In our garden there are many delights, we almost always have something blooming, about to bloom, or needs dead heading. (Tee Hee Hee) Yesterday I trimmed and cleaned the rose bed, which got them ready for the winter. Today I took a photographic journey through my yard to document it. Each picture I took has a story (or a few ). From the rock beds to the flowers to the Nick-knacks. We know where they come from and how they came to live with us.
All of the rocks that make up the retaining wall ( approx. 30ft long X 3ft tall) behind the work shed , to the stairs, came from the place we lived before here. ( MaTarAwa RV PARK ). At the time, as I've said before, I didn't know what a blessing it was to have to bring all of that here. We worked for three weeks to build that wall, and it had one problem after another , but in the end, it does it's J.O.B. LOL !
Not only is it a retaining wall, but it also serves as a two tiered flower bed. The beds contain a variety of bulbs that grow at different times of the year. We call it the cutting garden. ( although I have a problem cutting flowers just to have a bouquet in the house) When the flowers need trimming I clean them up, other than that I leave them in the garden.
This time of year, things are going to sleep for the Winter, the gardens look bare to me, yet lovely all the same. I do a lot of winter cleaning, taking out the spring and summer mulch, replacing it with fresh mulch. At the same time I remove any greenery that has died back, remove any weeds and see what is about to peek through the ground. It is my time with Mother Nature, which I very much enjoy.
It 's pleasant this time of year. We have had a few hard frosts, which have caused the pre-spring flowers to think it is time to wake up. Today I noticed the Daffodil's, Hyacinths, Freesia and Snow Crocus have decided to start. I talk to them, asking them why they are so early this year. "Do you know something I don't, my lovely ones?" (No, they never give up their secrets) Still I worry that they won't make it through what is still our winter season. ( I put a bit of extra mulch on the tender shoots, in hopes that it will save them.z)
A walk through my garden provides more that just flowers, if one takes the time to look. Our winter gives every one a chance to see the nick-knacks we placed, ( in the growing season a lot of them are hidden) Each of them were gifts from the people in our lives. They all have a special place in our garden. Most of them have a nick or two, (wings break off the fairies, dragons lose their tails), still I keep them. Even when the have a mishap and shatter, I try to keep them.
We have given an ID to each of the beds, with eleven beds to speak of, it's important to know which one we are talking about. (and that is just the back yard!) We also have three patio areas in the back yard (two of them are kind of together) a BBQ area, a place for the bird seed we feed the critters and a mock waterfall. If you look through the pictures I post on Facebook, you will get it. (Also on my blog) It sounds pretty big, but it really isn't.
Well now for those of you who have made it through this ramble of mine, it is time for the Prompt tease... Which is Haiku..
Hope to see you joining in too
ENJOY
JL&B
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
Our Garden
As a child, I was treated to the wonders of my Grandmothers love of gardening. In her front yard, there was ( and still is ) a twenty-foot long hedge that was trimmed perfectly at six foot high. It separated her front grass area from what little traffic came through the neighborhood. The grass area swung around the east side of the house towards her back yard. Along the way were a variety of fruit trees, ( apricot, peach, lemon, lime) forming the property line. Where the grass ends you come upon her rose garden, raised strawberry beds, and the back patio. There is a walk way that was poured in concrete by my Grandfather, many years before I was born, between the roses and the strawberries. Walking to the end of that led you to another level in her yard. Every year form Spring to late Summer the best boysenberries and blackberries I ever tasted were there for the picking.
Each year Grandma also had a bed of sweet peas, the fragrance swept through me like a summer breeze, the colors so soft I could feel them on my skin. I would always ask permission to go play in the garden when we went to visit. I would first go to the berries(if they were in season) and eat my fill. With my fingers red or purple, Grandma always knew where I had been. She would then hand me a few baskets and I would fill them up for her. (payment for the treat, LOL)
I remember her doing things that, at the time I thought were strange, but now do myself in our garden. Like putting egg shells and coffee grounds in the flower beds. Grandma did it, that is good enough for me. Only recently did I even question why she did these things, now it makes much more sense.(deters snails and adds nutrients to the soil) But , alas, she is no longer alive to answer, so I dive into books or sites that give me the answers.
