Friday, April 22, 2022

Waking Up: At Home and Beyond

Before I start this post, does anyone else who follows blogs with bloglovin' find that their site has been down for about a week? If I don't visit you, it's because even though I get their notifications, when I click on any link to visit you, it says their server is busy. Same when I visit the url for the site so I can't even complain! Just asking -- wondering if it is overall or just me!

Last week my friend Jan and I went to our favorite market to pick up Easter food. Their "fresh" selection beats any local grocery. On the way past the bird seed, garden implements and seeds, we glanced outside and saw some color in the greenhouse. And so we ventured forth, curious to see some color in what has been a very gray spring.


And we were blown away!


There were audible squeals from both of us -- it was as though we had been in a dark, drab land for many years and suddenly a curtain lifted and we were awash with color, like when Dorothy entered Oz and the movie turned from black and white to a yellow brick road and an Emerald City.


Needless to say, I think we both went home with more flowers than groceries! 


For me, it was piles of violas and pansies.


For Jan, ranunculus was the favorite.


It was one of those magical moments that will be held in the heart long after the leaves turn gold and the snow again begins to fall.


I've had a bit of color in the yard, too. The Squill is first to pop, tiny purple blooms!

The mini-iris are next.


They're followed closely by mini-daffodils, too. And it is such a joy to come home after a walk or a drive and see these bright bursts of color.


Of course, there's been a little bit of color inside the house!


Although a black and white palette can work, too -- especially when it's such a cute one!


We've been doing a little bird watching. Sorry for the fuzzy pix -- they were taken through the window. This is a tufted titmouse, right?


And Mr. or Ms. Chickadee!


Lizzie is entranced.


The big news is that a small birdhouse on the front windowsill now has a new occupant! I saw Ms. Chickadee coming in and out and Mr. C. was peeping in, too! I hope there will soon be little chickadees! 

I leave you with my colorful squirrel, which Erika tells me is a chimera -- 

Lizzie isn't interested in the squirrel. She has other things on her mind.

And as for me? I'm just waiting till it's warm enough to leave these out all night!

 Soon.Sharing with:   Pink Saturday    /  Saturday's Critters   /   Love Your Creativity   /  All About Home   /   Share Your Style   

65 comments:

Julierose said...

I haven't been able to access Bloglovin' either!
Beautiful flowers--so Spring-ey;)) thanks for sharing Hugs, Julierose

eileeninmd said...

Hello Jeanie,

The flowers are a colorful and cheery sight. I love the pretty pansies!
Cute captures of your sweet Lizzie. Love the Tufted Titmouse and Chickadee images. The squirrel is colorful too. Take care, enjoy your day and happy weekend!

Penny from Enjoying The Simple Things said...

Yes, Bloglovin has been up and down all week. It is working for me this Friday morning at 7:39. I bet it was wonderful to see all of those beautiful flowers. Yes, that is a tufted titmouse. Come visit me at https://www.enjoyingthesimplethings.com

My name is Erika. said...

I would be just like you and come home with more flowers than food. Those greenhouse photos made my heart race. And I think you nailed exactly what it is about flowers (besides their beauty and smell and that they are flower). It's the color. And lucky you to have any kind of iris blooming. My daffs are just about to pop. I can see the big yellow buds. I hope you have a fun and colorful weekend too. (And thanks for the chimera shout out too). hugs-Erika

Carole @ From My Carolina Home said...

Yes, Bloglovin's servers were down for days. I used a website called 'is it down right now' to ping their servers, and they confirmed it. It is back up this morning, but it is also the reason that I haven't visited you in days. I am backing up my bloglist to a text file so I won't be dependent on Bloglovin as much in the future. I follow over 100 blogs and it is easier for me to use a reader to keep that out of my email. But, on to today, your flowers are gorgeous!! Love all the pansies!

Misadventures of Widowhood said...

I love your colorful post this morning. I'm itching to get to a garden center. We're suppose to get spring weather this weekend. Finally!

Rain said...

Hi Jeanie! What beautiful flowers! Lizzie was sure getting a nice show to keep her intrigued! ☺☺ PS: You mentioned on my blog that you had a post that you were linking up, but I didn't see your link. I was going to put this one as a link, but I realized you have another post where you painted birds, so I don't know which one (or both!) you want linked!! ♥

Anvilcloud said...

Maybe Feedly could work for you. It is what I use. Of course, if I want to comment, I still have to go to the actual post.

