Vines and Branches of the Clematis on the Deck

Round and Round at Bow Wow Beach

Bow Wow Beach Video

Lucky is having a blast swimming at Bow Wow Beach. Watch how he just HOPS into that lake. He and Jean really love cooling off on hot summer days there!



I like Bloggers new feature of being able to post video, but it took me 90 minutes to get this thing up. Better be faster next time. Always seems like the first time is the most confusing. I wanted to edit a little bit too, so used Windows Movie Maker. Okay, so that's probably where one hour went!!

Gardening in the summer heat

I've found that this month in Ohio it feels like a jungle out there and it's very difficult to get outside even to enjoy the flowers! I want to bolt straight from the car to the house and get inside with the air conditioning. The extreme humidity is doing a nice job with my garden though. In the seconds from bolting from the car I've notices that the combination of moisture and heat is really making my garden grow!

Rose of Sharon continues to Bloom

I can't get over how many blooms we have this year! The black eyed susans are in full force now too.

Near the deck

I cut the Lady's Mantle way way back and it looks a lot better. Sunday was a rainy day but cool enough that I could get quite a bit done.

July Gardening -- most everything is in Beautiful Bloom!

The black eyed susans are just starting to show up everywhere... next to the deck, beside the garage, a couple near the well. I planted a few near the scout trailer but they aren't going to bloom this year. If they don't bloom next year, maybe I transplanted the wrong thing.

The mini black eyed susan's look like they have about 2 more weeks to go. I'm hoping that I can keep the big ones alive all through September again like I did about 3 years ago when the weather wasn't too darned hot. Lots of water and TLC might do it!

Just got some hanging baskets of red geraniums and red pansy's to spruce up the deck with all the green, green, green.

Big hostas are about to bloom with their white flowers, maybe a week, maybe 2. The little striped hostas with the white stripes & purple shoots are going. I'm not sure what the name of the pretty purple shoots are. Their leaves look similar to roses or celery or a vegetable, but they shoot up the most delicate and beautiful thick purple flowers. In the photo to the left, you can just make out the beginning of the purple flowers shooting from the varigated hosta. Big hosta is in the background and ferns are to the right.

Rose of Sharon is in Beautiful Bloom!

Bow Wow Beach is a Dog's Paradise

Bow Wow Beach in Stow Ohio is a former swimming area for humans, but the town changed it to a dog park. What a wonderful place for the dogs to safely romp and play. Lucky loves chasing tennis balls and greeting new "friends, while Jean is a swimmer/diver, diving to catch fish or bring up rocks from the bottom.

The Deck is in Bloom

Even with this heat, the garden is looking pretty darned good. Most of the yellow flowers are over right now, but the black eyed susan's are just started to open up. My current favorite is this beauty that is winding around on the deck.

This is my 100th blog post on this blog.

Lucky & Jean

Lucky and Jean have been going to the dog park in Stow and having a great time. Well, Lucky's had a great time. Jean doesn't know how to be.

Jean is so wonderful with people but is very confused at the dog park. Growls at other dogs and is kinda scared.

Lucky on the other hand, doesn't stop wagging his tail, greeting the other dogs and having a wonderful time.

June 17 Father's day

Today the Clematis is looking great. Here's a "After" and a "Before".

The before was taken June 2nd and the after was taken just a couple minutes ago.

Next April...

Note to self. Next April, start weeding the side garden. This morning I tackled it but I should have done it when everything was baby plants!

7 Kinds of Purple in June

There are 7 maybe 8?? different purple flowers in my gardens this morning.

1) Clematis and 1.5) Fluffly purple/kinda wispy

2) Monkey's paw (spiderwort)


3)Another kind of Fluffy purple





4) Japanese Iris



5) Purple hump



6) Columbine
and 7) Rhododendron .... I know the last 3 look pink on my computer, but they are definitely purple in real life! They are really so pretty. Didn't realize I like purples so much!

The Gazebo in Hudson Ohio

The gazebo sits in the center of town in Hudson on a patch of grass better known as "the green" rather than "the square". By any name, it was beautiful this spring day!

Love those Blossoms!

Although the ground hogs love the wood pile, I love the blossoms. This tree is one I hardly notice on the edge of our property, but this week, it's GORGEOUS!!

Lilacs and Apple Blossoms!

I don't remember having both the lilacs and apple blossoms in bloom at once -- especially on May 4th, but who knows.

Tonight I've got to wander back to the green house and see if the wisteria are about to blossom. They go so quickly I don't want to miss it!

The Bistro in Wentworth Village South Yorkshire UK

My dear friend and business mentor, Norma Rist... standing outside of the Wentworth Village Bistro.

Wentworth Village near Rotherham South Yorkshire UK

A beautiful little, quaint English town!

Welcome SPRING!!

Yesterday I noticed the crocus I have planted near the driveway are in bloom. Yahoo!!

I tried to snap a photo this morning, but it was too early and they were still hiding their faces against the dew.

I'll try to get a photo up later today!

