a blog about the garden of life and life in the garden
Mother Nature hasn't provided much in the way of April showers in my part of the world so I am thankful that today, the last day of April, we are finally getting some much needed rain.
One of my favorite things to do is capture rain droplets on whatever is blooming and today the tulips looked gorgeous.
Of course I am a firm believer that you can find beauty anywhere if you take the time to look...
what a beautiful day today is!
A salmon & white daffodil and 
a yellow, orange and white one.
The flowering crab is blooming and the whole front yard smells heavenly.
The bright colors of the tulips
just make me smile.
Yes, it is a good day!
There is nothing like a beautiful tulip to celebrate the season of spring.
I love their shape and the many colors brightening up a mostly bare garden - But...
what I really love is peeking inside of them on a sunny day. They remind me of a kaleidoscope which is still one of my favorite toys where the beautiful colors all radiate out in a circle from the center.
Looking out in the garden I tend to like the varigated more showy blossoms but then when you peek into the plain old purple ones...
you get this beautiful kaleidoscope of blue, white & yellow! Never judge on outward appearances...it's what inside that counts :)
Today's steeple post is once again a "two steeple" Sunday but not in the usual way of one church built with two steeples. Today I show you St Mary's Catholic Church in Fredericksburg, Texas - one congregation with two churches and two steeples...the old and the new or maybe I should say the old and the oldest!
The 1863 steeple...
and the 1906 one.
The yellow rumped warblers (butterbutts) are moving through in their beautiful breeding plumage.
They are just the cutest things to watch as they flit from branch to branch catching insects - I'm so thankful they need to come down for a drink once in a while so I can see them up close and personal.
The garden fairies have been really busy making changes to their home in Pine Hollow this spring. When they last made an appearance on October 12th, they were out sledding and enjoying an early snowfall before sealing themselves up in their home in the Pine Lady for the long cold winter. I don't think they realized last June when they first moved into my Minnesota garden how long and hard our winters really are (so hard in fact that Winky, the columbine did not survive the winter). This past winter made them realize they needed more light and sunshine so the first project I spied them working on was a new window addition to their home. Now they can enjoy watching and feeding the birds all year and the winter rays of sunshine will warm their home.
Additional changes I see are the stream is now edged with boulders to help contain the "flooding" caused by birds and large dog paws and the gazebo has a new stone veneer and a painted roof.
Lots of gravel has been shoveled into paths...
leading up to a new summer cottage.
I was happy to see that with all this building, shoveling and raking they are like me and easily distracted into sitting and watching the birds (oops, notice my rake & shovel in the background).
When the mulch on sale has "log" sized chunks of wood in it - it is no wonder this little raker needed a rest.
The summer cottage is bright and whimsical with little vining flowers covering the trim and windows. I can see many tea parties being held on that patio once they get a table built.
One last aerial view of Pine Hollow without that distracting dog in the background...
who am I kidding...if I'm outside Hershey is always in the picture :)
Last summer, Pine Hollow became kind of hidden in the overgrowth so this year I am going to keep the larger plants surrounding the perimeter and will be on the lookout for some smaller and shorter plants to grow within their park like setting. Any suggestions?
