Rain, Rain, Go Away

Actually today is sunny and beautiful; but this week we have had days of record rainfall.  We had mid-west type thunderstorms in a typically dry climate.  The rain woke us up in the night and drew us to the windows during the day.  Since most of the rain we get is light and spread out over longer periods of time this was a newsworthy event.

 Here are a few photos from a midday storm on Wednesday. 

  Our street was flooded, up over the sidewalks.  Two hours later the street was dry.

 




at this point there were
dark clouds, sunshine,
rain and hail....all at once

 

rain pouring 

over the gutters

rain and hail mixed

looking out the
front door, happy
that I didn't have to

go anywhere that day

Cherry Blossoms

  

Our Cherry Tree is in full bloom.  We are hoping for a bumper crop this year. 
They are sooooo good!!

(The almond tree is well past blooming and loaded with almonds, photos to come.)

Blossoms, Bursting and Fading

Spring is teasing us.  We have had some beautiful weather and some flowers have already come and gone; now we are having wintery weather again.  Here are a few photos from the yard this week.

It is the he end for some...

The last two blossoms on the camellia bush and the fate of the earlier ones.



     
 

 (you can see the bush in the last post, just one
week earlier).

 

 

...and just the beginning for others:

  Some new blooms and leaf buds on the hydrangea.

 

we enjoy Spring a little earlier than most

Today, looking out our front door, the tulip tree is in full bloom.  It usually only lasts a few days, this year we've been lucky so far that the wind hasn't blown all the blossoms away

Also, out front, the geraniums are beginning to blossom. 

In the yard today.....

 

 

 

In the front yard we have, mums, geraniums,
hydrangeas and begonias.

In the backyard we have lemons, grapefruit, tangerines and tangelos slowly ripening; 

as well as some unexpected fungi.

And everywhere else we have leaves!!
Have I mentioned that we have 9 trees in our front yard and 20 in the back? 
And this is a small lot (.16 acre) with a fairly large house.  We love it!

finding treasures...in the yard, at the thrift stores and on other blogs

It has been a good season for treasure hunting.  We have a LOT of flowers blooming in the yard right now and each one is a treasure.

 

A few weeks ago I found this spice rack at a thrift store.  The rack is a carousel; the bottles had labels and corks which smell of the spices. I couldn't decide if I should leave it alone or re-purpose it.  With Easter coming and flowers blooming the decision was easy. I removed the corks, scrubbed the vials and filled them with pastel colored water.  My sweet daughters-in-law insisted I post a picture of it. 

 

On Saturday the kids were all here and we all went treasure hunting.  We visited the Green Pea Boutique first.  It is the best antique/boutique store around!!  Both girls found treasures there. We also went to another antique store and a thrift store.


My favorite find is this egg gathering basket , I am anxious to fill it with "grass" and "eggs", I just don't know yet what that will look like.  

We all brought home new (to us) treasures.  The best part was 50% off everything at the thrift store.  This silver plated teapot was only fifty cents!

I also love treasure hunting on all the wonderful blogs out there in cyberspace.  I found versions of these sweet birds on a few different blogs and had to try making them.  I love the paperclip feet! 

And this morning I found the sign below and couldn't agree more.

More signs of Spring....

 In our yard this morning....

OK, the one above is a reminder of last Summer and what Spring leads to.

Summertime

We have had a very pleasant summer with mild temperatures for our area.  But that is about to change; at least for a few days.  It's going to get HOT.

In spite of all the mowing, trimming, etc. that Mike did over the weekend our yard is quite overgrown. 
The small palm on the left is a volunteer.  We have several scattered around the gardens.

The citrus trees are flourishing and will be ripe in the late fall.  
Lemons                                           Tangerines

 

We have one tree in full bloom (right), I'm not sure what it is; (update: I believe it is a  Crape Myrtle) lots of growth on all the other trees and a few flowers still blooming.

I picked the last of the hydrangeas and hung them in the garage to dry.

I love Autumn and after the hot weather predicted for this week I'll be more than ready for it to arrive.