Big Sigh!!! Giddy is finally back home from her Most Excellent Adventure Down South, and grateful she is. Like Dorothy says "There's no place like home".We found this little garden gnome in Kentucky at a Garden Ridge store and I immediately fell in love with her - she looks just like me!!! Grey hair and all! She was welcomed home by Boo, our porch guard dog. Boo is the reincarnation (in resin) of our beloved Black Lab, Boudreaux who passed away several years ago.
I must say though, that our nation is one of beauty. We traveled through Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Western Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia; each state had it's own beauty, be it lush forests, mountains, rivers, lakes, etc. Not one state failed to impress us in one way or another.
This picture was taken about 5 a.m. in Vermont on our way home. Moonlight in Vermont is truly magical!After enjoying the beautiful green bluegrass of Kentucky, the Redbuds and Dogwoods in bloom in Tennessee and the rolling, green hills of the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, it was quite a shock to come back home to several inches of snow and huge snowpiles in the parking lot of the grocery store! I was planning on doing a lot of cleaning up in the garden, but alas, I was only able to do so yesterday afternoon as today finds us with yet another 3 inches of heavy wet stuff on the ground and a constant spitting of snow and sleet. Enough, already!!!! I have PLANS!!!
Poor Giddy's first day home found her ankle deep in snow instead of plants bursting forth in bloom. Welcome to Maine, dear Gnome! Fear not, though, as we will, however, have the last laugh when the rest of the country melts in the heat and humidity of the summer while we will be sitting in the door yard enjoying the cool ocean breezes and the sounds of happy little birds chirping in the trees.
There is much to be accomplished in the garden before the inevitable onslaught of the dreaded black flies. Once the temperatures are above 50 degrees, they descend upon us in hordes and DEET becomes our best friend. We have tried countless other remedies, but only DEET and a good net for my gardening hat will deflect them. I seem to be getting a bit immune to their bite, however, as I don't develop huge welts anymore when I'm bitten. Gratefully, they don't stick around too long and we only have to deal with them for about six weeks.
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5 comments:
I love your little gnome! I hope you are able to avoid the black flies, it sounds like a plague!
I know about missing the south, I get lonesome for it, too. I wish more folks talked like I do in the south. I am terrible Yankee and everywhere I go, I stand out like a purple thumb!
Welcome home. I love the garden gnomes! I have one that sits on my porch. A friend who is Australian saw it last summer and said in Australia, the big thing is to swipe people's garden gnomes and take them on trips - sending postcards 'home' to the owners from the gnomes. He says it happens a lot!
Your little gnome is adorable.
I know about black flies, too...not looking forward to them at all. It's usually about June 1 when they hit here.
Glad to hear you are safely home.
Welcome home to Maine. Did you get home in time for our last round of snow?
I like the gnome, she is lovely.
Most of my clean up is usually done in the garden BEFORE the black flies! Hope that happens this year.
Thanks for all your comments. Yes, we did get home in time for the last onslaught of snow, and it looks as though I'll not be able to get in the garden until next week sometime. There is so much to do and so little time. We normally get the black flies from early May until about mid June, but who can say about these things.
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