Well that is where it all began for me, the fruits of my Grandma's labors seeded deep within my soul. I love to be in a garden, our own or the ones we tend, makes no difference to me. I enjoy cleaning the weeds, trimming the plants , blowing leaves, all of it. I really think it is cool that I get to do it for a living, I get paid to do what I would do anyway, the money is (for me) an added bonus.
Wayne and I may be very bias about our yard, but we can't help it, it is pretty-not-bad !!! When we were in the process of looking for another place to rent, we ventured up to a mountain area in the East county of San Diego. We agreed to rent a space in the Lake Morena RV Park, where we now reside. When we first looked at our spot, it looked a bit different than it does now. The photos I took really don't tell the whole story, in fact people who have seen them have said (although they are amazed) they don't really do justice to seeing it in person.
The spot we rented had plywood and metal fence posts as a retaining wall. ( for a three-foot high slope)The back yard was so over grown that I could only see a two-foot clearing in it. Wayne and I asked if we could make a yard back there by clearing some of the brush and build a rock retaining wall and flower beds. The people who ran the park agreed to that and three weeks before we moved our fifth-wheeler to the spot, the work began.
The place where we were living at the time is on the Veijas Indian Reservation, in Alpine. We lived there for four years, and deceided it was time to move when we started to not agree with the management. There we had a nice yard too, bringing in rocks (with their permission) to build a fire pit and garden beds. When we told them we were moving they requested that we take all those rock beds and paver walkways with us. At first it really broke my heart that I had to rip out four years of work, but in the long run it worked out for the best. It took us three weeks of removing the rocks and pavers, driving them up to the new place, working on the retaining wall and clearing the back yard, before we could move the fifth-wheel into place.
Soon the new yard started taking shape. The retaining wall was a challenge , to say the least, but now it looks like it had been there for years. All our hard work to prepare for the move paid off.
For those of you who have actually made it through this ramble, it is time for the Prompt tease... FREE FORM on Roses
Hope to see you join in too
ENJOY
JL&B
Each year Grandma also had a bed of sweet peas, the fragrance swept through me like a summer breeze, the colors so soft I could feel them on my skin. I would always ask permission to go play in the garden when we went to visit. I would first go to the berries(if they were in season) and eat my fill. With my fingers red or purple, Grandma always knew where I had been. She would then hand me a few baskets and I would fill them up for her. (payment for the treat, LOL)
I remember her doing things that, at the time I thought were strange, but now do myself in our garden. Like putting egg shells and coffee grounds in the flower beds. Grandma did it, that is good enough for me. Only recently did I even question why she did these things, now it makes much more sense.(deters snails and adds nutrients to the soil) But , alas, she is no longer alive to answer, so I dive into books or sites that give me the answers.
Well that is where it all began for me, the fruits of my Grandma's labors seeded deep within my soul. I love to be in a garden, our own or the ones we tend, makes no difference to me. I enjoy cleaning the weeds, trimming the plants , blowing leaves, all of it. I really think it is cool that I get to do it for a living, I get paid to do what I would do anyway, the money is (for me) an added bonus.
Wayne and I may be very bias about our yard, but we can't help it, it is pretty-not-bad !!! When we were in the process of looking for another place to rent, we ventured up to a mountain area in the East county of San Diego. We agreed to rent a space in the Lake Morena RV Park, where we now reside. When we first looked at our spot, it looked a bit different than it does now. The photos I took really don't tell the whole story, in fact people who have seen them have said (although they are amazed) they don't really do justice to seeing it in person.
The spot we rented had plywood and metal fence posts as a retaining wall. ( for a three-foot high slope)The back yard was so over grown that I could only see a two-foot clearing in it. Wayne and I asked if we could make a yard back there by clearing some of the brush and build a rock retaining wall and flower beds. The people who ran the park agreed to that and three weeks before we moved our fifth-wheeler to the spot, the work began.
