June, my personal garden area is made up of pots on each of two balcony decks:  one on the front of the building is entered from the kitchen and the other is on the back of the building, facing the Chesapeake Bay, and is larger by a good deal than is the kitchen balcony.  You enter the back deck from both the living room and the master bedroom.

I have large blue ceramic pots that I fill with geraniums.  For Mother's Day, my daughter Debi gave me one of those large hibiscus plants the nurseries carry at this time of year.  This one is beautifully shaped and covered with buds, some of which have already flowered.  The flowers are a gorgeous yellow that looks like Chinese enamel.  I have had hibiscus before, just for the spring, summer and autumn months, and I just love it.  It has to go on the front (kitchen side) deck, however, as that faces west southwest and gets heaps of sun.  The back deck faces east northeast, and gets the early morning sunrise, but then is shady most of the day.  These hibiscus are quite expensive, but when you think about it, they are a much better investment than sending Mom a fancy floral arrangement or two!  The florist does a good job, and even delivers at the requested time, but you are lucky if the flowers last two weeks, which they rarely do.  Debi had to buy this one and take it home and then deliver it here herself, with help from others.  It is quite large and heavy.  BUT, I will enjoy it immensely for at least six months, and maybe more, depending upon the weather.  Then someone in the family will haul it over to Debi's for her to enjoy in her Florida Room.  So when you think on it, it is an investment of a sort! 

Ophelia's    First Mothers Day.

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http://www.seniorsandfriends.org/gallery/89-090516165426.jpeg

Bev. I don't really know why on the reason of not naming a person in the same family with a given first name when the person still alive.  Just another one of the things I heard talked about when young and growup.  We had some strange ones in our family.  I thought that one was sort of spooky.  It was something like the figure of Death that was sent  down as a person was dying that if another younger person what given the same name then Death could take the wrong one. So was thought that a family should wait until the person with the given name had already died.  Like said. I never understood why Windows in a house had to have black shades on them as long a the Wake lasted.  Mirror all covered. Photo's turned around.  I never bothered to question why. I was not into religion as it seems my family was a mixed group. Fathers side one Mothers another and my father and I sort of took both sides.. Seemed to work out O.K.

MaryPage, your apartment sounds ideal ! Two balconies. And of course your extensive scenery is outstanding. You must be very content there. This place had open balconies but they recently revamped the whole place and what were balconies are now enclosed on the sides with a full wall of windows where the balcony was. It gives a great deal more space for furniture, especially for us who have no bedroom. Our living area contains our sleeping furniture as well as our living room furniture. I have my big computer desk, two bookcases and another desk on what was a balcony. In Ca. we have hibiscus in bloom  practically all seasons, and they are beautiful. I know you will enjoy yours.

Good morning everyone

Kelly

Hi everyone.  It is an overcast but warm Tuesday morning with no rain in the forecast.  My doctor's appointment yesterday went very well.  It started off with a breathing test, which I apparently handled very well as the doctor said there was no problems with the test.  She also advised me that the CPAP machine is really helping in that my score went from 13 before I started using it to 2.2 during the last four months averaged out.  I think that is the number of Apnea's per night.  I have a completely clear schedule for today so will just work on little projects here in my office and have a quiet day.

Kelly, I will replace the Busy Lizzie plant with something else but didn't have time to do so yesterday.  I did get a full refund on the plant as Lowe's, a big hardware chain, guarantees their plants and they sell a lot of them. 

MaryPage, I bet that hibiscus plant is beautiful and yellow is such a bright and pleasant color.  It sounds like the hibiscus in not an annual and will grow the year around.

June, it sounds like you have adopted well to not having all of your live plants you had before.  A plant in a room brings life to it in my opinion. 

Sandy, Ophelia is certainly a cute baby and seems very bright eyed in the picture. 

JeanneP, your post is interesting and I never really questioned why those blackout conditions are observed.  Perhaps someone can enlighten us on the reasons. 

Hibiscus is not a plant, really, or at least, not what we think of as a plant.  When we go to buy plants for our summer gardens, hibiscus is not among them.  We buy geraniums, petunias, marigolds, and such as that.

