The Queen of Seaford: 2025

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.

Sunday, June 1, 2025

Photo-a-Day Week 22

This week, a large number of insects were observed. With the changing season into summer, more blooms and more little creatures fill the garden. So without further ado, let's talk about this week's photos.

Day 146-

A few years ago, one of my blogging friends told me these were not Daddy Longlegs but Harvestmen. I had never heard of Harvestmen. Harvestmen are closely related to scorpions, not spiders. They can't spin webs. Their bodies are not segmented like a spider's. Harvestmen also lack venom. We have lots of these around the house and yard.

Harvestmen

Day 147-

Another interesting insect is the Tarnished Plant Bug. I was taking pictures of the Fleabane, Erigeron sp., when I zoomed in, I saw this insect. I like the design on the back of its body, it looks like a heart or a "V". The bronze coloring is interesting as well. It is the first time I have seen this variety of insect.

Tarnished Plant Bug on Fleabane

Day 148-

We had more rain this month than usual, a lot more!! I like finding raindrops on various plants. This is a Hydrangea arborescens 'Ruby', one of the Invincible varieties. It is a lovely reddish-pink bloom. One of these days it will get planted in the garden, currently it is in a container on my deck.

Raindrops on Ruby

Day 149-

We have so many Canada Geese on the lake. My neighbor enjoys the fact that some of them nest in her yard along the waterfront. Here we have a family with four goslings.

Family

Day 150-

Hypericum frondosum 'Sunburst' is a cultivar of a native St. John Wort. The flowers are about an inch to an inch and a half. The bees love this bloom, especially bumblebees. Besides the beautiful blooms, this shrub has gorgeous fall colors.

Pom-pom

Day 151-

There's construction near where I get my hair cut. Apparently, there is a new Hilton getting built. I am not sure what these yellow items are, but they made me laugh.

Field of Minion?

Day 152-

This Painted Lady Butterfly was enjoying the nectar of one of the Stokesia laevis, or Stokes Aster. These flowers are just starting to open and they are being visited by so many pollinators. I called this one Schmetterling, which is butterfly in German.

Schmetterling

This concludes my week's photo challenge of a photo a day. Hope you liked the insects and blooms.

Sunday, May 25, 2025

Photo-a-Day Week 21

Happy Sunday, and welcome back to this week's wrap-up. A few wildlife items this week. I told my husband that our front walk is a wildlife center with lizards and skinks and anoles, frogs and toads, birds, and a few snakes.

Day 139-

We made a quick trip to Nashville to visit our daughter and family for the oldest grandchild's pre-school graduation. Busy little ones love trips to the playground down the street. They especially like it when Grandpa goes up the steps to the slides and they can hide. Grandpa is a good sport and loves the grands.

You Can't See Us Grandpa

Day 140-

We had some time one day during our visit, so we went to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. As we passed this building, below, I was amazed at the reflection of the clouds and blue sky. I quickly snapped this photo, it doesn't have any filters or adjustments.

Reflection

Day 141-

Who doesn't love a big bouquet of festive balloons to celebrate a graduation? One of them looked like a disco ball. Some of the other photos of the balloons were uninteresting, just a picture of a bouquet of balloons. This one was fun.

Sparkle

Day 142-

Our route home was on Route 40 from Nashville to Asheville. Near the border between Tennessee and North Carolina, there are some monumental repairs underway. Hurricane Helene hit this area really hard and there is still so much work to be done. This section of Rt. 40 is open with one lane each way. If you zoom into the photo, you can see big equipment at the lower level, working to rebuild the mountain. Each time we look to go this route instead of going through Atlanta, we check the road conditions. I worry about storms washing out the forward progress they have already made.

Route 40 Repair

Day 143-

Mexican Ponytails, Stipa tenuissima, now Nassella tenuissima waves in the breeze of my front garden. I love the movement of this grass. It doesn't grow too tall and upkeep is minimal.

Morning Light

Day 144-

As I mentioned in the introduction, our wildlife corridor, otherwise known as our front sidewalk, is teeming with activity. I often see the Eastern Fence Lizard coloring like that on the left. They are both Easter Fence Lizards, just with different markings. As for the dog hair, it is everywhere. After a bath, both the dogs shed an incredible amount.

Eastern Fence Lizards with Dog Hair

Day 145-

On this morning's walk with Fiona, we encountered this Eastern Box Turtle. From a distance, I wasn't sure if it was a pinecone or a turtle. It was going one direction and then turned and went the other. I know I needed to move it off the road. I chose the second direction it was headed. Of course that was after a brief photo shoot.