The place where we were living at the time is on the Veijas Indian Reservation, in Alpine. We lived there for four years, and deceided it was time to move when we started to not agree with the management. There we had a nice yard too, bringing in rocks (with their permission) to build a fire pit and garden beds. When we told them we were moving they requested that we take all those rock beds and paver walkways with us. At first it really broke my heart that I had to rip out four years of work, but in the long run it worked out for the best. It took us three weeks of removing the rocks and pavers, driving them up to the new place, working on the retaining wall and clearing the back yard, before we could move the fifth-wheel into place.
Soon the new yard started taking shape. The retaining wall was a challenge , to say the least, but now it looks like it had been there for years. All our hard work to prepare for the move paid off.
For those of you who have actually made it through this ramble, it is time for the Prompt tease... FREE FORM on Roses
Hope to see you join in too
ENJOY
JL&B
Sunday, January 9, 2011
When I met Wayne
In the first few months, knowing Wayne as my Supervisor, was about as far as it went. Fresh out of prison all I wanted was to get through each day without getting fired and get off parole ASAP. I did well on both, but never expected the love I found a long the way.
After doing my time in the half way house, I only had one option for a living space... my mom's. She was very loving, as a mom should be, very supportive and giving. I really appreciated her help, probably more than I expressed at the time.
That was Jan - June 2003, life was great, things were going very well. Wayne and I started checking out each other, more than in just a work related way... and by July we officially had our first date. Movie and dinner, it was really nice! When he brought me back home we sat on the patio and looked at the moon rise. Something I have loved to do since I was very young. Sounds like a song in the making, but that is how it was. I th9ink that is why Wayne calls me his Princess Moon Beam, we had a few nice months of that there.
Then in October, the 26th to be exact, our county was hit by a wild fire. The cedar fire, as it had come to be known, was devastating. Fourteen people died, several of them as they were trying to escape. The firefighters were spread so thin, it seemed like all we could do is watch our houses go up in flames. Living in the Canyon was awesome as a child, but the last big fire we had through there was in the seventies, you do the math. The Cedar fire was set by someone who was lost, he tried to set a signal fire and it got away from him. By Thursday Oct 30th, the fire had destroyed 2,232 homes. It burnt 273,246 acres of land . Several thousand people were without... well everything.
That was when I knew Wayne really started to care about me. He was so supportive, allowed me time off work when I requested it, ( I wanted to be at work, its the only thing left I had that was normal) called me after work to make sure I had dinner. Thought of things like toothbrushes, hair brush, soap, shampoo, the whole nine yards! Made my heart go pop !
It was hard to separate us after that, we were like peas in a pod. We went into work early, so we could have a cup of coffee together before anyone else arrived. (A few smooches too, Tee Hee Hee.) We started becoming closer, and everyone could see what we thought was so well hidden. During a company pick-nick, in Sept. 2004, we let it be known that we were in fact a couple. Not long after that I was fired for using the company computer, during my break, for a non work related task.
Wayne and I were starting to see a lot more of each other by this time, and in the way that things progress, he started spending more time at my place than his. We decided that we should make it official and jumped into the living together status in May 2005. It has been really great having this man in my life. I never knew a lover that I had no fear of, the guy's I had in my life before Wayne, I wouldn't ever consider now. He has taught me that much. Yeah I'm getting a bit mushy now , but I honestly feel that way.
Now for those of you who actually got through this ramble, its Prompt time...
Today's tease is BLANK VERSE
Hope to see you join in too
ENJOY
JL&B
After doing my time in the half way house, I only had one option for a living space... my mom's. She was very loving, as a mom should be, very supportive and giving. I really appreciated her help, probably more than I expressed at the time.
That was Jan - June 2003, life was great, things were going very well. Wayne and I started checking out each other, more than in just a work related way... and by July we officially had our first date. Movie and dinner, it was really nice! When he brought me back home we sat on the patio and looked at the moon rise. Something I have loved to do since I was very young. Sounds like a song in the making, but that is how it was. I th9ink that is why Wayne calls me his Princess Moon Beam, we had a few nice months of that there.
