Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Views of the Gardens

I'm so excited! I've just posted my first pictures, using Hello, to the blog with......D...S...L....yah! It went SO FAST!
Yes, we finally have it and oh, what a relief it is! There were complications with a cable that needed to be fixed, so we had to wait until Tuesday for the final hook up. The technician came last Friday and set it all up, but then couldn't get a signal. Arrgh! What a letdown! Once the cable was fixed we were all set, but waiting from Friday until Tuesday was murder!
You can well imagine how much we love it after using dial up for the past 6 years! It's fantastically fabulous! Speedy Gonzales, that's us! It's such a blessing!

The heatwave that has been bothering much of the US has now descended on NY State. We haven't had temperatures as high as Sue and her hubby suffered through in CA last week (she mentioned temps of 112ºF {44ºC}), but for New Yorkers 98º {36º} is pretty hard to take. Today was a little better, but not much. We had a tornado warning on Saturday, which caused us to run around like mad chickens, carrying all the containers and hanging baskets to safety. The storm turned out to be just that...a storm. NO tornado, thank the good Lord!

Our daughter, Kylie came again for the weekend and helped her father finish off our porch. They put up some beams over the part that doesn't have a roof. We didn't want roof over the whole thing because it would block out too much light. They did add a short piece of roof over the sliding doors to keep the rain from them. It's so nice to look out now and see a finished porch! Of course, now it needs staining...that'll be the next project. We'll probably get to it in...oh...another 5 yrs or so....(we really aren't Speedy Gonzales when it comes to getting projects finished). I'm kidding about the 5 years though. I hope we'll get it done before the cold weather comes again.
Our younger daughter, Kathy, came as well, on Saturday for a visit. She was due to move to NY City on Sunday and wanted to spend a little time with us before she left. She and I were about to do some planting in the vegetable garden when the tornado warning came. Needless to say, we didn't get it done.
All in all, we had a lovely weekend with the girls!

I know how much I love to see views of my blogger friends' gardens and yards, so I thought I'd post a few of ours for you. There's lots of green in these views, so I think Alice might enjoy them. She's a green fiend :)


There's that lovely "Cleo" lily again.



My brother in law and some friends are putting up hay. It's been a long, drawn out process in between all the thunder storms and rain this summer. Usually second cutting is being done at this time but a lot of farmers are still struggling with first cutting.



Looking across three gardens in the front yard



The new garden my husband made this spring. I've planted three of the new lilies in here, and one 'old' one.



Looking up from the road.



The coneflowers are looking bright and beautiful. In the foreground you can see another of the new lilies. The pretty pink plant next to it is Veronica.



This is our culvert on Saturday, July 22nd, the second time it flooded. The flooding was much worse about 2 miles up the road, which caused the road to be closed all day.



The fence garden is so full of gloriosa daisies that everything else is practically smothered. I meant to thin them out, but the rains prevented it. they're lovely, but I like it better with fewer of these, so the other plants have a chance to shine a little.



Another view of the fence garden, from the driveway. Val, I thought of you as I was posting these pictures because I know how much you love fences. So these are for you :)
Posted by Picasa

23 comments:

Val said...[Reply]

OK, two things. First, those picturesque fences that you seem to specialise in. Lovely!
Second, haymaking. Aren't those machines magical when they turn out those rolls or rectangles? Before the drought got too bad, a local used to gather hay from our 2 small paddocks and use them for his livestock. Great for us as it kept the snake population down. Usually the haymaking was done when we weren't at the property but one year we were lucky enough to be there to watch them. Even more magical!

You live in such a pretty place, Kerri.

clairesgarden said...[Reply]

your garden and house look lovely, what a nice place you live in.
when I was younger I always used to help with bringing in the hay, but everybody round here now rolls big round bales that you can only lift with a trector loader, which is sad because it used to be a happy time with everybody there having fun.

roybe said...[Reply]

You won't know yourself with speedy gonzales Kerri, I can remember how good it was when we first got broadband. I heard on the news tonight about the heatwave you are experiencing, I must say I was surprised you were threatened with a tornado so far north. I hope we don't get too many heatwaves this coming summer, we are on level 3 water restrictions now (buckets only) and possibly level 4 which may mean no outside watering at all. I'm starting heavy mulching this weekend.

Alice said...[Reply]

You're right, I'm a green fiend. In fact I feel quite fiendish that you have such magnificent greenery in the third month of summer and we can't even get that colour in the third month of any season!

Seriously, I love it and when I need a 'green fix', I'll always know where to look. I hope your gardens continue to flower and delight you and Ross, and the rest of the world, for many more weeks.

Anonymous said...[Reply]

What a picturesque place you live in. I love your red barn! And your wooden fences. Everything is so rustic and charming. What a wonderful cottage garden you have. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Carole Burant said...[Reply]

Hugs Kerri...congratulations on getting DSL, I can tell already how much you love it! lol I remember well when we got cable after having had dial up for a few years...I could never go back to that!! Your pictures are beautiful as always and I just love the gorgeous scenery you get to see every day! Your flowers are still doing so great and I love the fencing!!!

