Tuesday, May 22, 2007

My Garden is Blooming

Rita's Garden

Well the Lupine are as tall as me (5'7"). The Poppies, Coreopsis, Lithodora, Roses and Foxglove are all blooming. It's rained really hard so my blooms have taken a beating.




Here are some Daisies I planted in boxes up the stairs to my front door. I

alternated in white and yellow.

Here's some bright yellow-orange Coreopsis with bright blue Lithodora in the background.

Here's my first "Country Living" Rose of the year. It's one of my old English Roses by David Austin that I purchased from Heirloom Roses in Saint Paul Oregon. www.heirloomroses.com. If you ever get a chance to go out to their display garden, it's well worth the trip. Beautiful Roses and Heavenly fragrances!

You can barely get a glimpse of my first Coral colored Poppy of the season.

I just got back from my Hematologist and found out the numbers for my blood counts are doing great. I am so happy! Thank God!! ;o)

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

New Digs at Work


Over the weekend, my whole group at work moved from Level 2 to Level 1. Our new cubes are 6'x 8' which apparently is the size of standard prison cell sans toilet and sink (according to someone who seemed to be an authority on the subject).

I actually like my new cell. It's much more quiet than what I had before and seems more private. Before we sat in an area called a "pod" (who comes up with these names???) and there were 4 desks open to each other in this area. This was challenging since the person who sat next to me was I'm sure, part of the original "Loud Family" from SNL. There were many times when I would be talking to my rep and felt like she was on the phone call with me.

Oftentimes our cube seemed to be a gathering place. While this could be fun some days, trying to concentrate when working on complex things proved to be impossible at times. I finally got headphones and started listening to streaming radio to tune it out.

The acoustics and air quality are much better. When you work in "Dilbert" land, these things are a luxury. I also notice that I'm walking more since it's easier to get around. Hopefully, I will keep getting more exercise.


It's time for me to go get ready for another fun and exciting day at work.

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Only Wednesday....

This week is dragging. I think I'm anxious for the weekend to come. I have more gardening to do!! They say (whoever they are) it's supposed to be sunny and in the 70's this weekend. This is a nice treat for those of us who live in the Northwest. Today is gloomy, rainy, cool (50 degrees) and cloudy. People file out like ants in a conga line when the weather turns nice here.





I finally planted 50 Gladiola bulbs and 6 Dahlia tubers on Sunday. I also mixed in some compost in the front flower bed. My mother always said that Gladiolus were
"funeral flowers" but I've always loved them. This batch I planted are supposed to be the bright intense colors, so I'm looking forward to that. The Dahlias I planted are supposed to be mixed colors, so it will be fun to see what they look like as well.



My Dahlias from the last year survived again. They're the big "dinner plate" Dahlias and are white with peachy centers. I think even my Gladiolus from last year survived also. They're in pastel colors. I neglected to trim my Roses back this year and amazingly enough, I think they look better. All of my Rose bushes have lots of buds and leaves on them. I haven't even fertilized them yet. (Another thing to do this weekend)


I worked on my balcony on Sunday. The wicker chair was looking faded and forlorn, so I spray painted it royal blue. I took the old rug that was also faded and dyed it tangerine orange. It actually looks more of a coral color. I took the cushion and covered in a green and blue floral fabric that I've had packed away for eons. I also have a little tile table that I bought from a consignment store that I will spray paint sort of a moss green color and probably do some decorative painting on. I planted mixed Zinnias, red and yellow Petunias in the window box and pots. I got a large Catnip plant for the furballs and have given them a few leaves off of it (which they enjoyed by rolling around and shedding more hair on the carpet!!). I will add some Geraniums too. It's a great place to sit and have a cup of tea (coffee too..but I quit coffee 3 weeks ago!) and read on nice days. Also at the right time of the day, I like to catch some rays of sun. I have a great view of Government Island, Sand Island and the Portland hills. Panther likes to do his death defying act perching on the balcony. I will post a pic of my completed work soon.

My next projects are planting stuff in all the pots on the front deck and up the stairs and my hanging baskets. Then I need to plant stuff on the back patio. I think I am going to plant a bunch of Sunflowers.

I leave you with a picture of some bright colored Gladiolus that hopefully will be appearing soon in my garden.