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It's Azalea season here in the Deep South! Today's garden photos are of a side by side pair of Azaleas in my back yard: First, this nice shot of end of day sun lighting up some of the flowers on this dark pink Azalea: Second, the light pink Azalea next to it: Azaleas bloom in sort of a wave either working bottom to top or, like this one, from one side to the other. I took this shot, because you can see a fullness of blossoms in the front toward far side, but the side facing my camera is still full of buds.  Nor do they necessarily bloom all at the same time. I have two bushes in front and one is fully in bloom and the adjacent one is still mostly covered with buds. Though pretty, they require hedging maintenance; otherwise they grow into massively huge shrubs, 15 feet round!  There are dwarf types now---I'd recommend those, if you wish Azaleas.

Thursday Writers Prompt: My Favorite Childhood Game

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   It was Christmas, 1969 when Santa Claus left me a Green Ghost Game, like the one this one pictured below.    The game consisted of the cool glowing board that stood on legs about 4 inches above the floor with black decorative pieces you slid into slots to decorate it.  (a spooky house, shipwreck &  tree). It included 1 large ghost spinner, 12 mini ghosts, 4 player pieces, 3 trap doors and keys to open those doors plus 3 card board box "pits" that fit under the doors that held "creepy" things. (feathers, plastic sticks and length rubber band's which represented "batwings" "bones" and "snakes" respectively.) To play, the game board, spinner and mini-ghosts had to sit out in the light several hours. Then, in a dark room, you'd set it up, dividing the 12 mini-ghosts between the 3 boxes, putting the boxes under the doors & distributing the keys among the 4 players.  The large ghost spinner clicked over a metal tab when yo
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Today's featured Garden Photo is my Maple Tree that's pretty red with seed agasint the green of other trees in the background! I guess Maple seeds are nicknamed, "whirly birds," because of the way they spin to the ground when they fall. These are the single wing type. Some Maples have double wing seeds.  

Garden Pic Wednesday: Dwarf Nadina

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  Today's Garden Pic features a shot of one of my container gardens behind a Dwarf Nadina shrub in the area where a large Pampas grass once stood g iving my container garden a central spot in the garden and letting the pretty Nadina be seen. Dwarf Nadina's are a common landscape all season shrub here in the South---one of my better garden decisions after I figured out I didn't want any more huge shrubs to have to trim all the time. In the container garden are a variety of bulb plants the bloom from spring thru fall: Cheers Daffodils (the white flowers), Dutch Iris, Amaryllis, & Orange Spider Lilies. You can see white sticks marking where I planted a set of Peony roots. I'm not sure how they'll do---but they are rated for this planting zone. So we'll see. Below is a closer view of sunny Cheers Daffodils: clusters of tiny double white Daffodils that smell like baby powder on each stem. 

Thursday Writers Prompt: Funny Wrong Number

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      Today's writers prompt is, "Tell us about a wrong number where you either received a call in error or made one."  Once upon a time, quite a few years ago, I got a completely unexpected message on my cell phone from someone I didn't know about something I didn't know anything about. The message was this: "Hey, if you need a ride to the funeral, give me a call back." That was it. No name, nothing. I looked from my phone to my husband and told him the message said, then said, " "Looks like someone's going to be disappointed when they don't get a ride to the funeral."  ******* If you're interested in participating in our Thursday Writer's Prompt, visit here sometime posting is due on Thursday to choose your prompt. 

Garden Pic Wednesday: Valentine Sorrel & Winter Broccoli

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 Two Garden Pictures today! This healthy bunch of greenery is called either Red-Veined Sorrel or sometimes Valentine Sorrel because of the red veins. It is an edible perennial. I've tried it in salads, but the red veins turn everything purple. It can be used in soups. I haven't yet. Mostly, I like it because it's so pretty. Next is my Patch of Winter Broccoli: Six plants in a raised bed. Winter is the best time to grow it here in Northwest Florida---no insect pests and it doesn't mind a freeze. Pretty healthy looking. They are in the side-shoot phase. I collected a few small heads that were ready for a stir-fry for dinner. Probably hold onto them until end of March.

Garden Pic Wednesday: Sunny Winter Jasmine!

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I had computer issues last week I needed to resolve, so wasn't able to do my Garden Pic, but here it is this week: a couple shots of my Winter Jasmine!   And a closer shot of the sunlit blooms!