Welcome to JOYFUL REFLECTIONS. Also welcome to MARCH!!!! My header picture this month is a photo I took of the pretty Crocus blooms in our yard... The Crocuses and Daffodils are the first signs of spring here in Tennessee. I am definitely ready for SPRING...

Thursday, August 28, 2014

DAYLILIES in our Yard, 2014---Part II

EARLY BIRD CARDINAL (taken on 6/15)--This is always our FIRST DayLily to bloom, and it blooms over and over.
This is my 2nd DayLily post this year.  IF you missed the first one showing 15 daylilies),  please click HERE.   We ended up with 55 different varieties of DayLilies in our yard this year. Today I'm sharing 15 more.  First,  I'm showing you the DayLilies in the Small Flowerbed in front of our large rose bed.  Above is Early Bird Cardinal.  Below are the others in that bed.


LADY ELIZABETH  (7/10)



LAVENDER DEAL (7/08) ---Pretty color,  isn't it?



ORANGE VOLS (7/16);  You know I love this one since it reminds me of my favorite sports team,  the Tennessee Vols (with ORANGE and white as their colors)


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The next flowerbed  I'll share is the Road Flowerbed --where the Daylilies really show off...  Hope you enjoy this next group.
SOUTH SEAS  (6/30)



SPANISH GLOW  (7/11)



JANIS BROWN (6/26)



ELEGANT CANDY (6/22)



WILD HORSES (6/28)


WINEBERRY CANDY (7/16)



CARLOTTA (7/15)  (Carlotta is a late-bloomer.)



Two in One:  CUSTARD CANDY (on left)  and FOOLED ME (on right)--taken on 6/27



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BICOLOR  (7/21)
There are two more DayLilies I have to share with you today... First above is the other one from the Garage Flower Bed which had not bloomed when I featured that bed in Part I.  This is one of the last daylilies to bloom --but it is SO pretty!  Don't you agree?



DAD ADAMS DAYLILIES (6/21)
And this one is special to George and me since his Daddy gave these little daylilies to us when we first moved here to Fairfield Glade. 



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I will close with two pictures showing some of the Daylily Beds.  The photo above is the Small Bed (in front of our Rose Bed)...  It's small --but the entire bed brought us quite a bit of color this summer. This photo was taken on 7/10.



ROAD BED (showing Daylilies, Lilies, Roses and Irises)
AND--this is my favorite bed  (photo taken on 7/1)--the Road Flower Bed.  The colors and blooms in this bed are gorgeous beginning in Spring -- with the Roses blooming through Fall. AND---since many of our DayLilies are re-bloomers,  we hope to have many of them re-bloom in the Fall.  How special is that!

Hope you enjoyed seeing more of our Day Lilies.  Do you have a favorite out of this group?  There are many that I like really well in this group--but my two favorites are Orange Vols and Wild Horses.   We have good luck with Day Lilies here since the critters don't dig up the bulbs --and the deer stay away from them (MOST of the time)... ha...


ADDENDUM:  Early Bird Cardinal (the red one at the top) is now blooming again already on 8/28/14  for its Fall Blooms.  IF you want a Daylily that blooms ALOT,  get this one from Oakes Daylilies....  It's TERRIFIC!!!

Hugs,

Monday, August 25, 2014

Cookie Jar Cafe Visit with Blog Friends

Special Friends:  Bill, Lynda, Betsy, George
On Saturday,  August 16, 2014,  George and I  had the privilege of meeting Blog and Facebook friend, LYNDA and hubby Bill,  at the neatest little country farm and cafe.  The Cookie Jar Cafe is in Dunlap, Tennessee in the Sequatchie Valley.   We met for lunch and lots of talk and fun!!!

Lynda and I have been blog friends for a long time --and fairly recently,  Facebook friends.  But--we had never met in person until now.  You will want to check out Lynda's blog by clicking on her name in the first sentence of this post.  What a wonderful couple --and to say that we 'hit it off' is an understatement.  It was as if we had known each other for many years... Lynda's husband doesn't blog --but he truly has a fantastic sense-of-humor.  Obviously,  he kept us in stitches all afternoon!  BUT--since both Lynda and I are 'talkers' ---the guys had to work hard to get a word in edgewise.... ha ha




You need to click HERE to read more about this little cafe/farm/petting zoo/picnic area/playground, etc... The food it down-home country food and we enjoyed every bit of it --including the homemade desserts (cupcakes for us). 


