May Has Been Challenging for me!

 Hi Everyone!  I hope you all are doing well.  I might as well start off with the news I received from my Oncologist.  I had a CT Scan and it came back that one of my Lymph Nodes near my spine on the right side was enlarged.  I have had B Cell Non-Hodgins Lymphoma for about 12 years.  I had chemo about 3 years ago and I thought I was done with that.  Today I had a PET Scan to find out whether I will have to have chemo again or if we are just going to watch it.  I am hoping for the "just watch it" verdict!!  Please keep me in your prayers and thoughts for great results!!  I will keep you posted.

Now on to nicer things-Gardening!!  Well this year is the year of the Fire Ant as far as my gardening has gone.  I have been bit two times.  The last one bit me 4 times.  So I have been on an antibiotic twice and thank goodness the swelling went away.  I have 2 small holes where they bit me.  I won't be gardening as much because truthfully I can't take any more bites.  I have the garden treated for them but I think they are getting immune to the granules, the powder and the spray!

I have had some really nice flowers this year though-check them out:

These are canna lilies that just came up by themselves.  There was an old house here that was demolished and then my house was built.  I think these are from the old house.

Canna Lily flower

This is my first dahlia of the season.  I have never had dahlias bloom this early!!

This is my gorgeous double begonia on my front porch.

Foxglove blooming so beautiful!

Gentle Gardner David Austin rose.  I just planted this rose this Spring.  Love the multi-petaled rose!!

2 new hosta plants I planted.  Those are pansies in the container on the front porch.

The peony I planted last Fall bloomed (4 blossoms) and the fragrance was so intoxicating!!  Love the hydrangea bloom also.

This is the most gorgeous iris in my garden.  It is called "I Pink I Can" and it must have had 15 blooms.  Very happy with this beauty!!

I had put together a raised bed on legs for my patio this year.  I planted pumpkins, nasturtiums and basil.  They are all doing wonderful!  So excited about the pumpkins because they are what we call "milk" pumpkins.  These are a squatter, light pumpkin which my family has made pumpkin pies out of for years.  

Riley has been enjoying our visits out on the patio.  He looks around, watches the birds, smells the air, and just plain enjoys sitting out there.  I have enjoyed it also.  Riley is very intrigued by the banana tree a friend gave me.  It has added 2 new leaves recently and he keeps looking at it like, "wait a minute, what is going on here"! LOL  

This year I worked in the floral department at work for Mother's Day.  What fun!!  Here are just a few of the arrangements I made:

All the flowers, plants, roses all sold out by 4:30 on Mother's Day!  That was with the floral manager going to another store and getting more roses and flowers (alot of them).  It was a huge success!!

When we were all done for the day the floral manager, Josh (who is my work son) gave me this lovely bouquet for Mother's Day!  He is so thoughtful and I really enjoy working along side him on these major flower days!!

So that is what I have been up to for the month of May so far.  I just hope the results of my PET scan is positive and no chemo is required.  I pray for that every day!!  In the mean time I will be enjoying my patio, garden, flowers and my friends.  Living alone really makes my friends all the more to me.  I have some really wonderful friends who constantly cheer for me, pray for me and just plain are there for me!  I make sure I tell them that, even though they know.

Everyone take care and I'll see you all soon on here!

Sherri

Easter Trip and Flowers in the Garden

 I hope everyone had a lovely Easter.  I actually spent mine at my sister's house in NJ.  We had a really nice time.  I went up on the day before and came back on Wednesday afternoon.  I leave at 2 a.m. and get there around noon.  Spring is just starting to happen up there so it was almost like going back in time LOL!!  Unfortunately the pollen was just starting up there and it is almost done here.  It was nice to see daffodils, hyacinths, cherry trees, etc. blooming again.  Ours bloomed here almost 1.5-2 months ago!  Our leaves are all out and they have just started up there.  My sister's yard is like an animal habitat.  The first day I saw 5 deer in the woods, a fox, a groundhog and many, many birds.  On the way up I saw an American Bald Eagle out in a field pretty close to the road consuming a deer carcas.  It was huge!  I hadn't been up to my sister's since December.  My Mom was good.  Unfortunately, the 2 friends I was going to see had a stomach bug and we couldn't have lunch together.  Next time!  Here are some photos of my trip:

My nephew, Troy and his wife, Ashe on Easter.

My Mom, sister and I went to a local farm and had homemade ice cream.  This was one of the farm's cows.  She was so sweet and friendly.

My sister's 3 cherry trees blooming in her front yard.

On my last night there, the sunset was gorgeous!!

Riley did really well at the vets while I was gone.  They have a wonderful boarding facility there.  He was able to go out with a group of his friends and run around and play.  I have to say it was like leaving a kid at daycare though.  He cried and I could have cried LOL!!  He had a great time they said and sent me photos daily.

This was Riley at the house before we went to the vets boarding facility.

My garden did so wonderful while I was gone!  So much is coming up and blooming.

