Hibiscus Show

My husband and I participated in our first Hibiscus competition this weekend. I belong to a local chapter here in Louisiana. I have been growing hibiscus for approximately 10 years, but really got interested in some of the exotics ones about 3 years ago. My husband convinced me that we needed to join the local chapter and we did. We now have approximately 20 plants.

Anyway, as we were driving out of the driveway on our way to the show, I decided to bring a few blooms to enter in the competition. I figured, what the heck, it can't hurt and I will learn from the experience. I grabbed 6 blooms and entered 4 of them. To my surprise, one of the blooms one a gold ribbon (which is top honors) one won a blue ribbon which is 1st place, along with 3/4 of the other blooms in the show and two won red ribbons, 2nd place. I think the judges felt sorry for those last two blooms and just to be nice gave me red ribbons. At least I didn't get an X. An X is pretty harsh. Anyway I thought I would share my blooms with you here.

This is Marilyn Quayle, See my gold ribbon?

Another shot of Marilyn Quayle

This one is called Peach Tassel - See my blue ribbon?

A shot of some of the rows and rows of blooms that were entered.

Another shot of all the blooms. These are the blue and red ribbon winners.

This flower is called psyche. My husband liked this flower and wants to add it to our collection. This one won a gold ribbon.

I like this flower. It is called Hawaiian Salmon. I am in hot pursuit of this one. It was a gold ribbon winner.

At the end of the day, I was part of the trash detail team. Believe it or not this above picture is TRASH. Isn't that the loveliest trash you have every laid eyes on. As I snapped this picture, I was thinking of the old adage, One man's trash.....

My Day at the Capital

On May 16, 2007 I awoke with trepidation about the events that would unfold around me on this day. I had decided to take a monumental step today. I, an ordinary lady, who has an ordinary job as a school based speech language pathologist, had committed to spending the day with my peers meeting and greeting those individuals who we only read about in the papers, our State Senators and Representatives. Our mission was to meet with our legislators to ask for the funding in House Bill 1 (Budget for the State of Louisiana) for the salary supplement established in ACT 892 of the 2003 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature. This amount would add an additional $5000 to the salary of all ASHA certified speech-language pathologists and audiologists employed in the public school system. As I walked into the Rotunda of the State Capital building, I thought to myself, “What have I gotten into. What am I going to say to these people, and why should they even take the time to talk to me”. Thankfully we were greeted by two of the most legislatively suave individuals around. Mimi and Christy, audiologists, were there, as part of LSHA’s legislative committee to help us promote our cause. These two ladies were lifesavers. Without their pep talks, I can tell you I would have turned around and ran for home within the first 10 minutes. There were approximately 15 Speech-Language Pathologist from around the state in attendance. Mimi and Christy started us off with by answering my most burning question. “Why would a Representative or Senator be interested in meeting with me?” Their answer, “Because you are their constituent and they work for you. They depend on you to tell them how legislation affects you and the people you serve. They do not know of problems in specific professions or how to improve things until people like you tell them about it. Armed with this thought, I was ready to march into battle. My first encounter was with Senator Michot. He was very attentive while we explained our plight. Afterwards, he offered to co-author any bill that would get us the funding needed to give SLPs a salary supplement for maintaining national certification. The group left Senator Michot floating on a cloud. Our next battle was with the representatives. We had the opportunity to speak several representatives from around the state. All were very supportive and promised to vote in our favor once we made it on the agenda. Following an empowering day of meetings, I left the Louisiana State Legislative body feeling confident that I had done what I could to raise awareness of who we are and what we do as Speech Language Pathologist in Louisiana schools, and literally road off into the sunset towards home. All in all, it was a terrific day with a lot of good experiences. I am already looking forward to my next opportunity to meet with our state legislators to share our opinions. I also hope more speech pathologist will join us next year, it was a wonderful experience and I feel one that everyone should experience at least once.

Quiet Tuesday Morning

Arranging a bowl of flowers in the morning can give a sense of quiet in a crowded day- like writing a poem or saying a prayer. ~Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Hurricane Lily Hibiscus The above picture is of a pot I repaired about 5 years ago. All you do is drill tiny holes on both sides of the crack with a drill bit made specifically for mortar. Then you place a peice of wire through the holes from the front and then twist them together on the back side so that the two peices are held together. Its that simple and I love the look.

