More Reiman Flowers

Paperwhites

The conservatory at Reimans was decked out with a beautiful display last month when we were there, they had hundreds of paperwhites, the smell was awesome when you walked in.......what a joy it was!

Hoya

This is one of my hoya plants, one that has not bloomed for me at this point. I took the picture with the sunlight streaming through the leaves, I like it, mostly because I love the sun.

Sunday Blooming Sunday

I do not have much in bloom right now but will share what I do have. Plus a stray african violet or two. The sun shone today, which made it a good day. We enjoyed a small road trip to the soy candle factory so I could buy wax to make my candles and a couple of new fragrance oils, well, one is a repeat, Orange Spice which is a popular scent with those that I have give a candle to, the new scent that I have not tried before is Orange Blossom. I also bought some soy tea lights at their retail outlet I don't make tea lights, too little and I would spill to much :) . Then we went to my parents to take them our for Chinese.

More Butterflies

More and more butterflies! TGIF, now I have two whole days to myself, always a treat.

More Butterflies

More butterflies..............I have lots, like I said it was a great day.

Our tems were in the 30s today, was a change. It is not supposed to last but no blizzards in the forecast anyway.

More Butterflies

More butterflies from out day at Reiman Gardens.

Beautiful sun shiney day here today..................... the sun always makes me feel better.

Reiman Butterflies

Reiman Gardens in Ames Iowa is one of my favorite places to visit. We try to get there at least 4 times a year or more if possible. I love the butterfly house. I turned the big 6-0 on Dec 19, I took the day off of work because I wanted to go to Reimans, naturally we had one of the many blizzards we have had this winter with 8-10 inches of snow. So it was not meant to be. The butterfly house closes down from Jan 1st to April 1st so I did not have many chances to get there. I did something I rarely do, the following Monday I called in sick and we went to Ames, it was 20 below zero but in the butterfly house it was 80 something. The conservatory was all decked out for Christmas of course. We had a wonderful visit and I am glad I played hooky :).

Shades of Last Summer

Today the temps were almost 65 degrees higher than yesterday but were still cold......brrrrr....

The temp was about 30 today, with yesterdays minus 34, that is almost 65 degrees.......hard to believe.

The above photo was taken last August, I think it is Pinky Winky (Hydrangea).

Baby, Its Cold Outside!

Soooo beee it!!!

My town set an all time record low today of minus 34, now that is chilly! We had a white knuckled drive to the VA Hospital in Iowa City (had to be there at 8:30 AM), the drive through Cedar Rapids was a nightmare, multiple accidents on their elevated stretch of interstate. Traffic was at a crawl, same thing on the way home but not quite as many pile ups. It was awful, our usual omelet at Perkins didn't even perk me up. And my usual stop at Michaels in Cedar Rapids was out of the question, I was just eager to get home. Home Sweet Home!

Good night to stay in and look at seed catalogs, of which I have dozens to look at. I have only looked at one so far Select Seeds, they are offering a discount if an order is placed by 2/20/09, I always order from them so will get my order together soon.

My Rosie all Grown Up

This is my sweet Rosie...............isn't she pretty???

Christmas Cactus

Since I haven't posted much I am going to back track some. My Christmas Cactus was really pretty this year, this is the old fashioned one that has been around forever. This plant was given to me by a co-worker who passed away a couple of years ago, this was a start off of his mother's plant.

My blogging has certainly suffered recently! I am not really sure why, I guess I don't have much to say............ :).

I am glad the holidays are over, they were wonderful and busy as usual. I got everything I could possibly want except to be able to retire......... and I guess no one can give that to me, but I can wish!

I took this picture the week of Christmas, this orchid was given to me for Mother's Day and is still in full bloom, isn't it pretty? It is throwing yet another spike so I will be enjoying it for quite a bit longer it seems.

I turned the big 6-0 last month. I treated myself to a new camera........... Yeah! I had been so busy I had not even gotten it out of the box til today, I tried it out and am impressed so far. Lots to learn.