Monday - late post

 

Looking up at the steps I'm practicing on. I want to be able to walk up and down steps at the stadium for my granddaughter's graduation at Ohio State U. So my physical therapist suggested training to use my hiking pole to help with balance where there are no handrails! Thus I'm practicing on these steps at home.

Roses are already blooming.

I'm doing laundry this morning. Will join other seniors for lunch. I have all windows and doors open to nice breeze and hearing the birds. I can barely see the ridge tops through the trees, and can just barely hear traffic on various roads that I can't see. All the trees are green here, in different wonderful shades.

Today's quote:

Boundary setting is a communication skill that adds value to your life and allows you to experience less drama with others.

What's with these flowers?

 

How strange on Sept. 24 to see these azaleas blooming! These are beautiful miniature bushes, which hopefully will return in the spring with flowers!

A lot of perennials seem to be blooming again.

The above red blooms are a tiny rose...though their bushes look sad. And nobody's paying much attention to the thistle (or some other very prickly thing) growing in the foreground.

Today's quote:

Heartbreak and hope are not mutually exclusive. We can be angry and sad and filled with longing for something we cannot have, and simultaneously we can be grateful for what we’ve got — aware, for reasons we’d never choose, of what really matters and what doesn’t.

LENNON FLOWERS

More life in beauty with changes

 

A beautiful rhododendron near my apartment.

This is what's left of my mountain laurel, which was over-pruned this winter before budding.

The knock-out roses are pretty hardy, and everyone likes seeing them.

But right in front of the roses are the Peonies. 

These photos of the peonies were taken on Wed. May 10. They looked so beautiful, and had a sweet scent. I even noticed they'd enticed some ants to do whatever they do to peonies.

By Wednesday May 17 this is what they looked like. We had a little rain, and they were just too heavy to hold their heads up. Fortunately (I guess) our manager made sure nobody cut them for themselves, so we all got to see these sad flowers.

Today's quote:

"Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will." Mahatma Gandhi

Some color,

 ...but from blossoms, not from leaves quite yet!

Outside the Presbyterian Church of Black Mountain, Fri. Sept. 16

Then back in my neighborhood

This rose bush has been untended, but lives. The Peonies here aren't damaged.

The last roses...nobody ever pruned back the dead ones, so not much of a second bloom. Of course I could have snuck over there on a Saturday or Sunday and done the deed. Just didn't feel like it. 

A valiantly surviving lavender.

These beautiful peony plants were sprayed by the new landscape crew. They have also killed many of the hostas around the buildings.

Sad to see the damage. Certainly not adding any autumn color!

Today's Quote:

We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure, but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless furnace of the world.

JACK GILBERT

By my walkway

Garden: Rose bud

Quote for the day

To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter; to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring - these are some of the rewards of the simple life.

John Burroughs

Velvet petals