Spring has disappeared here in our neck of the woods!  Summer has gobbled up Spring and is visiting us with the most decadent blooms and weather! We went from flannel jackets, hats, and gloves one day to summer attire the next! Like most people I've talked to - the weather all around has been very strange this year - no gentle changes from one season to another, but abrupt, rough, and hurried changes! We went from having temps in the 30s and 40s to the 80s almost the next day, and it's been hot ever since.  Some of my springtime bloomers are confused and unsure of what to do. I lost a couple of my roses over the winter, my lavender even took a hit - it was just a rough winter! So, I have been working to clean up my beds. Springtime is full of lots of work - but when the blooms come - oh how I rejoice! 

 The Spring Parade of Blooms has begun - and oh how wonderful it has been! I plant daffodils with abandon - all around our property. I've learned that this beautiful flower blooms without any care - and is one of the first blooms of spring. What a welcome delight to the world it is! Deer and gophers, ground squirrels, and other animals will never eat them, and their bright yellow blooms light up the landscape. Can you tell, I'm in love with our daffodil blooms! 

We have an old stump in our front yard, left here by previous owners.  Back in the 70s a fire went through our area, and we believe this stump was left from one of those fires. It sits on a large mound, and I decided it would be beautiful with some daffodils blooming around it.  I can't plant much else here, because the deer pathway through our acreage is right by it, and so the only plants that I know for sure deer won't eat are daffodil, and lavender.

My early tulips are now starting to bloom! Oh the joy! I can't wait to see them all unfold their heads from a cold winter's sleep!

One of my plate flowers stands watch over the unfolding yellow blooms of my tulips.

We had some unsettling spring weather romp through our area this past week, leaving us with a system that brought lots of rain. The skies were incredibly lit up with the storm and its incredible cloud formations!

Sunset as a spring storm rolls in - such beauty in the skies, I am always in amazement!

I captured the Flower Moon the night the storm was rolling in, before clouds covered it up. What a beautiful moon it was!

I've created a little seating area around our bonfire pit, just outside my garden. I've hung LED lights and string lights through the trees, and have them on a timer to come on for 2 hours at dusk. It makes my heart happy to have lights - lots of lights come on at dusk. I've set solar lights all through my yard too. It just adds such a special ambiance!

As I watched the Flower Moon make its appearance, I had company - my sweet kitties wanted to sit on my lap and watch with me. However, their attention span was shortened by something in the grass more interesting... {smiles}

A view of my garden space with the stump and daffodils in the foreground.

Does this bring a smile to your face? It does to mine :) No maintenance, no care - just pure joy!

Our first hummingbirds usually arrive around our son's birthday, the 17th of April. However, this year, they were 10 days later. I saw them arrive around the 25th. There was just one hummer for about a week, but now I've begun to see more. I understand the first crew to arrive are called "scouts" where they scout out the area and then report back to the rest of the hummers. I hope I received a good report :)

These two - my precious sweet fur babies - after a busy day outside, they enjoy napping in my lap before bedtime, and early in the morning while I drink my coffee.

Planting a variety of daffodils, from early bloomers to late spring bloomers, makes my yard a beautiful happy place of all kinds of blooms in early spring!

I have been very busy in the garden, getting ready for another year of planting and harvesting.  I also have set up my Prayer & Tea Garden area where I host prayer meetings, and tea parties throughout the summer with friends, family, and other sisters in Christ. It brings me a lot of joy!

I raked our entire yard where pine needles fell, and wheeled them into the garden to put in my pathways, to deter weeds from growing there.  The pine needles break down every year, and keep my pathways (mostly) free of weeds. I also utilize a barrier of cardboard on the pathways under the pine needles.  One year I worked very hard and put out the weed barrier throughout my whole pathway - and it failed - utterly! So, every spring, I work hard raking pine needles, and all winter I save cardboard boxes, and this has been the best system for me.

A peek inside my "She Shed", which is a place where I can sit in an open gazebo-style building, and enjoy the beauty of the outdoors, without any bugs. I've made it a little sitting area to enjoy tea and cold beverages during our hot dry summer. Part of the shed is functional with tools, and equipment stored also. Someday, my husband promises to build me a little tool shed, but for now, my shed is a multipurpose place of joy for me.  I live in a very tiny home (less than 800 sq ft), so any treasures I love but can't find a place for in my home, I bring out here.  There are no rules! No perfectly designed spaces for me out here - it is just free, and I hang and put things at will, where I can enjoy them. All of the pieces come from yard sales and thrift stores, for pennies.  Many of them are cracked, broken, and in disrepair when I buy them (many of my friends gift me with things as well!) But I find a place for everything and it has become a place of beauty and delight! The dresser is a new addition to the "She Shed".  It is not in the best shape, but it holds a variety of things for me, and so I love it!

This is one of the baby chicks I hatched out through our incubator - all 19 that hatched survived, and now they are ready for their new homes.