It certainly has been a gray spring, and it is in no hurry to change. I do remember going to a greenhouse in late winter/early spring once upon a time, and it was wonderful. It was a showplace sort of place, and not as retail setup, so it really was special.

Valerie-Jael said...

So many beautiful flowers. I need to plant my balcony, too, I hope next week! Love the watercolours, so pretty. Have a great weekend, hugs, Valerie

bobbie said...

I can see why you and your friend squealed ~ I would have too!!

gigi-hawaii said...

Those flowers are gorgeous! I love that bird house. I know that you will keep us all apprised when there are any eggs to be hatched.

Linda Sue said...

Glorious radiant color!!! tired of grey and tweed and brown cashmere moth eaten gear. When the light comes on again it is a bit overwhelming and I have nothing to wear.

Sandi said...

Soon. Yes!

What kind of chimera? I am guessing a brown squirrel and a black squirrel.

"...it was as though we had been in a dark, drab land for many years and suddenly a curtain lifted and we were awash with color, like when Dorothy entered Oz"

😃

SO beautiful. Thanks for sharing it with us, Jeanie.

Sandra Cox said...

Oh. My. God. My heart would be going pitty-patter at walking into that heavenly array of flowers.
Love the rest of the post too,by the way;)
Have a great weekend.

Bill said...

To see all that colour must have been an amazing sight. It sure is stunning to look at it. Thanks, Jeanie and have a great day and weekend.

Pam said...

I am trying to stay away from the local flower places....prices have gone up so much. I do want to get something white that will grow in shade though. Such pretty flowers.

Carola Bartz said...

I can understand you delight over all this wonderful happy color!!! I love the Ranunculus, they have gorgeous colors. Gosh, I would have come out with way more plants than food - how could you not? This is awesome. Yes, that's a tufted titmouse, they are so cute. And how exciting to have some residents in the birdhouse!

Priscilla King said...

I follow through Blogspot, but for about the past year it's been acting weird...even with Chrome! Love those pansies.

Red Rose Alley said...

The greenhouse is popping with color. What a sight that must have been for you. It's the same here, and the only color right now is the yellow dandelions that grace my lawn haha. These are such wonderful photos of Lizzie. And I love that cute little chickadee you're painting. You know, Ranunculus are so beautiful to me, and they were the first flower to be planted in my old garden, but they didn't make it. I love how you compared it with Dorothy when she entered the Emerald City. The greenhouse looks that way, doesn't it?

Have a restful weekend, Jeanie.

~Sheri

William Kendall said...

Beautiful flowers. I can relate to Lizzie napping.

Angie said...

Oh how fun! I am eagerly waiting for my ranunculus to bloom!

Mae Travels said...

I'm very suspicious of secondary sites that work on blogs -- I think they often behave in a predatory way with the intent to advertise or sell to mailing lists. Discus looks like that to me (never gives the commenter's actual URL), as do some of the Link-Up tools for blog events (show the blog post inside their own page), and now you make me wonder about one more, Bloglovin. It's hard to know, but I suspect that the number of active blogs is declining so these sites are failing to do needed maintenance because it's no longer as profitable. I wonder where it's all going.

Nice flowers... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

coffeeontheporchwithme said...

A feast for your eyes! I just discovered I have a little clump of those bluish “squill”. I didn’t plant them, and didn’t even know the name until I read it in your post! Have a great weekend, Jeanie! - Jenn

My Tata's Cottage said...

Blogger have complained aobut the site. Nothing is helpful anymore it seems. Beautiful flowers and very nice post. Enjoy the weekend.

Pam Richardson said...

What a wonderful outing with the explosion of beautiful colors in the greenhouse. We visited a nursery this morning, and it was fabulous with all of the flowering plants. Have a wonderful weekend, Jeanie!

anno said...

Ahhh... all that beautiful color! Like an oasis for the soul... I want to rest there and drink it all in. Great pictures of Lizzie and the neighborhood birds (and squirrel) as well.

Enjoy your weekend, Jeanie... looks like you have some happy hours of planting ahead.

Iris Flavia said...

Tom used a similar tool for joining memes - very often it didn´t work and now he will, if I understood correctly, give up on that.
Blogger is for free and they really made it worse with the last huge update.
But... it´s for free, right.

LOL, I can imagine you squealing in delight - who would not?!
Such an abundance of beauty! Here still too cold.