Clematis blooming.  I have to put some twine up the porch post so it can climb.

Coral Bells blooming away!!

Lady Banks rose blossoms upclose.  I love this rose!

Lady Banks Rose

Mr. Lincoln Rose

My azalea in the front garden.

Peonies are all in bud, ready to open!

This iris opened this morning.  So gorgeous.  I think a peach one is getting ready to bloom also.

My yellow yarrow is getting ready to bloom also.  So many buds on it this year!

We have a small park with a gazebo in the center in Rockwell.  The azaleas this year are just gorgeous!!

Just gorgeous-Rockwell town park by the post office.

I was driving home from Salisbury the other day and this person's yard looked all lit up with these gorgeous azaleas.  Every year they bloom like this but this year the azaleas everywhere are so bright and plentiful!!

The last thing I'll show you is the raised bed with legs I put together on my patio.  I am going to plant 1 tomato plant, my basil that is sitting in the pot, some nasturtiums that are in another part on the patio and maybe some summer squash.  I might try to grow it vertical this year!

I really hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the Spring weather.  We do need rain here, it is very dry and in the drought zone.  Take care everyone!

Sherri

Spring Has Definitely Sprung!

 Hi Everyone!  I hope you all are having a wonderful Friday.  I'm off from work today.  The temps here are already at 74 degrees and it is only 10:45 a.m.  They say the temps are going to hit around 87 or higher!  That will really bring out all the plants around here.  I love it!

The other night I went out to dinner with 2 of my friends and I picked the one up at her house.  The woods behind her house was loaded with blooming wisteria.  The fragrance was intoxicating, just wonderful!!  

Wisteria

My friend also had 2 really bright red azaleas blooming in her yard.  Just gorgeous

 My Lady Banks rose started blooming on the trellis by my front porch.  Everyday more and more blooms come out.  They are like little yellow explosions of yellow petals!  

I did a little craft thing the other day.  Real eggs are so expensive here, so I bought 6 wooden eggs.  I painted them bright colors and then painted flowers on them.  I have an antique wooden bowl that was my grandmothers and it needed something in it.  I usually decorate it for every holiday with something pertaining to the holiday.  I put some purple tissue paper in the bottom of the bowl and put the eggs in there.

Riley has really been enjoying the outside life also.  He comes out with my on his leash when I'm all done gardening.  He loves to sit in the sunshine and sniff the wind.  His nose is always twitching back and forth.  Love that dog!!

Riley-1 year 7 months

I know not everyone has as much Spring weather as we have here, but I hope that you all can enjoy some sun, flowers, etc. soon!  Everyone have a lovely weekend!

Sherri

Gardening, Gardening and More Gardening-I Love It!

 So I spent alot of the day gardening and I loved playing in the dirt!  Something in the Spring always makes me feel wonderful and rejuvenated playing in the dirt.  I also went down to Gold Hill, NC, which is about 5-10 minutes from my house.  It is a historic town and it was beautiful there yesterday!  Dogwoods, flowering cherry trees, daffodils, azaelas and redbud trees are blooming everywhere.  It is just a symphony of color and awakening in the woods and people's homes.

Here is a little glimpse of Gold Hill:

This was the bouquet I bought from Gold Hill Flower Co.  I like to purchase some things from small business'.

I was stanidng at Gold Hill Flower Co and looking up the street in this photo.

This house is gorgeous in itself but the huge white dogwood tree is absolutely beautiful!! 

This is painted on the side of the old Texaco Station where Gold Hill Flower Co has their stand.  It is cut off (don't know why) but it is lovely!

Some of the things I planted 3 new roses, 1 daylily, 1 dahlia, 25 Gladiolus bulbs, 1 rosemary, 1 basil yesterday.  I cleaned the flower beds first.  After I was done I watered everything really well.  We are already in a drought.  We had a very dry winter and Spring so far.  

Chives are blooming from last year.

New Daylily-I think it is called Lipstick and Lies.  The picture looked beautiful!

The next 3 photos are of my new roses-Lady of Shalott, Gentle Gardener and Eglantyne.  These are all David Austin roses.

Rosemary

Basil

Riley was out for part of the time and he supervised.  He loves the outdoors until he gets too hot and then he wants in!

The "Boss"

This white azaela is blooming at Romano's Italian Restaurant in Rockwell.

This container arrangement I bought Friday at work.  I placed it by the garage.  It is mostly begonias, which I love!

The other night when I went to pick up my dinner at Romano's in Rockwell, I was a little early.  I pulled into a parking place and there is just a "wall" of holly berries.  I had the window down and I heard many cardinals coming to take the berries and also rest in the bushes.  They sounded so lovely.

This is a small portion of my yellow Lady Banks Rose.  It is loaded with buds just waiting to open up!  I planted this rose last year and it has tripled in size from when I bought it.  It will look beautiful when it blooms.

I hope where ever you live, it is beautiful, sunny and warm.  I hope you are getting Spring or atleast glimpses of it!  

Sherri