My Feline Family

I was just thinking this might be a good time to introduce my six indoor cats to my readers.

When I first got married, it was the first time I'd ever lived in a house without a cat. I'd always had one or more growing up. and I really missed the campanionship and enjoyment they bring. I tried to tame one of the neighborhood strays to no avail, and Dave, seeing how much it meant to me, decided that it was time for me to get myself a cat.
My aunt, Paula, who lived in the country at the time, told me she had a litter of kittens I could choose from. She had bottle fed them after they lost their mother, and when they became old enough to find homes, I went to meet them. Of course, I wanted them all, but I picked Abby, the calico in the first picture, and Annie, the tortie sitting in the window perch, basking in the sun. They are such a delight, and I'm so blessed to have them....but, little did I know at the time, this was just the beginning....
Meet Merlin (the himalayan) and Morty (the orange tabby). They were adopted from the shelter in Sulpher Springs, where we had all our strays spayed and neutered. We had been looking for a low cost s/n clinic for a long time, because I was tired of watching the feral colony grow, fight for survival, then sometimes lose (but that's another story). When we went to visit the clinic, we met and adopted merlin. He and Dave immediately took to eachother. Morty joined the family later, when we went to pick up a couple of cats we'd taken to be fixed, and I saw him sitting in his cage, staring out at me. I was hooked, and we brought him home. That was supposed to be it. Four cats is plenty, right? Well, sometimes circumstances say other wise....

Meet Mabel. My niece adopted her, as a kitten, for her son, but when thier family moved to a place where pets are not allowed, and asked us if there was room in our hearts for one more, I just couldn't say no. Mabel is the most mellow, easy-going cat I've ever met, and she immediately blended in with minimal hissy fits from the others. So now the family is complete, right? Not so fast...

Meet Max. He is a gentle giant of a cat, but this wasn't always so. He was just a tiny thing, barely old enough to eat solid food, when a coworker of Dave's found him wondering around the parking lot at the bank. She and her daughter didn't want to just leave him there. She's highly allergic, and couldn't keep him herself, so she brough him to us. Of course we took him in. I mean, he had nowhere else to go, and we couldn't just send him back to the bank parking lot...Could we?

So our feline family is now complete...And I really mean it this time. If you'd like to see more picures, you can go to my flickr page. There are kitten pictures of Max, more cute poses from all of them, and even a few shots of some of our friendlier ferals. Enjoy!

Impatience

Is it just me, or does it seem like the nurseries, and garden departments are taking extra long to stock? I am so antsy to get out and shop for shrubs to plant in my new front bed, but it seems that everywhere I go, there's nothing. Maybe I need to take this opportunity to learn a lesson in patience. Isn't that a fruit of the spirit?

Yummy!

My husband found this great recipe, courtesy Kathleen Daelemans, from the food network site, and I thought I'd share it with my friends. Here is the link if you'd like to visit their site. You can find all kinds of tips and recipes there.

Tomato Basil Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
1 can ground, peeled tomatoes
5 cups of vegetable or chicken stock
1/2 cup loosely packed fresh basil, thinly sliced

Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring often, until softened (about 10 minutes). Add tomatoes and stock. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer. Cook until soup is slightly thickened (about 20 minutes). Season with salt and pepper. Stir in basil. Place the pot of soup directly in sink, and using a stick blender, blend until smooth. Serve immediately.

We don't have a stick blender, so my husband uses the regular blender. Do half the soup, then the other half, that way it doesn't spill out. We love to top each serving with romano cheese, and bacon bits (real ones). Hope you enjoy!

New Beginnings

I took these pictures to show the more recent changes we made to the garden. We used to have a huge, double level planting area in front of the porch, but I, with my limited knowledge of gardening, was having a hard time maintaining it. Eventually, most of the plants died, leaving just an unkempt looking front yard. We dug out, and potted what little had survived, then dismantled the whole thing. Now the area is just wide enough to plant some nice shrubs. I think I'm going to be much happier with it. Notice the landscaping bricks? I did those. Dave, my husband, normally does this type of yard task, but I wanted to try it this year. He stood in front, talking me through it, and making sure it was even. He's such a patient man.

This next picture shows the side of the house, with more bricks. These, I did on my own, while Dave was working. I'm so proud of myself. We added a couple of shepherd's hooks, one with a hummingbird feeder, and one with a hanging planter of petunias. These are placed where we can watch the hummingbirds from our window. The primrose jasmine, planted in front of the central air unit is also new. Hopefully it will grow big enough to hide the ugly thing.

Finally, some annuals I potted this year to add some color. the plant on the bottom step is boxwood basil. Behind that, from left to right, we have marigolds, ranunculas, and a salmon pink geranium. behind them is my windowbox herb garden, not yet revived.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this tour through my garden. I think I'm finally getting the hang of this blogging thing. Thanks for taking the time to visit, and If you have suggestions on how I can make this blog better, or if you just want to say "hi," Please, don't hesitate to leave me a comment. :)

Various Signs Of Life

My Great Expectations Hosta, pushing up through the ground.

Salvia, full of new leaf growth.

Vinca, coming back for the second time.

Texas sage. I'm so happy to see all the new leaf buds on this plant. I honestly thought it had died. This was my most pleasant surprise of all.

Herbs

I love to grow herbs, not just for cooking, but for the beauty they bring to my garden. In this windowbox, is my lemon thyme, leafing back out after a long winter.

I love this photo. I grow the sorrel and chives for year-round greenery, and the purple sage creates a bit of interest.

Notice the bud on the chives?

I planted this little herb garden Sunday, while my husband and his granddaughter were playing with sidewalk chalk in the driveway. From left to right, we have grapefruit mint, garlic chives, rosemary, garlic chives, and wedgewood thyme.

Roses

For all the rose lovers out there, I offer these pictures from my yard. This is my potted rose garden in front of the shed. I just love the deep red color of the new leaves in the first plant.

This is one of my favorites. I'm not sure of the variety, but I bought this back when Home Depot was selling selected rose bushes in honor of our troops. This will produce big white roses soon.


This is the first rose I potted. It sits at the side of the house, where I can look out the window as see it's lovely yellow blooms. As you can see, it already has a bud!

My simple life

Since I'm new to the blogging world, I'll start by telling a little about myself. I'm a 41 year old housewife, living in a small, northeast Texas town, with my husband of seven years. We have 6 indoor cats, plus several strays (all, now, spayed and neutered) that came with the house. I love knitting, crocheting, reading, and when the weather permits, gardening. I also sing and play drums (sort of) at the small church we attend.

Today, March 29, 2010, I woke up around 8:30am. Since I'm a night owl, this is quite early for me. It was beautiful, and sunny, following a fall and winter season of record rainfall, and even snow, so I decided to take advantage of the morning hours by walking through my yard. As always, I was awed by the beauty of this season, and I'd like to share some photos I took today of my garden. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed taking them.

As you can see, my azaleas are getting ready to bloom. They will soon be spectacular, covered with pink blossoms.

I have my potted coral bells, with a nice flush of new leaves. I'm thinking of planting these in the ground, but I haven't decided yet.,



My hydrangea bush, also leafing out nicely.

I seem to be having a hard time learning how to work this blog. I think I need to spend some time with it, so I'll have to publish more pictures tomorrow. I'm sorry I'm not more computer savvy.