Groundhog's Day

Although this is Groundhog's Day, we here in Griffin don't need a groundhog to tell us that spring will be early this year.  These photos were taken today and it would appear that spring has already arrived.

Enjoy

☺☺☺Johnina☺☺☺

Pollen count 3939

This is how I survive the pollen

As I have severe allergies and asthma; I do whatever it takes.  Believe me people notice my bright pink mask even if I am in the car just driving by; I sure get some s-t-r-a-n-g-e looks.  But you can also believe me that it sure beats ER visits and hospital stays which were the norm before my husband bought this for me. He researched on the Internet to find one that would be effective, as we had tried the paper hospital ones and the cheap Wal-Mart shop masks which did nothing to help me.  Since I have been using this I have not had a single trip to the hospital due to pollen.  My Doctor laughed when I gave him a copy of the photo and he does not recommend it it other patients because most people will not go to these extremes to keep from being hospitalized. I think it is kind of sad that people will not use something that could benefit them so much for fear of embarasment; although I have been guilty of it myself at times. I have learned that those who know me are very accepting of my mask and will even ask where it is if I am out without in the spring.  I am learning to not be afraid to

DO WHATEVER IT TAKES

ENJOY

☺☺☺Johnina ☺☺☺ 

Pollen Count 2400+

This is the price we pay here in Georgia for all the beautiful trees and flowers- lots and lots of pollen.  This is a photo of the windshield of my car first thing in the morning.  Kind of nasty to think that we breathe in that stuff.

This is the sunroof of my car.  You can see where the dew drops settled from the night before.

Front of my car.  this year when I saw my wndows start to turn yellow I started to check the pollen count only to find that for Atlanta they have changed the ratings as to how much pollen is dangerous.  Last year the top of the extremely high pollen count was 299; this year they moved the extremely high pollen count limit to 1499.  Like moving the the number would make allergy sufferers fell better.  Give me a break.

This picture is the same as the one above.  I just had some fun with it.  After the insult with changing the pollen count numbers, because by the time pollen counts get to 1499 it doesn't matter if you have allergies; that much pollen makes it hard to breathe for everyone.  I had to do something to lighten my mood so play is what I did.

I think you can see how pollen collects everywhere.

Pollen, polllen everywhere.  Even in the little time I was out taking these photos my camera got a pretty good dusting and I had to clean it when I came in. 




Enjoy

☺☺☺Johnina☺☺☺

Rain, rain and little froggy voices

Today was rain, rain and more rain 

and lots of wind. 

All kinds of flower petals tossed upon the wind. 

White ones, pink ones and purple ones 

pretty pastels against the gray skies.

Drip, splash, drip, splash, drip

rush of water.

Night time settles

rain slows and leaves.

The gathering sounds 

of little frogs off in the distance.

Ahh, Spring.

Yes I know this is a toad but it was the closest pic I had.  This pic was also taken a couple of years ago.  The sound of the frogs reminded me to search for broken clay pots to make frog/toad houses for my garden.  They are easy to do- you just take a broken pot and bury the broken piece in the ground under one of your larger plants.  When you water the garden it wets and cools the pot which is why you need a clay pot and it makes an ideal residence for the little critters.  They in turn help keep the pests down in your garden.  Great recycling idea and organic pest control to boot.

ENJOY

☺☺☺Johnina ☺☺☺ 

Springtime encounters

I don't know if spring has sprung with more zeal this year or if I am just noticing it more, but either way this spring has given me many photo ops.  I see spring and it's beauty everywhere.  I have been enjoying it and I have concentrated on finding the beauty around me as I have been sick for so long.  I believe that beauty and nature heals.  Now that I am feeling better I have had the time to edit some more photos to share with you.  I hope you enjoy them.

 ENJOY YOUR DAY

☺☺☺Johnina ☺☺☺

Signs of spring- mating calls

Many of my spring pictures look peaceful and quiet.  But this is only an illusion because I mostly just take photos of flowers.  The reality of my early mornings are that they are very noisy.  We have many kinds of birds in our yard and the nearby woods, bluebirds, robins, sparrows, cardinals, mockingbirds, crows, blackbirds, vultures, hawks, geese and we used to have whip-o-wills and bob whites.  All in all they add up to a lot of noise especially this time of year as they start their mating calls.  We also have an animal rehab place nearby and shortly we will hear the lions with their mating calls.

All my spring photos have been taken within a couple of days of posting.  These were taken yesterday.