Then in October, the 26th to be exact, our county was hit by a wild fire. The cedar fire, as it had come to be known, was devastating. Fourteen people died, several of them as they were trying to escape. The firefighters were spread so thin, it seemed like all we could do is watch our houses go up in flames. Living in the Canyon was awesome as a child, but the last big fire we had through there was in the seventies, you do the math. The Cedar fire was set by someone who was lost, he tried to set a signal fire and it got away from him. By Thursday Oct 30th, the fire had destroyed 2,232 homes. It burnt 273,246 acres of land . Several thousand people were without... well everything.
That was when I knew Wayne really started to care about me. He was so supportive, allowed me time off work when I requested it, ( I wanted to be at work, its the only thing left I had that was normal) called me after work to make sure I had dinner. Thought of things like toothbrushes, hair brush, soap, shampoo, the whole nine yards! Made my heart go pop !
It was hard to separate us after that, we were like peas in a pod. We went into work early, so we could have a cup of coffee together before anyone else arrived. (A few smooches too, Tee Hee Hee.) We started becoming closer, and everyone could see what we thought was so well hidden. During a company pick-nick, in Sept. 2004, we let it be known that we were in fact a couple. Not long after that I was fired for using the company computer, during my break, for a non work related task.
Wayne and I were starting to see a lot more of each other by this time, and in the way that things progress, he started spending more time at my place than his. We decided that we should make it official and jumped into the living together status in May 2005. It has been really great having this man in my life. I never knew a lover that I had no fear of, the guy's I had in my life before Wayne, I wouldn't ever consider now. He has taught me that much. Yeah I'm getting a bit mushy now , but I honestly feel that way.
Now for those of you who actually got through this ramble, its Prompt time...
Today's tease is BLANK VERSE
Hope to see you join in too
ENJOY
JL&B
New Project
In the process today of picking the flowers I want and how I want them arranged !!! I would like this one to be full of things we don't yet have, so I'm going through the books and catalog's so far I really like the egret flowers, master wort and the Lupine for the center, and maybe some asters and and scabiosa for the middle and some mixed Victorian primrose for the front, for an added bonus I think I will put a few Yellow jack in the pulpit and a striped or Griffith's cobra lilies in the mix.
What do you think, so far???
What do you think, so far???
Saturday, January 8, 2011
New Project
When I have an idea for the yard, I usually have to get Wayne to look at what I'm thinking about, to see what he thinks. If he thinks it will fly, I go get the lady who runs the park. Then I explain best I can what I would like to do and why, today's project though was different.
I guess from living with Wayne I have learned to ask for what I would like more specifiably. So , yesterday, rather than going to her, I called her and asked her to come to the yard to see what I had in mind... MUCH EASIER!! She came up, okayed the project and we went to sign the official paper work. ( So happy she said yes Tee Hee Hee ).
Of course the next thing I needed was supplies, in this case rocks ( LOTS of them... LOL). So after the laundry was done, Wayne and I went rock harvesting. When we competed that task, I started my project. It didn't take as long as I thought it would, I was done within a two hour period. The photo's are in the order of the project, so if you want to view them scroll down a bit .
I may be bias, but I think it turned out pretty-not-bad ! It got dark on me, so I will have to take the finished photos tomorrow. Now all I need is some mulch and plants...
"Oh Hunny... will you help me buy some flowers for my new bed????"
" Okay...."
Kisses
"Thank you !"
Hope you enjoy the pict's..
For those of you who follow the Prompt of the day , your tease is...A Butterfly cinquain..
I guess from living with Wayne I have learned to ask for what I would like more specifiably. So , yesterday, rather than going to her, I called her and asked her to come to the yard to see what I had in mind... MUCH EASIER!! She came up, okayed the project and we went to sign the official paper work. ( So happy she said yes Tee Hee Hee ).
Of course the next thing I needed was supplies, in this case rocks ( LOTS of them... LOL). So after the laundry was done, Wayne and I went rock harvesting. When we competed that task, I started my project. It didn't take as long as I thought it would, I was done within a two hour period. The photo's are in the order of the project, so if you want to view them scroll down a bit .
I may be bias, but I think it turned out pretty-not-bad ! It got dark on me, so I will have to take the finished photos tomorrow. Now all I need is some mulch and plants...
