The Quince is in Bloom

When I arose yesterday I took a peek at my Quince bush out our bedroom window and was THRILLED to see these sweet little blooms!  After breakfast I put on my red shoes and grabbed my camera and headed out to get up close and personal with my flowers.  

The fact is, this poor bush is not in a good spot, but there is no digging it up and moving it, it's old and big and the roots are deep.  It's shaded by a holly tree that should go, and is in a corner that gets hardly any sun.. at.. all.  It's northeast of our front porch and by our bedroom windows - the last addition put on this house originally built in the early 1900s.  In this addition is our master bedroom and bath and an office/creative space/hoarders episode.  :-D  -- but I digress, it's a miracle that this poor old bush has any flowers, but there is a sprinkling of them.  Aren't they pretty?

From the same spot, I turned my lens to our small "forest".  This is our view from our French doors in our bedroom.  I like it.  Our evergreens are Douglas Fir and Cedars.

This is where the Quince lives, by our front porch.  Now, mind you, the house needs a good cleaning and probably a paint job.  I want to paint it "barn red" this time and my dear husband is horrified at the idea.  OK - do you vote for BARN RED (yes!) -- or what my husband wants which is he has no idea of what that would be. (NO!).. ok, what do YOU think?  :-)

Our poor old front porch, we never use it anymore since we spend our time on our sunny back deck.  But I envision painting the porch swing a pretty color -- what goes with barn red?  ::evil grin::  And putting a cushion on it and some decorative pillows, a couple vintage rattan chairs with pillows (wish some barn red accents to match the house) and a rattan table with a lace tablecloth, a pitcher of pink lemonade and some fresh baked scones.  What do you think?  OH, and we need a new arbor.  The roots from that monstrously huge Pin Oak heaved the ground and tipped the arbor and broke the lovely brick walkway we had a bricklayer put in edged with ancient cobblestones that were used as ballast in ships and actually were used once here for the streets in old Portland. 

As I walked back across the front yard I snapped a photo of the berries on our HUGE holly tree - we have a male and female tree and they are 50-60 feet tall. 

Our little old farmhouse - the main part in the middle, the addition on the right is our family room and kitchen and a matching addition (the last) on the left which you can't really see due to trees and such.  The dining room is on the back of the main house - which was all that was here in the beginning.  The big bushes on the right are Rhododendrons of different varieties.

I think we have some kind of blight on the azaleas around the farm - the leaves don't look so good, but the flowers are ok!  I might have to call the nursery and ask them what to do about the blight thing.

The Star Magnolia is still blooming out.. so pretty.

We have a ring of Daffodils in the middle of our circular drive that come up after the ones in the back garden.  

Dayle has been dealing with a hurt back for over a month now, but it's beginning to abate.  But meantime he is not out there on his riding mower all the time and due to that.. he hasn't mowed down the little wild violets.  :-)  They are just starting to open.  When they are all out I have literally thousands of them, in white, light lavender and dark purple.  I pick little bouquets of them and put them in a little vintage glass creamer and enjoy their amazing scent in the house.  Do you have these?

Here is the white ones.

The Mahonia/Oregon Grape is opening up!

Can you believe how open the dark purple Lilac is this early?  I cannot remember lilacs blooming in Early March in my whole life.

Our Irises are looking good, too!  I want to add more color varieties in this patch.

Our son and DIL went to a farm sale in the community and came home with this cute little child's desk - it even has a roll-top cover.  She is going to clean it up and paint it.. I suggested turquoise.. what color would you paint it?  That is little Caleb sharpening a pencil with a sharpener, both found in the desk drawer.  The desk was only $20 and the chair $2.  :-)

Hubby held the skein while I rolled up this dusty pink that I'm crocheting into my blanket now.  Can you just see how soft it is?

Last night I stepped out at 11 pm to get a shot of the waning moon and I actually love being able to see the craters on the edges when it isn't so full.

We finally got all my 4 Christmas Cactus' potted up together yesterday - I hope they like the new pot and new soil.  We'll see!  I hope you had a great weekend and a wonderful week ahead.  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)