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.

This has been a colder spring than we've had for several years.  Heavy snow fell late this year on Easter, and cool weather has continued into this second week of May.  We've also seen a mix of rain and snow, and freezing temperatures down into the low 20s. I am grateful more than ever for my greenhouse as my seedlings continue to grow safely inside the greenhouse until it will be time to plant! Indeed, signs of Spring are here with daffodil blooms. the buzzing of hummingbirds, and abundant green grass, but still the garden waits patiently for the slow Spring dance to end, and summer's warmth to arrive so planting can begin. 

Daffodils blooming around an old tree stump in our yard

I'm so sorry dear friends... I didn't mean to leave you hanging for the past month or so but time slipped away from me, as spring descended upon our world, and it has been a glorious time!  

We also took a quick trip to Texas to be with our families, especially to see my husband's mother who had been in a nursing home and unable to leave for the past year.  Texas lifted restrictions for nursing homes, and we were able to visit her and take her out for little day trips. It was so wonderful to be able to do this, after such a long hard year that she went through! 

We struggled to rent a car in Texas, as the car rental places were sold out. Thankfully, the Lord put us in contact with a kind lady who found us a rental car despite the empty parking lot! So many people were visiting Texas that weekend, that availability was incredibly low.

We had a lot of ground to cover in our short time there. We met my parents for dinner before heading on to stay the night with my sister.  My parents' "room in the inn" was full with other family members who were in a transition phase of moving, so we stayed with my sister, who lives nearby.

Enjoyed short and sweet moments together! Nothing like sister time!

A favorite treat in Texas is eating at Whataburger...

We stopped at the Strawberry Farm in Marble Falls and enjoyed about an hour there picking strawberries, enjoying the beautiful flowers and sunshine.

We picked these strawberries in a matter of minutes! They were SOO good too! Nothing like fresh home-grown strawberries! We took some to Dan's mom, and the rest my Mom made into strawberry jam :)

Bluebonnets! We saw these along the roadside as we traveled to see Dan's mom.

Our first time to see Dan's Mom after she had been in the nursing home and not able to  leave for over a year.

We took her out for a drive, and stopped at the city park and we  were delighted to see the goslings out with their parents.

Her joy at being out and about with us!

We enjoyed scenic views of the magnificent Texas bluebonnets!

Gorgeous, aren't they!

Dan and his mom :)

We enjoyed lunch at Cooper's BBQ.

Beautiful roses in bloom.

Closeups of the bountiful bluebonnet

Bluebonnets everywhere!

On our drive, we saw this old tractor parked behind the old cedar fence.

An artist painting his rendition of the beautiful scene

A beautiful scene in every direction!

Back at home, spring had arrived! These beautiful wild trout lilies are the first signs of spring in our woods.

These lilies face downwards, so I caught a different perspective of this lily  with the forest in the background.

Daffodils in bloom!

Hyacinths blooming in the garden

Some beautiful blooms in front of a local business.

My neighbor had a brick planter put in just so she could grow tulips. Around here, the gophers/ground squirrels eat every tulip bulb in the ground.  I love her choice of tulips!

The last picture I took of my sweet Mister Simba. Our hearts were broken when he didn't return home one night a couple of weeks ago. We've had coyotes around our place and he was well acquainted with them, but for whatever reason, he was not able to outrun them.  He was 9 years old.

 One day, I let Riley off the leash, and followed her, wherever she went.  After an hour of following her, we found Mister's fur, all that remains after a coyote attack. It was so, so hard. My heart is still so broken, but I am thankful for closure.  We have so many special memories of our 9 years with Mister.  

Our dear Mister Simba will never be forgotten, I will remember and cherish his love and antics always.  Losing a pet is never easy.  In time, I want to get another cat, but for right now, because we have an ongoing situation with a coyote that has become a predator of domestic animals, I am going to wait.  

Today I went to help a friend clean her daughter's home, as her daughter has cancer, and has been in a cancer center treatment for the last several weeks. She has no immune system because of the treatments.  She is coming home, and needs to have her living quarters cleaned and free of anything that would inhibit her immune system. As I worked with my dear friend, we talked about many things. My friend is a precious prayer warrior and as we finished cleaning, we prayed together. It was a really sweet time. 

I know that we all have our private struggles, and difficult things to face, and some face giants in their lives. It always makes me thankful that no matter what our struggle, sorrow, or situation may be... if we turn it over to the Lord, the situation changes, and we can look at it with a different perspective.  As I was preparing to leave, my friend and I both felt encouraged, and I reminded her of the scripture that says "He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think." Her face lit up, and I know in my heart that the Lord is with her in this situation and all will be well. 

Ephesians 3:20-21  Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Isn't it wonderful to walk with the Lord, and to know that no matter what situations we face in life, we have a hope in Him that reaches beyond the darkness and despair of this world, and it turns the sorrow we face here on earth, into a joy that cannot compare! 

If you don't have this hope in Christ, this peace that passes understanding, this joy that turns sorrow into something beautiful, I pray for you today, that the hope our Lord Jesus Christ brought into this world will transform your life in  a powerful way. 

Another scripture comes to mind as I write this: 

Yet all this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 
because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, 

for His compassion never fail, 

they are new every morning; 

Great is Your Faithfulness." 

Lamentations 3:21-23