Oh... the chicken-baby is cute, as is Lizzie, of course.
Peanuts say hi again. They are so cute, but all the mess...

Oh, you keep the flowers inside? Not enough room here, but soon it will warm up, I just bet!

P.S. thank you very big for your comment - I´ll give him another try, the teamleader Frankfurt.

Sherry's Pickings said...

how lovely to see all the colourful flowers! i do love ranunculus too. we are heading into winter here but we still have particular flowers that bloom over winter so it's still colourful. Flowers are so very cheery!

Sherry's Pickings said...

how lovely to see all the colourful flowers! i do love ranunculus too. we are heading into winter here but we still have particular flowers that bloom over winter so it's still colourful. Flowers are so very cheery!

Elizabeth Varadan, Author said...

I get what you mean about the waking up in colorful Oz. The flowers are just so brilliant and beautiful!

David M. Gascoigne, said...

Such an array of colour in that garden centre. If that doesn't induce feelings of spring nothing will! Chickadees have taken up residence here in one of the nest boxes in the backyard. The nest is now complete and I expect the first egg any day!

eileeninmd said...

Hello Jeanie,
I enjoyed this post. The flowers are all so colorful and pretty. I love your cards, you are talented. Great captures of the birds and your sweet Lizzie.
Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Take care, enjoy you day and happy weekend. PS, thank you for leaving me a comment.

La Table De Nana said...

Anxious to plant shop…prep work on gardens right now..the hard work.I did have trouble 1 day on bloglovin!I wish we could buy ranunculus..never have I seen any here.

shoreacres said...

I use a site called isitdownrightnow to check on the occasional outages. Here's their link to bloglovin, which seems to be up again.

That's quite a profusion of color! I suspect this is a profitable season for the shop owners -- everyone wants color after that long winter you have!

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

I love your watercolors...that makes me squeal with delight! But I do love Spring flowers too and birds outside. I haven't had trouble with blogs...just the time to visit! Enjoy your weekend!

Rita said...

Just the sight of all those flowers would make one feel like Dorothy entering OZ! :)

Steve Reed said...

Beautiful flowers! I'm glad you got some! The primroses (primulas) are my personal favorite, I think. The squirrel is very...different. And yes, I believe that is a titmouse!

Jenn Jilks said...

Lizzie is sweet!
The colours are such eye candy for me. Just lovely!

DeniseinVA said...

I didn’t know about Bloglovin Jeanie, I usually just answer the comments from my blog and didn’t know you could go through Bloglovin. Not too savvy about these things, maybe they are doing some work on their end. The market sounds wonderful! I wish we had one of those around here. I am looking forward to going to the farmer markets soon. Splendid photos in the green house, so much color! My arms would be full of flowers. Your artwork is always delightful! Cute photo of your sweet kitty and the birds, and my goodness that squirrel has the most interesting color combination. We have one that is mostly grey but ginger here and there, more than the others I have seen. Not quite as striking as yours though. I hope you get baby chickadees in that cute home you have provided. Enjoy the rest of your weekend :)

Joanne Huffman said...

Today is beautiful. I saw lovely blooms and heard more birds than I saw on my afternoon walk. Lord knows what weather we'll have here in Michigan tomorrow.

Sandra at Maison De Jardin said...

Jeanie, the blooms are glorious. I am a pansy lover too and they can take quite a bit of cold. And, oh, how I love the miniature daffodils. We once had a kitty who would sit and talk to the birds - he was so funny.

No snow in the forecast - so perhaps spring is on its way. Enjoy the days, Jeanie.

Danielle L Zecher said...

Your violas are so pretty! The photos are making me want to get some. And Lizzie is adorable. :-)

Shiju Sugunan said...

Lovely flower shots. So colourful!

Salty Pumpkin Studio said...

Recently, a week or two, I have noticed that clicking to go to a website sometimes ends up with a can't reach the website, try later notice. I try again with no problem. I've also noticed a couple of other sporadic glitches, being timed out to reach a website, and, password rejection.

Beautiful flowers

Sally said...

Betting you went to Horrocks!
My Bloglovin app was not working last week either. Just left it for a few days and it came back.

Divers and Sundry said...

Oooooo! All those gorgeous flowers!

We have tufted titmice and chickadees here, but I only rarely see them on our patio. Great photos! I can never catch them.

Prims By The Water said...

I remember when they were pushing folks to go to bloglovin. I chose not too. At that time those who did were having problems. Those flowers are making me itch to get some...but I always wait until Memorial Day as it seems we always get a cold snap here. Janice

Veronica Lee said...