ENJOY

☺☺☺JOHNINA☺☺☺

Favorite trees

This is one of my favorite trees.  It stands in the corner of the neighbors yard and I see it almost every time I go out my front door.  It is a tree whose limbs have a lot of character; some are straight and some twisted.  The bark has a lot of color to it from many different shades of light gray and green from the lichen to the many shades of brown from the bark.  These show up real well in the winter.  This tree is the first to bud and bloom in the spring and with the flowers on it and it's bent limb it looks like it is waving Hello to me as I walk out my door.  What a nice springtime greeting.

ENJOY

Johnina :^D

Signs of spring

Signs of Spring

I think the photos speak for themselves.  All these pictures were taken in the last three days and provide a preview of more beauty yet to come.

ENJOY

JOHNINA ☺☺☺☺☺

Garden Salad

This really is a garden salad from my garden.  I think it is appropriate to be able to get my first spring green salad during earth week.  I know there is a lot of political stuff to go with earth week but I feel this is the best way to celebrate earth week by enjoying the bounty provided by this wonderful earth by the help of my own hands.  This salad was grown organically and contains a couple of different kinds of leaf lettuce and mesclun, raddichio, arugula, strawberry spinach ( a new plant I grew from seed to try), spinach, Chinese cabbage, curly endive, garlic chives, parsley (much more nutritious than you would think), fennel leaves, edible flowers, and wild onions (that were growing wild in the yard).  I think it's pretty wonderful.  I cut my salad cut into strips; it's just so much easier for me to toss and eat that way.  Tip for cutting salad into strips: there is always stacking and cutting with a knife, but I've found that a PIZZA CUTTER works better and faster.  I've found with small items, herbs, edible flowers, and such that scissors work really well.  I like eating salads and enjoy them, but I think I enjoyed this one more than normal, probably because I grew it and harvested it and I think I could taste all the extra nutrition from all those yummy dark greens of spring.  Savor this season of new growth and bounty.    

Look what I found

I saw these flowers on the side of the road today and had to stop and photograph them; I was so excited. Normally I might not have stopped because I had told Tom I wouldn't be gone long and I had Rascal in the car with me, but these were the first flowers of spring; how could I resist?
I have started to change my mind a little about Georgia winters being just drab and brown. Tom and I were driving home the other day and he started pointing out the shape of several old oak trees and how much character the tree shapes had. This is something that is not as noticeable with the leaves on. I hadn't given this much thought before. The bare trees have a beauty all their own. I had been looking at the Georgia winters from a half-empty glass viewpoint instead of a half-full viewpoint. I think I' going to go look for interesting tree shape to photograph later this week. Thanks Tom.

Flower power-Remember

I made up these collages to remind myself that spring and summer will come back again and once again Griffin will be filled with flowers. Thank goodness for Georgia is not nearly as pretty in the winter as it is at other times of the year. The trees are bare, the colors of the landscapes tend to be brown and dull and it tends to be rainy; a perfect setup for SAD. The exception to the not very pretty is the rare snowfall and then it is beautiful for a few days and one can enjoy it because everything else comes to a halt.
In the top collage I took pictures of flowers from my garden and also from the roadside. There are always some kind of flower in bloom from like March through December. The bottom collage are pictures of Treasure Flowers from my garden. I had this one blown up to poster size and framed and it now is up on my wall where I can easily see it and remember. It does help to lighten my mood.

Spring has sprung

At my house we have had a terrible time with the Internet over the past several days. It took me well over an hour to download 2 photos Tues. Sometimes the Internet would only stay up for a couple of minutes and then take forever to come back. I got real frustrated and stopped trying. My provider just got it fixed last night, but I was too tired to post on my blog so I'm starting again today.
Tues was a wonderful, hopeful day, my pain was lessening after coming down on my pain medicines (I thought I was going to have to make an ER visit for the pain the first week of coming down), the sun was out (a rarity lately), I saw the first buds on the trees (see above), saw three robins who would not stay still to be photographed, felt good enough to go seed searching, found some cacti that I really liked and purchased two, started some cacti seeds and some seeds for my garden. All in all a day I thoroughly enjoyed. Personally I don't care what General Lee (the official Georgia groundhog) says about when spring is going to come, I watch for other signs in nature and since I've be into photography I've noticed them more. It certainly brightened that day.

Last night I sterilized the seed starters from last year and refilled one with peat pots and they are ready for seeds tonight. I'm looking forward to planting it.

Websites from my friends at MSS:
Roxane Bay at http://bluebayphotography.com

This is a sales site. It is well done and easy to navigate. She has some truly wonderful photos.

Raymond Fuller at http://raymondfullerphotography.com
This is also a sales site some of which is under construction. I really like his photo and hope he continues to build his site.