloom in fall for a grateful honeybee.

Usually only blooms in late spring..

 

Blackhaw Viburnum fall leaves

Aster Seedhead 

 Crane Fly

 Autumn Tapestry

Beautiful Grackle

Carolina Wren

Sweet Austin

Charlotte

Daddy had to make a second appointment, 

because I outran him the first time. 

Spring seems to be upon me at a most inopportune time, and all that needs to be done before it is here, will most likely not be done.  What can I say.  It is what it is.  Husband says he is always here to help, but in reality, he isn’t.  Loving the gardens is not his forte, so there will be much grumpiness to handle this spring.

Thanks for sticking with me these past five months, as I am still alive and somewhat well.  I’ve slowed down a bit, but hopefully my photos will be worthy by the end of this year.

Usually reminiscing about the garden comes next, but all I see out my windows is a barren landscape with plenty of early weeds, and inside at the opening of my closet in the writing room is a long dead cockroach with legs extended.  Evidently it couldn’t wait long enough for me to return.  Poor tyke.

I'm tired, so I'll close and take a rest.  Love you.

    Yvonne

In the chill of an early morning in April

 

In the chill of an early morning, damp with an earlier passing rain shower, a huge crane fly hugs the door jam while the lady of the garden passes through quietly to not disturb the gentle being.  She’s aware of the errant ways of the Virginia creeper’s tendrils rushing to claim new territory crossing beneath the overgrowth of earlier risers, and yet she carelessly stumbles without a tumble as one has just tried to trip her.

It is a day of promised work, so she dallies about the paths with her new companion… a cane.  The dandelions have rushed into bloom, dropped their petals, and seeds dispersed in the March storms.  The second flush of blooms have met the April showers with the same exuberance as the first, while their upward smiling faces greet any honeybee passing by.

While the dandelions are as tough as nails, another nonnative has suffered badly in the early March week of twenty-degree mornings.  The lily stems are lying on the ground, stunted and deformed… a miracle they have survived at all.  Another early spring like this one will surely see them meet their demise.

Crane Flies, large and small, hug the north wall of the house; waiting for the day to begin it’s warming up.  A very short season for the species tulips, as the lovely fuchsia petals are already turning a crisp brown along the edges.  She will miss them.  They are a favorite of hers.

Back in the warm house, she changes into jeans and an olive-green wool sweater with a zipper down on each side around the hip area.  It was meant to be a warm casual evening out sweater, but there are no evenings out anymore, so she wears it as a work sweater in the garden.  It suits her with her uncut frizzy hair twisted in the back, pinned in place.

She’s a site that can make one’s eyes sore, but she tries to ignore that part of her faltering beauty and embrace all that crepe that drapes on her so well.  She’ll be spending the afternoon weeding, and hopefully taking a break by June.  April, indeed, has begun her quest to return the best of laid out gardens back to nature.

Barricade to keep cats off the plant table at night. 

After several weeks, no more barricade is needed.

Crane Fly

'Little Beauty' species tulip

Shooting Star

Eastern Red Columbine

Fothergilla gardenii Shrub

American Dogwood

Spring ephemeral, Dicentra cucullaria, Dutchman's britches

Maybe this year it will bloom... maybe.

Trillium cuneatum,

sometimes called Little Sweet Betsy

Orange Eyed Fly,

scavenger of small carrion

Tennessee Land Snail

Virginia Bluebell

Pink buds, 

wrinkled flower petals opening up, 

and fully opened bluebells.

Baby Trillium on right bottom of photo, 

tucked under the Bluebell leaves.

Since the Trilium patches are in the back meadow area, 

ants have collected trillium seeds and brought them back to their nests, 

where they eat the strophioles and discard the seeds.

This is the first year it has a flower.

 it can take up to two years for fresh seed to germinate, 

and another five to seven years for plants to bloom.

Wild Hyacinth

Not native to this area 

Not easy to dig out through the roots of other plants, so it's left in place.

Eastern Redbud tree trunk with flower buds

Pallida Balmatica Iris

The fragrance of Concord Grape juice fills the air around it.

Erigeron pulchellus, commonly known as robin’s plantain.

A biennial that usually dies after it sets seed.

Allegheny Spurge growing with 'Tokudama' Hosta

Blackhaw Viburnum

No longer know the name of this pretty clematis, 

which is sometimes tinged with pale pink or green.

Pupa attached to outside door, maybe a Hover Fly.

Wild Petunia, Ruellia humilis

Copper Iris, Iris fulva, in rain garden

Leucauge venusta, Orchard Orbweaver Spider

"My Mary' Azalea, very fragrant

Tulip-tree Beauty Moth (Epimecis hortaria)

About 2 1/2" wingspan

From the back deck

- Please bear with me until and through this coming summer when I will have cataract surgery on my right eye.  In the meantime, I'm having a bit of difficulty with the quality of my photographs, and catching all the annoying errors in my writing.   

I'm a bit wobbly on my feet on uneven surfaces, possibably from the peripheral neuropathy... I'm not sure.  Falling has become a huge concern for me these days in the garden where the paths are not flat or made of rock instead of stepping stones.  I feel like my husband has become a helicopter husband, always hovering over me.  Drives me crazy.

This post is linked to:

Saturday's Critters

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day

My Corner of the World