Women Who Run With Dogs

I am hoping soon to be one of those women :). Plantars faschiitis is not much fun to have and the surgery is not much fun either, but the Doctor let me ditch the walker last Monday but I have to keep the boot/cast thing until next Monday when he will take the stitches out as well and I can then wear a shoe, yeah! By the following weekend I hope to be running with dogs :) well, at least walking. I went back to work on Thursday, I found out that dragging that boot around tires one out.

These are the two sad faces I have to look at each morning knowing they do not get to go for a walk. Actually my husband took them out each morning until we got the ice last weekend, when he took them out then my face was sad :).

Violets and other winter pastimes in Iowa

This little african violet sits on my kitchen window sill along with a few others, I like it because it is such a dark purple and has a nice little sparkle to it, brightens up a cloudy, damp, dreary day like we had today. Where oh where is that sun???????????

Clivia

These are some photos of my Clivia in bloom last spring. There is also a yellow Clivia, when it first was available for sale it was over $200.00 for one plant, it is much cheaper now but still more than I am willing to pay.

Iowa is under another winter weather advisory, same as last Sunday, 4-7 inches of snow is predicted. It gives me hope for a snow day on Monday, but we would need about 13 inches of snow before my boss would consider it a legitimate excuse.

All I Wanna Do is Lay in the Sun

This is Jon Pickles enjoying some sunshine today, he is a large cat but he manages to get in behind plants to soak up the rays. The leaves in the picture belong to a large Clivia plant that I have had for almost 20 years, it blooms every spring, last year it bloomed twice, in the spring and later in the summer. I transplanted it to a larger pot after it bloomed, they do not like to be transplanted but the roots were beginning to show on top of the soil. I hope it blooms this spring.

Reiman Gardens Butterfly House

Visiting Reiman Gardens in the middle of an Iowa winter is a wonderful way to spend the day. The gardens are awesome in the summer without a doubt but visiting the Butterfly House on a day when the temperature is only 0 or so is exhilaring! The Butterfly House is warm and toasty and full of tropical plants and butterflys of course, it is a great place to take pictures as well. There is also a wonderful conservatory that always has a gorgeous display. These pictures were taken in December, I can not wait to visit again soon, the flower display has been changed in the conservatory and I am sure there are new butterflys to see and photograph. If you have the chance to visit Reiman Gardens, do not hesitate it is well worth it. It is located on the grounds of Iowa State University. The money for it was donated by the Reimans, anyone who regulary reads their magazines has probably heard of it, they published (the company is now owned by Reader's Digest) Birds and Blooms, Country, Country Woman, Taste of Home, and other magazines, all of which are great reading.

Sunday Snowy Sunday

As I am sitting here composing this post I am watching the snow fall! A rare occurrence here in Iowa for the last several years. We are under a winter storm watch, I am glad to see some snow, I like the white cleanness of it and am really really tired of cleaning mud off of the dogs paws each time they go outside and come back in. The ground is not frozen yet and it is January! Maybe if I get lucky it will continue to snow and I may get a day off of work, that would be wonderful, doubtful that it will happen but I can dream.

Last night I was doing more catalog browsing, I have jotted down a few shrubs I would like to try as well as a few perennials. One is Dream Catcher beauty bush, Kolkwitzia amabilis it is hardy to zone 4, early pink flowers, golden-yellow foliage in the fall, Black Lace elderberry Sambucus nigra , it is described as having purple-black filigreed foliage that resembles thread leaf Japanese maples, Japanese maples are not quite hardy in this zone so this elderberry interests me. Phlox 'Sherbet Cocktail' also caught my interest, it is a new color described as yellow edges with pink centers. I love Phlox, the scent always takes me back to my Grandmother's garden.

Yesterday I shared some pictures of my begonias that are in bloom, today I would like to share some other pics of plants in bloom in my little world. The above photo is of some paperwhites, they smell wonderful to me, some folks tell me they stink.