Hibiscus is a bush or a small tree.  They can grow quite tall, actually, when they are in their native habitat and living in one spot year round.  A lot of you would have tried a gardenia in your home at one time or another through the years.  Hibiscus are even bigger than those.  They come in a number of colors, whereas gardenias are only the creamy white, and they do not smell anything like as strongly as gardenias.  Like gardenias, however, they require a lot of moisture, and it is a good thing to mist them.

http://www.brighterblooms.com/product/yellow-tropical-hibiscus-tree.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=shopping&utm_campaign=shopping&gclid=CKnOw9rGz8wCFVZahgods2YDJQ

Most of the larger nurseries carry hibiscus shrubs or trees.  The yellow hibiscus is the state flower of Hawaii, but theirs has a red heart.  Mine is all yellow, including the heart.  It makes my own heart glow with Joy in its loveliness.  Kelly can probably tell you lots more.  Kelly, can you grow them on the Isle of Mann in the summertime?  It should be wet enough there, but is it WARM enough?

MaryPage, while many plant nurseries will not ship to Alaska or Hawaii, the one you linked to goes further and said it only ships to the US. Not only the continental US but has no Alaskan knowledge!

Hi Larry
Good to hear the store offers refunds. I like that they offer refunds if plants are not good enough for selling.

Kelly

Hi MaryPage
If you ever holiday in Haiti, you would find that hibiscus is their National flower.

When I worked for myself I always recommend Hisbiscus for many reasons.

Kelly

   

Kelly, I was just outside deadheading the hibiscus, and I discovered for the first time that it is not one, but TWO hibiscuses;  and that is why it looks like such a lovely, fully rounded shrub.  This makes me nervous, however, and I would like to put it into two pots, but would rather my local nursery do it than I.  Well, I shall have to sleep on it for awhile before I make up my mind.  If I do have it transplanted, I would rather have them in two very large blue ceramic pots, but these are frightfully expensive.  It, they rather, are in one of those blackgreen nursery pots at present.  Plastic, I think they are.  But the cost of each ceramic pot would be well over a hundred dollars;  more like over a hundred & fifty.  Add to that the cost of the nursery doing the planting for me, and what one summer's enjoyment would chomp out of my budget becomes a heartache.  Well, as I say, I'll sleep on the problem. 

MaryPage, the hibiscus plant I got from our local nursery in one of those nursery pots a couple of years ago had two plants or one plant with two branches.  I left it in the nursery pot and set it in a ceramic pot.  I have been able to keep it alive for two years now, but we are in a much warmer climate that you are.  I did the same thing with a hydrangea plant.  Wintered them over in the garage, water occasionally and they lived.

I don't have a "black" thumb, more of a "brown" thumb .  My older sister has a really green thumb and if her life had been different, she could have been a master gardener.

Mary

Bless you, Texas Mary, I love the encouragement.

I have had hibiscus previously, and appreciate them enormously.  But I have no garage, and no room in this small apartment to have them winter over with me.  So it is my plan to give it back to Debi, who presented it to me Sunday as a Mother's Day gift, when we are expecting our first killer frost.  She has a lovely Florida Room in her house, and it will survive quite happily.  Then, after having enjoyed it through the winter, she can return it to me NEXT Mother's Day!  Is that A PLAN, or what?

Hi MaryPage
You do what you think is best. 

And the plan you have is a great plan!

Kelly

I had an ultrasound on my leg today and she found nothing.  So I will be aching most of the time, but at least there is nothing serious wrong.

Monday night, Tom and I drove to Holland to meet Terry, Jan and Jan’s folks.  After eating, we drove around Holland to see the tulips and there are a lot in bloom.  I noticed several tour buses around town.  We were in the early evening, so I did not take pictures.  There are a lot of flowering trees in bloom too.

Dot did not want to go to church Sunday because her son and dil were here from Chicago for Mother’s Day.  As she is my transportation, I did not go either and we didn’t visit the Cholesterol Pit, which I am sure was very busy Sunday.

Mary Ann

Good night everyone

Kelly

Good morning everyone

Enjoy the day.

Kelly

Hi everyone.  After an entire of overcast skies, today starts out nice and sunny and headed to 88 degrees this afternoon.  I enjoyed the day at home yesterday and will probably have the same today until it is time to go to the church for the Wednesday night dinners.  There are only two more after tonight before the summer break.

