Friday Night Lights!!!

It's football season again! Hooray!!! Okay, you may have heard of this, or maybe you haven't but we folks down here in the south love our friday night football!(Not to say anyone anywhere else doesn't). Sometimes we all just go gaga over it. So, since my honey is a teacher and coach(basketball, not football) we moseyed on over for our 1st home game!

We played our biggest rival who we haven't won a game against in probably over 5 years. Let me tell you there was electricity in the air. Everyone had on their gold and black and was looking fired up. The concession stand was a cooking and the bleachers filled right up. We probably had close to a couple of thousand fans.
The fans and cheerleaders waiting on those Panthers to come running through!
Go Panthers Go!!!The Panthers band was getting down! Remember this is small-town America. To be so small, they do a great job rousing up the crowd.
Yeah!!! We win!! Cow bells were a ringing and fog horns were going off! I screamed so much I'm surprised I didn't wake up hoarse. What a great way to spend a Friday night!

Thanks Perennial Garden Lover

Recently PGL from Perennial Garden Lover gave me this wonderful award. I am truly honored to have this award passed on to me. The rules state I have to pass it along to 7 other blogsites.
Since I know some people don't like to participate in blog awards of memes, please know this is completely optional. I have decided to pass it along to 5 people. They are.......

Becky at Looking through the eyes of Luv

Flydragon at A little of this, a little of that

Meadowview at Meadowview Thymes

Beth at ND Garden Girl

Marmee at Things I love

What a Beauty!!!

Tonight the Moonflower was in all her glory.

If you've never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom. -Audra Foveo-

The good new is, I don't have to hand water..........

This morning I decided to try to snap a picture or two in-between rains. Gustav is still sitting on top of us leaving us dripping. But I will not ever complain about the rain, I've gone through too many hot and dry summers.

I've not posted much about my bird bath bed because it's not something I'm proud of. I just threw a bunch of plants in it as I obtained them. I didn't bother to modify the soil at all and therefore have a terrible drainage problem. Also, when I started the bed I didn't realize how rain water was going to drain off my yard. It seems to congregate on top and all around this bed. So, hence these lovely pictures.

As you can see drainage is so important to beautiful flowers. Needless to say this is very disappointing but not unexpected. Now I do have some plants in this bed that don't mind wet feet such as Acorus, my perennial hibiscus, a couple of black elephant ears and one other water plant that I do not know the name of. But for the rest I am thinking about digging out(that is if any live) and maybe changing this bed into a dry(or wet) rock bed and not planting anything else in it. I don't know, maybe a fall project?

Rainy Day Project

Okay, if you are like me, you can only sit around for so long before you become bored to death. My husband thinks I'm crazy but I have a hard time sitting around relaxing. (unless I'm at the beach, but that's a different story). I feel like I have to be doing something all the time. So, last Monday it was a very rainy day and I didn't have to work. So, I decided it was time to spruce up the guest bathroom.

Gee, I can't imagine why it looks so darn good!! The walls are actually painted some lovely shade of nothingness. So, that was the first thing to do. Give it a good coat of paint.

Now, I don't know about ya'll but painting ain't all that's it cracked up to be. Sounds like a good idea at first and then next thing you know, your neck hurts, your arms aches, and your fingers are really tired of clutching a paint brush. But somehow I managed to finish that.

Then I threw in a few decorative items and this is the finished product. Funny thing is, I'm still not happy with it. Recognize the angel and sign? Right now, that is their new home. I don't think they like it either.

So, if anybody has any suggestions, please send them this way.

Counting my Blessings!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you remember where you were 3 years ago when Katrina hit? I do. I was in my comfortable home in Georgia not worrying too much about what was going to happen to me over there. And aside from the gasoline prices skyrocketing and the shortages I was practically benign to what was really going on. Oh sure, I saw the reports of how it had affected the people of New Orleans and the gulf coast. I truly felt sorry for them but I was comfy in my own home and not really having to worry about that. I also knew that Katrina had interrupted the lives of those here in middle to northern MS as well. For example, my in-laws were without power for several days. It was August and hot as all get out. Since electricity was out air conditioning wasn't functioning so you can only imagine how hot it was. Gasoline shortages occurred here too but once again, I didn't have to worry about that.

Well now that I am living in middle MS things are a lot different now. I find my emotions are flying high. Last night as my husband and I were traveling north on I-55 (which is basically a direct route to and from Louisiana) we noticed so many cars going northbound from LA. I could feel the heartache coming on.

