In the Garden

Day two in the garden  and lots more planting.  The "hot" corner with Kalenchoe and Pentas is done, also added some Petunias and a Phlox.  At the other end which is shadier I put in a Carnation.  They never do well for me, but I love them and always plant one.  It's a soft pink.  There are 4 Chrysanthemums waiting to be planted there too.
In the next bed which is quite a bit shadier I have started with my purples and put in a purple Penta and a couple of white Petunias.
It's really hot out there so I have retired to the house.  Not much housework gets done when I work in the garden, but I need to get a little bit done before I exercise.

Already Tuesday

Posted on Saturday, meant to post on Sunday, looked up and it's Tuesday.  Where does it go?  I guess Sunday was spent watching the Masters, what a great finish!  Sergio winning was fun to watch.
Then Monday was spent with my retina specialist.  The good news is that I'm not blind or at least no blinder than I ever was, so  a good check-up..  He is so busy he has 3 nurses now and of course I had the one I like the least.  She has all the patient skills of a prickly pear cactus and left me for more than 40 minutes after my eyes had been dilated.  My eyes always ache after my appointment.
Then it was out to breakfast, we'd left home too early to have any and I afraid that it was less than inspiring.  I had a slightly off stomach the rest of the day and Mac said he felt like he had a brick in his stomach.
After breakfast it was off to Home Depot to buy plants for the garden which has looked a bit bare lately.  Some perennials didn't come back this year and some of my bulbs have given up the ghost so it was time to restock.  Mac told me not to be cheap, which I tend to be, and so I bought a load of new plants.
Today I started planting, but it's so warm already I can see that it's going to take me a couple of days to get everything in.  I got in several Kalenchoes, a succulent from Madagascar and tropical Africa.  They're so vibrant and pretty.  I put them in the sunniest bed along with some red Zinnias.  I'm saving the shadier bed for the blues and purples I bought.
While I was at the eye doctor Mac went off to get a new battery for our lawn mower.  The last 2 times I've used it he had to push it around to the front of the house and jump start it with the car.  I just heard him outside running it so he must have gotten the new battery hooked up.
Now that I'm cooled off from the garden, it's in the 80's today, it's time to go exercise.

This picture and the one below are some of the plants I bought

 

Kalencholes and Zinnias

The Nasturtiums just keep on putting out new blooms.

Saturday

Blogger was down here yesterday for most of the day, and many other places too, then when it came back up our electricity went off.  It's been quite windy here since the storms this week.  Today is beautiful and we worked in the garden, I'd hoped to get some things planted, but all I managed was a ton of weed removal.  I just about have the strawberry bed cleaned up, I want to plant squash in front of them.
My Nasturtiums are blooming, just love them, such a nice nonfussy plant.  The cabbages are doing well, but I need to thin them.  The peas are all flowering, Mac put strings up for them to vine on.
Making use of Acorn we've been working our way through the first series of Agatha Raisin, what a fun show!
Hope you're having a good weekend wherever you are.

The strawberry bed with peas in the background

Romaine Lettuce

My Nasturtium

The Cabbage

Wednesday in the Swamp

They're threatening us with bad weather again, but so far all is clear, so keeping fingers crossed.  Had to go grocery shopping yesterday, one of my least favorite activities, but now it's done and put away.  Today was spent catching up on housework and decorating for Easter.  While out shopping yesterday we also stopped at A.C. Moore, one of our favorite craft stores and they were having a great sale, plus they give a 15% discount for military.  Found the greatest bunny to go on my front door.

A Gloomy Monday

Dark outside, cloudy, humid and a promise of thundershowers later this afternoon.  Hope they're not too bad, but they look awful on the computer.
Stripped the bed and washed white clothes this morning.  Usually hang  my laundry outside, but it was so humid I knew they'd never dry so I threw them in the dryer.  Miss Kitty helped make the bed, but her version of helping involved poking as many holes as she can in the sheets.
Also made bread this morning and it smells so good.
Walk done, aerobics done, a little cross-stitching done, I'm beginning to think I'll never finish this piece.
Had blood tests done last Friday in preparation for my annual physical.  They post my results online so I can see them and they look pretty good.  The system shows me what's normal and also lets me compare this year's results with other years.  I like that.
We're watching a baseball game, it's the season opener for the Atlanta Braves, they're playing the New York Mets.
Almost time to start lunch.  Let me leave you with a few more pictures from Japan.

