they're heeeerrrre...

Last week they were budding....
this week they have arrived!!

The crepe myrtle trees are bloomin' all over the bloomin' city right now!
These are shots of the tree right out in front of my office window...

pretty in pink...

...and still more buds waiting to burst forth into
glorious pinkness!

I love the frilly edges of the dainty petals!

* * * * *

Thanks, God, for such beauty this day!

here they come...

If you were one of my readers one year (and one day) ago, you would have read my post about the glorious view out my office window. Gorgeous pink blossoms on the tree right in front of my office.

This year the tree is a little behind schedule, but.... here... they... come...

...anticipation....
...anticipa-a-tion...
(think of the old Heinz ketchup commercial tune!)
They're making me wait...
They're keeping me wa-a-a-iting!
...but they're coming!!

a special treat while in Mexico...

While I was in Mexico last weekend, I was given a special treat! There are some cactus flowers that only bloom for one day--actually only a morning--and then the flower wilts and dies. One of my friends has one, and one must be there by at least 10am, or there will be no photographing it!

Well, the first morning I was there, I discovered the Ranch had a different kind of cactus with the same type of wilting flower. The cool thing was that I "just happened" to be there on the day it was in bloom!!! What a treat!! It was huge and so very beautiful!!

And, so I share it with you today...

A local honeybee was already hard at work gathering pollen from it!
Look at the amazing detail inside...

...and the gloriously white petals...

What a special treasure to behold!

mess? or masterpiece?

There is a wonderful little community on the south east side of our city which is located by and on some canals. It is technically an island and it is well-known for its lovely luxurious homes and beautifully-landscaped yards. Recently I was driving down one of the streets and my eye was caught by the yard of one of the homes. It was totally unlike any of its neighbors and was filled with riotous and chaotic beauty...
Here was this lovely yellow house ...but the yard was completely unkempt and overgrown with "weeds."

...beautiful pink and fuschia "weeds"-- flowers in my book!

tall, overgrown, unsightly? beauty!

dotted here and there with brilliant orange California golden poppies...

...so, I ask you...

crazy, untended, chaotic MESS?

...or, as I find it...

a glorious MASTERPIECE of color and design?!

beauty in white...

I'm not sure what kind of tree flowers these were,

but I think some kind of fruit or ornamental....

I loved the whiteness and the textures...

Beautiful, don't you think?

as a hen gathers her chicks...

"...how often I have longed to gather your children together,

as a hen gathers her chicks..."

~Matthew 23:37

(in case you miss the connection, this plant is commonly known as a 'hen and chicks' plant)

looking dandy....

I love dandelions.

I don't think I've yet told you how much and why I like them, but that is fodder for another post another day. Today I share with you this photo I took of a couple of dandy dandelions...one in bloom and one in "seed."
Funny, but I was with my mom when I saw this and laughed together. We both thought the same thing about it... this is what it made us think of:

That's right! US!! : )

(can you see the resemblance??!)

look who's chive talkin', too...

And, I think she's lovin' the chives, too!

(I wonder how many steps it takes a lady bug to travel down the length of one long blade of grass or one chive stem??)

munchin'....

Ok... Blogger made this post a bit strange, but it rotated my photos sideways. You'll have to look to the left side at the bottom of the photo to see the little muncher in the flower garden...
This was the only flower of this type in the garden, and it seems to have been the tasty treat of someone... ah.... the culprit below...

I think he was quite pleased with his lunch and with himself!! : )

bloomin' chives!

These amazing chive flowers were blooming in my mom's garden when I was in Michigan a couple of weeks ago.

I think they are wonderful ...

...with their big purple onion-like shaped buds...

...popping open into beautiful blooms!

Marvelous beauty!

chive talkin'...

Not quite ready to burst into bloom...

Their onion-dome buds reaching toward the warm spring sun...

...soaking up the sun, preparing to burst forth...

(I know it's a bit of a strange picture, but I love this one with my mom, the giant, in the background tending her flowers.)

...it's almost time...