The Queen of Seaford

Sunday, June 22, 2025

Photo-a-Day Week 25

Another week done! As we enter the heat of summer, photos will be taken either early morning or late afternoon.

Day 167-

After the rain we had earlier this month, I have seen some interesting mushrooms in various spots in the yard. This is an old tree stump, breaking down a little bit every year. The sunlight was shining just right for this capture. Above the mushrooms are the branches of the Japanese maple 'Garnet'. We brought that to SC with us from Virginia, and it is doing well in this spot.

More fungi

Day 168-

The hummingbird feeder in the front yard is a prime spot for some of the Anoles to get a drink of water from the ant guard, or grab a quick bite, as ants love to try to get to the sugar water.

I like it here, go away

Day 169 -

A drive into town afforded me the opportunity to get a good picture of this church steeple. I was waiting at the light, so I grabbed my cellphone and took a couple of pictures before the light turned green. It is the steeple of the First Presbyterian Church of Greenwood.

Steeple

Day 170-

There are quite a few buildings around our area that have lovely, intricate brickwork. The craftmanship and beauty of these bricklayers are evident in this building. It was once called the Barksdale Building, and I found a link with some old photos of Uptown Greenwood from years gone by; this one was depicted in the early 1900s. Currently it houses a men's clothing store.

Brickwork

Day 171-
We were working on our irrigation pump and pipes again a few days ago. While waiting for the glue to dry before we tested the connection, we sat on the steps that go to the water. There was a Blue Dancer damsel fly and this Eastern Amberwing dragonfly flitting around, teasing me into to trying to get a photo. It was so bright it was hard to see the screen of my cellphone. I wasn't sure I even had their image in the frame. This photo was the last of the group,, I finally gave up, and when we came inside, I saw I had a good picture of the Amberwing.

ps- the pump works and the pipes aren't leaking, yay us!

Eastern Amberwing

Day 172-

Our wedding anniversary is June 21st. My wedding bouquet is silk flowers. My mom made the bouquet, she also sewed my wedding dress, and put together the veil. She was a very talented lady. I miss her. To protect the bouquet from dust and dirt, I bought a large brandy snifter and topped it with a small plate. It sits on our antique hutch on the upper shelf.

45 years

Day 173-

It was quiet on the lake late yesterday afternoon but for a lone water skier. I got out my big camera and waited for the boat to circle back around so I could get a photo. While zooming in on the anticipated spot where the skier would come into view, I spotted a hummingbird resting on a branch in the shade.

Hummingbird silhouette

That's all for this week's photo a day, next week is halfway through the year! I have my notes and will be working on writing the post about the community garden while on the Fling. This week it will get done!

Sunday, June 15, 2025

Photo-a-Day Week 24

Welcome to this week's post about the photo a day photos for the past week. If you saw any of my posts on Instagram or Facebook about the Fling, you'll know I want to write about a wonderful community school garden that we visited in Memphis. Stay tuned.

Without further ado, here are last week's photos with a little more information about each.

Day 160-

One evening on the Fling, a handful of us went to Gus's Fried Chicken for dinner. It was supposed to be 6/10th of a mile but after a long day visiting gardens, we were pooped. The walk seemed a lot longer. After dinner, we walked down a different block to get back to our hotel. It was the famous Beale Street. There were neon lights galore and music coming from every establishment. It was certainly a hoppin' place to be.

Beale Street

Day 161-

On our way to the Cooper-Young gardens we went past this decorative crosswalk. I was ready with cell camera in hand as we had driven this route the day (or two?) before and I knew this crosswalk would be coming into view. Yes, from the bus angle it is upside down swimming fish, but fun nonetheless.

Crosswalk

Day 162-

Once home I was looking forward to seeing the full moon. Sometimes I feel like a real "lunatic", the full moon is magical to me. We had a storm earlier in the evening and I wasn't sure a view of the moon would be in the cards for me to get a photo, but the clouds cleared. The moon was higher in the sky but through the trees and with a few clouds, made for a better photo.

Strawberry Moon

Day 163-

A quick walk through the backyard garden brought me to this jelly fungus along the side trail. This is Exidia recisa, a fungus that grows on dead limbs and twigs. We have so many fungi growing on our trees, dead limbs, and stumps, etc. I find them fascinating to see.