Food, Food, Food

I'm such a picky eater I always worry about what I'm going to eat when we go to Japan.  But it wasn't a problem, other than the little birds, larks and sparrows, it was all great.  Even had Chinese food one day.  Nice to note that beef is always cooked rare, that's how I like it.

Teeny, Tiny Birds

Mother and Child-Chicken and Egg

Tempura Shrimp

Macha Tea and a sweet

Chinese Food

Miyajima

What can I say that has not already been said about this magical island.  Its real name is Itsukushima, but it is popularly known as Miyajima which means Shrine Island.  Sitting in the Hiroshima Bay it is a quick ferryboat ride.
We had hoped to get there at high tide so we would see the shrine floating in the water, but the sea had partially withdrawn by the time we got there.  Still, it was magical, from the time we spotted the Ryobu Torii out in the water we knew we were some place very special. The Torii is made of camphor and cedar wood and can last 5-600 years, it stands 16.6 meters high and this version was put up in  1875.
The island is full of small deer that many consider a pest, but I loved them and  took many photos of them.  Mac is at work on a painting of one, it will be a gift to a very special lady.
We saw our first pagodas, the 5-tiered Goju-no-to pagoda and a second one I didn't learn the name of.
Here are some of my photos.

Sort of Five on Friday

Still too tired from our trip to do a formal Five on Friday, but I would like to share one of the special places we visited in Japan.  As I said in an earlier post Kyoto was worthy of a trip of its own.  We had 2 1/2 days there and our daughter tried to pack in as much as she could for us.
So after we had tea with Tomoko she took us to Sanjusangen-Do, also known as the temple of 1000 buddhas.  What an incredible place.  Built originally in 1164 and rebuilt in 1266 after a fire it houses the 1,000 armed Kannon  who are made of Japanese cypress and covered in gold leaf, the 28 guardian deities and the 11 foot tall  seated Senju Kannon.  You couldn't take pictures inside so I had to borrow some from the net.

Outside it was lovely with blossoming cherry trees and beautiful architecture.

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Home Again, Home Again

We're back!  Had a wonderful 2 weeks in Japan with our daughter.   Our first two days were spent in her home city of Fukuoka getting acclimatized. She walked our feet off, but in the very best way.  One of her friends said that she was better than Google maps and indeed she is.  After adjusting to the time change she loaded us on the train, we had Japan Rail passes which were a very good bargain and we headed to Kyoto.  We spent 2 1/2 days in Kyoto and could easily have spent a week there.   We visited Buddhist temples,  Shinto shrines and best of all we met Tomoko who blogs as Green Tomato.  She took us to tea and we had a wonderful time talking with her.

There are so many shrines in Kyotos, the old capitol of Japan, but April picked out Fushimi-Inari- Taisha for us to visit and it was beyond spectacular.  Built originally in 711 it sits at the base of the mountain Inari and there are paths leading to the top.  Inari is the patron of business, merchants and manufacturers.  Each Torii, orange gateway, has been donated by a Japanese business.   Most of all Inari represents rice and throughout the shrine you'll see Kitsune, foxes, who had keys in their mouths, keys to the grainery.

We spent hours there and could have spent longer.  Let me leave you with a few photos.

A Map of the Shrine showing the Toriis leading to the top.

I don't know which sign of the zodiac this is supposed to represent, but it looked like Godzilla.

All shrines have plaques you can buy, make a wish on and hang at the shrine, we took ours home with us.

Toriis leading up and down.

One of the shrine foxes.

The fox at the entrance to the shrine, he has rice in his mouth.

One of the shrines had lanterns with the signs of the zodiac, this is mine and Mac's sign.

Temple dog