MaryPage, thanks for the link about the Hibiscus Tree.  It answered a number of questions I had. It looks like it would grow very well in my area.

Mary Ann, what a joy it must have been to see all the tulip plants in bloom in Holland.  Glad there was not a problem found with your leg. 

Kelly, good afternoon and I hope your day has been a good one.   

Hibiscus do very well in Georgia, Larry, and you cannot find a more satisfactory or lovely flowering bush.  I am very fond of the orange flowered ones, as well, albeit not as much as the yellow.  I do not much care for the red, but everyone to their own taste.

Another not pretty day here on the Chesapeake.  Becky & Emily are to arrive at eleven and take me across the bridge to Easton to visit my granddaughter Melissa for lunch.  I am all ready for it, but sort of kind of listening for the phone to ring to say that they have changed their minds.

Emily wants to see the "real" ocean before heading back to Missouri, so the two of them will be off early tomorrow to go to Ocean City.  Emily will see those old waves rolling in, rolling in, rolling in.  It actually makes me sick to my stomach to think of the difference in that water and sand compared to when I was young.  I could frolic in the water for hours, and run in and along the sand, with no danger.  Now the water is really full of contaminants, and hungry (because we have overfished the seas) sharks.  It is not safe for these kids to swallow through their throats, ears, eyes, noses and skin so much of that dangerous liquid, and the sand itself is full of hidden dangers from human beings burying their litter in it, and so much gook coming in from stuff thrown in the oceans.  Whoops!  I did not mean to get on my soap box once again;  just to share why the beaches make me deeply sad these days, as opposed to the Joy I felt as a child back in the nineteen thirties.

MaryPage, I know what you mean about the water! Here it had gotten really bad and still does in those spots off the main grid. However, now the city has increased fines and other punitive measures because not only is the land fragile, but we have five separate rivers, ponds, sloughs, streams, running around and through town and a couple of hot springs also close by and then again within 100 miles.

Some habits folks think nothing of until they are issued tickets is mowing the lawn with all its chemicals and then raking all of that into a handy creek bordering their property. They pay extra to live along a waterway but then think nothing of despoiling it!

When I was a child in the fifties and mid-sixties, you could fish the rivers and 21" grayling, rainbow trout and other large types of fish were common. Now so many are either catch and release, subsistence only allowed or no fishing period as they try and regain what was lost. Many folks with cell phones and cameras are catching license numbers of those seen polluting and others are doing a type of neighborhood watch in the hills around town where many polluters think to go.

What is especially sad to me is going to the sanctuary where dogs are only allowed on leashes, (Hello, breeding grounds and it is a sanctuary, folks!) and seeing folks let their dogs off leash when they are away from the main viewing area. I would be comfortable with banning and enforcing it for dogs totally as you can't ban humans! Unfortunately, the area is managed by volunteers for Fish and Game. Too many acres to oversee.

I liked seeing the flowers on the link you showed, MaryPage. However, the proprietors don't see Alaska as a state, said it wasn't part of the US.  I wonder if they recognize Hawaii?

Farah was encouraging last night. She actually rolled over to her back to sleep, behind my chair, (So she had fair warning of my making any sudden moves!); but then the train whistle sounded and the rumblings of the track from the road three blocks away. And that sent her right back into hiding. But it's a good sign!

Hi Larry
Quite a decent day, thank you.

Hope you had a good day.

Kelly

Good morning everyone

Enjoy your day.

Kelly

Farah is progressing, Angel.  Soon she will want to remain as close as possible to you.