Motherkitty said...[Reply]

Kerri, I tried to post earlier this a.m. but Blogger wouldn't let me in.

Just wanted to tell you how I enjoyed looking at photos of your beautiful yard. A regular Garden of Eden. I loved looking at all the varieties of tall flowers you grow. A lot of gardens here have low-growing plants and flowers but yours look so much more naturalized. I like it a lot more. My neighbor has a v-shaped fence in his yard and he has planted a small tree and other perennials. Looks rather nice.

I'm happy that you finally got your DSL installed correctly. We have had DSL for quite a while now and could not think of going back to the old way of getting on the 'net now.

Hope you have a wonderful day and try to stay cool. We are spending a good bit of our day in the pool (water temp last night around 6:30 p.m. was 94+) trying to stay cool. It sure beats sitting in the house watching the telly.

Susie said...[Reply]

Kerri,
I love how your garden looks so natural! (Just like they've always been there.)
I brought Bill in to look at how very lovely your farm looks. We both agree that it seems like a wonderful place to live.. Glad you had some wonderful family time too! I know how much that must mean to you...
Glad your DSL is working so well for you!
{{{hugs}}}

Pam in Tucson said...[Reply]

So glad your DSL is up and running; you'll enjoy it so much. Your garden is absolutely spectacular. What a joy! Your hard work has really been rewarded. Strange to hear about the NE heat waves - kerrdelune reported 118.4 in Ontario. Our temps. are usually over 100 at this time of year, but we had a weekend of amazing rains and flooding which cooled us down to around 90. Our usually dry creeks and rivers, where we used to go horseback riding, ran for the first time in several years - but just for one day. This is runoff from the rains in the mountains. By the next day they were bone dry again. Keep posting those lovely photos - they bring back wonderful memories of the east for this desert dweller :) Hope it cools off for you.

Philosophical Karen said...[Reply]

Lovely, lovely garden photos, Kerri. I was wondering about your large swaths of tall flowers. Zoey was saying her flowers are all much shorter than usual. I was wondering if you were finding the same?

Jellyhead said...[Reply]

Good to hear from you again, Kerri!

And your garden looks so fresh and pretty!

Do you know, I just adore your red barn? Here in Australia, barns aren't like that - they're just like very large sheds, mostly. Your barn is *wonderful*.

Stuart said...[Reply]

Ok Kerri. Which magazine did you steal these pictures from? Your garden is looking incredible and, I too, am in love with your fences. The new garden bed has rustic appeal already - how did you achieve this?

HORIZON said...[Reply]

Kerri, you have such a lovely garden!!
Glad your almost hooked up to your "fantastically fabulous! Speedy Gonzales" DSL. :) More garden pics quicker now- cool!
I had my daughter out staining our shed and decking today- we had it hot here too. What is with all the heavy rain and then scorching temps.?
Glad it turned out to be a false alarm with the tornado.

squire said...[Reply]

hey gal, you need to slow down before you blow a gasket.

Sandy Hatcher-Wallace said...[Reply]

Kerri...I'm green with envy over your flowers. How on earth does one person have soooo many beautiful flowers blooming all at the same time? Everything looks so beautiful and I love the smell of fresh cut hay.

Sandy :)

Marlene Depler said...[Reply]

Love that DSL!!!

Great photographs! Wish I could drop by for a personal tour around your flower gardens.

Stay COOL!

Pear tree cottage! said...[Reply]

Kerri, I always enjoy your photos and these are just so lovely almost feels like summer as I brouse from one picture to the next then I remember the fire burning and the heater is going and I am not in your beautiful garden but I sure wish I was.

Have a lovely weekend.

Merle said...[Reply]

Hi Kerri ~~ Your gardens are wonderful
and I am glad you had time with your daughters. Thanks for your comments, and
I amglad you liked what you see here.
Take care, Hugs, Merle.

Sigruns German Garden said...[Reply]

Kerri, your photos are so lovely! It looks like summer in your garden.

Sigrun

sonia a. mascaro said...[Reply]

I am glad for you because now you have DSL! Great!

Lovely that you had a great time with your daughters!

I love, love so much your gorgeous photos! Your house and garden are just stunning, breathtaking! It looks to me really a paradise! All is so beautiful!

And thank you so much for your nice comment and compliments on my two blogs!
Have a nice weekend, my dear.

Tanya said...[Reply]

Fabulous pictures, as usual! And I am jealous of all that water. We're having HUGE water (or lack thereof) issues here.

Diana LaMarre said...[Reply]

Congratulations on getting the DSL!
I had dial-up until 11 months ago. I was happy to be rid of it, too.

I love all your views. Those split rail fences are the perfect backdrop for your charming farmscape. Everything looks so lovely and green because of all that rain.

Sue Swift said...[Reply]

Just found your site and love it. I'm really envious of your garden - will be visiting regularly.
I've recently started a gardening blog - you can find me at http://balcony-garden.blogspot.com/
Let me know if you'd like to swap links.
Have a good gardening weekend!