Enjoying The Little Things

We have been having a long run of beautiful weather, so it didn't surprise me when the forecast is for rain and a decent amountof it. Everything is blooming early and the colors seem more intense. The oldest tree here at  Menagerie Manor is this pink Dogwood "Indian Chief".  I have no idea when it was planted but it was here when we purchased. The Manor is 104 years old, my guess it is between 80 and 90 and I have carefully pruned it so as to rejuvenate it over the years. This years color is so intense that the pink is more like salmon.

 The Lily of the Valley makes me think of fresh clean linen, crisp spring air and mountain fresh water.

 Viburnum tomentossum didn't bloom last year but it certainly made up for it this year with loads of snowy white blooms.

 I love this little sun loving jewel. .......................

 When the sun hits it, the color seems to pulsate. I have another of the same plant growing on a wall in rich good soil that has yet to bloom. This specimen has been in the same pot of soil for six years. It looks better every year.

 Menagerie Manor has always been a haven for creatures. This year we have been watching carefully as one of our resident hummingbirds built a very sturdy little nest and little is the operative word as it is only a little bigger than a golf ball. Usually they nest deep in dense foliage. But this little feathered genius realizes nothing can get to her nest sitting in the protective armor of our Monkey Puzzle Tree.

It was another busy day here at Menagerie Manor, we feel blessed that we are keeping well and our family are strong and healthy. Roxy says, "Stay home and stay well".

The Plopper

The gardens here are burgeoning with plant material, and when I think there is no available space for anything else, I come home with another treasure that fits in perfectly.

Magnolia Sunburst

This little beauty has an important space to fill, literally.

I think the yellow flowers will look lovely against the backdrop of the "iceberg" as we have named this ugly white monolith that stares down over what once was our very private garden.

But enough of all that ugliness. Today was an absolutely beautiful spring day and with the stay at home biz it was a day to enjoy what one has in front of them. I spent a great deal of time planting things that have been in pots stuffed in back corner of the kitchen garden. While I was doing this MeMa said she was going to do a little cleaning in my greenhouse. She didn't see the look of fear in my eyes as she trundled off toward her target. Now in my defense the greenhouse in the winter is mainly a storage facility for the many large potted plants that are not winter hardy. During that time it is impossible to do any of those fun greenhouse things because there is no floor space.

Two days earlier I had removed all these stored plants and was planning on getting the greenhouse all sparkling clean and tidy, no really I was. I just operate on a slightly slower speed than MeMa. 

While I continued my work in the garden there was a lot of grumbling and a few expletives escaping out of the greenhouse. Name calling such as "You're such a plopper, why can't you just put things away?" I wisely chose to not hear too much more and continued my work in the safety of the gardens.

At one point I got dangerously close to the greenhouse entrance and found that she had purposely piled it with both junk and treasure so that I could not get near.

But by the end of the day treasures were neatly stored on very organized shelves and all the junk was gone.

Makes watering the seed trays so much easier

Actually it is nice to just sit and look around the greenhouse. Note to self, don't be a plopper!

Happy Easter

It has been quite a slow week around here and I have been at a loss as to a post until.......

Jennifer who’s blog I enjoyed today (Sparrow Tree Journal) gave me an easy out.

Happy Easter everyone, hope you enjoy these Easter post cards from MeMa’s Great-Great Uncle’s collection.

Menagerie Manor Over The Years

When MeMa and I purchased our home it was just to be a starter home. Make a few improvements inside and out and then sell and move to the country where we had plans of starting a boarding kennel.

Well our first mistake was falling in love with the house and making improvements that suited us both. It is very hard to leave when you have no desire to do so. So 44 years later we are still here and here we will stay.

1976
MeMa and I with our two Basset Hounds Rosy and Sherman.

1991

The summer I decided to rip out the lawn and create the current landscape.

Today 2020

Yes, I actually ignored the isolation order and crossed the street to get this photo.

Driving Miss Roxy

Our little Roxy insisted on a car ride today, so we obliged the fur ball. We stopped and picked up a couple of coffees to go. Earlier we noticed a message to the public on one of our local theatres which were one of the first businesses shuttered due to the Covid 19. So we decided to drive around town and see what other messages we could find. In other words we were all three quite bored.

The Aladdin

I hope some of these smaller venues will survive.

One of our favorite, the Bagdad 

The Laurelhurst -------------

The beautiful Hollywood

and it's side marquee

not a theatre marquee but thought this message on a bar was sort of humorous.