I'll let you in on a little secret -

 It's Miss Ivy to you - just Miss Ivy .

Come play with me , and I'll let you in on a little secret .

My first name is Poison .

People gasp when they hear it . 

I am so special .

Rickety rock… the last few days the wind has set the hanging bird feeder on a bumpy trip as if it were on the high seas.  So violently high gusts set the hanging cover on a game of chop off their heads if you can.  Rickety rock, rickety rock, RICKETY ROCK!

Okay, the hanging feeder now sits on the stone bench as the cover is gently tucked into the corner of the front porch.  Now the view out my window, as I lounge on my ever so comfortable chair is just air, glorious air…pooh!

I’m a tad disgusted with myself now, as I earlier tried to point out Asian bush honeysuckle for husband to pull out.  I called it quits when suddenly, from a dark and dank corner of my storage of memories, my brain belatedly cried out that what was being ripped from existence might not be what I thought it was. 

My bad.  Dang it... I could kick myself if my knees weren't screwed on frontwards.   

After an hour of research, I proved my memory burnt out and we were pulling exactly what we thought we were pulling, and ought to be pulling.

It’s abundance this year seems like the beginnings of a foreign takeover, so we, an army of two - me supervisor and Vic worker, are uprooting them again as the year before and the year before that and… well, you get the drift.  We only hold them at bay.

The garden is my nemesis as I grow old.  My husband, who is not a gardener, tries to maintain it somewhat or not at all.  He declared last week; he hates it all.  Not news to me, so I let it slide.  We are so ill prepared for aging.

Anyway, back to happy happy.

Finally, I can manage the deck steps to the patio, and I was in the garden taking photographs for part of the day.  Today my leg muscles are sore, and it is a bit more difficult to take that last step back up onto the deck.

My balance sucks on the stone pathways due to my neuropathy problems, so it’s difficult to move in on some of my photographic subjects.  Zoom photos are usually recycle bin material, although sometimes I’m pleasantly surprised.  I seem to be aging rather badly, and reinventing myself is becoming a regular occurrence.

Eastern Shooting Star, Dodecatheon meadia

Virginia Bluebells

Wild Violet, Viola sororia

Little Trillium to the right.

House Finch snacking on 

Rusty Blackhaw Viburnium flower buds

'Silverstream' Darwin Hybrid Tulip

Flower color may be different for each bulb.

One may be red, or rose, or yellow, 

or a marbling or flamed combination of those colors.

After a few years the bulb will build up enough nutrition 

to send up a flower in spring.

Most of these bulbs I wiped out, 

but this red one has held on so I let it be.

Blueberry plant that showed up years ago.

Blackhaw Viburnium

Not sure, maybe a young Firefly or a Soldier Beetle.

Flowering Dogwood, Cornus florida 

Three photos showing top, middle and bottom 

of one side of tree.

The flowers have been abundant this year.

Gray Squirrel in bird feeder

I'm out of here!

Wildflower or weed flower.

Uvularia grandiflora, the large-flowered bellwort or merrybells

Eastern Columbine, Aquilegia canadensis

Eking out a living in the cracks.

It’s one of those days, when the overcast clouds seem to blend in so smoothly with each other, one would swear only one gigantic cloud is filling the sky overhead.  Tomorrow comes with the promise of thundering weather, just in time to beat the viburnum flower petals off their pedestals into the muddy muck below.  Nature’s sometimes a tease that way.

I’m on my deck where the melody of tires over asphalt competes with the song of birds in the trees.  It’s an exquisite day today, this first day of April, although you’ll probably be reading this on the third or fourth.  Listening to birds calling each other like echoes over the garden fence is so relaxing.  I could sit here forever.

The five bird baths sequestered for the winter, have been uncovered and filled with precious water.  Immediately, robins and cardinals are christening the baths with wings flapping and droplets flying.  A hawk has been spotted soaring overhead, perhaps looking for easy pickings.

The light of day has dimmed a bit as the sun lowers towards the horizon, signaling that soon the night creatures will begin to emerge to claim the garden their own.  As soon as a roach appears, I’m out of here.

Breezes are shifting into gusts of wind, and the wind chime’s melody shifts into a louder mode that is a delight for these ears.  The air is cooling and I’m venturing to the backside of the garden where the bright red with yellow ruffles of honeysuckle flowers have been spotted.  It's a lovely native thug in the emerging garden.

Never let it be said that May reached your doorstep 

before April was even half over .  

Enjoy this month .  

She has much to give .  

Thank you for stopping by . 

Staying in touch means the world to me .  

Happy April !

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My Corner of the World