Category: Gardening

My Weekly Smile: July 22, 2020

On By DianaIn Gardening, weekly smile21 Comments
  • Welcome to my weekly Smile! What makes you smile? My bell peppers are growing!
"There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments."
                                                                       -Janet K Phillips

I love this gardening quote because I feel like I make mistake after mistake but really I am learning and so to look at it as experiments as I learn brings me great confidence. I so appreciate the advice that I get along the way of my gardening adventures. I am okay with mistakes, I know that they are like steps in the learning ladder! My smile for this week is gardening success. After I mulched my container where my veggies are growing my bell peppers are taking off and are about an inch in length as you can see in the photo. Now the soil is staying nice and moist and I am seeing some healthy growth!

  • I have two bell pepper plants with lots of fruit! 😀

I am so happy, and it makes me want to continue in this container growing adventure. I have two more containers that I can use to grow more veggies which I will have to do some research to see what would be good to grow at this time of year. I am just one month into summer so if I buy starters I am sure there is a lot to choose from to grow. Fun to think about my teeny tiny garden!! I love being outside as this makes me smile too! I do have one more special smile I want to share, courtesy of my dear hubby.

  • My hubby surprised me with a sweet card and Ree’s cookbook! Yay!

I am a huge Food Network fan and watch so many cooking shows. I really like the competition shows, they are fun and entertaining to me and I realize this may not be everyone’s thing – but it is definitely right up there with my favorite thing to do as I sit and relax and crochet! Watching these shows (I record many of them) is my way of relieving stress in my busy schedule. I have one other of Ree Drummond’s cookbooks, so now I have two. I just love her cookbooks with all the photos and her food is very good. My sweet hubby makes me SMILE with this wonderful surprise!! Now I need to make him a nice meal. Comfort food with LOVE! It will be my pleasure to return him the favor with a lovely dinner! ❤ ❤ ❤

Thank you for visiting my smile this week. I am getting ready to go out and take care of my horses and wanted to get my smile post together to share!

Happy gardening smiles with a surprise!

~Diana ❤

The Weekly Smile

On By DianaIn Barn stories, Gardening, Horse stories, Living life12 Comments

I think it is so important to smile. I am joining in on the weekly smile with friends and this is put together by Trent who is so kind to put this all together for all of us to enjoy! Thank you Trent! I know I am enjoying reading and hearing about everyone’s smile and so I will share what I am smiling about this week. Part of my smiles is a vacation day with July 4th off tomorrow! Yippee!! We all LOVE an extra day off of work, and to celebrate our Independence even better right? I hope you all are going to have a wonderful day tomorrow, I know I will have a great day! 😀

Me Smiling today riding my girl Miss Chloe on trail!

I am so happy to be riding my girl down the trail. Today I was by myself and am lucky she is really a good girl all by herself. We do not travel far and she knows the route by heart. I don’t even need to guide her as she knows every turn. We ride around the block which takes about 30 minutes and what a big huge smile on my face as we quietly walked the trails. Thank you Miss Chloe for a perfectly, wonderful ride! Love her so much! ❤

This morning I was watering and the smell of this rose AMAZING! MADE ME SMILE!

I have had a busy week, it will only get busier later in July for me but I went outside this morning to water my very small garden and the temperature and air were just wonderful. I was just taking in the beauty of the day and as I was watering I noticed some beautiful blooms. This one rose bush did not bloom last year and almost died. But this year it is flourishing and I am thinking probably because of all the rain we have had, what ever the reason this rose has the most incredible rose smell. I don’t know much about roses, but this one the buds are so round and compact and then when they eventually unfold, it is just beautiful but so different than my other roses or what I would call “normal” blooms. I guess its just the species of this rose. I’ll have to do some research. These roses were all planted by the previous owner of the house.

This is a bloom from the same plant above. It’s so different, and I am glad it came back to life!

What are you smiling about today? or this week? I have a new employee starting at work this week and that puts a huge smile on my face. I am hoping she will like working at the lab. I am looking forward to more trail riding tomorrow and through the weekend. Both my horses need the exercise and it is so fun to ride and am hoping to be joined with my girlfriends at the barn. I will end with a photo of my horses since they are my therapy and really help keep that smile on my face. I hope you enjoy your weekend too! 😀 😀 😀

This photo is from 2015. I’m planning on sharing more photos on my next blog post from 2015, but thought I’d share this one here as I smile at them beauties!

I feel like I am smiling at a lot of different things, but that happens right? So this blog is about my day to day things I love and when I see things that catch my eye, I sure enjoy sharing!

Keep Smiling!! 😀

-Diana

The Weekly smile

On By DianaIn Gardening, Smiles, weekly smile13 Comments

My friend Trent hosts a weekly smile and I decided it’s about time I share my weekly smile! I am so HAPPY about this as I truly believe that a smile to share is so important to us all. I try and smile to everyone I see each day, it’s so contagious and it makes you feel so good. I find it so helpful to stay positive so here is what makes me smile this week. 😀

Flowers of all kinds make me smile! This is in my front yard. 😀
I don’t have a special camera, but am thankful for the Live Focus on my phone camera!

I have shared many times how much I love photography. Photos just make me SMILE. I love the beauty that you can attain whether it be black and white photos, still shots, close up shots, I can stare at beautiful photos all day! Some day I will have to start saving for a nice camera but for now I am so happy I can take decent photos and share for my smile this week! To be honest, my weekly smiles will probably always contain photos – I’m just that addicted to them!! ❤

This is a small sized palm that is in my front yard and I thought this an interesting photo.

