survivors...

After having 2 days of high winds and rain showers, I took a walk through the garden this morning to see the blossoms that survived.

While some are looking a little ragged and the blooms I showed on Saturday are "goners"...
there are many more buds ready to burst open and welcome spring into my gardens.
All my outdoor projects that I wanted to accomplish this week are not happening either. The ground is too wet to walk off the paths so the dandelions keep on growing :)

Don't fence me in...

Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies above,
Don't fence me in.
Let me ride through the wide open country that I love,
Don't fence me in.
Let me be by myself in the evenin' breeze,
And listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees,
Send me off forever but I ask you please,
Don't fence me in.
Don't Fence Me In is a 1934 cowboy song with music by Cole Porter and lyrics by Robert Fletcher and Cole Porter. The most famous versions were sung by Roy Rogers and Bing Crosby.
It's too windy to do anything outside today so you are stuck with some more Texas hill country shots :)

Mosaic Monday...

Wouldn't it be fun to go for a spring cruise in one of these? We met a car club cruising the hill country in Utopia, Texas on our trip. The blue one in the upper right has past ownership traced to John Dillinger which J found interesting.

It is such beautiful weather here in MN that I have a big list of outdoor chores I want to accomplish this week - hopefully I'll be spotting more signs of spring in the garden to share on the blog while I am working :)

steeple Sunday...

The First Presbyterian Church‎ in Palestine, Texas.



A few more in the coming weeks of steeples I took photos of in Texas.

warm colors...

The warm colors of red, orange and yellow are popping open in my early blooming tulips.
Looking back at last year's photos they are blooming at least 2 weeks ahead of schedule this year.
This early spring has me anxious to get all those seeds I ordered into the ground...
but I know with our zone's last frost date of May 12th I am still too early.
Instead, I'll start work on eliminating the hundred's of dandelions that seemed to find a way into my gardens this year. There was no way to graciously crop them out of this photo like I did the others :)
Still...all these warm colors...
the colors of fire and heat...appearing in the garden early...doesn't that mean I can move that frost date up 2 weeks and get out there and plant? Wishful thinking does a gardener good :)

Texas 2010 and Thunder in the Hills

One last slide show of our Texas vacation for those interested in cycles - Definitely skip this one if riding on 2 or 3 wheels is not for you :)

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Spring in MN & TX...

While I have been showing you photos of my spring vacation in Texas, spring has also arrived in MN! We spent Easter weekend up north at our daughter's and each day we watched the deer visit her backyard at dusk.
And yesterday, a walk through my gardens revealed a total of 5 miniature blossoms...
though they are all under 3 inches tall, it is still a joy to see the tiny spots of color popping open!
What I enjoyed most about cycling in Texas was all the spring flowers in bloom - we saw many fields of yellow...

and bright pink redbuds blooming in hillsides of green.
The pastures were filled with color (did you notice the deer grazing in a field of verbena in the last post?)...
and white poppies everywhere.

There were so many swallowtails everywhere that I am sad to say we had to clean them off our windshields each evening. This one is enjoying the same purple verbena I let self seed in my garden each year - who knew it was a wildflower?
I noticed many purple blooming shrubs on the hillsides...
which I have learned is Texas mountain laurel.
There were fields of pink phlox and...
abundant orange indian paintbrush, but...
my favorites are still the bluebonnets - they just say Texas...the loudest to me :)

mosaic Monday...

Is there anything prettier than seeing some exotic animals grazing a field of wildflowers? While we saw many ranches with exotic wildlife on our cycling adventure in Texas like the scenes above - the deer below are wild ones along the roadside. With the high game fences on both sides of the road they had nowhere to go to try and escape the noise of Jeff's Harley - it was so different to us seeing not only fawns but adult deer with spots.

steeple Sunday...Happy Easter!

St. Paul Lutheran Church, Cave Creek, Texas
We came across this rural church while cycling the hill country of Texas and at first I didn't know what to think about it being outlined in lights - but maybe it was because we viewed it in the daylight - it must be quite pretty in the darkness out in the middle of nowhere.
The lenten cross was out front and...
on the hillside was a reminder of Easter.

refreshing....

There's nothing like a cool bath after a long flight up north!

After 3 days of hard work the pond is up and running for the year, I think the earliest date yet! The goldfish are swimming from one side of the pond to the other - so glad to be out of their little winter tank and it didn't take the robins long to find the fresh water bath. I also spotted my first little crocus bloom while raking a winter's worth of leaves and debris out of the garden - rain is in the forecast for tomorrow so I'll have more time to show you more beauty from Texas.