Although my cold lingers and we both feel worn out, mom and I are still getting around to see the sights.
Downtown Anchorage:
On a mountain above Eagle River:
At the Alaska Botanical Garden in Anchorage:
Tag Archives: flowers
Alaska: Picture Snippets
Once in awhile the bug hits and I have more than a caption-worth of words for some of my photos. These were taken in the last day or so. Their more like snippets of stories, rather than full blown stories. Hence, the weird title
I am not a sun worshiper. This umbrella used to block the sun, in addition to the huge one over the table. The chickadees kept flitting past it, so I thought I’d try to snap a photo of their shadows going past. No such luck. However, I did capture a large moth’s shadow.
 Speaking of moth’s, this one came for a visit at my table. I took some photos, then it simply disappeared! I sat my camera down and as the lens closed the moth jumped off…he had hopped from the table to my camera lens.
Another visitor, a chickadee, I believe. They come each evening, between 7:30 and 8:00 to gather seeds from the feeder. My folks put all the feeders away when the bears wake up, so as not to attract them to their yard. I risk it all and have one clandestine feeder and one suet tray. Please don’t tell my dad…or the bears.
When mom and I took Sophie back to my brother’s house, I learned something new. I learned about Larch trees. My brother has a row of them at the front of his property and I went to explore what mushrooms might be growing beneath them (none). Â The tree is a deciduous conifer, meaning that it sheds its leaves (needles) in the fall. It has hard, waterproof wood and is often used in building boats. It smells wonderful, but the best thing was the feel of the needles. They are very very soft!
Here is Sophie…watching the birds, begging me to get off the deck, and trying out all the seats in mom’s car. She really really wanted to come back with us. It took all three of us to get her out and get Cee Cee in.
On the way home from Michael’s house, I pulled in to take photos of these awesome weeds. That’s when mom told me that her and dad had rented the house we were parked behind, when they moved back to Alaska in the mid-80’s. Weird, I never knew that and we’ve driven by it a million times. Anyway, cool weeds, huh? Fireweed.
Last, but not least, a fresh bouquet of mom’s sweet peas for my sister, Michaela (1964-2012). She gets store-bought flowers from dad in the winter and fresh flowers out of the garden from mom in the summer.
I hope you enjoyed these snippets.
Patti
Phall Photo Friday; Morning Dew
Dew On Hosta bloom
A few days ago I stepped into the secret garden just at sunrise and everything was covered in dew. Nature offers so much magic…
Please take a few minutes and see the slideshow at http://wp.me/p3J4Ab-h9
Phall Photo Friday; Another Walk In The Woods
See Another Walk In The Woods on my photo blog, Phall Photos http://wp.me/p3J4Ab-dG
Phall Photo Friday is a weekly feature here.Â
Patti
Phall Photo Friday; Mount Rainier and The Beauty Below Her
See Mount Rainier and The Beauty Below Her on my photo blog, Phall Photos http://wp.me/p3J4Ab-cV
Phall Photo Friday is a weekly feature here. Phall= P(atti) Hall.
3 views of a bouquet that my friend, Greg, picked in his yard at the beach and a few of the secret garden…
Patti
Photo Friday on Saturday
Dandelion in seed
Out gallivanting and missed my deadline to post photos on Friday. Have fallen far behind on posting them on my photo site, but hope to catch up this coming week, when I’m done gallivanting. I love that word!
I had a unpacking some old boxes, installing cupboard, gardening, crafting and repairing frenzy Thursday night and Friday morn. Finally got in my truck to head to Leslee’s near Olympia for a visit. She is still pretty frail from her stomach surgery and broken shoulder. Leslee doesn’t let anything stop her for long.
We had a wonderful visit and I took her some irises, then planted them and a few other plants that needed my help. Two big tomato plants, a bleeding heart, a phlox, the irises, along with a few stray bulbs? maybe daffodils or tulips? She sent me home with all sorts of home and garden goodies.This is an iris that I finally got planted in the secret garden. They got tugged out of the earth in late fall and spent all winter and spring on the lawn in a black bag. The one in the photo has 3 blooms! The ones I planted in Greg’s yard and our shared front garden are purple and blooming away. Hopefully, Leslee’s fares as well.
I had to call her on my way there, because I kept stopping to take pictures.
I hope you enjoy. I’m off to more gallivanting and visiting family and friends for the rest of the weekend.
Patti
Flowers At Your Door—Happy May Day!
Happy May Day! Here’s some lilacs for you.
PHALL PHOTO 2014
A-Z April Challenge; V is For Vertical
Glass wall in new secret garden.
