Spring Sights in the 'Hood

The sun is setting much further to the North now, so we are looking directly out at the setting sun.  Every day is different, always beautiful.



Both osprey and vultures were soaring above the freshly tilled fields.  The osprey has a new nest started on top of the light pole just outside our door.

 

The Bradford pear trees suddenly popped into bloom this week.

 

Our neighbor, Nancy, has a whole row of them along the road.

 

The one I planted a few years ago isn't so huge yet, but it is in full bloom for the first time this year.

Red bud trees,

and Dogwood, blooming at the same time, but no azaleas yet.  I've seen them bloom in early February, so they are late this year.  Usually they bloom with the Dogwood and the redbud trees are long done blooming by then. 

Even daffodils are later this year.  It's been beautiful and warm since we arrived last week, but it sounds like the winter was colder than normal around here.

Back to Spring in Georgia

While we've enjoyed the sunshine and warmth in SW Florida for the past three months, it feels really good to be back to Georgia and the cooler temperatures and signs of Spring all around.  For a native Pacific NW person, it seems kind of unnatural to be in perpetual summer with sunshine every day.  In Florida, trees always have leaves, the grass is always green, and there is always something in bloom.  Here and in the Pacific NW, there is the joy of watching nature awaken after its winter sleep.  Every day we find something new that has been given a new birth.

 

 

The first sign of spring was the tilled fields.

The Camelia almost doesn't count, as it sometimes blooms through the winter.

But daffodils and forsythia are definite signs of spring.

Hyacinth with their wonderful smells greeted us in one flower bed.

We also saw red bud trees and many trees full of white blooms along the road as we neared the house.

 

It was also exciting to see the folks' new dock completed.

Changing our Compost Pit into a Fire Pit

When we first built our Georgia houses, we had many visions of gardens and flower beds.  At home, a compost pile is a big part of our recycling and soil building program, so we built ourselves a nice brick sided compost pile with a heavy black plastic liner.  While we did end up with some good soil, in the months we were away it proved to be an ideal trellis for a variety of weeds and vines. We began to realize that since we weren't here during the real growing season, we needed to cut way back on our gardening.  Then we were forced to sign up for garbage collection and were given an enormous garbage can.  So, long story short, the compost pile became obsolete. We continued to weed it, however, and it became just another weeding job.

Today, we decided to make better use of that nice brick, so we began to dismantle the compost pile.  While Ron moved brick, I shoveled the nice dirt from the compost pile and recycled it into my sugar cane flower bed.

You can see the tops of the sugar cane starts in neat rows in this little flower bed.  Creeping thyme is in front, a blueberry bush in the upper corner, and garlic along the right side under a cherry tree.

Now we have a firepit overlooking the lake and a place to burn fallen branches.

The leaves are really starting to turn color now.  These Bradford Pear trees are always beautiful - usually red, this year more orange.

The oak trees are a variety of color this year - ranging from maroon to light yellow.

The Sweet Gum are always a brilliant maroon or deep brown.

It's a beautiful time of year, and nice for working outside as it is cool enough to enjoy the exercise, but warm enough for shirtsleeves.

Hay Art

I'm sure you've seen the big round bales of hay decorated for Halloween, but the folks in SW Georgia and SE Alabama take this art form to a whole new level.  Here are some examples of hay art we've seen this month:

We saw this spider on our trek through the "High Cotton" yard sale last Saturday.

A church offering near Montgomery

Charlotte's web - library effort

Not sure what the witch represents

In front of a BBQ place

Definitely Halloween themed

Music lessons?

Totally mystifying

Purple people eater?

Another pig, or maybe a mouse?

and last, but not least, Home Depot

High Cotton Yard Sale

The annual "High Cotton 65 Mile Yard Sale" is held the second Saturday of November every year.  

First stop - Fort Gaines the western terminus of the sale.

knickknacks and paddiwacks and lots of kid's toys

kayaks, carrier, and life jackets - today only $350 takes all.

Antiques

birdhouses

BBQ

coat hangers

collard greens

dolls

dresses

Fried stuff

Peanuts

preserves

Wagons

wagon wheels and windows

What we bought:

A nearly new child's fold up crib/playpen for $20

and one Sugar cane.  The nice people told us how to cut it 

and how to plant it.

I was at my garage sale tolerance level by the time we got to Edison, about halfway.  I'm sure anyone else would have done a lot better job of shopping. It was  a fun day in spite of the traffic and crowds.