Love the colorful and glorious flowers, Jeanie.

The beautiful photos really kickstarted my day!

Thank you!

Happy Monday!

Victoria Zigler said...

Actually, I'm finding I'm not even getting my notifications any more. I've been having issues with that for a while, even though I checked and it's set to send them to me. It's really annoying. I'm trying not to miss posts, but can't guarantee I'm not missing when people post things any more, and am actually pretty sure I am missing things.

Anyway, I hope it warms up where you are soon.

It's me said...

Thanks for your comment on my blog about bloglovin..it work again ..but I will follow my blogs also with the blogger read list …but I do not like the blogger list …bloglovin is more comfortable…but the ap s not available more and I think that is the problem I read on a iPad and the ap is not updated anymore for a long time…nice blog you have I follow you now …beautiful flowers love the ranounkels the most they are my favorite have a nice day love Ria and Leaf 🌺🌸🐾💕🍀

Amy at Ms. Toody Goo Shoes said...

I love your description of walking into the greenhouse being like the Wizard of Oz! Although I spent the winter in Florida, I was still excited to come home to spring colors, and the rebirth of earth. Some things are blooming in the yard, and I bought just one pot of pansies for the front porch which can survive the cold temperatures. Seeing them make me feel happy!

thepaintedapron.com said...

Oh boy, flower paradise! I bet you came home with arm loads! Yes, I have encountered that "our servers are busy" from bloglovin, I just type in the sites url and it goes right to it, so try that next time...
Jenna

Pamela said...

The flowers and birds are gorgeous, but I like seeing Lizzie even more.

Nikki - Notes of Life said...

Such an array of colours!

Lisa from Lisa's Yarns said...

Those flowers! Gorgeous! I love rununculus. That is one of the flowers we used at our wedding for centerpieces and in bouquets, so it makes me think of my wedding!

Spring just won't come here in Minnesota. I do not see anything blooming! It's been just awful. The feels like temp this morning was 22F! I've been patient, but come on! Enough! It was really warm and humid here on Saturday and then we had gusting winds yesterday that brought this cold front it. Maybe in a week we'll have seasonal weather? I can't wait to get some hanging pots for our front porch but will wait until we are closer to memorial day!

R's Rue said...

I love the flowers. Didn’t they shut down Bloglovin. That’s what I heard.

Marilyn Miller said...

All the color is gorgeous! I would squeal too.
Whenever I see plants at the market it is all I can do to pass them buy without plopping a few in the basket.
I have not used Bloglovin.

Anca said...

What wonderful pictures, I like all of them.

Linda B said...

This reminded me of a day my friend and I shared many years ago. Ella and her husband came from Kalkaska to spend time with us. It was a cold, snowy, March day-the men went off somewhere to do their thing, and Ella and I headed to the Fred Meijer Gardens. We were both speechless when we entered the building filled with colorful spring flowers on such a wintery day.
You will remember your day with Jan for a long time, just as I remember mine with Ella.

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

Such gorgeous colorful flowers! I have not visited the flower and vegetable greenhouses as yet as it has been too cool at night here to think of planting anything as yet. We can still get snow in May.

I am part of Bloglovin but I don't use it much. It seems a lot of the older blogging platforms are always changing. I wonder if, like everything else these days, they will want to have a payment option for use? So many online food sites and magazines are now requiring a paid subscription.

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Since i have never used Bloglovin' Jeanie, I can't comment on any issues. My method is simply to individually visit and comment on blog posts, usually once a week. What a wonderful display of floral colors and sorely missing here now, except at a Home Depot or Lowes or other garden center.

Lowcarb team member said...

Such a lovely colourful post, so many beautiful flowers.
Eddie and I visited one of our local garden centres recently and it was a joy to see all the plants they had, so much choice, we enjoyed ourselves :)

All the best Jan

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

I tried two days in a row to leave you comments and couldn't. I tried several times throughout the days, too. I finally gave up. I wasn't going to fight blogger again.

The colors are magical and the flowers are somewhat overwhelming. Such great eye candy, Jeanie.

crackercrumblife said...

All that beauty and color!! I would have been so excited as well. This spring has been so gloomy!

Sara J. Necaise said...

Wow Superb! it's brilliant work and very harmful for us in this post article there are too many flower images and such are beautiful and i really empressed on it. Thanks for helping us

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