I was enjoying my flowers today as I watered in the front yard. They all just make me smile so I thought I would share. Today or last night was my night off so I am enjoying this day outside not only at the barn with my horses earlier but with my flowers in my yard. Oh yes, and I am enjoying the day with my hubby, my best friend, my companion for life. Thankful for these smiles. What made you smile today?

My tea rose up close!

Thank you for the SMILES!

-Diana 😀

Weekend Coffee Share: It’s June 1st!

On By DianaIn Gardening, Living life, Projects, Smiles, weekend coffee share15 Comments
My roses LOVE the cool weather! Summer is almost here….

It is afternoon and I don’t have a photo of tea only coffee. So I decided to share my rose photo instead! I know rather random but it sure puts a smile on my face as I have some ice tea with some kettle corn as my afternoon snack. What are you doing this weekend? Would you like some ice coffee? tea? hot or cold? Weekend coffee share is to share what we are doing on our weekend, to share with friends old and new. I so enjoy sharing, my photos are all rather random as I don’t have a theme this weekend. I have been busy, so my photos show all that I have been doing these last few days! 😀

I am at the end of my walk up to my house. This is the side view as we live on a corner, our driveway leads to one street and our address is the other street along the front of the house!

I try and walk at least twice a week, I should walk more often but walk a fair amount at work and at the stables. It has been very gloomy in the mornings, the temps in the 50’s which is great walking weather! I wish I walked today, this is my walk from yesterday. The sun has not come out until noon this last week which is A-okay with me as the summer heat I know is right around the corner. I was scheduled with 2 days off in a row. The next photos are all the things I have been working on the last few days on my days off. I felt very productive, what do you do on your days off?

My daughter’s guinea pigs, time to clean their cage! So they are out getting some exercise, or maybe just eating! Haha! Love them! ❤
I have been working on these crochet zoo animals! I am almost done, there is still some detail work to finish up on the Hippo. They aren’t difficult but it has taken me awhile to get them done!
My days off include trail riding! These beautiful purple Jacaranda trees are in full bloom!
I know I’ve shared these blooms before, but they are going crazy! Pomegranate trees at the stables with TONS of blooms!

I have been wanting to try and start a garden but I had so much trouble last year that I haven’t gotten up the energy to give it another try and I probably should have put my energy into it because this year I think our weather would be so good for gardening. This time last year we were battling heat. It was a very hot year last year and even though I know I would still have to water a lot, the cooler weather I think is kinder to growing plants. I know it isn’t too late if I investigate and find what is good to start growing this time of year. I also could buy some starters instead of starting from seed. Hmm… just writing about this is making me think I will give it a try and grow just a little garden. I had gopher problems last year, but I could just stick with my containers. Okay, I think I’ve convinced myself, thanks for listening or reading my ramblings! Haha, writing is so cathartic, I hope I’m not boring!

I found the trick to photograph her sticking her tongue out! Feed her a treat, stand back to take a photo and here you go! Haha, She’s adorable!

I sure am enjoying sharing my tea with you today! I also did some house work, laundry, you know all the usual stuff. Its funny, I am so busy and since I have the horses and my family is busy with their responsibilities we do not plan on very many outings. I did when my kids were young children but since my grown children live in far away places I just plan my outings there, visiting in their towns or cities. So in two weeks I will be driving to Arizona to see my son and family, so excited as I can’t wait to see my granddaughter!! Since I trail ride so much and am outdoors with my horses, my other relaxing outlet is my crochet projects. What do you do to relax? I use to read but have been really bad about reading. I blame that on my horses! ❤ ❤ ❤

Feeling relaxed, weekend FUN,

-Diana

Roses are blooming!

On By DianaIn Gardening, Living life5 Comments
This rose has the most AMAZING rose smell! I LOVE IT! ❤

I have a small garden in my front yard with a few rose bushes that are LOVING all the rain and I am getting some blooms. I can’t believe it is almost Spring and I absolutely LOVE the smell of roses. I find it amazing how smells can evoke memories as these beautiful roses remind me of my youth. This blog is all about roses! 😀

A rose bud, so fat and cute! ❤
This is so beautiful as the bud opens so dark in color, fading with the flower below as it ages on the vine!

Nature just amazes me with all it’s beauty. I have a handful of rose bushes that are all different, the variegated colors above are just gorgeous. I love being outside and seeing what the day brings and what is new in the world. There are a lot of fun things to observe. I wish I got my camera out yesterday at the stables as I observed a wild finch as it flew and perched itself on the fence and I thought what funny whiskers – haha – it’s beak was full of horse hair as it was gathering this for its nest! Darn, it would have been a great photo!!

Such a big rose, so compact in the middle! This is my favorite smelling rose.

I cheated and the first rose is the same rose as the last, but I tried a super close shot opposed to farther away. My favorite is the super close up shot, with my second being the rose that is light yellow with a pink fringe! I like the rose bud too, heck, I love them all. I just had to share my roses today as they put a giant smile on my face and I can’t wait until the sun returns. We will have some rain tonight and we have just seen the sun a little bit here and there the last week or so. It is to warm up this week and I am SO EXCITED! 😀 😀 😀

Can’t wait for SPRING, can’t wait to garden!

-Diana ❤