Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Another Day in Paradise

















Garden work Monday -- mainly pulling weeds out of a day lily bed that looked so awful I couldn't bring myself to take its picture -- so instead here's a look at the part of the garden John hoed while I tied up and suckered the tomatoes a few days ago.



The wild raspberries are beginning to ripen -- one of the prettiest of fruits, I think.



I lurked by the mama hen's apartment hoping for a picture of the babies -- her four chicks are doing well but she mistrusted the lady with the camera and sent them back inside whenever they dared to look out.

Heading back to the house I poked my head into the greenhouse -- the resident Northern Water Snake was sunning him/herself as usual. This snake is so used to me that it ignores me even as I move plant pots around on the lattice right by it. I was fascinated by its cozy pose -- when you're a snake, you can keep yourself warm!



A big rain (an inch) cooled things off in the late afternoon . . .




. . . and the skies cleared once more. We're loving all this rain after several years of drought -- the pastures and the woods are happy and content -- and so are we.
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12 comments:

Pat in east TN said...

Always fun to see pictures of your gardens and how pretty things look around your place. As for the snake ... I kind of went by that quickly. I am not a fan of snakes! Boy o boy but you're getting a lot more rain then us, but we're getting enough that everything is so green and happy and thriving.

Sam Hoffer / My Carolina Kitchen said...

You do live in paradise Vicki.
Just look at that beautiful hen - he looks so French Provencale. The French love their hens. I have two china ones from Provence in my living room and I smile every time I look at them. My husband calls them "shickens." Shame on him.

After seeing your wild raspberries, I believe we have some in the woods across from us. As soon as this fog lifts, I'm going to check it out.
Sam

KarenB said...

You do live in a paradise, Vicki. I think the trick of living well is trying to find paradise, even a little, wherever it is you live. My sugar snap peas certainly think this spring has been a paradise - cool and wet - although the tomatoes and peppers seem to disagree!

Vicki Lane said...

Hey, Pat, Sorry about the snake but they're part of paradise, after all!

Lots of fog here too, Sam -- beautiful! Just like the chickens!

Karen -- I'm worried about my tomatoes too -- with all this rain, can blight be far behind? When I suckered them, I removed all the lower leaves so that the blight spores that lurk in the soil wouldn't splash up and infest them. So far, so good.

Carol Murdock said...

Well...Vicki, payback is you know,
h**l! I was bragging bout them green maters when you had blooms! HA! Now you go bragging bout that rain when I'm drying up! HA!
I sent maters...how bout you send a rain cloud?? :D

Tess Kincaid said...

I love your neck of the woods. Berries, chickens, snakes. Sigh.

Pepper Cory said...

Thanks for not getting weird about the snake. As a kid, I wanted to be a herpitoligest and had a king snake and a bull snake and innumerable garter and garden snakes as pets. My bet for favorite quilt pattern: Snake Trail.

Vicki Lane said...

Carol --I'll speak to the rain gods but they generally have minds of their own!

Ah, Willow -- we're not elegant but it's hard to beat Nature.

Pepper -- I've never wanted a snake as a pet if it involved feeding them baby mice. Tell me though, did you ever have any sort of rapport with your snakes? As in, were they friendly? Or just tolerant, like my greenhouse snake.

Victoria said...

It's still dry here. Lots of clouds around for the past couple of months, but most of them didn't produce rain.

It looks so lovely and green where you are...I think you do live in Paradise. I'm glad your drought is over! :-)

Vicki Lane said...

Let's hope that the rains will come your way, Victoria!

Did you ever do a painting from my picture at Easter of the child wading in the creek?

Victoria said...

I'm in the middle of it now. Her dress isn't being particularly cooperative. I think I've got it right, then I go out to my studio the next day (sometimes several days later; I've also had two commissions while working on this painting) and I see it...a big, glaring spot I don't like and can't imagine how I missed it the first time!

Vicki Lane said...

Do send a photo when you finish it!