"Oh Hunny... will you help me buy some flowers for my new bed????"
" Okay...."
Kisses
"Thank you !"
Hope you enjoy the pict's..
For those of you who follow the Prompt of the day , your tease is...A Butterfly cinquain..
| Hope to see you join in ENJOY JL&B |
Friday, January 7, 2011
Topics
I guess it's the writer in me, waiting to blossom out like the flowers in my garden. I find my self constantly thinking of topics I would like to write about. Of course they all stem around my everyday life. It may just be that desire I have had since I can remember, musical, lyrical things pop into my head all day long. I can really crack myself up with the stuff I think about. Lately I have taken to writing the topics down when I think of them, mostly because I have a tendency to forget more than I remember.
Now I have a few notebooks of things written down, and still I lose the train of thought. So many ideas, so little time to act upon them. However I do believe for now I will have a few topics to fall back on while writing this blog. Here are a few ...
Our Garden...
I may be bias, but we really have a great garden.
Valentine...
A gift of love from my husband Wayne
When I met Wayne...
Stepping into a life of love
My life....
Hum-drum every day things I am doing Tee Hee Hee
I get frustrated...
How about you ?
Reading my blog/ blogging...
Trying to make my blogs really work for me.
New Projects....
Our creative sides.
From the child who lived it ...
This might be a bit dark for some people, however it is my story and I feel the need to write about it now and then. This will start with things I wrote in 2010 and blossom from there.
Well that is the start of it... If you follow my blog, could you please let me know if you find these topics something you might like? Thank you !!
Now for the Prompt tease, Todays prompt is... Write your own lyrics to the song I STARTED A JOKE by THE BEE GEES... you can read mine on my poetry blog Dodge Writes
Hope to see you join in too
ENJOY
JL&B
Now I have a few notebooks of things written down, and still I lose the train of thought. So many ideas, so little time to act upon them. However I do believe for now I will have a few topics to fall back on while writing this blog. Here are a few ...
Our Garden...
I may be bias, but we really have a great garden.
Valentine...
A gift of love from my husband Wayne
When I met Wayne...
Stepping into a life of love
My life....
Hum-drum every day things I am doing Tee Hee Hee
I get frustrated...
How about you ?
Reading my blog/ blogging...
Trying to make my blogs really work for me.
New Projects....
Our creative sides.
From the child who lived it ...
This might be a bit dark for some people, however it is my story and I feel the need to write about it now and then. This will start with things I wrote in 2010 and blossom from there.
Well that is the start of it... If you follow my blog, could you please let me know if you find these topics something you might like? Thank you !!
Now for the Prompt tease, Todays prompt is... Write your own lyrics to the song I STARTED A JOKE by THE BEE GEES... you can read mine on my poetry blog Dodge Writes
Hope to see you join in too
ENJOY
JL&B
Thursday, January 6, 2011
When I met Wayne
It's kind of funny how things work out in my life, I really never thought I would ever marry again, in fact I had always been dead set against it. There were two reasons for this, one that stems back to when I was a child, and the other from my first marriage.
My first marriage was a train wreck from the start, He first started hitting me on the day we got married and it went on for several years. I wanted so badly to be everything I thought a good wife should be, but much to my dismay, it just wasn't good enough. He ended up getting a 16 year old girl pregnant, he was 27 at the time. As I look back on those times I have to wonder what the hell I was thinking! I didn't want to have a failed marriage, so I told him we could raise the child together, but he wanted the 16 year old instead of me and my world shattered.
I fell into a whirl wind of self destructive madness. I drank all the time and did a few lines here and there. Drinking however was not my downfall, as one night with too much to drink, I fell out of the bar stool into an alley and woke up in my puke... YUCK ! Cured my drinking habit right then !! The lines though, yep that was the one that stuck. I felt very free from troubles and sank deep into the clutches.
