Plant Rendezvous

I know I just reported on my plants a couple of weeks ago, but the 20 days of rain really sent them into overdrive. And perhaps inspired a little floral rendezvous, too. ;)

You can look at the old pictures to compare, but my coleuses (coleii?) are flourishing!


Then imagine my shock and glee when upon further inspection I found that there is new life in my flower bed! Look what the stork dropped by my house!


It's a baby! I don't really understand the biology of plants, so I have no idea how this happened. :) But it's cool!

This is the proud parent and child. See the little baby plant there to the left? Awwwh. :) Gardening is fun!

Things I'm Trying to Keep Alive

It's been almost a month since Penny Lane moved in, and many people have been asking me how she's doing. She's doing great! She was rescued from the shelter and is living a secure life of comfort, ease, and attention. The real question how is the cat owner doing? :) I'm fine. Overall she's a good cat-- very affectionate. She follows me from room to room, sits beside me while I wash the dishes or whatever, and is very cuddly. But remember how I said that when I walked into the shelter and she's the one who jumped up and started meowing at me? Well, indeed, be careful what you want, because she is a crier. I've had to train her with the use of a spray bottle to not sit outside my door and cry all night. I think she's a lot healthier now, too. Her coat is shinier and smoother. She's gained some weight. We're doing fine. :) Here are some cute pictures:

This is how Penny spends most of her day.

As gatinhas! Okay, that joke only makes sense in Portuguese. :)

Looking innocent. Don't buy it, folks. :)

A very accurate picture of her coloring.

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Speaking of things I'm trying to keep alive, my garden is also okay. More than half of the plants have survived, which I take to be a success considering it is my first attempt at a flower bed.

As you can see, the south side is doing very well--



The north side didn't fare so well, only one coleus and the impatient survived-



But my greatest success is one spirited weed that has thrived in the middle-

Prettier than Dirt

I have officially begun my attempts at gardening! It's a meager beginning, but in case I turn out to be the kiss of death for flowers I didn't want to massacre too many. I chose some nice impaciens and coleus. And I got really dirty planting them, so I feel very close to nature. :) I'll keep you updated on their survival!

Inch by inch, row by row

If you can't tell, one of my favorite hobbies is taking pictures of flowers and trees. Going camping gave me a good chance to do some of that, although not a whole lot was in bloom.

Two peas in a pod... or two buds on a stem... whatever. :)

This one's my favorite.

Also, two nights ago OKC had a humongous storm. I've never slept in a war-zone, but I imagine it was as close as I could get to that experience without being there. I woke up about 3am to the loudest thunder I've heard and lightning so bright it lit up my room like daylight. And it went on until 5am!

I woke up and as I was leaving for work the next morning, I realized that a tree had fallen in my back yard! I don't know if it was hit by lightning or fell from the wind, but either way it came a little too close for comfort to my neighbor's car.

Tiiiiiimbeeeeer!

Is this a rotten tree or is this the site of a lightning strike? Horticulturists, please help me!

This split makes me think it was lightning. Poor little redbud!

This may just look like dirt, but it represents my afternoon of hard work! Since the sun actually made an appearance today, I left work an hour early and got busy making a flower bed. This strip was full of weeds as tall as shrubs and a couple of years worth of dead leaves. But now it's ready to be made something nice and beautiful. :) What should I plant? What's the hardest thing to kill? It's on the east side of the house and gets more shade than sun. ~Gonna make this garden grow... all is takes is a rake and hoe...~ :)