gardening – Southern Patches

Hello and happy Monday. It is not often that we have earthquakes in our neck of the woods but we had one Saturday morning. Yep you heard that right. I was cleaning house upstairs and hubby was cleaning downstairs. He had his headphones on as he usually does when he vacuums. I was in the bedroom and suddenly everything started shaking. We have a large armoire with mirrors on the front. It started shaking like crazy. The windows were rattling. I yelled downstairs and by this time hubby noticed it too. He yelled for me to come downstairs. It seemed like it lasted forever. My sister who lives thirty minutes from me called and they had also experienced it.

Turns out it was a 4.1 earthquake centered just about 10 miles from us near Greenback Tennessee. It was felt from Atlanta Georgia to parts of North Carolina. Wow!! I am hoping for no aftershocks.

I spent most of last week in Bristol, Tennessee/Virginia with the attractions group that my work is a part of. I will give you a more in depth post on that visit tomorrow. Bristol is about a four hour drive for me. I left early last Monday because my first meeting didn’t start until noon. It was a full couple of days. I got back to my house Wednesday evening and I was so tired I collapsed on the couch and didn’t move.

Because I was gone most of last week for my attractions group meeting I was only at work on Thursday. I came in and caught up on a few things. On Friday I went with my sister for her appointment with her oncologist. We had to wait almost three hours but it was okay because she is in full remission. That news was well worth waiting for.

We did a little shopping after the doctor visit. I bought two planters at T.J. Maxx.

***I added a couple of succulents to this kitty planter.***

***And I put one of my smaller orchids in this sheep? ram?***

I spent most of the weekend at home. I made a yellow Bundt cake. It stuck really bad. Note to self, please use parchment paper, I just put it back together and slapped some chocolate icing on it and it was fine. And of course I knitted and crocheted the day away. AHHH a good weekend.

***This is a picture of the side of the cake that didn’t stick to the pan.***

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother’s Day. My mama has been gone for many years. And we lost my little mother in law last July. It’s always a bit sad when we think of them no longer being with us.

My orchids are still doing very well even my miniature orchid, Ingrid, is blooming. I just love this color.

That was my week last week. I barely had time to do anything at home or on the blog. I did post a Wordless Wednesday. It was made up of sunrises and sunsets over the years. If you missed it you can check it out here.

Have a wonderful week and join me back here tomorrow for a new post on my time in Bristol, Virginia/Tennessee. I will give you a teaser. I got to ride on the Bristol Motor Speedway!!!! What????

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!

Hello and happy Friday. Today I wanted to share with you one of my all time favorite things: Frost Flowers or Ice Blossoms or whatever you may call them.

I never really knew about ice flowers until several years ago. When I had dogs, I would walk them very early in the mornings, often just after sunrise. In late fall or early winter, I would notice these white crepey looking things at the base of some of the plants near the side of the road. At first I thought it was paper, litter. Upon further investigation, I noticed that they were icy. I started doing a little research on them and discovered they are quite a phenomenon. The conditions have to be just perfect for these beauties to form. They are only around for a short time. I love them and I can’t tell you how excited I am to see them every year.

What are frost flowers? First they are not easy to spot, especially on a frosty morning when you probably aren’t going to be hanging around outside. They only form on a few herbaceous plants. To find them look for tall weeds, especially in locations that are seldom mowed.

The temperature must be below freezing for most of the night. The wind must be calm. The sky needs to be clear. All of these things are also conditions for ground frost. The soil must be moist but not frozen. The plant has to be alive. Autumn or early winter is the best time to see these. They create beautiful patterns. Ice flowers have water that comes out of the plant, usually wild flowers or weeds. The water from the plant is drawn upward from the ground. It expands as it touches the air and freezes, forming beautiful petals. No two are alike. Ice flowers don’t happen often because of all the different conditions needed to make them form.

I saw my first ice flowers about two weeks ago. I saw them a couple of times after that but I think they are probably done for the season. I took a few pictures of them and I would like to share them with you. Aren’t they beautiful?