Morning Rescue

Once again, thanks for coming by and checking out this past week's photo-a-day.

Sunday, May 18, 2025

Photo-a-Week Week 20

Welcome back to week 20! There are interesting photos for this week; I hope you enjoy them all.

Day 132-

At a loss for what to photograph, I looked down at my laptop and zoomed in. Boy, is it dirty!!! I cleaned it right after getting a closeup.

Ew, Dirty Keyboard

Day 133-

We got a lot of rain last week, all that water flowed downstream from upstream, into the lake. The lake level rose and the color of the lake was like café au lait. Some call the brown water stained. Our lake is a man-made lake with a dam at the end. The dam has turbines to produce hydroelectric power. When the lake level is high the gates are wide open. After a few days the level of the lake was back down to its normal levels for this time of year.

Aftermath of the Rain

Day 134-

We had too many clouds and rain to capture a picture of the full moon. This photo is from the next night, still quite bright and appearing full. The clouds helped create an eerie sky.

Moon and Clouds

Day 135-

Our Magnolia grandiflora blooms in May, most years I have blooms on Mother's Day. This year, there was one bloom open on Mother's Day but it was high up in the tree and difficult to photograph. When these glorious blooms open the air is filled with a lemony fragrance that reminds me of Lemon Pledge.

Lemon Pledge Scent

Day 136-

At night, when we drive home, it is quite dark and lonely on the road. This is one of the rural roads to get to our house.

The Way Home

Day 137-

Every year, I tell myself I will cut the spent blooms on my Calla lilies, Zantedeschia albomaculata, so they don't reseed everywhere. I really need to follow through this year, as Calla lilies are popping up in a lot of places.

Volunteer

Day 138-

Who doesn't like to blow bubbles with kids on a sunny day? It is always fun! The bigger the bubble, the better!

Bubble

Come back again next week for more of my photo a day pictures.

Sunday, May 11, 2025

Photo-a-Day Week 19

Welcome back, and Happy Mother's Day! In week 19, we were busy with the Albino Skunk Festival, attending on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. We love hearing live music. Skunk Fest is a family-friendly music festival that we have enjoyed going to since we first moved to South Carolina. Glad the event didn't last through Sunday, as we are in the midst of an atmospheric river of rain. After being short on our rainfall for the calendar year, I think Mother Nature is trying to make up for it this weekend! On to the photos of the day.

Day 125-

When we lived in Germany in the early 1980s, we bought a hutch or "shrunk" in German at a bazaar one Christmas. We had it crated for each move. From Germany to Texas, to Florida, to Germany, to Virginia, and finally to South Carolina. The carvings on this lovely piece of furniture are really amazing. It was made in the late 1880s possibly from the Alsace-Lorraine region. It is a treasure. You can see a the entire piece of furniture at the bottom of this post.

Carving

Day 126-

Some days it seems like the skies are especially blue. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the waxing moon was visible during the day.

Blue Skies

Day 127-

The moonlight was pretty bright on this night. The roses seemed to glow in the moonlight. These are Drift roses - Rosa 'Popcorn'.

Roses in Moonlight

Day 128-

The clear skies changed and we had a hailstorm that tattered many of my large leafed plants. This is Weeping Redbud, Cercis canadensis 'Ruby Falls'. New leaves are emerging, and these tattered leaves will fall off in the autumn. The tree is fine.

Broken Hearts

Day 129-

As I mentioned above, we were at Albino Skunk Festival this weekend. I have a photo a day for the rest of this week's photos from Skunk. These metal chairs are so fun to photograph. My friend Vicki told me that the pattern on the middle chair is called 'Pie Crust' and the other two are either 'Cane' or 'Pinhole'. I would love to find some of these and clean them up and paint them a fun color.

Have a Seat

Day 130-

Another favorite spot at Skunk fest is the place I call 'the brick and mortar'. It is a stand-alone plumbed bathroom. I much prefer this to the port-a-potty line-up they provide in various places around the festival. On the door is a brass plaque that says "Le Pissior". There is a sense of humor at Skunk. To further that sense of humor, the planter outside the door is from an old toilet. Great use of an old tank.

Le Pissior with appropriate planter

Day 131-

Finally, one of the vendors had an ice cream churn powered by a John Deere engine. Here it is cranked up and spinning while he adds ice to the churn!

John Deere Ice Cream Churn

As promised above, here is our shrunk, lovely old oak carvings. Loved by us for over 40 years.

Enjoy your Mother's Day. I am watching the rain come down while relaxing after three days of the music festival.

Pages