Ivy and Elephants: March 2013

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Spring has Sprung

What's It Wednesday #67

We are celebrating our first week of Spring of 2013 and our 100th post. We are officially on Spring Break and this year the family decided to do 1/2 Staycation and 1/2 Vacation. I love long and short hikes and this week we have been doing quite a bit of mini-hiking around the town. Today we decided to hike around the neighborhood to see what was in bloom, so far, this Spring. I will even let you know what some of the blooms I see are (if I actually know their names).

I have noticed this beautiful inflorescence popping up everywhere lately. From the grocery story parking lot to the corner library.

Oh how I love Anthuriums, however they do not love me. I have never had luck with them at all. Pattie has always been able to grow them very well in her yard.

You can find orchids some of anywhere. As we walked the neighborhood we found some hanging from pots on front porches and also hanging off fences, pergolas, and walls. People around here are quite serious about their orchids. My favorite place to hang orchids is off trees. It's the perfect symbiotic relationship.

The Double Golden Shrimp plants are everywhere. The yellow that you see is actually the bract, not the flower. The little white flecks that you see hanging from the bract is the actual flower.

My absolute favorite Spring time ornamental is the bougainvillea. As long as I can remember, bougainvilleas meant Easter time. The neighbors use to come into my mother's yard and take their family Easter photos in front of our bougainvilleas. The colorful part of this bush is often mistaken as the flowering part when in essence it is also the bract, which is a brightly colored modified leaf. If you look very closely, you will see the tiny off-white flowers of the bougainvillea.

Some folks have something that I will never, ever, ever have in my yard and that is a lily pond or water garden. Mind you, I think they are absolutely beautiful. When I leaned over this pond to get a closer look at the gorgeous blooms, I was mindful not to stir up any four-legged, cold-blooded amphibians. These gardens are quite popular and easy to care for. No thank you!

Another Spring time favorite of mine are the heliconias. You can never have enough growing in the yard. The more species you have, the better. Heliconias are related to bananas and gingers (another favorite of mine). The inflorescence of this flowering plant lasts for a very long time.

So now that Spring has Sprung, what's blooming in your neighborhood this Spring?

xoxoxo

Paula

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HERE ARE THIS WEEK'S FABULOUS FEATURES.

Pretty Pastels @ Simple Things

2013 Easter Tablescapes @ Tablescapes by Diane

Easter Basket and Blue Willow @ Upstairs Downstairs

Easter Blessings @ Beautiful Ideas

Easy Easter Decoration @ Home Chic Club

Fundraiser Tea Party @ Sweet Woodruffs

Come show off your whatchamacallits, what is its, what it once was, and "hey, look what I just did" posts. In other words, what you created, organized, designed or re-designed, found, purchased, transformed, inherited, re-purposed, renovated, are selling, or giving-away.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Toy Story

What's It Wednesday #66

It has been a raining off and on the last couple of days. When it's raining out, my mind starts to wonder. I was watching my kids play with their toys and I began to think about the toys I use to play with. Then I started to wonder about how much fun my mom and her brother, Uncle Freddie, use to have when they were kids with their toys.

So off I went into the storage room and started to pull out bins of toys. I went through the toys my brother and I use to play with and then I went through the bin with the toys my mom and her brother use to play with. Mom says that Uncle Freddie played with this Wyandotte Posse Model Mechanical Shooting Gallery for hours.

This tin litho shooting gallery has a wind up key and two dart guns. My uncle use to play with this in the late 40s and early 50s.

My mother said she enjoyed playing with it as well. She got a kick out of watching the ducks go around and around.

Uncle Freddie said he and my mother would play checkers on the front porch for hours on end.

I could not believe my luck when found this bottle cap in the checkers bag. What was more unusual was the fact that all the checkers were accounted for.

I dug further down in the bin and came across this Poosh-M-Up Jr. 4-in-1 table top game.

Mom and her brother couldn't wait to get home from school to play with this tabletop pinball toy. The four games included Baseball, Bagatelle, Put-N-Take, and Colors.

The tabletop game looks like a lot of fun with all the brightly colored clowns playing baseball. There is even a keystone cop that officiates the game.

I had to ask my mom who did this western toy gun holster belong to because of the many pictures I have of her and her brother, they both owned toy pistols and holsters. She told me that this belonged to my uncle. I asked her how did she remember that, and she said that she preferred single holsters.

This was one of many that he owned. He loved playing cowboys and indians.

This is all that remains from the box that housed Mom's roller skates.

These very heavy, metal skates have metal ball bearing wheels and leather straps. Mom said she wore her skate key around her neck at all times to ensure that she was able to tighten her skates at the ready. These skates were one of her all time favorite toys from childhood. Mine was my Easy Back Oven, which I still have.

What was your favorite toy when you were a kid?

xoxoxox

Paula

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Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Au Natural

What's It Wednesday #65

Since Spring is fast approaching, I figure it's time we go "Au Natural". Relax, not an inch of clothing has been removed for this post. It's time to be in awe of nature.

My mother and I have a wonderful friend who has the privilege and honor to reside in a nature preserve. This is the time of year that I love to pay her a visit. It's not to cold and it's not to hot. The weather is just right.

Butterflies aren't the only creatures attracted to this Powder Puff Plant. I love the variety of colors they come in.

This majestic Bailey Palm is one of my absolute favorite species of palm.

Baker's racks in the garden add a very special element to the space. I love Baker's racks in my garden.

If you look closely, you will see a rather large clothes line which houses a wide variety of gorgeous orchids. I would consider putting up a clothes line just to have a place for orchids.

All of the ferns, in pots or in the ground, are absolutely gorgeous and lush.

This beautiful fox squirrel came to visit us at lunch time. This little fellow is on our endangered mammal's list.

There are a wide variety of bromeliads on the property. The ones that are blooming have stunning inflorescence.

Ever orchid in every corner of the property tells a different tale of beauty.

I lost count of the number of beautiful Staghorns that are about the place.

I never in my wildest dreams would have imagined such a beautiful rose in the middle of the Preserve.

Living in the tropics is not without its hazards. A hurricane came through one year which caused a tree to fall into one of the bathrooms of the main house. The bathroom was completely destroyed. The man of the house built this outhouse, which is still in use although the main bathroom has been fully restored. I have to admit it's not a bad place to bring in Spring...Au Natural.