Jelly Fungus

Day 164-

Long views of clouds interest me. We have our usual summer storms that pop up in the late afternoon and generally they bring rain, though sometimes they blow by us without a drop. This one dropped about a 1/3 of an inch of rain.

Storm's a'coming

Day 165-

We have lots of frogs in our garden. These little Green Tree Frogs are pretty docile frogs. They don't hop away as soon as they see you, so getting a photo isn't too hard. This one was a really young one, so tiny. The leaf is the foliage of Bletilla striata 'Big Bob' and is just over an inch wide. Eryngium planum 'Blue Glitter' in the foreground is just starting to turn its lovely blue color.

Just hangin' on my leaf

Day 166-

This spring our neighborhood finally came into the current century. Our internet options were slim to none before fiber optics were installed. Many of us were thrilled to get something that was going to give us more than 30-50 Mbps. We stream TV over Wi-Fi, need Wi-Fi for our cell service (dead zone) so if we lose internet, we are without a lot. The line that went over the road at the back gate hung low. Thursday they were working on getting it hung better. It looked good but Friday we were out of internet. It was fixed, we thought, late Friday evening, then Saturday it was out again. While many in the neighborhood are retired, not all are. They work from home and need a good connection. Happy ending, internet restored and we are getting over 350 Mbps, more than enough to watch TV and write this blog post.

Hoping to be Reconnected Soon

Watch for a Fling post or two to pop up this week. It was a wonderful Fling but am glad to be home. I know two dogs, one cat, and a sweet husband missed me.

Monday, June 9, 2025

Photo-a-Day Week 23

This Sunday's post will be quick as I have been posting photos and reels from our current Garden Fling in Memphis. If you garden and have a gardening presence on social media, consider attending our Fling next year. It will be held in Buffalo, July 9-12. It is a great gathering of fellow gardeners from far and wide, friends new and old, visiting gardens in Buffalo. More about the Fling as the year unfolds.

So on with the photos from this past week. I did not post photos from my Fling shots that I shared on Instagram or Facebook for the daily photo.

Day 153-

It is Japanese beetle time in our area. They are hungry insects that devour everything from hydrangeas to Crape Myrtles to Calla lilies to roses and many other ornamentals as well as vegetables. I was asked what you do to treat them. My method is to have a jar of soapy water in the garden. When I see the Japanese beetles I open the jar and scoop them into the soapy water. Some folks use the bait traps that have phenomes to attract the beetles and it traps them. I chose not to use that as I think it brings more Japanese beetles to your garden from your neighbor's yard. I just kill the ones I find and hope I am bringing down the population.

They're back

Day 154-

Our dogs LOVE peanut butter. When there is an empty jar, they get to lick out the remaining peanut butter. When we just had one dog it was easy to give the jar to her/him. Now we have two dogs, so I cut the jar in half and let them work on cleaning their half of the jar. Seems to work.

Peanut Butter jar, yum

Day 155-

We have snails in our yard, often in the morning, I find them on the driveway. I marvel at the shells. The Fibonacci rule is evident on each and every shell.

Another Fibonacci

Day 156-

Before a trip we go to the ATM to get some cash. It's funny to think that fifteen years ago when we moved to South Carolina neither one of us had used an ATM more than one or two times. We are moving with the times!

Money

Day 157-

Make it to Memphis! Our first outing was to walk along the river to explore the gardens. We visited the Memphis River Garden Park and Tom Lee Park. The parking at one end of the Garden was close to a visitors center. We had to go in and see the statue of Elvis Presley.

The King

Day 158-

A couple of the Garden Fling attendees and I went to dinner together at Charlie Vergos' Rendezvous, a barbeque place. It is located on Rendezvous Alley. This mural was along the wall of the alley. It really caught my eye, a perfect item for the photo-a-day.

Mural

Day 159-

Part of the Fling we visited gardens in the Lenox neighborhood. It is a charming neighborhood with quaint homes and amazing gardens. We were dropped off at one end of the neighborhood with maps in hand. The maps were labeled with which houses were open for a garden tour. It was a lovely time to enjoy all these pocket gardens at our own pace and be back at the buses at the appointed time.

School

The Fling ended today with a bonus day tomorrow for those who could stay a bit longer. Follow my Instagram page to see most of my photos from the Fling. The link is on the right-hand sidebar of this post.

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