Flash forward 20 some odd years.... I am what is considered a functioning addict. I work everyday, eat, sleep, pay the bills, the whole nine yards, but everyday I smoked meth... MY thinking was, I have no children, no family, no reason not to and I'm not hurting anyone, so why not !! Isn't that just how addiction works? Well it came to pass someone did get hurt... I'll save that for another day, but I will say I ended up leaving the scene of an accident, because I was high and didn't want to go to jail for being high,(yeah , bad move). In my heart I still hurt for what happened, I never thought I would be the one to hurt anyone, let alone be the reason someone died. But it happened... I turned to my best friends, knowing that I would have to "clean up" before I turned myself in, and they stood by me through it all. I spent 18 months in prison, probably the best thing that ever happened to me up to that time, since I was headed nowhere fast.
When I went into the halfway house prior to being released, I had to be normal, which for the most part meant I had to get a job. Again my best friend, Lynn, helped me out. She was working for a window shade manufacturer and got me an interview the day before Christmas 2002. That was the first time I met Wayne, he was the factory Supervisor, and much to my surprise he hired me on the spot. That is when my dream of a normal life began.
After months of working together, we dated secretly for over a year, and married December 2005. We just celebrated our 5th anniversary... I am truly blessed! He is the greatest influence in my life. Every good thing that can be said about a man, a husband or a friend, he is. He is artistic, crazy funny, works hard and best of all he loves me, even when I don't really love myself.
Thank you Sunshine Man, Your Princess Moonbeam loves you to the end of life.
For those of you who have made it through this ramble of mine, it is time for today's Prompt, which you can write with me on my poetry blog Dodge Writes... here is your tease... Today's Prompt is write a write a love poem in 15 words or less
Hope to see you joining in too
ENJOY
JL&B
My first marriage was a train wreck from the start, He first started hitting me on the day we got married and it went on for several years. I wanted so badly to be everything I thought a good wife should be, but much to my dismay, it just wasn't good enough. He ended up getting a 16 year old girl pregnant, he was 27 at the time. As I look back on those times I have to wonder what the hell I was thinking! I didn't want to have a failed marriage, so I told him we could raise the child together, but he wanted the 16 year old instead of me and my world shattered.
I fell into a whirl wind of self destructive madness. I drank all the time and did a few lines here and there. Drinking however was not my downfall, as one night with too much to drink, I fell out of the bar stool into an alley and woke up in my puke... YUCK ! Cured my drinking habit right then !! The lines though, yep that was the one that stuck. I felt very free from troubles and sank deep into the clutches.
Flash forward 20 some odd years.... I am what is considered a functioning addict. I work everyday, eat, sleep, pay the bills, the whole nine yards, but everyday I smoked meth... MY thinking was, I have no children, no family, no reason not to and I'm not hurting anyone, so why not !! Isn't that just how addiction works? Well it came to pass someone did get hurt... I'll save that for another day, but I will say I ended up leaving the scene of an accident, because I was high and didn't want to go to jail for being high,(yeah , bad move). In my heart I still hurt for what happened, I never thought I would be the one to hurt anyone, let alone be the reason someone died. But it happened... I turned to my best friends, knowing that I would have to "clean up" before I turned myself in, and they stood by me through it all. I spent 18 months in prison, probably the best thing that ever happened to me up to that time, since I was headed nowhere fast.
When I went into the halfway house prior to being released, I had to be normal, which for the most part meant I had to get a job. Again my best friend, Lynn, helped me out. She was working for a window shade manufacturer and got me an interview the day before Christmas 2002. That was the first time I met Wayne, he was the factory Supervisor, and much to my surprise he hired me on the spot. That is when my dream of a normal life began.
After months of working together, we dated secretly for over a year, and married December 2005. We just celebrated our 5th anniversary... I am truly blessed! He is the greatest influence in my life. Every good thing that can be said about a man, a husband or a friend, he is. He is artistic, crazy funny, works hard and best of all he loves me, even when I don't really love myself.
Thank you Sunshine Man, Your Princess Moonbeam loves you to the end of life.
For those of you who have made it through this ramble of mine, it is time for today's Prompt, which you can write with me on my poetry blog Dodge Writes... here is your tease... Today's Prompt is write a write a love poem in 15 words or less
Hope to see you joining in too
ENJOY
JL&B
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