Cheers

Although the leaves are turning here in New Jersey and things are beginning to look distinctly orange, I'm still getting some beautiful pink dahlias from the forgotten tubers I planted this spring.

And because I didn't stake them properly, they are all blooming with their faces on the floor of the deck, so I've been cutting them and bringing them inside to enjoy.

And because I'm a lunatic, that enjoyment involves finding the perfect little silverplated pitcher and painted tole tray to style them, and taking way too many photographs of them when I should be doing laundry or straightening the mud room.

Anyway, I hope they bring as much cheer to you as they have to me. Happy Wednesday, dear bloggers! :)

Hi there

Hi there! I look forward to seeing you all at Mosaic Monday. Mr. Linky will be up by 8:30pm Sunday night. :)

Have a great weekend, dear bloggers!

Please Join Me

Just a note to say that I hope you can join me for Mosaic Monday. Mr. Linky will be up by 8:30pm Sunday night. :)

Master Gardener

A couple of years ago, I bought a bag of dahlia tubers at Home Depot. Then I put them on the back porch and there they sat for the next year.

This spring, after noticing that they had grown green shoots right in the bag, I decided to plant them in a pot on my deck. And they grew!

And they flowered. But I didn't stake them carefully, and the first bud to open was blooming with it's face on the deck. So I cut it and brought it inside.

And spent a half hour taking photos of it. Because that's what I do. ;)

Other than that, it's been a whirlwind week. I'm thinking I may take next week off from posting, to see of I can get a handle on all the things that I need to do around here. I'll see you In September. :)

A Great Big Smile Just For You

A great big thank you to all who participated in Mosaic Monday. Although I could not leave comments for all of you, I really enjoyed seeing all your wonderful mosaics! What a pool of talented bloggers we have here -- you guys are the best. :)

These Black-Eyed Susans are in a pot on my deck. I never used to like yellow flowers. I was a very snobbish English country style gardener with all pastel blooms. But with years comes wisdom -- now I'm happy with whatever wants to grow for me. :)

Tell me, what are your favorite flowers, or colors in the garden? What grows well for you? What is your go-to garden flower?

Mosaic Monday: Flower Favorites

Welcome to another Mosaic Monday. I'm cheating a little here -- letting Big Huge Labs create a mosaic automatically from my set of flower favorites on flickr. Two reasons for this:

1. it's pouring rain here -- very heavy thunderstorms -- and I need to see some pretty flowers

2. it's pouring rain here and my fingers are still achy, so the less I type, the better.

So please forgive me if I do not leave a comment on your mosaic this week. I will definitely visit you all, but I just can't type that much. :(

Now let's have some mosaic fun! Here are the instructions:

1. Publish your Mosaic Monday post.
2. Once it is published, click on the title of the post. This will lead you to the static link for your post. The static link is the page with only that post on it. Copy the url from your browser at the top of the page.
3. Paste the url into the appropriate Mr. Linky box in this post.
4. Type your name in the appropriate Mr. Linky box in this post.
5. Click on "Enter."
6. Please link back to this Mosaic Monday post so that your readers can find other wonderful mosaics.

That's all there is to it! It's always a good idea to then check and see if your link is working. If you have any questions, feel free to email me: mrcarroll(at)optonline.net. I can't wait to see your mosaics! Here is Mr. Linky:

Flowers for Mary

Yesterday I gathered the tiniest of flowers.

Germander and daisy, lobelia and catmint, and some pretty pink wildflowers.

All in a tiny hobnail milk glass fan vase.

Flowers for Mary, Mother of God, whose statue has watched over the kitchen sink at our Little Red House since my mother began washing dishes here in 1959.

I can never hope to be the wonderful and generous person that my mother was, but I guess I can carry on a few of her traditions. :)

Weekend Wishes

Wishing you a beautiful weekend, dear bloggers! Please join me for Mosaic Monday. Mr. Linky will be up by 8:30pm Sunday night.

Flower Pots

First of all, thank you so much for your anniversary wishes. You guys are the best!

I wanted to show you some of the infamous pots on my deck. I finally managed to get almost all of them filled, with a mixture of annuals and perennials. Don't you love lavender?

The glazed pot, (above), was a gift from my friend, Toni Ann. It is really heavy.

This urn (above) was on sale at Michael's last year.

I love these tiny blue flowers.

