Typhoon Glenda

The recent typhoon that hit the Philippines left me   sleepless for  few nights.  I was worried about my family back home because they live close by the sea.  It always reminds me of the typhoon Sisang that swept away our former home  many years ago.  All we had left then  was the clothes we were wearing.   Glad I talked to my BIL who happened to contact  a person from our place and he told me that Mama and the rest of the family are okay.   He said that the roof of Mama's house got blown away but that can be replaced.  Thanks to God for protecting them!

Leaving you with this beautiful  multi layered poppy from my garden.

Face of a Big Red Hardy Hibiscus

I bought this Big Red Hardy Hibiscus last year.  I always loved it's  giant blooms when I see them from  someone's garden so I said I gotta have one at my garden.  Luckily, I got it  on sale last year at the end of the summer season.  Glad to see it came back this year and with a lot of blooms!

The huge, saucer-shaped blooms atop fine-textured foliage create a poignant presence in the garden. Matching red-purple stems add to the allure.  They are such a great addition to my garden.

Last week was rainy here so this first bloom fell and when I looked, I saw a face.  Creeped me out a little bit because I see a mean face of a bird or something lol.  Still pretty though!

Fresh Daisies

Cut some fresh daisies from our garden this morning.  I have a bad cramp and  somehow I feel like fresh flowers would come it down.  So I got my scissors and cut some of the daisies and put it in the vase and set it in our kitchen table.  I feel a little better looking at it.  Weird but it works.

Here's  the edited  ones using Instaframe App.

Baby Robin

Our back porch is the favorite spot  for the bird to make nest.  The sparrows, mourning dove, and robins love to  hatch their eggs there.  The recent one is Momma Robin.  She laid three eggs, all hatched, and successfully made their first flight.  It's amazing to watch the Mom  guide the baby robin's how to fly and show them courage.  This is the first Robin to  courageously fly first.  She stayed in our garden for a while while the Mom comes back and forth to encourage this baby that it is okay to fly.

I had this  snap dragon that  grew in one of my potted plants since winter and I was surprise to see  it bloom.  I thought for sure, it was going to die.

Second Basket of Fresh Produce

Here's another basket of goodies we picked from our garden yesterday. Beans grow big so fast so I have to pick them before they get older.  We love beans here and I am thinking of canning  some so I could preserve it and use it during winter.  I tried to freeze them last year but I don't like it when you cook it, it doesn't taste  good anymore.  I have to find out how to can beans.

I have two kinds of cucumber  in my garden.  One was  given to me by our neighbor, it's the long one.  The short ones are the ones that came back from last year.  

I pretty much incorporate fresh  cucumber into our meals everyday just to use  up all the produce we have been getting.  

Thornless Blackberry

I bought this  blackberry last year on sale for $1.99 I think at Lowe's.  I always check  at the end of the season what plants they have on sale because you can usually find amazing deals.  I prayed when I  planted this  that it would  grow.  This year, it came back, which I am happy because  I didn't think that the harsh Winter will let it live.  Our rabbit  mowed it down though when it was just coming back  which I think ruined its chance to produce more fruit.

I picked  the fruits this morning and let my kids savor the  flavor, they said that they were sweet.

Bike Carriers

Going on a road trip is fun but it could be boring if you  are not doing anything as a passenger.  My husband is the official driver  wherever we go so I have plenty of time to take photos.  Sometimes I  pick an subject to take pictures of just like when we went to Maryland, the drive was  7 hours so I managed to snapped some photos  of cars with bike carriers/racks.  

I told my husband that we should buy us a  bike rack so we could go on a trail and ride our bikes.  

Exotic Flower

Here's another exotic beauty that I saw at the zoo during our last visit.  It is gorgeous!  Does anyone know what kind of flower this is?

Beautiful Bloom

I don't know what kind of plant/flower is this but it's beautiful.  I saw this at Pittsburgh Zoo and thought that it is so exotic looking.

Such a beautiful bloom, don't you think?

Black Eyed Susan are Blooming

I have  some  Black Eyed Susan plants in my garden.  This is the plant that  husband doesn't like very much.  I like them, I think they are beautiful.  They are not fully bloom yet but  thought that it's kind of pretty how their leaves are kind of thorny.

I will  post a fully bloomed one  soon.

Fresh Produce from My Garden

Gardening is  such a relaxing hobby, not to mention that it's very rewarding too when you start  harvesting the crop of what you sow.  I have a very small plot of  a garden at the corner of our backyard but it always do  well every year.  I planted a pack of beans  in my garden.  I bought it for 10 cents last year at Busy Beaver.

As you can see, it's a very small  plot where I  planted our beans.  This is the first basket of beans that I  harvested so far.

I cleaned it up at the  patio while my husband was working out.  

See what I got, it's 31.98  ounces.  Pretty good for just spending  10 cents for the seeds and of my course my time hehehe.  But it is just a rewarding feeling when you can finally reap what you sow.

Landscaping

We pass by  this landscaping   business on our way home from Maryland.  The company's name is Arnold's Farm.  They have such a beautiful display outside.

It is very delightful to see  some flowering areas when you drive.  I like it that there's a bunch of  small flags ion their displays.  I think they put that for the July 4th celebration and I am glad that  they did not remove it as it added  glory to the displays.

Fresh Flowers

It has been raining here for two days so I haven't been  digging in my garden but it doesn't mean that I can't  pick some flowers, wink.  Got these  daisies and  multi-layered poppies this morning.

I haven't enjoyed the summer to the fullest yet and here's the weather is already changing.  The weather here have  been in the 50s for the last couple of days which for me is a bit cool than normal.  It feels like Fall.  I am not ready for the cold season yet.  If only I could hold it.

Windmills

I took a couple of  shots of these windmills when we were driving down to Maryland.  Windmills are machines that converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades.  

Healthy Plants

I love it when you go to an amusement park and you see beautiful and healthy plants around. It's a relaxing thing to see.  Below are some  plant  photos I took during our recent  visit to Kennywood Park in PA during  Industrial Scientific company picnic.

I'd love to have one of this beautiful planters.

Car Racing at Speed World

During our  vacation in Ocean City, Maryland.  We went to  Jolly Roger's SpeedWorld.

The kids had so much especially my daughter.  She is an adrenaline junkie so she love  those fast  race cars.

This was taken inside the  entrance building to the Speedway.  Below are more photos ca[ptured by my iPhone.

Daughter is very independent so she love to ride alone to those cars that her height allowed her.

Our son just want to ride with his Dad since he was a little bit short.

We had two hours of fun at SpeedWorld.

From Dancing to Playing PIano

Before taking piano lessons, my daughter tried ballet for a while.  I think she took like 6 months of dance lessons but she didn't like it.  There were so many students in that class that the lesson is not  enough for every student to learn. I think that private dance lessons would have been better i she could have stayed but glad she told us she didn't like it as she is doing   really well with  her piano  now and she loves it.

Great Place for any Occasion

Driving down to Maryland, hubby and I agreed that if we have to move down to Maryland, we would not mind because it has farm land and  it's near  the ocean so it's  a win win situation.  I would not mind having a home a little ways from the ocean where I could have  a vast area to plant crops.  Photos were taken during our  trip there  this month.

Maryland is a great place for any occasion.