This is the first pot I recused about 10 years ago.

I remain

Fragrantly Yours,

Life is Fragile....

"I just left Bobby's house:

The service was today.

Got me thinkin' about how fragile life is, As I drove away.

You know Amy was his only love,

In a moment she was gone, long gone:

It could have been me or you.

Oh, baby, there's no time to lose.

So I'm gonna bring home a dozen roses,

An' pour us a glass of wine.

An' I'm gonna put on a little music,

An' turn down the lights.

An' I'm gonna wrap my arms around you,

An' rock you all through the night,

An' I'm gonna love you,

Like it's the last day of my life. "

The above is from a Phil Vassar song that seems to say what I can't today.

Yesterday afternoon a very dear friend of mine lost her mother to bone cancer. Thank goodness it was a short battle because she was in tremendous pain. I got the call around 5:30. Then later in the evening my mother called to tell me that my uncle, her brother, has suffered a stroke and is in the hospital.

These events, which we all experience, have become more frequent in my life lately. I really can't believe that my parents are in their 70's, hell I'm pushing 50. When things like this happen, I just want to gather my children around me and hide. So please, remember to take care of the ones you love and to pick up the phone and let your parents, if you are fortunate enough to still have them with you, know how much they mean to you, eventhough they drive you nuts.

This week in cajun country has been wet, sticky, and above all else, HOT. The temps have been in the mid 90's with a heat index in the mid 100's and the humidity hovering around 90%. Like I said Hot and sticky. I have been trying to work in the yard, but can only get a couple of hours in before the air gets too thick to breathe. That's when I come in and try to scrap or read or make soap. The last batch I made was a spiced plum batch. I love this scent. It is so refreshing for me.

Today is Sunday. I have a general membership meeting for Mardi Gras this afternoon but first I want to pot up some coleus I bought. Have I mentioned how much I love coleus. Another one of my love things are terra cotta pots. I just love them. Wanna know a secret. I even repair them. When they get those little hairline cracks. Yep, I repair them. I saw someone, many years ago on tv showing how to repair a terra cotta pot and I have been doing it since them. Even those little 99 cent pots from Wal-mart. Those are my favorite. I will post pictures of these next time.

On Friday, I babysat my grandbaby. He is 15 months old now. Trying really really hard to talk. You know that Babbling with all the facial expressions and hand motions and pointings. Gotta love it.

Well it's 6:00 am on Sunday. That's my cue to hit the greenhouse, and go pot something. I'll also bring the camera and try to post pictures later.

My Luci-belle doing what she does best

My patio. This is my favorite room in the house at 6:00 in the morning.

First days of Summer

It's my first day of summer vacation. I am hoping to spend my summer in the garden and scrapbooking. I am looking forward to developing a couple of new flower beds this summer. The first one I need to work on is the left side garden in front of the greenhouse. I did one side two summers ago, but ran out of edging material. Got the material late last summer but time got away from me and I didn't get the bed done. This summer it is tops on my list. I already have the daylilies bought to place under the flower ledge. The flower ledge pots are planted and the right side is in full bloom. I have taken a couple of pictures of what the front looks like today and will add the others when I complete the bed.

This is the front of the greenhouse. Its a bit hard to see with the containers of plumeria on the walkway.

I didn't think about that when I took the picture. Here is another angle of the greenhouse.

Where the pavers are located will soon be a new flower bed.

This is the mess that exists as of today in my future flower bed.

It rained all day today. By 3:00 p.m. I was stir crazy and was itching to go outside and do something. I spent some time in the greenhouse and then ventured out like a fool and stood in the rain taking additional pictures of my garden. It continuously amazes me how a garden is ever changing. My hibiscus have been a bit timid this past week, I guess they are just as tired of the rains as I am.

The top hibiscus is one I got from Home Depot, I don't know what its called. This hibiscus is named Patty Ann. This plant was hybridized by a gentlemen from Baton Rouge. Hurricane Lily

purple passion vine

This is the floribunda rose - Sunsprite

Here is Tahitian Sunset Hope you enjoy the garden as much as I do.