The Garden Of Eden

Saturday mornings are my favorite time. The weekend stretches before me and I wake up early to welcome in the day. First of course is food for the kitties, but then I throw open all windows and doors to let in the fresh air. Frosty has a new window to look out since the screen was placed in the window behind Saeed's computer (thank you Saeed joon.) It was raining very gently this morning and there's nothing more enticing than a lush, green yard full of beauty. (reminder: click on pics to enlarge)

Frosty enjoys his new window which opens to the front yard.

Frosty looking out of his 'old' window in the sun room.

Two, three days ago these azaleas were at their peak. Now they're too tired to hold their heads up due to the weight of the rain drops.

I just want to rub that soft petal with the water on it on my cheek. It seems that it may have the power to smooth out the wrinkles on my face.

The eastern redbud in front of the weeping willow.

I do have an issue with Mother Nature though. To my human way of thinking, bright fuchsia flowers don't belong on the same branch with the burgundy leaves. Fuchsia = spring. Burgundy = autumn. She's telling me I need to back off, that my human preferences are faulty and silly.

I love the way the delicate arms of the forsythia arch gracefully over the ground. I'm happy that Saeed doesn't prune it into the manicured square bushes our neighbors do. Our forsythia is wild and free.

Like the azaleas these flowers will soon be done showing off.

I have always had a thing for these delicate periwinkle flowers.

The young, bright green upstart ivy leaves probably don't listen to the wisdom of last year's experienced, dark green leaves. Tsk, tsk, ... youth.

OK yeah, so, it's a weed. I don't care. It's beautiful. And the center purple grooves are full of water.

Another 'weed' pic - grubs for the meat eating birds. The Garden of Eden must be fed. You probably won't want to click on this one to enlarge it!

These bright leaves are just as stunning as any flower.

A wood nymph must have painted green accents on these yellow leaves.

So much for Saeed cutting down that fig tree last year! Ha ha!

We may or may not be eating lots of figs this summer. Between the worms (see upper right) and the squirrels, who love to eat the figs when there's not enough rain, we may get half. But we are happy to share.

See in both drops (above and below) the sharply focused background. Amazing.

What is it magnifying? The luscious ground cover.

These dogwood blossoms are also on their way out, having peaked a couple of days ago.

Their beauty is not obvious against our white house so let's go inside...

This is what I see through our bedroom window. It's like being outside.

Even through the screen the blossoms are amazing.

The branches are covered with what I guess is a moss. It too is beautiful.

If I look down to the left I can see our neighbor's dogwood as well.

This fly sat next to me outside the window by my computer for 20 minutes while I uploaded my photographs to this blog. She took a bath for 18 of those 20 minutes, rubbing her legs against each other, the bottom side of her wings, and her head. That is one clean fly!! Look at her cute little two-toed feet.

Hope you enjoyed your tour of my paradise.

Addendum: and now, at 1 pm, the sun is out. Perfect.