We sleep with the door to the bedroom wing of the house closed and the door to the back of the house were the sunroom is as well. This is because at 06:45 Jason the canary starts singing non stop even with a heavy cover over his cage. This allows us to sleep at least another hour. Not today! 07:00 I woke to the rumble of equipment tearing out our old sidewalks to make room for the new ADA approved walkway with wheelchair ramps. When the racket started Roxy gave a little growl of disgust and rolled over to MeMa's side of the bed and went back to sleep. I opened my eyes to see the water in the glass on my night stand bouncing up and down. I quietly got up without disturbing the ladies and went out to the front windows to see what was going on
So in PJ's, robe and slippers I went out waved a sleepy hello and grabbed up the morning paper. Returning to the house I turned on my coffee maker and then uncovered the already singing Jason. I wish I could wake up in the morning like Jason, such a happy little bastard. Hell, after my allotment of two cups of coffee I still can't sing like him let alone flit from perch to perch.
I sat in the sunroom enjoying the morning light flooding in through the windows while looking out at the gardens that are coming to life after the winter dormancy. I noticed a big fat squirrel stopping for a drink from the waterfall that spills into the Koi pond, if Roxy was awake she would not let this happen in her garden, no sir!
After MeMa and Roxy got up We enjoyed a small breakfast together before I dressed to go out to start watering the seed trays in the greenhouse and then went out to see what was blooming.
About five years ago I was weeding a narrow bed that borders our front porch and found an old stump of a camellia that was sporting a small stem with a few leaves. In all the years that we have lived here I had never noticed it because there was a large rhododendron growing over it. I pruned the Rhododendron back letting light get to the camellia. It is now about four feet tall and I have trained into a pyramidal shape and this year it has bloomed for the first time.
One of my favorite plants that is blooming at this time is my Star Magnolia. I love the bright white and very fragrant flowers. It is the first shrub I planted at Menagerie Manor in 1976.
Bridal wreath spirea is from MeMa's childhood home in Clatskanie.
Its diminutive little flowers are a delight in the early spring garden.
I love this ancient pink camellia it is one of the original shrubs planted by the previous owner. It is so old that for the last ten years I have been carefully pruning it in order to revitalize the plant and hopefully it will live many more years.
