OUR WEDDING ANNIVERSARY 6/23/18

George and Betsy at Craggy Pinnacle,  6/23/18, on our Anniversary!!

Dear Friends,   George and I celebrated our 17th anniversary on Saturday by going to Asheville, North Carolina,  for a little romantic getaway...  We drove along the Blue Ridge Parkway to Craggy Gardens and back.  What a gorgeous day we had!!!!  

We are SELDOM on the parkway when it is as clear as a bell --but this was the day!!!!   No haze/no clouds/ no rain---but LOTS of puffy clouds which add to the beauty of photos.  The weather was a photographer's dream!!!!  

AND---it was cool up there...  The average temperature both days was about 70 degrees (enough to have the windows opened in the car--which I LOVE) --but when we were at the Craggy Pinnacle (elevation about 5500 feet),  the temperature got down to 65 degrees --with a cool breeze... AWESOME!!!!

Hope you enjoy my pictures from our special day...  Most of the pictures were taken on Saturday, the 23rd,  but a few of them were on the 24th.  Please click on the pictures for a larger version with more details...

A panorama taken at an overlook along the Blue Ridge Parkway

Some little wildflowers in bloom along the Blue Ridge Parkway

So much beauty all around!!!!

We loved the cloud formations as much as the mountains!!!

Us the next day (6/24/18) along the Blue Ridge Parkway heading south!  (You can see that we had another gorgeous day.)

Taken on 6/23/18 while we were at Craggy Gardens

The Rhododendrons were gone for the season,  but we saw LOTS of Mountain Laurel in bloom.

We enjoyed taking photos of the shadows in the mountain ranges --caused by the passing clouds!

George eating dinner the evening of 6/23/18

As many of you know,  George and I LOVE seafood.. Our favorite place to go is Dockside Restaurant in Calabash,  North Carolina.   This spring we didn't get to visit that area...  SO--we opted to visit another good seafood restaurant in Asheville  (Harbor Inn Restaurant)...   We both got the Combo-Platter with fried shrimp, flounder, clam cake, crab cake,  oysters, hush puppies,  baked potatoes and slaw....   We had enough food for an army --but the good news is that we brought a bunch of it home for more meals!!!!  YUM....

My Anniversary Gift from my Sweetheart

George took this picture last year in August  when we were at Skyland Resort in Virginia,  off of Skyline Drive...  The picture,  taken at SUNRISE,  was while we were at the Thorofare Mtn Overlook along Skyline Drive.   Isn't it just gorgeous?  It is now hanging in our office/computer room --where I can stare at it ---and remember that special birthday I had last year.

Thanks to my Honey for such an awesome ANNIVERSARY this year... I have more pictures to share from another day along the Blue Ridge Parkway --but that will have to be another post.

Thanks be to God for US and for God's awesome creation that we so enjoy!!!

All I could think about when sitting here on top of the world at the Craggy Pinnacle was "The Heavens  Declare the Glory of God".....  WOW!!!!

Hugs,

Emoticons

FLOWERS and MORE

MOONSTONE ROSE, especially for ANN and GINNY   (taken 6/15/18)

Hello Blog Friends,   Today I'm sharing some of my favorite pictures of our flowers  ---but  I have a couple of other thoughts first....

1.  BLOGGER PROBLEMS:  I do not think that Blogger has any intention of bringing back  the "Follow by Email" possibility --even though they said  (over a month ago) that they were tweaking their emails... I get NO emails from them at all,  not even when someone comments on my blog post. SO---I am gradually beginning to add my blog friends back into my Followers' List.... SO--I am asking all of you today (If you want me to visit your blogs) to make a comment on this post....  I'll add you onto my 'new' list.  For me,  it's like starting over...  Good Ole' Blogger ---seems it is always making changing which don't really help US!

2.  TWO PRAYER REQUESTS:
--Pray for friend,  Ann  (Ann's Snap, Edit, Scrap)  who lost her husband suddenly this week.
--Pray for  friend,  Ginny  (Let Your Light Shine) who had some very serious colon surgery recently.

Thanks...   NOW---let's all enjoy some of my favorite pictures from the flowers in our yard!!!!  The picture above is one I picked out especially for my friends,  Ann and Ginny.  AND--take time to check out all of the different and unique colors in the Day Lilies!!!

