126 - ALAS

Alas, it is time for the neighborly Derby Party. All eyes on the race....

125 - BIAS

On one of my trips during my youth, in the back of a station wagon with my five siblings and parents, I remember a lot of conversation from one person in particular where a certain ethnic minority was put down for reasons that I couldn't understand. That trip is engrained in my 'past thoughts' quite often affecting the way I think about things...in a complete different perspective as it was that day from that person.

I don't like prejudices...but then does any one ever really like them...whether they have them or not. I like to believe that I don't have prejudices...biases for or against any ethnic group. Sometimes it is hard...just as I am sure it is hard for them also. After all...how should one feel after things like 911. The world, society can really make lack of bias almost impossible. Yet...I try really hard to remind myself that each and every ethnicity has their plus and minuses...including the ethnicity that I am a part of.

Yet...there are a few biases I enjoy sharing...such as my bias for the Golden Retriever...versus the Black Labs. My passion for the floral gardens in my life is much more biased towards the summer perennial garden versus the spring annuals. And among the summer floral versatility...I have a large bias for the more daisy like flowers. They don't have to have the word 'daisy' in their name...they only need to represent that same multi petaled look with the bright (or dark) face that seems to say...love me and I'll make smile.

It is this bias that attracts me, pulls me in to them with some mystical magnet. There could be an entire field of all kinds of flowers and I am sure...I will find and enjoy that one mystical grouping of daisies that are found smiling amongst all the rest.

124 - LOCATE

One of the deep secrets of gardening is all about where you locate your plants. That location is not always the same in one state versus another..and sometimes not even from one yard to another. This mainly being due to the fact that people all garden differently. Yards, even though they might be only one house apart, may have different soil. Fertility of the soil, drainage, water requirements can vary so dramatically.

When I lived in Houston, I loved lavendar. Still do. In Houston, it didn't matter where I planted it, how I cared for it, out of all the varieties that were available, the very last couple of years I lived there, I finally found one I could grow. I found the right spot to locate it. Here it comes back for me so readily every year in every spot I have it planted. Go figure.

Now...in the MidWest...a plant I so loved in my native, carefree gardens - the Butterfly Gaura - is my 'midwest lavendar'. Three years in a row now I have purchased and planted them trying to find just the right spot for it. Finally, I believe that I have found the right location. Mind you, I planted three different ones last year. I had a lot of thoughts as to where to locate them. I put them in three different spots. I have one that has returned this year. Just one. But....one is better than none. I feel..I have accomplished a fantastic task.

123 - ATTAIN

I have to say I am blessed with some great friends at this stage in my life. As some of you know, I was raised as an air force brat (although I believe I was far from being a brat) so I moved every couple of years and thus, best friends or any friends what so ever were hard to come by, hard to keep. Thus...I am blessed now to have the ones I have.

My neighbor, who has been a wonderful friend in the few years we have lived next to each other, has definitely been a blessing in disguise...for many reasons. Selfishly, I have to say, one of the things I enjoy the most is her shared love and passion for gardening. Many a day, I envy her gardens...so like the ones I had for many years in Houston but for some reason, I haven't been able to attain them here as I would like. And that...bothers me...particularly when I am at a garden center looking for a gift or spring vegetables.

I have created a couple versatile garden areas, vegetable and floral, that provide me with some much needed creative digging in the dirt. I have a hodge podge of plants that I enjoy each year as they surprise me and come back after the long, hard winters. One of these plants, I attained from my friendly neighbor. This bleeding heart...which I actually thought I had lost when we first transplanted it over here two years ago. But this year, it is already sharing it's many hearts with me.

A plant...filled with hearts...given as a gift from the heart...which truly...warms the heart. (smiling)

122 - BYE

As we say bye to winter in the Midwest....I have a lot of mixed feelings. Oh, yes, I am glad to see the short, dark days and the below freezing temperatures disappear, yet I remember my new found love of actually getting out and taking photos while the snow is falling. I discovered the actual true meaning of the magic of snow as I viewed it behind 'my looking glass'.

Yet, I know what follows. The little surprises of spring. Tulips, daffodils, apple blossoms. In my yard, one of the first things to follow the tulips as we say bye to winter are the columbines. A flower that during my years in Texas didn't seem to show its face until a bit later in spring, early summer and almost always had to grow in shade.

This one pops up naturally in my yard, although I am sure it was planted there at some time by a previous resident. Now it has naturalized and reseeds abundantly blessing me with its double blossom in peachy, pink shades.

121 - RISE

I rise at the wee early hours of the day during the week...when I have to go do that thing that helps me afford the roof over my head and...my expensive habit and passion....photography. During the part of the year when the days are longer, it is okay to get up that early and I half way look forward to that long drive in to the office...because I get to enjoy these..

The fresh, brisk clear aired mornings with wisps of clouds in the sky and beautiful sunrises..that I have to snap a picture of....at 65.....

120 - GOOD

The weekend weather was GOOD, outside of some very gusty winds. Even Saturday turned out to be a wonderful day to get outside and begin reorganizing things in the garage, pulling things back out into the yard, listening and watching birds migrating through.
There are a couple local, smaller, unique plant nurseries I love to frequent that carry less familiar plants; plants that are more perennial and native to the area. In addition, they have some neat 'yard art - something that I believe shouldn't be over done in the yard but just enough to add some character and interest to the entire flow of things.
What with the onset of spring being a bit late this year and having started out a bit cooler than usual, it is difficult to find much of any kind of perennial color right now. As I've still been in a bit of personal confusion with the status of possibly selling my house, another fall has gone by without me increasing the amount of spring bulbs that are planted throughout my current 'limited' flower garden. Today...walking through the yard, I regret that ...for yet another spring.
On my visit this afternoon to one of the nurseries, I found this green milk can. Perfect. Color for a spring garden much in need of some interest. In addition, I located some of my smaller flower pots that I also purchased a few years ago to add some interest in the yard. These also are of a variety of colors.
Voila...a slightly drab garden area brightened with some spring colors. It's good. It's all good.
In the back of my mind, mental note has been made that there are two more colorful milk cans still remaining...atleast when I left there...that I am pretty sure has my name written on them...in addition to a really neat, large sized, wooden chair.