PHALL PHOTO 2014
I could have waited for tomorrow and placed this glass wall photo in “W” for Wall, but I can be a bit impatient at times…that last part would fit in “U” for understatement! The camera continues to be an issue. I’m learning to use the camera on my phone, until I can find a teeny tiny screwdriver to repair my camera—no, the ones made for eyeglass repairs are too big. My neighbor even made me one, but it only lasted for 4 screws.
My secret garden is coming along. Neighbor/friend, Greg, brought more beach stones in today. I finished lining the bicycle basket with moss, then filled it with potting soil, an azalea, pansies and alyssum. I wired a basket to the front and planted seeds in it, and there is the mossy clay pot on the seat, filled with flowers. When I decide the bike’s permanent spot, I’ll plant ivy below each tire.
The glass block wall climbs up along the fence. Soon the annuals will spill green leaves and multi-colored flowers over the sides and down the front of the glass blocks.
This garden is growing into more than a memorial to people I have lost. It’s also a celebration of wishes fulfilled; I have hauled those blocks along with me (with a lot of help from family and friends) for three home moves over 15 years. I have collected special pots and garden trinkets all of my adult life. The glass wall incorporates two wishes into one: to use the blocks in a garden, and to fill all of my special pots with flowers.
Many of the plants and paraphernalia came from gardens past, and friend/family gardens. This garden will be filled to overflowing with memories of people, places, hopes and dreams.
If you see a plant you would like a piece of, just let me know, as they are pretty easy to mail. If you see a spot in my garden, for something you are growing in your garden, I would be happy to add more friends to the secret garden. Mom is sending me some starts from her garden, as soon as the snow melts!
1writeplacewordpress at gmail dot com or you can private message me on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/patti.hall.3950
Happy Gardening,
Patti
Garden Bicycle
PHALL PHOTO 2014
Hey, I hope you find time to check out some of the other A-Z April Challenge blogs here:
http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/p/a-to-z-challenge-sign-uplist-2014.html
Sara of 27 Springs
Sweet Peas for my Sweet Pea! Grandma Rae’s flowers and photo.
Today my daughter turned 27. There are so many reasons that spring was the perfect season for the birth of my Sara. Spring is fresh, cheery and full of energy. Most of all, with spring comes hope. Sara brought so much hope to my life!
The year before Sara was born, a young military couple who I was close to got pregnant. They were so young and in love and mutually glowing, that you’d have to be made of stone not to feel it. I was almost 30 and not thinking about settling down to domestic life with babies, although I was married. In a few months I realized that I was pregnant. Then I realized the glow was not automatic. My husband was not feeling it. Our company relocated us to Yakima, where we didn’t know a single soul.
Where was that damn glow? It was a rough pregnancy and the pothole filled streets of our new town didn’t help. Yakima was colder than anywhere I had ever lived. Maybe if I could get that illusive glow it would warm me up!? No such luck. I focused my energies on crafts and genealogy. I met a few neighbors, but had no real friends. Pitiful!
At some point, my focus turned onto the bundle of joy curled up inside me. Yep, I know, duh. I had scary pregnant-mother dreams and I had day dreams about the wonderful life we would have. As spring moved closer, my heart thawed even more and I began having long conversations with that little person in my tummy. I sang songs and read books to the tiny future that was tumbling and turning within the mound at my center.
Waiting for Sara’s birth was very much like waiting for spring. After a long (9 months!) winter, with no color or warmth, I yearned for the bright hope and cheer of my baby. I remember counting and recounting the days until the baby was due. I remember the doctor appointment that day. “Any time now.” My mother-in-law (RIP, Katie) was over for the great event; the birth of her first grandchild from her only child.
I will always remember pacing that small duplex, while dad-to-be and his mom slept peacefully unaware of the drama taking place. I loved those hours anticipating the birth, and cherished the strange communication we had in the wee hours that night. I almost didn’t want the baby to leave my body. I felt it would sever something special between us. So I waited until I couldn’t wait any longer; I was dilated 8, of 10 centimeters by the time I finally woke the household and moved to the birthing center at the hospital.
Sara was the light and hope of spring 27 years ago, and she continues to be my light and hope.
Funny, Sara came after I moved to Yakima, and my son Jon joined us a month after I left Yakima…
So full of love for my daughter on her special day,
Patti
New Photo’s: Mom’s Alaska Gardencopia
Mom, Rae Hall, has her photo page on my photo blog here. Updated pages don’t get published, like main page posts…gggrrr.
The local newspaper often chooses mom’s garden as Yard of the Week during the summer months. This is the sign they place there.
THE WRITE PLACE... 