Back To Blogging!

It's been a long time since I was able to post!

Life has been too busy with working and classes so I've decided to take the summer off from classes and am spending time doing things that I enjoy.

Last month, I received certification from the National Wildlife Federation and am now officially a 'backyard habitat for wildlife'.

Hope you enjoy the pictures....with the help of Bob, Michael, Melinda and Rachel, we have made some changes to the garden (i.e. paths and borders) and it looks great!

This area is directly off the deck to the right of the steps. It's my herb garden and has really benefited from our recent rains (flooding, actually!)

This is a picture of the center of the center garden...will try to take a better one soon which shows the paths on both sides. My favorite is the statue of a fairy (my family says it's an angel) which is lit by solar powered lights at night.

This section is immediately to the right of the steps. The area between the paths is where I placed the fossil rocks from my sister Faye. I've planted 'steppables' in between and they have really taken off! After a rainstorm I go out and spend time looking at all the fossils which are so easy to see. :-)

In between the lillies (near where the paths converge) is a statue my sister-in-law Sandy found for me. It is an adult hand cradling a baby and everytime I see it, I think of David. :-)

This is known as the hosta garden. At last count, I had 28 hostas....hey, they're easy to grow and perfect for shade!

Not a very good picture but the pond is under the forsythia. I haven't had time to do my normal 'whack and hack' job on the bush so the fish are enjoying a much shadier environment. The area is directly to the right of the desk stairs.

Our area was hit hard with thunderstorms this weekend and my poor peonies paid the price. They were the size of salad plates this year and smelled so beautiful!

This is a new peony I planted last year. The center actually looks like a pyramid when viewed from the side.....it's beautiful and quite fragrant!

We have a few pair of nesting Robins in our blue spruce and I was able to take pictures of the fledgings. This little one was the last to hatch out of a group of four.

This little one sat in our crab apple tree and almost drove me nuts....it was the first to hatch and the most vocal / demanding. Luckily, they are all the size of the parents now and quite humorous to watch as they trail behind mom/dad begging for worms.



All of nature fascinates me. This is a picture (quite fuzzy) of a group of spider eggs which had hatched and were swaming all over the place. I brought Rachel out to show her but she wasn't as excited as I was. (chuckle)

One last picture of one of my favorite plants, Spiderwort. It survived the rain and wind. Love the water droplets on the flower.

Thursday I am leaving to visit my sister, Nan, in Wisconsin and will take along my camera and update the blog. Hopefully, we won't get into trouble....two Turnbulls together can be trouble!