It POURED down rain for a great deal of yesterday, but Becky and Emily picked me up and we tootled off across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and onwards on Route 50 to Easton.  Melissa & Adam were both there to greet us, and I loved, loved, loved their house.  It has those wonderful wide, wide plank floors of pure wood.  There is a humongous Great Room full of windows and light, with the kitchen running across the far end as you enter from the main hallway.  Then, over on your left is a two couch and several chairs & tables living room area, while to your right is the oh so cheerful dining table and chairs.  So splendid, because you can keep an eye on your family while cooking, instead of having to remove to a separate kitchen and having to constantly pop out to check on them.  There are a library and two bedrooms on the first floor and two more bedrooms upstairs.  I have never before seen a floor plan quite like this one, and having seen it, I am enamoured.  So much light pouring in, even though it was a rainy day!  I could not visit the out of doors, but saw ducks and chickens from some of the windows.  Two cats and a dog live inside with the family.
Melissa fed us all lunch, and too soon we had to scurry out to the car and head back home.  It poured buckets all the way home, to the extent of making it a two hour trip back rather than the usual one.  There was an accident somewhere that slowed all traffic down, but We Made It!  And I had a lovely time.  My only complaint was that 7 year old Will speaks too softly, and I had a hard time hearing what he had to say, and he had a LOT to say!  Becky was enchanted with him. 
I have two great grandchildren with birthdays today:  one year old Solomon in St. Louis, Missouri and nine year old Kiersten in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  As for me, my big adventure today is to be an early morning visit with my gastroenterologist.  Whoopee!  I shall be glad to be back home in my easy chair taking a lovely nap!
Have a splendid day!

Hi MaryPage
Glad to read you had a lovely day yesterday.

It sounds a superb house.

Kelly

Hi everyone.  It is another pretty morning but already 69 degrees and headed up to 89 degrees this afternoon.  Today will be my typical Thursday and will pick up my friend for coffee, take him home afterwards and then go to the church for the Wisdom group.  I may run a couple of errands the group.  I had my first watermelon of the season this morning and it was good.  I decided this morning that it was time to start wearing my short-sleeved shirts for the summer. 

MaryPage, it is sad what has happened to our waterways and oceans.  Growing up in the middle of the country I have never been an ocean person.  The last time I tried to walk on the sand on Pensacola Beech I took a few steps off the boardwalk and turned around and got back on it.  It took too much energy.  What a nice day trip you had and that sounds like quite a house you visited.

Hi Kelly. 

Patricia, it will take Farah awhile to become comfortable with the train noises.  It sounds like she is making progress.

Hi Larry
It is nice and sunny here today after being dull earlier this morning.

Not long back from a walk, I cannot walk quickly, but exercise is good for us and the more we walk I am told by Physiotherapists the better it is for us.

You and Pat have a good day.

Kelly

MaryPage, a TV program I watch is of a Waco TX couple who revise older homes for buyers and one thing they do is gut the inside and make one large room for living - a great room.  Some of the homes are large, but most are small.

Mary Ann

MaryPage, it sounds as if I would love that house as well! My sister, while she lived in the US, almost made a ritual of redoing her homes with and without her husband at the time; moving floors, walls and toilets back and forth and then again. Often those homes were then resold and they moved on to the next.

Then they built the home some miles from town on a ridge, used a not so intuitive contractor, and ended up suing over the cracked roof and becoming millionaires. Now he has moved on with a new family, the children are stateside and she has retired to a small vineyard cottage in Tuscany. Such is life.

While I was growing up here, many people built their homes over time, living and raising children in the basement, teenagers in an "in progress" first floor and finishing when those children had moved along. Nowadays, you use a contractor or buy a new or used home.

It is bright and sunny in the Interior, expected to be in the upper seventies all week, but I am  tired of calling and seeing folks yesterday about Medicaid parts A & B and also signing up for medicare with the state to help in securing household help and a program for dealing with my continuing arthritis and worsening sight, (Now, that I am a senior, my disabilities are deemed worth caring for!). So, it's home for me!

Farrah has graduated from under the bed to on top of it and makes several runs back and forth from the bedroom. Sarah's tail had been amputated from frostbite so I had forgotten about cat's tails being a barometer of moods. Farrah's long lanky tail is raised in a perfect question mark when she is feeling free and easy, half mast with a small curl at the end when uncertain and laid down across the floor when upset.

I know I may be boring you, good folks, here or at the "Soda Shoppe," but this is exciting for me. Especially since she was so out of touch with everything and so defensive.

Oh, I don't think that is the case, Patricia.  I, for one, am thoroughly enjoying the saga of Farrah.  Her emergence into the world is thrilling, and I am just waiting for the End of The Story, which is when she will have taken over the whole ordering of the household!

But then again, I doubt you will admit to it when it comes.  He! He!