BAHAMA BUTTERSCOTCH Day Lilies  6/15/18)

PAPER BUTTERFLY Day Lilies 6/16/18

HYPNOTIZED ROSE 6/16/18

CAMERON QUANTZ  Day Lily 6/16/18

WILD HORSES  Day Lilies 6/16/18 

DANCING SHIVA  Day Lily 6/16/18

SOUTH SEAS  Day Lily 6/16/18

A group of RONALD REAGAN Roses 6/15/18

ED BROWN  Day Lilies  (I call this one Edwina since it is too pretty to be an  "Ed"... ha)-- 6/15/18

PERSIAN MARKET  Day Lily 6/16/18

SWEET AFTON Rose  6/16/18

A Collage around our YARD  6/16/18  (You can see some of the big Day Lily Bed.)

MILESTONE Rose 6/16/18

PINK PERFECTION Lily 6/15/18  (my favorite Lily)

FOOLED ME  Day Lily 6/16/18 

MELODY PARFUME  Roses  (6/7/18) (When the lighting is perfect!!!)

We got LOTS of rain in May this year ---so once the Roses and Day Lilies started blooming,  they have really put on a show.  The deer have enjoyed munching on a few of the Roses and MOST of the Lilies --but we now have 2 gadgets outside which make a loud noise  (only heard by the animals) when detecting movement --so fingers crossed,  right now --the gadgets are helping!!!

As George said yesterday though (since it is now unbearably hot here),  now we have to contend with  Japanese Beetles munching on the roses...  It's always something --but from these pictures,  you can see that we are doing okay!!!!  Hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Please say another little prayer for both Ann and Ginny... They are both two very special people.

Hugs,

Emoticons

COLLAGES--Spring/Summer 2018

PETUNIAS on May 9 and again on June 5;  Love to see them grow and expand!!!!!

Dear Friends,   Recently --while learning the Google Photo's Program,   I started  making collages of some of our flowers/plants.    I also have a  Picture Collage Maker program --which I use on occasion... SO today,  I am sharing some of my collages with you.  Hope you enjoy them!!!

The top collage shows how much the Petunias have grown in a month.... One of my joys when it comes to gardening is watching the flowers grow!!!!!  The Petunias will stay pretty until late Fall--and DEER won't eat them!!!!!!  Yeah!

CLEMATIS 

We bought this Clematis a few years ago and planted it in the front yard --hoping that it would grow and wrap itself around some ugly utility pole wires in our yard which we wanted to cover up!  The Clematis said "NO" to that area.   SO --we bought a Climbing Rose to put in that spot (which is doing okay so far)   and took the Clematis to the backyard,  put it in a container and on the deck steps... The Clematis  says "YES"...  It LOVES this area...

Our HOSTA Plants LOVE living in Tennessee

I love "all-things-green" ---so HOSTA is a favorite of mine. AND---it does great here in our area.  The only problem is that the deer love munching on it ---so we have to sprinkle Deer Scram on the plants to keep them from getting eaten.

DAY LILIES

We love our Day Lilies ---and they are just now beginning to bloom.    Here are a few of them for you to enjoy.

CANNA LILIES 

As I said above,  I enjoy watching our plants GROW.... This collage shows how fast the Canna Lilies can grow....   Now---all we need to do is to wait a little longer to see some pretty RED BLOOMS...   BUT--I love the foilage on these as much as the blooms.

ROSES  

As you know,  George and I love our Roses... Since we had a lot of rain recently,  the Roses are really putting on a show for us now.....   I will share one more collage of Roses for you (below)!!!

ROSES 2018

Aren't they just beautiful?   IF you want to know the names of any of the Roses or Day Lilies,  just ask...   We don't have enough regular Lilies blooming yet  ---but if and when we do get more (IF the deer leave them alone),  I'll post a collage of them...

We are having lots of trouble this year so far with the Deer... Believe me --it is disheartening!  We have a love/hate relationship with those beautiful creatures...  We spend MUCH money on Liquid Fence and other things to keep the deer away, but it doesn't always work very well...   Thank Goodness,  their munching hasn't been as bad a it could have been  SO FAR.  The good thing about Roses is that they WILL come back after the deer munch on the buds/blooms.   BUT--the Lilies and Day Lilies  won't---at least until the next blooming cycle.

George and I 'walk-the-yard' every day --looking for new blossoms/buds....  AND--we take lots of pictures as we walk....   When the deer do eat our flowers,   hopefully,  we'll have photos to enjoy instead!!!!

Have a great week, my Friends.

Hugs,

Emoticons