Wisteria in Maine

As long as I can remember, the wistera has filled my senses with spring. The smell, the color, the soft feel of the buds before they opened, and yes, the feel of the tight buds in my mouth. I remember the enjoyment of sucking on them. Perhaps they were poison, but I'm still here after 76 years.
The fragrance from the clustered blossoms would permeate the old home place where it twined over the porch swing. Green snakes used to frequent the heavy vines and when you were sitting on the swing you weren't sure if the thing touching your back was a tendril from the vine reaching out for another hold, or a tiny snake.
The swing hung from the top of the porch on chains. It was made of wood and had ample room for two adults and a kid to sit. I often sat between by brother Merkle and his wife Mary. It was the center of the gathering on Sundays when people came to visit. Dad had a large rocking chair and mother used a smaller one. Again, they were hand made.
The porch was two feet off the ground, so other visitors would line the porch or steps when the swing was taken. You didn't use the rocking chairs!
The wisteria brings back lots of memories and I am so glad that I have continued to bring a piece of that Mississippi vine to every home I have ever had. Now it will rest in Maine with me.

Tulips in Ocean Botanical Gardens

Tulips have always been a favoite of mine since I was in kindergarten and had to draw that stilted version of a tulip that all kids draw. The teacher showed us pictures of Holland and I fell in love with the real thing. One of the highlights of my life was to go to Holland and see the fields and fields full of tulips.
I didn't have to go to Holland for these pictures. The Maine Ocean Botanical Gardens in Boothbay Harbor always has a beautiful showing in May. This year was no exception.
In addition to the tulips, the rhododendrum were in full bloom as well as the Lady Slippers. We saw hundreds of them blooming in an area set aside along a woodland trail just for Lady slippers. I have Lady Slippers in my woods, but not that many in a concentrated area, but then I haven't planned such a spot. And I might add, I don't have mega bucks to finance such a showing. However, it's great to have a place to go and see God's beautiful flowers.
Visiting the gardens was just another thing to add to the enjoyment of our ocean anniversary trip.

Ocean Camping trip

Our first trip in our camper was to the ocean. We had the site of all sites. The number is "ON" meaning, it is on the ocean. I could have spit in the ocean from my picnic table bench, in high tide.

On our last day, I decided to watch the sunrise as the surf was pounding so hard it woke me at 4:15. I crept out to the car and got my camera while still in my pj's and a jacket. The sky was just beginning to turn to a golden hue. The robins were singing their hearts out in the trees, but the gulls were quiet. When the storm came yesterday, they went crazy screaming in the wind.
Anyway, no rain today.
I saw a few little ducks in the water enjoying the unusually high tide this morning. Pink clouds were slowly creeping over from the north.
I got a little chilly, so went inside the camper to make a cup of coffee. Tom was sleeping soundly in is cozy sleeping bag.
The coffee was made just in time. I barely had time to take a sip before the sun broke the horizon. What a glorious sight.
The sun warmed my face, the coffee warmed my throat, the surf and bird songs filled my ears. My heart and soul was full of peace.
The surf brought in waves with a spash and took the gravel back out with rolling stone sounds. I sat on the picnic table bench and looked down into the water, now golden with the sun. I did not move for fear I would miss a moment of this bliss.

New Orchid

It's not that I don't have enough orchids, it's just that I can't pass up a sale.

My friend Christine and I traveled all the way to Gorham, Maine last night to the Orchid society meeting, which was a vendor's auction to raise money for the club.

I bid on several, but do have my limits. I finally won the bid on a Epc.Midddleburg MAJ (c. bactiaxEpi phoenicum) which has several buds but none are open yet. It is a small deep red cattelya shaped orchid and I'm looking forward to seeing the buds open. It fits nicely on one of my window shelves. I've actually filled up the window. I can't buy any more.

I'll post the picture when it opens.

Spring has come to Maine

Spring has come to Maine with brillant colors and a few black flies. We have to ignore the flies, because there is so much beauty to look forward to in the yards and in the woods.

One of my favorite colors is yellow and you will see in some of my photos. A second favorite would have to be pink, again you will see.

However, I just love to search the woods for the first show of what has been lying dormant under all the snow. The lady slipper just begining to hood, the Painted Lady trillium and the viburnum also called hobble bush, I have been told.

Spring is the new awakening I look forward to each spring coming after all that cold weather. It is worth the wait.

Golden Angel Trumpets

My golden Angel Trumpet is outdoing itself this year. I have had it for many years and each year it seems to have more and more blooms. I just keep cutting it down to about 2 feet and off it goes again. I counted 14 blooms today. In the evening the fragrance is overwhelming.

I made a picture from inside and outside the sunroom. I had to hurry on the outside shot as it is very cold and windy today. The last time I looked it was 42 degrees, but the wind is steady at 20 mph.

The geraniums get the same haircut as the Trumpet get about twice a year. These were cut back in January and are just getting back their full bloom.

This room is also full of orchids that are in the down time. The blooming ones get to come inside. Most anything grows out there and I have around 70 daylily seedlings getting larger every day enjoying the room. When summer arrives, I'll transplant them all outside in a bed.

A too real nightmare

When I was a child in Mississippi, we lived in a big farmhouse near several small brooks that ran between larger creeks in the area. It was rumored that a black panther had been spotted along the brooks making his way to another larger creek. Of course kids like to tell horrible stories about cat attacks and I was gifted with a vivid imagination.

One night when the air was still, hot and humid, I had my face literally in the window. My bed was pushed up to the window and I was sleeping at the foot so I could get any air that was available. My sleep was shattered by the loudest scream I had ever heard and it sounded like it was right under my window. I was scared so much I couldn't move. My room was apart from my parents bedroom so that I would have to go out onto a screened porch and enter the dining room before I could get to them. Somehow I managed to do it with my hair still standing on end. I was told that it was indeed a panther I had heard, but he couldn't get into the house.

Early this morning, in a deep dreamland, I was again in Mississippi, near the three brooks that crossed the road some quarter mile from the house. I was driving our red buick and suddenly I saw a white puma. I had recently read in the paper about one roaming around somewhere, so I recognize it. Of course that was the Maine paper and I was in Mississipi.

Anyway, I stopped the car and angled a little sideways so I could get a good look at the creature. He came up to the car and started lunging at the window. I didn't know how soon he would be able to break the window, so I grabbed my nikon camera and flashed a quick picture. He stopped lunging and I got the car in gear and drove to the house where Tom and "others" were there. You know how dreams are. You don't always see everything and everyone. Anyway as I was showing everyone the picture I woke up. It was 5:15 a.m. and any thoughts of returning to sleep vanished. We got home around midnight from playing cards, so I didn't get much sleep. I almost felt like looking at my camera to see if a puma picture was hiding inside.

I got dressed, heated up left over coffee and went out to get the paper, looking over my shoulder all the way in case a white puma was lurking in the firs along the driveway.

Well, I didn't see any and came home to watch the sunrise on the deck while I read the paper and finished my coffee. Alas, the sunrise was hidden behind clouds so I was content to read, sip and listen to a forest full of birds flitting from tree to tree. The drama of my nightmare still fresh on my mind.