This morning as we entered our church parking lot we noticed it was filled with cars from LA. I didn't know it but our church is a Red Cross shelter. People were out and about in the lot looking so sad and full of despair. During the church service we learned it was filled with 150 people and they were having to turn people away. When we were leaving outside sat one young man with some of his personal belongings and his pet in its carrier. The heartache is getting bigger.

We went to Wal-Mart to buy groceries and in their lot the county had set up emergency services for people looking for shelter. We parked beside a car that had LA tags. The backseat of their car was filled and they had their animal carrier with them. The man was standing outside the car and I just wanted to say something but words escaped me. What do you say to someone who is so displaced? Good morning didn't seem quite appropriate and of course "How are you" is out of the question. The heartache is almost at the breaking point.

When we left I was talking to my husband about how sad this is and he said, "Well I didn't want to tell you in church but when I went to the restroom there was a man in there that was bawling like a baby. He was obviously from LA with his cajun accent. He was telling someone when Katrina hit 3 years ago, she hit on his birthday and he had to leave his home. Now here it is 3 years later and he's had to leave again." Well needless to say this just tore me up. I started bawling like a baby and I looked at my husband who was crying as well.

As we headed up I-55 to go back home every other car that passed us had LA plates. Can you imagine having to pack up everything that you can possibly fit into your vehicle and leave your home? And then not knowing if you'll have a home to return to? I can't imagine that!

I'm glad I'm not feeling benign this time. It makes me feel very fortunate and blessed.

Please pray for all the people on the gulf, all the displaced people from Louisiana and all the families in the caribbean that have lost loved ones.

Happenings in the Garden.......

Today I brought home some more plants that were being tossed at work. I brought home a couple of Gaura, a Mexican hat, one Caryopteris(bluebeard) and an unknown rose bush that I think is a pink Knock-out. Well, while I was out there digging, you know I had the camera ready(just in case). Nothing really caught my eye while working. While I was cleaning up I checked out my other bluebeard and noticed a big bumble bee on it. I thought well that would make a good photo. So I got the camera ready, bent down on my knees and Oh, My Goodness, this is what I saw.......
Poor little thing! I never even saw Mr. Big, Bad spider. (If you left click the photo, you'll get a good view). After this frightening moment, I looked up at my Keepsake garden and noticed my Turk's Cap blooming. This is one of those plants that I had given up on. I planted it last year when this bed didn't really exist. It probably didn't show up until very late June or early July. This plant also comes in a very vivid red.

My last little butterfly left the cocoon the other day. These are a couple of pictures of him before he said goodbye. He was a real beauty.

The last thing I wanted to show was my lovely new trellis. My moonflower vine is growing up it. Just think, it's 100% organic, the vine seems to be enjoying itself and best of all, it was free! I took this vine home from work several weeks ago knowing I had no trellis to put it on. Sometimes, a girl just has to do what a girl has to do. Have a great and safe weekend everyone!

A Tribute to my Grandparents.....

When I was a child, my sister and I spent many summers at my grandparents house. They lived in a teenie, weenie town in northeast Arkansas. Their little house had a screened in front porch where grandma had some plants in pots. Outside their yard was full of all kinds of gardens; flower gardens, a strawberry patch and a large vegetable garden.

Now these things didn't really appeal to me then but I reckon this is where my love of gardening comes from. I remember they would spend hours in their gardens, sometimes just weeding or picking fresh veggies. Of course, I really loved it when they picked strawberries.

Strawberries were my favorite fruits. I remember standing by grandma in her little kitchen and watching her clean them. Seems like she put lots of them in the freezer for storing. But we always had fresh ones as well. She sprinkled a little sugar over them, let them make their own juice, added baked pie crust strips and we would have a great strawberry shortcake.

At night, grandma and popa never turned on their t.v. Instead we always sat on the front porch. I always sat by grandma in the wooden swing and we'd rock back and forth while we listened to the singing of the bugs. Then finally, we'd turn in for the night.

Becky and myself

My sister and I had a game we played after we went to bed. We called it "Kisses for Momma". Grandma and popas house was right down from the railroad tracks. Every night we always heard trains going back and forth. We missed mom lots so we decided to send her kisses by way of the train. When we heard it coming we blew kisses to it in hopes it would take our kisses to her. It was a silly little thing we did, but it brought us much comfort.

Now you are probably asking is there a point to all of this? No, not really. It's just that I spent so many happy days with my grandparents and I wish I had paid more attention to what they said and did. I'd probably be a much better gardener/person now if I had.