Busy Bees and Miz Joan

It’s rather ironic that I'm busier than ever now that I'm settling back into retirement. Returning from the trip and jumping into spring gardening activities have contributed to my continued absence here on my blog. We picked up a few essentials at our neighborhood grocery store yesterday, but we still have to do our major shopping tomorrow. We’ve spent the last couple of days running to and fro, trying to buy our annual flowers, topsoil, clay pots, a few herb plants, and a tree for the front yard. I suppose that it is a sign of our times that we had to visit a half a dozen garden supply places to get the items on our list. And we still haven’t found the tree we want. Fiddlesticks! 

Thank goodness it’s only Tuesday because I still need to get my first pedicure of the year, a haircut, and a car wash this week too. I must also get on the ball and change out my blog header and background!  It's not tulip season anymore, LOL.

It will be nice to get everything planted and spruce up the flowerbeds for the growing season. We plan to move some things around and fill in more around the mailbox. The gardening crew should also be coming by soon to spread our mulch. I’ll be showing you photos of our new retaining wall as soon as I take them. I remembered to do the “before” photos earlier this month, so I’m going to give myself partial credit for this show-and-tell task! Ha! 

We didn’t purchase the beautiful coleus plant shown in the photo above. I admire the striking hues of coleus plants, but regular pruning is necessary to keep them from getting leggy. I found this beauty at the Krohn conservatory in Cincinnati’s Eden Park. I’ve been transferring my vacation photos over to the computer and organizing them. Gracious me. I took too many, once again! 

It was a soggy day in Cincinnati when we visited Joan (of Joan's Journeys) a little over a week ago.  So the little point-and-shoot camera was put into action for our portrait. This was taken at the historic Union Station, and the cool backdrop is made out of carved and stained leather. Joan was so sweet and pretty, just like I knew she would be! Though the weather didn’t cooperate during our visit and she was fighting a cold, we had a wonderful visit with her. And she presented us with a basket generously filled with food products from Cincinnati (including Skyline Chili and buckeyes!) and artisan soap from one of her beach trips. It is always such a treat to meet up with a blogging friend!