Flowers at my moms

As you know by now I am always out in the garden with flowers or veggies, but I come by it honestly! My mom, my grandmother, and then my German grandfather too. When I was a child over in Germany (one of the few short times that we lived there)I would follow my grandfather everywhere. Always wanting to dig in the dirt with him. He finally gave me a little spot, and voila!, a gardener was born!!!
So for today, here are a few pictures of my mom's garden.

Dawg town

I am not a football fan, oops, maybe I shouldn't have said that! I am too much of an outside garden person even in the fall and winter. This past weekend though we went to Dawg town. Translation, University of Georgia, the Georgia Bulldogs in Athens, Georgia. It is probably an hours drive give or take. I had seen some ads on outdoor cafes there (can you tell I'm missing Europe?) and thought that it would be fun to do something different. A short afternoon break. As chance would have it they were having a festival for the month of June. Here are a few pictures from our mini trip.
A small side street. They do have a lot of old buildings around and the campus is pretty big too.

You don't see many of these signs anymore.

Athens festival

Small petting zoo for the little ones.

A guy was walking a little bit behind this robot controlling it and talking into a cell phone which made the robot look like he was on his own. The small kids seemed to get a kick out of this one.

This truck was completely covered in bottle caps!!!!

Cool looking wind chimes

The famous GA bulldog although he wasn't in his usual red and black color scheme.

It turned out to be a pretty good afternoon with a few antique shop stops, my favorite thing!!!!

Maintenance man

Ok, here are some pictures again that hubby took in Germany to show the guys back home. I don't get it, but I guess that is a maintenance man for you!!!




This last one is at my aunt's house in northern Germany. He said he could tell the guys he found a true water closet!!

Ready for the beach?

Are you ready for the beach? I know that I am. It is the one place where you can go and just zone out. Plus I like the quiet places, must be getting old!!! So, where would you go?
The Outer Banks of North Carolina were nice.


How about the coast of North Carolina around Topsail or Wilmington?


So, if the Atlantic isn't what you want, how about the Gulf coast, say around Panama City (in late August or September when it's quiet!) and St. Andrews island?



Atlantic or upper peninsular doesn't sound good? Then how about further south in Florida, St. Pete's Beach, Longboat Key or the Fort Myers area?


Maybe I'll sit back and relax a while here.

Well, vacation time isn't here yet. So, I guess I'll upload my summer background page and dream. Ahhhhh.

One of those days

Ok, I had good intentions today. The sky was overcast with the promise of rain, and the temperature was not as blazing hot at 7am as it has been. So off to the garden I go to weed! I should have known it was not going to be a good day for it. I get the little tiller out, pull the cord, nothing. A couple more times and the cord breaks. Great. So I get the hoe to start weeding around the veggies, and then decided to get the riding mower with the little cart. Flat tire. Great. So back to the garden I go to get the wheel barrow to take it over to the mulch pile, and what happens? The wheel comes off! Ok, by now I should be saying let's just wait till this evening and hubby can fix everything, but nooooo. I grab a couple of buckets to fill with mulch to place around the plants. The third trip I started shoveling mulch into the bucket while talking to my daughter on the cell phone, and I noticed things flying around me. Oh boy, I hit the jackpot, a yellow jackets nest! So, and how was your day?

Magnolia & roses

Our magnolia tree is blooming again. The fragrance is almost like a spicy lemon, very different, but don't touch the petals as they turn brown as soon as you touch them.

Here are some pictures of the roses that I have. I have quite a few, but I will usually buy the antique ones as they do the best for me. In other words not a lot of care involved!

His n' Her in Bacharach

When we went on our Rhine River cruise one of the places that we stopped was Bacharach, Germany. I did a little research on it and this was what I found out. Bacharach was named for the ancient Roman god of wine, Bacchus,and from 1300 to 1600 it was a major wine center. Ships always loaded their goods in Bacharach since there were shallow waters upstream where they had to unload there and bring it down to Bacharach by land. The Rhine River banks once came right up to the town walls, but this later changed when they land filled it. It is a beautiful little town, and I only wish that we would have had more time to explore it.
Here are some pictures that hubby took.

Now here are some that I took.
This is the wine harvest wreath that they put up each September during the wine festival.

The house that you see in the background was built in 1368 and is the oldest house in the town hence the name Alte Haus. You can see the date next to one of the window boxes.


I just loved these fuchsias!

Wait until you see other pictures that he took that I'll show another time. Doing maintenance work he had to take pictures of pretty interesting stuff to show the guys!

Critters

Check out these "critters" we saw on the road.

We had to turn back around to get a closer picture!

He stopped long enough for a quick pose.

Check out this cow!!! He was huge!!!!

Ok, so this is not a critter, but Piggly Wiggly. I haven't seen one in ages! Do any of you still have one around? I remember it from when I was a child I guess mainly in the south and not so much up north. Oh! Check out those clouds! Rain was coming to the trout pond!

Views on the trail

Here are some pictures as we were leaving the trout pond of the surrounding countryside. Some is in N.C. and some in GA. All of it is pretty.





As you drive down roads such as these it brings a peacefulness even if for a moment.