This pot has a mix of annuals and perennial euphorbia.

I'm hoping this perennial euphorbia will overwinter in the deck in it's pot. I love that acid green color almost as much as I love blue flowers.

Such a pretty lavender colored annual called angelonia. It's one of my favorite annuals.

We've been having some really nice weather here in New Jersey -- not too hot and humid, and not too dry. It hardly seems like July. So far, I've not even had to water the pots daily. That will probably change over the next few weeks. But in the meantime, I'm going to sit on the deck with some iced tea, and enjoy the flowers. :)

Break's Over

Well, I had a lovely break. Didn't get much accomplished, but just enjoyed the respite from my three almost-daily blogs. Don't get me wrong -- I love photography and I love blogging, and your comments and friendship really do mean the world to me -- but I guess I just hit the wall.

Totally out of ideas.

So I'm going to take my camera out on the roads around here and see what I can come up with. Maybe some of my favorite houses or shops. Maybe our local farm stand. Or maybe my completely weed-filled garden. ;)

Don't get too excited.

*****

Do you have anything planned for Mosaic Monday? I'll have Mr. Linky up by 8:30pm Sunday night. Hope to have you join me! :)

A Little Break

Sometimes real life gets in the way of blogging. Don't you hate it when that happens? ;)

My son is coming home for a few days, and we are all going to my nephew's graduation party this weekend. So I think I'm going to take a few days off, to enjoy my family and maybe get something done around the house. I've got flower pots to fill, and a garage to clean out, and our bedroom to finish decorating, and... well, you get the idea.

And I just need a break from the computer. So have a wonderful weekend, dear bloggers, and I'll catch you sometime next week. :)

Mosaic Monday: Daisies

Welcome to another Mosaic Monday. I was leaving a comment on Karen's blog, A Scrapbook of Inspiration, last week, and she asked the question "What is your favorite flower?"

For me, that is something of a difficult question. ;)

Now you all know that I take way too many flower photos, and it's really hard for me to choose just one favorite. But I have to say that the daisy is one of my favorites for very sentimental reasons. As many of you already know, our Little Red House is my childhood home. When I was little, it was surrounded on three sides by meadows, which were filled with daisies in late spring. One of my fondest memories is of picking armloads of daisies with my mother, to fill her many pitchers around the house. So they really speak to me of warm spring days, filled with sunlight and laughter.

What favorites fill your mosaic this week?

So, let's have some mosaic fun! Here are the instructions:

1. Publish your Mosaic Monday post.
2. Once it is published, click on the title of the post. This will lead you to the static link for your post. The static link is the page with only that post on it. Copy the url from your browser at the top of the page.
3. Paste the url into the appropriate Mr. Linky box in this post.
4. Type your name in the appropriate Mr. Linky box in this post.
5. Click on "Enter."
6. Please link back to this Mosaic Monday post so that your readers can find other wonderful mosaics.

That's all there is to it! It's always a good idea to then check and see if your link is working. If you have any questions, feel free to email me: mrcarroll(at)optonline.net. I can't wait to see your mosaics! Here is Mr. Linky:

All Flowers, All the Time

Round about this time every year, my blog tends to become all flowers, all the time.  I can't seem to help myself; after the famine of winter, I just have to give in to the feast of spring.

This year, my family has helped me along, with armloads of flowers for Mother's Day.  I've filled the little silverplated thrifted bowl, above, with roses and a few carnations.  Generally, I'm not overly fond of florist's carnations, but these opened up to blowsy beauty.  And the roses smell divine.

They also gave me peonies and chrysanthemums.  It's funny, but I think that for a long time my husband was afraid to get me flowers because I may have mentioned that I didn't like certain florist's flowers.  The ubiquitous long-stemmed red roses always leave me cold.  And I'm not really fond of carnations that have been dyed colors that don't appear in nature.

But now he knows that I love tulips and peonies and daisies.  And he got me some lovely pink peonies and "daisy" mums.  Beautiful!

My daughter thought I needed something I could plant outside, and so bought me this beautiful hydrangea, below.  It has such gorgeous shades of blue and purple.  I think it will look fabulous on our deck this summer.

They also gave me a bunch of these cute little button mums, below, white touched with yellow.  They are perfect in my kitchen, where I can appreciate them as I work.  :)

So I am smiling 24/7 this week, surrounded by flowers.  Spring is my favorite time of year.  :)