Showing posts with label Kwanzan cherry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kwanzan cherry. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Outside time and MOAs

Flowering cherryIt was a warm and very humid day today, and after an extremely sweat-inducing workout (not a bad thing!), I headed out on the deck to clean off what I call Paddy O’Furniture.

That was a workout in itself, because the pretty Kwanzan cherry tree that I love so much took a total dump on the table and chairs. All those lovely little pink petals added up to a gooey mess that got rained on and then baked on the glass table by the sun. I took my scraper out and got the worst of it off; then took a scrub brush to it and got almost all of it off; then Windex and a paper towel to finish it off. The chairs I sprayed with cleaner and scrubbed, and I left them out from under the eaves in the hopes that we’ll get a little bit of rain tonight and all the extra cleaner will be rinsed off. So Beth and Ken’s Bar & Grill is open for business! Who wants to come by to sit a spell and chat with me?

It was getting a little more overcast by then, but not completely, so I decided to take the new Stephen King book (just got it today!) out and read a bit while I caught some muted rays. It was still nice and warm, but with a breeze that felt really good. Tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer, close to 90°, and I look forward to a little more time out there before the rain moves back in. It would be a great time to plant some flowers, but I’m not going to plant anything until we get back from our Route 66 trip, so our kitty caregivers don’t have to worry about watering anything.

ArmAs for the MOAs (no, that’s not Moais), I’ve been trying to work on my Michelle Obama Arms. I had to lay off for a while because of wrist and elbow issues, but I’m trying to do light weights to tone. I’ve been fairly happy with the results, although I still want to get more defined. Yes, I actually flexed and took a picture in the mirror, which I’m somewhat embarrassed about, but this is about the only time you’ll see me do this (at least until I get MORE defined!). I don’t want to bulk up, but I like a little definition, and our First Lady is an inspiration to all of us who want shapely and well-defined arms. I’m trying to keep working my arms without hurting my wrists and left elbow, and I think I’ve found a way to do that. So here are my wanna-be Michelle Obama Arms...or at least one of them!


**One little joke here. Most of you won’t get this, but a few will. Some of you know that Sheeba “talks” to us. It usually sounds like Ken, or sometimes me. Well, after Ken got back from his most recent trip, we were all snuggled up on the couch, with Sheeba in between us, and Sheeba said, “Hey Dad? When you left on your trip, Mom thought that you’d abandoned us and left us destitute. So she started selling off my cat toys and her penguins in order to put food on the table for us.” I snorted! I will explain further...soon!

Friday, April 6, 2012

ID Update

Spring 2012cMystery solved!

A while back, Ken and I encountered a local botanist on a nature hike, and we have stayed in touch. So I sent Scott the Botanist pictures of our flowering tree and the tiny little lawn flower.


Hi Beth. Nice to hear from you! The first plant is a Prunus (cherry), but I can't say which species. I don't have any experience with horticultural plants, and this is definitely a cultivar of some sort. Looking at photos online, the flowers look right for a weeping cherry, but that's the best I can do. The second photo looks like Veronica polita (wayside speedwell), a common lawn weed.

I did a little further checking online, and it looks like our cherry tree is a Kwanzan cherry. One of the easiest flowering trees to grow, huh? Guess that explains why I haven’t managed to kill it yet. And as I mentioned on one of my Facebook groups, Sociopathy and Flowers, Wayside Speedwell is my new rock and roll name. Hey kids, rock and roll...rock on!

I’m very happy to have finally put a name to that tree. I knew it was some sort of cherry, but was never able to pin down exactly what kind. We’ve lived here over ten years, and I’ve always wondered what it was.

Speaking of cherry trees, if anyone is interested, USA Network will be showing a 50th anniversary presentation of “To Kill A Mockingbird” at 8:00 pm Eastern. President Obama will be introducing the movie, and we plan on watching it. It’s such a wonderful movie, and it’s been quite a while since I saw it.

That wasn’t a very good segue, was it?