Wordless Wednesday

The Mystery Bush

View of the bush from the back door

It was very windy out today so I snipped a branch to snap a shot inside!

The branch ended up on the kitchen windowsill looking out at its former life on the bush

I love the way my cheap little camera captured the screen (yes, the good camera is in Taiwan with Earle)

Ever since we moved here three years ago we've wondered about the magnificent bush near our deck in the back yard. It sports lovely coral colored flowers in the spring, budding out even before its leaves show up. It is a haven for the myriad of birds that flock to our yard. They hide within its branches, undetected by predators, leaping ever closer to the edge where they can fly to the feeder nearby. The bush is also the hanging place for the suet cage, a handy and necessary winter snack for our feathered friends.

We have always wondered, but never knew what the bush was called, so this year I decided to research it online. My research labeled it a flowering quince . The bush shape is right as are the small thorns and five-petaled reddish pink flowers. The problem is the bush bears no fruit. Where are our quince? We love quince jelly. Wouldn't it be wonderful to make our own! I surmise the bush must not receive sufficient sunlight because it grows under the shade of one of our maple trees. It may also just be that it is out of control and too "leggy". If we gave it a trim it might produce. Sadly, since I have seen others like it and have yet to notice any fruit, it could be some ornamental hybrid that no longer produces quince. Well, the flowers are lovely anyway. The bush is one of the features in our yard I like the best. It's a keeper, fruit or not.

Pet Antics

We thought, oh, how nice, what a lovely time to sit out front on the glider and enjoy the peace and quiet and a little cup of tea. Then, along comes dog, and then Truffle. We are no longer alone. Of course, where there are pets there are pet antics: daring high-wire acts to rescue inside kitties from their captivity, a little rolling around in the dirt, and various sniffing and digging of holes.

So peaceful.

Friday's Feast

Appetizer:
Name something you would categorize as weird.

Soup:
What color was the last piece of food you ate?

Salad:
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how much do you enjoy being alone?

Main Course:
Fill in the blank: I will _________ vote for ___________ in _______.

Dessert:
Describe your sleeping habits.


I haven't done a Friday's Feast meme for a few weeks, but his one looks intriguing! My answers are in the comments. What say you?

More Visitors

Mo, Julia, Shawn, Cyndy

Earle, Me, Cyndy, Mo

Earle's sister Cyndy and her husband Maurice stopped for a few hours yesterday on their way back home to Maine. This was their first time visiting us here since Cyndy is a guidance counselor which ties them to the school calendar and limits holiday travel. We had a lovely time chatting, showing them around the area, and munching snacks! It's great living just off the RTH (Relative Transcontinental Highway)! We are a perfect stopping point for all sorts of family travelers. We'll have to make sure to keep a ready supply of Diet Pepsi and Dunkin Donuts Coffee.

Wordless Wednesday

All of this is right behind our house. We found it over the weekend after cutting through about 100 feet of hawthorn bushes. Hidden treasures! We were wordless, or should I say speechless. 75 acres of wooded, gorge-filled beauty. It belongs to a neighbor on the next street over. He is very lucky indeed. All this comes with a modest old farmhouse with two bedrooms and one bath. I think they must have bought the house just for the land!

Updates

The deck is ready for summer

The view from the deck overlooking the valley and hills beyond

Some early flowers near the deck

Spinach, radishes, sunflowers, and lettuce planted

Did you miss me? I've been outside, a lot. After we cleaned the deck furniture we tilled and planted the garden with the veggie seeds that tolerate cool conditions. I still have to plant herbs in my pots, veggies that we grow from seedlings instead of seeds (tomatoes and peppers), and annuals for the deck planters, but it is a little too early to do that still.

Tomorrow we are expecting visitors from out of state again. This time Earle's sister and her husband are stopping to see us as they travel back to Maine from spending time in Pennsylvania with their daughter and her family. We are excited to see them. It will be their first time visiting our new home!

Shawn has been working a lot of hours at Target. Last week, between his scheduled hours and the extra hours they called him in, he worked 30 hours. He's raking in the bucks! Target is a great store to work for. He really enjoys the environment and the other employees are great. They have an incentive program where managers give out cards to you when they see you doing a good job, then you post your cards on a bulletin board in the back and each week they put them in a pot and draw a name for a free cd. He hasn't won anything yet, but he sure is gathering his share of cards!

Next week he takes the placement test at the local community college and then he'll be able to sign up for courses for the fall. Then, next Saturday is the SAT exam. We have a lot of work to do still before the end of the year and seem to be ramping back up after a winter slowdown. We are contemplating continuing to school over the summer. I would like to cover a short course in British Lit so he doesn't have to double up on English credits in the fall. The courses he will most likely take at the Community College are English and math.


I am putting together and order from The Teaching Company. I received a $30 coupon from them in the mail yesterday along with three new catalogs. I am ordering Early and Late Middle Ages as they are on sale now. I will have to order High Middle Ages when it goes on sale another time. Shawn will be using these as a spine for history study next year along with the recommended text(s). Since I needed to spend just a bit more in order to use the coupon, we are also ordering My Favorite Universe, which we will all enjoy very much! Shawn and I are making our way through Art Across the Ages right now and we think it's great! I am also investigating physics courses for next year. Our faulty start with Chem this year will not deter us from plowing ahead next year with physics. One does not need to precede the other.


Julia is all signed up for her fall courses. On her agenda: Organic Chem I, Creative Writing: Fiction and Drama, Western Civilization, and Ecology. she will be carrying 15 credits, tutoring for bio and chem again, and working as a chem lab assistant. She could be done and ready to move on to a transfer school after next semester if they were offering the programming course she needs for her major, but her professors aren't upset that she's staying the year. They are glad to have her help in the labs!


It looks like Julia will be going back to Kohl's to work over the summer and she may even fit in some riding lessons. That is all after her trip to Germany with Earle in May. She is so excited to finally get to go! They are even planning to catch an air show in Berlin while they are there. She will be the only one of us to go in the warm weather as opposed to Christmas time.


Earle is off to Taiwan and Germany soon. His pics from his last trip to Germany are up at his blog. He got some great shots, as always and ate some very interesting food! Have you ever had veal cheek? Our photo themes are taking longer than expected due to the yucky weather and the fact that the camera travels with Earle. It will be leaving the country for two weeks this time. Flying objects is just about wrapped up though!


A warm welcome to Meridith, another of my nieces, to the blogisphere! It's always good to see another family member join in the fun. I am looking forward to reading about her adventures. I think it's your turn now, Bev. Meridith's sister Vanessa is off on an adventure soon, check out her blog to see where! It is very exciting and I am very jealous!!


Wow, I think I've covered most things. I haven't had time to do much reading or painting, but hope to get back to that soon as things settle down. We took a lovely walk in the woods in back of our property today and discovered a nice slate filled stream and mini gorge. I will post pics of that another day.