Sunday night miscellany

This is what my day has looked like.

The iris are still blooming, and they get prettier every day...

And our huge Confederate Jasmine hedge is blooming. It smells like heaven...

(It's a really big hedge).

Then there's my potted miniature rose bush on the patio, looking good again this year...

In addition to all of the spring flowers, I enjoyed spending time with the dogs today. We all spent an hour or so hanging out together in the backyard.

Whenever we go out, Ginger loves meeting us at the back gate when we return if George isn't paying attention. That's because she's allowed to come out of the fence off leash as a special treat. George can't be trusted. He'll run from you and make you chase him all over the neighborhood.  When I got home from a quick trip to the grocery store this afternoon Ginger got to come out and help me bring in the bags. She's such a good girl. Look how happy she looks! I love her so much!

The best part of being off  leash is that George isn't allowed to be!

Purple April

I associate the month of April with the color purple. For one thing, lots of the flowers that bloom this month are various shades of violet and purple. Look at this iris blooming by the backyard fence--isn't it pretty? And the wisteria is almost done blooming. I never can get photos of that, but huge swaths of it cover trees all over the place in early April. It smells heavenly.

Then there's my mom's birthday (another good Aries, Rachel!) that falls right in the middle of the month. Purple is her favorite color. I went to have lunch with her and my dad on the day, and I preordered a birthday cake for her from the bakery down the street. It was a 6 layer yellow cake with chocolate fudge icing. Mom likes chocolate. And since she loves the color purple so much, I had it decorated with purple violets. Again, isn't this pretty? (It was delicious, too!)





I also found this canvas tote bag for her, which she loved. We had a nice day together.

April showers bring....

.....flowers, of course......

 

 

...ferns in shady spots.....

...swelling blueberries.....

 

 

 

.....tiny walnut catkins and new leaves appearing....

and cottony clouds after the sun comes out.

This is what late April looks like in my backyard.

 

 

(And look what else is going on out there!)





The first clutch of house sparrow babies
being reared in the old birdhouse this year.
 

The color purple

The world outside has exploded into a riot of color in the Carolinas. The blooming trees still have some vestiges of pink, white, and lavender flowers, and in the woods about a thousand soft shades of green are appearing. There are pink and red azaleas, yellow tulips, and blue iris in many yards. The sky is bright blue with fluffy cottony clouds, and the birds are developing their more vivid breeding plumage.

With all these myriad hues appearing outside my window, none seems more appropriate for the month of April than the color purple. Shades of it are everywhere: in the long swags of wisteria hanging from trees, the purple iris blooming in our backyard, the tiny wild violets that appear almost hidden in the grass, and sometimes faint lavender is even mixed with shades of pink and gold in the sunsets on clear evenings.

 

“I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it. People think pleasing God is all God cares about. But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back.”
― Alice Walker, The Color Purple