The gorgeous Sequatchie Valley (Photo taken by George)



Inside the cafe;  Guess who is running her mouth?????? ha ha



There are all kinds of little cookie jars decorating the walls in the cafe....



More of the cookie jars!!!  (I could do an entire blog post showing these adorable cookie jars!)



Another of George's gorgeous photos of our view from the porch of the cafe



I loved this wood carving on the porch of the cafe. 



We enjoyed sitting on the porch.  Of course,  the men had to WAIT on us women as we got more pictures of those cookie jars!!!!!! ha



Then we walked around the area ---and just HAD to check out this old tractor.



This little goat was so friendly and was part of the Petting Zoo.



Bill had to take some time to talk to that little beauty there!!!!



Bill must have been in the doghouse for some reason??????  BUT--when he stuck his head out of that window,  he got a kiss from Lynda!!!!!  (I love this picture of Lynda.)



These youngsters had to take time to PLAY......So much fun!!!!



Not to be left out,  George had to 'play' on the Sliding Board... Since it was a hot day,  the board was too HOT for him to slide on it.... Maybe he'll slide down the next time we go down there!!!  Ya think?????????



Two wonderful people standing on the porch of that precious little cabin.... I told my Facebook friends that I wanted that cabin on top of a mountain with a waterfall nearby!!!!!  Sound good????



Two wonderful friends FOREVER



Bill, Lynda, Betsy, George in the Picnic Pavilion at the Cookie Jar Cafe/Farm
Finally,  here's one more photo of the four of us.  You should have seen George finding the perfect spot to set up the camera for a photo of the four of us.  He forgot to bring the tripod ---so we had our pictures taken inside the picnic pavilion.   Not bad, huh????

IF you ever get a chance to meet a blog friend,  DO IT...  Blog friends can become some of the best friends in our lives...  Thanks to Lynda and Bill for making our day such a JOY...  We are already planning a Fall time together.   AND---George and I met two more bloggers on 8/24/14--so that will be another blog post soon!!!!!   OH how much fun!!!!

Hugs,

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Amazing Water Lilies and Lily Pads at the Italian Water Gardens at Biltmore 8/3/14

Hope you enjoy seeing all of the water lilies and lily pads today.
For my Birthday Trip this year,  George and I went to Blowing Rock,  North Carolina for a few days.  SO--on the day we traveled there,  we of course had to stop at Biltmore House and Gardens in Asheville,  North Carolina,  to see what was blooming in August...

SO--guess where we went first???  We had to check out the Italian Water Gardens --which are fantastic this time of year...  This year may have been the prettiest we have ever seen it... WOW!!!

Today I'll show you photos I took of the water lilies and lily pads.   I couldn't believe all of the amazing colors of the lily pads!!!!!  Hope you enjoy the pictures.  Be sure and click on them for enlargements. 


Lots of water lilies and beautiful lily pads!



I love the peachy/pink colors of this one.



I love the reflections in this one.



Don't know what these are --but they are so pretty!



More reflections



You can tell how much I love reflections.  But you can tell how much I love all of the different lily pads also.



This little beauty and the one below were mostly bloomed out when we were there,  but we managed to get a few photos.



Beautiful colors


So gorgeous and so much to see!!




See the BEE???



In love with PINK!!!


Look carefully at the reflections in this one... What do you see?????  It's a reflection of the Biltmore House nearby... Neat, huh?



Oh those amazing lily pads --and their colors!!!!!



The lighting on this one was pretty,  don't you think?



More reflections!



Little yellow flowers and their reflections



More gorgeous colors of the lily pads!


This last photo is NOT mine.  It is one which popped up on Facebook this past week...  I loved it --and since it was a Water Lily,  I decided to include it today... The quote says it all --don't you think?!!!

Have a wonderful remainder of the week.

Hugs,