Rescue lily, blooming like crazy and so good

- When friend Marty and I were placing Easter lilies in our church sanctuary on Saturday morning (a delightful annual pre-Easter event), I told her, "Uh oh - we have a leaner!"  So I rescued it and took it home, adding a little more dirt to it to keep it from toppling over.  It's still pretty, I think.

- Azaleas from a friend's yard.  They are blooming like crazy in north Georgia and are a little early.  Some friends who are from Augusta, Georgia say that landscapers at Augusta National Golf Course put ice on them so they'll still be blooming for guests and TV cameras for The Masters Golf Tournament, which is coming up next week!

- And a very cute bunny and some Peeps decorated cake at friend Laura's Easter dinner.  The cake was an Italian Cream Cake - it was so good. 

Thursday morning 7am, Ed the bunny and happy Easter

 - The "Worm" moon was so beautiful Wednesday morning, huge and golden, and I was sorry I didn't take time to photograph it (although that takes more technique than snapping with an iPhone.)  The Waning Gibbous moon was still beautiful Thursday morning, so I snapped a photo with said phone while waiting to turn onto Northlake Parkway.  The moon looks fuzzy here, but I kind of like the effect of the 7am morning - busy and bustling with the early birds getting started with their day.

 - I can't believe it myself, that I am posting a photo of the inside of my cluttered refrigerator, but it's to display my chocolate Easter bunny there in the back.  It's lived there since 2002, when I won it as a gag prize at a summertime church event.  The former music director at my church, Ed, asked me the next day at church if I had eaten it yet.  "Nope - I'm keeping it forever," I said.  And then I decided to name it Ed.  This Good Thing was inspired by Kitchen Connection Lee's post about her fridge bunny named Clint.  :)  Check out her post HERE.

- The dogwood trees on the street where I live are so beautiful right now.  Happy Easter, my friends!

Survivors, leafing out and at it again

- I titled this photo "Survivors" - since these outdoor plants weathered the winter temps this year.  I managed to get them inside every time the temps dipped below 32 degrees f.  And the begonia never stopped blooming. 

- Last evening, as I drove toward the condos, the street I live on looked glorious in the late afternoon sunshine - trees blooming, trees leafing out.  This is the view from the side of my back porch - nothing remarkable, except it's just so wonderful to see the green, after all the drabness. 

- The "ladybug garden club" that maintains the plantings in the weekend walking park have been at it again.  Loved the neckerchief on the stone turtle.  Click to enlarge.

Hippety hoppety, day is done and may the road rise with you

- My favorite local antique shop had a Spring open house last Saturday and I snapped this photo to send to my sister.  She and I both had Easter baskets just like this when we were wee girls.  Easter's on its way!

- On Wednesday, I made my way from northwest Atlanta to my church in Stone Mountain, Georgia for this lovely concert of Spirituals and Hymns, featuring two amazing singers from our church choir.  They are both opera singers on days other than Sunday, and we are so lucky to have them.  It was so lovely to sit with friends and let the music wash over me at the end of a long day.

- And speaking of lucky!  Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day and the world seemed awash in green.  I've had this "Old Gaelic Blessing" (click to enlarge) hanging in my kitchen my whole adult life.  My sister gave it to me when I was very ill the first year I was in college.  This ancient Celtic prayer always makes me feel peaceful.  I love that it is a blessing for ones journey and that it has been with me on my journey along the way.

May the roads rise with you, my friends!  Have a great weekend.

Morning coffee, porch, porch, porch and day is done

I'm revisiting Seagrove, Florida from a recent trip with friends to their house there.  I can't get enough of the colors there and feel so calm after re-looking at these photos this morning.  

- It was a chilly morning, that first morning, but I stepped out on the porch anyway with my coffee to watch the sun rising.

- Looking to the right - I titled this photo Porch, Porch, Porch.  These are row houses and the porches go on forever.  The blue color of the porch furniture is indicative of the colors you see everywhere.  If you click to enlarge, the road you see going by the houses is a snippet of scenic Highway 30A, that runs along the Gulf of Mexico coastline.

- And sunset, from the same spot.  That is my favorite place to hang out, I think.  I cropped out the future-view-obstructing house under construction for this photo.  Still beautiful, even with those pesky (but necessary) power lines.  :)

Getting it down, what I'll miss about winter and morning sky

 - Why do I have six rubber bands around my water bottle?  Because of this article.  I need to drink six 20-oz bottles of water every day, so the article says to put six rubber bands on the bottle in the morning and take one off every time you complete a bottle.  I'm so forgetful that this seemed like a good idea to me.

- But I'm averaging three bottles per day.  And they also said to put the rubber bands around your wrist as you remove them from the bottle.  Too painful, that - I just put them aside.  I'm thinking three bottles per day is good.

 - So many people dislike winter, but I'm not one of them.  I enjoy the sky darkening in the early evening, which helps me wind down from my day.  Plus the fireplace, sweaters, fun patterned knee socks that I wear underneath pants and no one ever sees, eastern standard time and comfort food.  But spring is surely on the way and the pink blossom trees blooming around Atlanta right now are so pretty.  These are next to the drive-thru at Starbucks (last Saturday a.m.)

- And the sunrise sky was spectacular this morning.  They were talking about it on the local morning news, so I went outside to look and snapped this with my cellphone camera.  Just lovely.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend, my friends!

Gone too soon, so pretty and jelly bird eggs

- One of my favorite authors of all time, Pat Conroy, passed away last Friday.  Three of his books are displayed here on my bookshelf that features authors from the south.  The first book I ever read, written by him, was The Water is Wide, a memoir of the time he spent teaching children on Yamacraw Island, South Carolina.  I've ordered a used copy to add to this shelf - I loved it so much.  How I will miss his presence in the world.

- When I was leaving for church on Sunday, I got out of my car to snap a photo of neighbor Rhonda's pansies.  They have weathered all manner of cold weather and ice and still look so pretty.

- My late mother loved black jelly beans and I used to pick up a bag for her when I'd spot them.  They had them at Publix this week, so I picked up a couple of bags.  I kept one bag for my desk at work and shared the other bag with the printing plant manager, who likes them, too.

Happy hour, snowbirds and maybe it's time

- Around 5pm, central time, last Friday.  A lone walker on the mile-and-a-half beach of Seagrove, Florida, along the Emerald Coast of Northwest Florida.  My friends and I drove and drove, got there, had lunch, picked up groceries, etc., and finally made it to the beach.

- These guys from Ohio are self-described "snowbirds" - people, often retired, who live in the northern US or Canada and move for extended periods to the south during the colder months.  They were fishing for pompano or whiting, they said.  (See the fishing poles stuck in the sand.)

- My favorite book shop in nearby Seaside, Florida, paid tribute to the late author, Harper Lee with an intriguing quote from the beloved character, Miss Jean Louise (Scout) Finch.  That is such an intriguing quote and I don't remember it.  I've meant to re-read To Kill a Mockingbird.  Maybe it's time.

Hope you don't mind a few more photos from this trip next week - I didn't want to overload this post.  :)  Have a great weekend, y'all!