The Garden is Coming Alive!

Hello my friends.  Would you like some flower photos to take your mind off of having to stay home to be safe?  I feel very blessed to have beautiful, sunny, cloudless Spring days here in our corner of the world.  Our red Rhododendron has opened up and it's just glorious. 

Next to the red Rhodie is what I used to call Ocean Spray but now I'm thinking it's Elderberry.  I've seen British bloggers make Elderberry Cordial - is this what you use?  Do share.

If that is what it is, I should try to make some cordial!

These bushes are on the east side of our front yard in front of the house.

I went out on the front porch yesterday and the Quince tree has many blooms and I noticed there was a bird's nest there!  That is the master bedroom wing of the house which borders our little forest.

I wonder what variety of bird built that nest?

In between being outside and enjoying the flowers and fish and listening to the birds sing, I have been crocheting flowers.  Lucy designed this cute little flower to put between the bigger flowers.  She used a felt tip pen to make centers, so that is what I'm doing, too.

I must say, this is rather fun!

It's fun to try different color combinations.

Which one is your favorite one?

Back outside keeping an eagle eye on the pond, hoping the little koi will come out and enjoy their new home.  See the little bird on my Art Nouveau lady's head?  :-)

The bravest of the 3 new little koi has a big black spot that reminds me of a black beret, so we've named him Pierre.

The red/orange and white striped fish has been named Tiger.  :-)  Yes, all three of the little guys came out for a short jaunt before zipping back into the safety of the hide-y hole.

I decided to give the big guy a whale name since he's so big.  I googled whale names and here are the choices - Moby Dick, Shamu, Willy or the whales name who played Willy in the movie, "Free Willy" which is Keiko.  I'm leaning towards Keiko.  Which one do you like or do you have another idea?

I just went out to get a photo of the Lilacs and took this one of the Star of Bethlehem patch.  Isn't it glorious?

I'm so glad I finally persuaded him to stop mowing it before it bloomed.  :-)

The White lilac is just now starting to open.  I will cut a bouquet tomorrow or the next day.

This sure is a big clump!

We have a little patch of Forget-Me-Nots under the kitchen garden window.  Sweet little things.

It's quite hard to get a close-up of them!

We also have purple Ajuga here and there around the farm yard.

The Irises have buds!  For some crazy reason not one of our many irises bloomed last year.  I wonder why?

One of our first Rhodies to bloom, usually, is this light pink droopy bell shaped one.  I wonder what it's name is?  I googled and a similar one but much darker is called "Bow Bells".

This is located by the brick walkway up to our front porch.

Pretty in pink.

The creamy white Rhodie is in full bloom.  It's next to it's much taller friend which the flowers are a gorgeous dark pink magenta.

Purty.

My view from the deck while I'm under the gazebo watching for fish and listening to the birds.  :-)  I love the red Japanese Maple!

Dayle made Sweet & Sour Meatballs and served them over rice last night.  We serve it with crushed pineapple on top.  YUM!!

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

(we doubled this for leftovers or to feed a crowd, you can halve it if you want a smaller batch)

2 lbs ground beef

4 (or more) TBS bread crumbs (Italian seasoned is what he uses)

2 eggs

1 tsp salt

1 cup chopped green pepper

1 cup chopped onion

4 TBS butter

2 cans of Campbell’s condensed tomato soup

4 TBS brown sugar

8 tsp Worcestershire sauce

2 TBS regular yellow mustard

2 TBS vinegar

2 small cans of crushed pineapple

Directions:  Combine beef, crumbs, egg and salt together, roll into small meatballs (1 inch in diameter), brown in frying pan until cooked through, drain on paper towel.  

Cook the green pepper and onion in butter until tender, stir in the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 10 minutes, add the meatballs into the sauce and pour all into a shallow baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  While it is baking, cook 2 cups (raw) rice, and to serve the meatballs over the rice.

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OK, I need to go heat up my lunch.. meatballs, of course!

Sending love to all my readers!  Be safe!  

((hugs)), Teresa :-)