Inspiration From Friends.....

I have a many friends that are very inspiring in their own way but there is only one 
friend that inspires me in my garden! 
 My friend Cindy.  She has one of the most enchanting back yards that you have ever seen. 
 I have to share her yard with you!
Off her side patio leads to the most remarkable back yard.....

Just as you come in to the backyard on the right side is the fence.  Keith, Cindy's husband made great use of broken cement and built a retaining wall.  But to add to the atmosphere is the beautiful broken glass mosaic that Cindy and friends glued to the old wooden fence! (This was created by mistake when Cindy shattered a mirror by mistake and decided to just go with it)

I told you my friends are creative!!!  It looks just beautiful!!!!
And this is under a huge fruitless Mulberry tree that shades the whole area just
 like an big umbrella!  Too Cute!!!!

But that is not all!!!!!

Then you come into the backyard and  there is a beautiful three tiered pond that Keith and Cindy built years ago...
This pond has huge Koi swimming around and huge Lily pads and plants all around it.  We have had wonderful candle lit dinners and great parties right under this beautiful tree and when the party is going on Keith turns on the volcano that he built into the pond!!!!

And looking back at the house Keith constructed an iron canopy that will soon have fabric shades attached for the summer heat.  Isn't it beautiful!!!!

Want to keep those potato vines in control?

Just plant them in a beautiful urn like Cindy did!!!
I can't give Cindy all of the credit, she does get her green thumb from her mother Krista who has an equally fabulous backyard garden.

Even the front yard is enchanting with a small water pond planted in the front flowerbed and ferns that are soooo happy under another fruitless Mulberry tree.

These ferns are happy!!!!

Summer Heat Is Here....But There Are Benefits!!!

Ok, remember this....I planted my herbs & lettuce in my old towel rack a few weeks ago,
So I thought I would give you an update on my container gardening.....

And now things are starting to sprout all over with this heat that we've had.
It won't be long a we will be eating our salads and enjoying our cooking with our home-grown crop!!!

Check out the baby greens!!!!  Yeah!!!! I never planted lettuce before and I'm so excited!!!

Jalepeno's are sprouting for our salsa's.........

Cherry tomatoes are sprouting in the hanging baskets, too!!!

A little humor that Uncle Ducky left here in his yard and I thought it went well
in our garden as well.  I love it!!!

The front yard flower pots are in full bloom.  I think they like this hot weather more than I do.

My window box is very happy!!!

This is another plant that I never had a desire to grow....succulents.  But I have really
been enjoying the beautiful blooms.  I think they are becoming a new favorite.

This is one of two baskets that Liz gave to me last summer and I couldn't figure
out what to do with.  So I decided to plant succulents in them and they are very
happy there.  

Check out the beautiful flowers!!!!

Appreciating The Simple Things......

This last Sunday was such a beautiful day....I started as usual, first thing in the morning watering my garden.  I couldn't resist picking my roses and wildflowers and making this flower arrangement to admire and enjoy......

I absolutely LOVE flowers!!!!!  They are one of  the many gifts Jehovah has given us to enjoy and we need to stop and smell the roses as often as we can so that Jehovah knows how much we appreciate what he is continually doing for us!!!!

I can't help but show my beautiful hill filled with these brilliant blooms this time of the year!

Even the lizards love the yard!  Isn't he cute!

More of my hillside ground cover!  Magnificent!!!!

I'm telling you these flowers are stunning!!!!

So last minute we decided to have some family over to enjoy the evening with us.  Korey and Summuer came over with Ed & Margarette and Andrew (Summuer's parent's & brother) and Liz and Hiriam and the grand kids came too........

We feasted on chicken and roasted vegetables and wine and bread......Fabulous!!!

The guys........

The girls.......

Oh yeah, it was gooood!!!!!!

What a nice time......

We even had the fireplace going to make it cozy.....

As the evening started getting chilly, Korey and Andrew decided to sneak into Kim's closet and borrow some of his jackets.....
Boy did they have fun teasing Kim!!!

And when the night was thru I decided to break out the cookie dough and make some homemade cookies with my new lime green Kitchen Aid Mixer that I have been wanting for
 5 years now.  I can't stop baking!!!!!

I made about 100 cookies with this batch!  Yikes!!!  I keep making cookies and giving them as gifts to our friends and neighbors.  I promise I am not eating all of them!!!!

Spring Is Here....but It Feels Like Summer!!!

Ok, it had to be at least 90 degrees today here in Sun City.  So I decided to take advantage of this beautiful day and I had my jacuzzi turned down to 84 degrees (just perfect) and I just enjoyed the day in my yard.......It was sooooo refreshing!

These are some pictures of what I get to view while I'm in my jacuzzi.  I love how our hill is just brilliant with blooms this time of the year.  Every year the ground cover shows off its flowers for us.  We had an over head patio installed a few months ago to get ready for the heat.  And we installed this bird feeder.  The birds just love it!  We have had such a variety of different birds come to feed.  I just love coming out here in my jammies in the morning and having my cup of tea and watching the birds sing and eat.........

Right above the jacuzzi sits my dry bed of wild flowers and a windmill.  I have always wanted a windmill and I finally have one (a yard sale find).  Kim put it together for me and I love to see it blowing in the wind....

This large rock is also a fountain that runs continually and the birds love to take their baths in everyday on top of the bubbling spurt.......

All of my geraniums and my bougainvilleas are very happy, too.

We also put in a fountain that adds to the atmosphere.....I think Patti (our dog) likes it too.

This fountain was a Craigslist find.....and boy was this a find!   It is an Al's Garden Art Fountain that originally sold for $1,200 and we paid $200.  Yeah!!!!
But boy was it a doozie to get home.  I think we underestimated how heavy this cement fountain was when the guys put it on the trailer and the tires went flat!  Yeah FLAT!  We had to inflate the tires just to move the trailer.  It took four men to move just the bottom piece!  But it was worth it!

I put mirrors up on the walls so that wherever you sit from the yard you can enjoy the view!   Even Cae Cae (my granddaughter) has her seat!

The atmosphere is enchanting with candles and oil lamps burning at night.  Here are a few handmade oil burners I picked up from a yard sale.  They were made by a true artist.   

So while I was out here today I decided to plant some more of my seeds.  Do you recognize this planter?  It was used for my towels in my big master bathroom in our previous house.  There was no where here to use it so I decided to plant my herbs in it.  I planted basil, cilantro, spearmint, and a variety of lettuce.

I'm even using some of the wine carafe's that Uncle Ducky used to cover his sprinkler heads.  I planted carrots, green onions and garlic. And since I didn't have anymore nice big pots I used the nursery 5 gallon plastic pots and just decorated them with polka dots.  I can't wait until everything is in full bloom and producing all of the vegetation!!! I'll have to give you an update.....

Different varieties of tomatoes are planted as well as bell peppers and  jalepenos.

I decided to try my hand at planting cucumbers, zucchini and  cherry tomatoes in hanging baskets.

The flowers are just brilliant with color.  They make me happy!!!!!

And of course you can't complete the afternoon without some Sun Tea!!!!....
So get out there and enjoy the beautiful weather......Stop and smell the roses.....and don't forget about that glass of Ice Tea........