Lucky Love & Jeany Jean

Lots of icy snow

SNOW... and how!

Cold Crisp and Clear in NE Ohio

It was a beautiful day on Friday... and the weekend was pretty good too. Cold, crisp and clear. This photo was taken during my lunch walk on Friday near the parking garage in Hudson. I couldn't get over how beautifully blue the sky was.

It's too cold to let the dogs out for very long, so they've been hanging out in the family room, sleeping on the old sofas. Well, Jean gets the love seat and Lucky gets the couch. I turned around and was very surprised that they were sharing a couch, and Jean, with her head on the pillow, looked so relaxed!

Good-bye Hot Wheels, You were a Very Sweet Kitty

Hot Wheels came to our house November, 1993 and died on February 3, 2007. Because she was already a cat, not a kitten, when she came, I think she was either 14 years old or a little older when she passed away.
The first time we took her to the vet he noticed that many of her front teeth were missing, so we always suspected she was maybe kicked by a horse... She came wandering into our yard from the direction of the horse riding stable not a 1/2 a mile away. She only had one tooth left when I last looked... little snaggle puss.

Hot Wheels got her name because she showed up during the funeral of Tum-Tum, an orange cat that was maybe 2 months old. She seemed to be meowing good-bye to him, but seemed really enjoy all the attention from us as we mourned our little kitten. Tum-Tum, like all of our other cats, got hit by a car when he crossed the road. Hot Wheels lived up to her name and always made it across. She used to make me very nervous when I would see her in the cow field across the street. Somehow she was car savvy. Always ran AT me when I drove up the drive way, but then ran to the side. Unnerving!

She endured the ribbon I stuck on her on Christmas morning... and posing on the logs for a better picture!

She was a real hunter and loved being outside! Still a hunter, even in her old age!

She loved to hang out in the garden with me and often accompanied me while I weeded.


I will miss you Hot Wheels! This photo was taken just three days before she died of old age, in the house, in her sleep.

Outside Yours Truly in Downtown Hudson OH

I was meeting a friend at Yours Truly on Monday, but he was running late. Sitting over near the windows on the south side of the restaurant was so quiet, peaceful and fun to watch the sunrise. Yours Truly is one of my favorite restaurants to meet people. It's friendly. The food is very good. Service is great. And it's very pleasant, even if the person you're meeting is late.

It's been crisp and clear for a day or so. Yesterday was a cold, overcast, blustery day. The kind of day that when you leave your car parked for 45 minutes, you have to clear all the windows again because of all the blowing snow.

I'm looking forward to more crystal clear days.

Blue skies and cold

Icicles...brrr

We've had some nice low temperatures and the gutters are holding icicles now. Melt. Freeze. Melt. Freeze. Snow a little more. Now it's feeling like January!

Winter Wonderland! WOW!!

Now that's what I call SNOW!!

SNOW... for a day... now rain

It snowed the other morning. I was at work so I snapped this photo from my office window.

I was so excited to see snow, I went for a walk at lunch time down the sidewalks with my head back... tempted to put my tongue out to catch snowflakes... but I haven't been too crazy about doing that since the acid rain thing got publicized.

It just seemed so magically to have snowflakes swirling around. There's nothing I like better than the change of seasons. I was looking forward to going skiing at the nearby slopes this weekend, but alas. It got warm again and now we are back to rain and damp.

I've heard next week will have some low temperatures, so I can hope for snow again.

The Playful Pets

Jean.
Lucky.
Hot Wheels.

Christmas is over... back to "normal"

We put away the lights. And planted the Christmas tree. Put away all the santa memorabilia. Updated the Christmas card list.

Back to "normal."

Whatever that is.

An Extremely Wet and Warm Winter

Lucky is peeking out from the Greenhouse, while Jean looks at him waiting for the next round of tag-you're-it!

Notice how green everything is! The vegetable gardens and flower nursery are begging to get planted. Maybe we'll do a "hoop, there it is" with a mini tarp covering to get hte plants going early this year.

Then watch. We'll get a big late April blizzard! ha ha.

Flickr tool -- a cool collage

This is a neat little bit of code that I popped into this blog that picks up all the public photos at Flickr and makes it into a strip... or a collage like the one on the right. Pretty neat!

www.flickr.com More of cmcbrown's photos

Tiny Kale

Kale near the front door. I should have planted it earlier, because it's still pretty small. There are 2 of them and I think I planted them around Thanksgiving. Next year... think October 1st!!

Christmas Pets... Lucky, Hot Wheels & Jean

Deer, deer, deer. Oh Dear!

This is outside the passenger window on the road that runs behind our house. I used a flash, so all these deer must be more like 40 feet away, not 10 feet. But it felt like they were sitting in the seat next to me. Yesterday Keith and I saw about 30 deer right across the street from this field. Guess it's because we've had such a very mild winter.

Merry Christmas!

Getting ready for Christmas. Not much snow yet, but lots of Christmas spirit!

Warm December Weather!