Hobbies #2 and #3

 For today's post I am going to share a little about 2 other hobbies I have...nature watching -puttering in my flowers and reading.

Many of these pictures have been taken over the past 2 weeks so the growth is showing more green than noted here.

I love to putter in my yard. My morning routine involves rising somewhere around 6:15. I like to give my body time to wake up and then I head out to the upper deck to check out the water and the flowers downstairs and whatever else I might see.

In fact one morning I was out and Gus and I saw a raccoon down on the ground about to go up the neighbor's yard. It was a little earlier that morning and just getting light. He heard me so he stopped to look up at Gus and me. I figured Gus would go nuts, but he was just standing by me looking down I think trying to figure out what it was. A cat? something else? I have a gate to keep him from running down the stairs until I am ready which kept him from tearing out after him.

I said hello to it and it stared at us for a moment longer and decided to crawl under the bottom deck. It explained why there was board missing from that side. He apparently goes under one side and comes out the other end. Sometimes you can see his prints on the shoreline.

If you have a computer that lets you enlarge you might be able to see his paw prints.

After I get my nature look I sit down for my Bible reading.

I love to then make me a coffee and wander downstairs to look at my roses.

I am still learning about growing roses in pots. Sometimes it is hit or miss on blooms and such, but I keep trying and learning. Jeff has some veggies in the hardware store buckets. 

You can tell it is still early morning. I will tell you I go out in my pajamas with a robe of course. I have a lot of retired people in my circle and I am positive I am up before anyone has thought about getting up.

Some mornings I will stroll on up to the front yard and check out the flowers. Other times I will go back in and get my chores done and go out mid morning for the front yard stroll. I often check it all again after supper. A watched pot never boils right?!

The bottlebrush shrubs lost every single leaf during the January snow. I have since researched that they can take the low temperatures. I think it was just snow sitting on them for such a long time. I have been patient and go out daily to watch them grow new leaves.

This picture was last week and they are still adding new leaves every day and I think I see more from morning to evening as well.

My day lilies are growing. There are some buds but no blooms just yet.

I pulled up my pansies and planted my vincas last week. I am still crushing on those orange pansies, but I love white vincas for the summer. I know many are planting pansies now, but here where I live they are a great winter flower. They fizzle out soon with the warm weather here. The vincas will get big and really cover the pot well.

Do you spy the amaryllis in the pot behind those vincas? Those are from my mother's yard and came from my hometown of Brewton. I had some picked out for Lindsay to take. She has not taken them and may not get them now. The ones I put in the ground have not surfaced yet, so if they didn't make it I will be trying again with these.

I do feel like some things are late this year. The little fuzzies on the live oaks are just not falling. You know they lose all their leaves and regenerate all new leaves in the spring. The trees are never bare.  It is the most amazing thing to me. It is like fall on the ground though at what most would consider an odd time. AND it always rains after those little fuzzies fall and make a mess.  

However, I am a tree hugger when it comes to live oaks. With their Spanish moss it is the most quintessential northern Florida look I can think of.

We got some patches of new sod this year too. We had three places where the grass had just died. Nothing seemed to help so we had someone come out and look. He scraped the dirt from those spots and patched in new sod. At the moment it seems to be working. Now this is one of those pictures where there is a lot more green. The grass is really greening up fast even though it has been a cool spring. The sunny weather has helped.

I am one of those that says spring waits on Easter to warm up.

I love to stroll around and dip down and pick up a weed now and then and just marvel at the beauty of nature. I find great enjoyment in trying to grow something.

It has been quite dry and sunny lately, so the water is just so clear. We are expecting rain next week.  this picture was mid morning one day this week right off the bottom deck. The water is so clear.

And here is the end of the dock. A friend's boat is tied up over here, but you can see how clear it is. Of course, this is over my head here, but I can see the bottom and the fishes that swim by.

I consider planting and puttering in my yard one of my top 3 hobbies. Cross stitching and reading are in that top 3. I am definitely a jack of all trades and master of none kind of person. I love to decorate the house as well. I still think of how to teach something and I am going to get a chance this summer because I am going to work with Tucker and Palmer a little each week on academics. Lindsay is not a teacher type. I told her I would gladly take on that and help keep my skills sharp. 

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I hopped in the car around noon on Wednesday. I had a window of time and the sun was shining so pretty. I just jumped in and drove out to the beach. Now I will tell you I make time each day to sit on the deck -top and bottom- but there is just something about the beach and the healing waters of the Gulf and the sugar white sands. 

I walked a long way. I didn't take my chair but just strolled along the water and back soaking it all up. I got in my 10,000 steps and felt soothed and energized as well. I feel closest to God there. He met me and helped.

The water was crystal clear so far out.

I shared some video on social media. You could hear the comforting sounds of the water rushing in. I wish everyone could have a bit of it. 

Now for hobby #3. I love to read. I tend to be sporadic and have eclectic taste. I don't really share all that I read here because I love nonfiction and some of it is political at times. I do not want to argue with anyone on that. We have lost the ability to have differing viewpoints these days so I keep that quiet. 

I have kept up with my reads since retiring in my planner. I have often thought how I wished I had kept a list of my reads over the years. Lindsay had tried to get me to do Goodreads to record them but I hesitated because I wouldn't be able to list them all. I decided to just delve in last year.  I had planners going back a couple of years so I entered them in and kept going. I really like it as a way to keep my list. I don't leave a review, but I do add the stars. My goal is just to record my reads.

The books I have really enjoyed this year are...

Under the Magnolias by T. I . Lowe

The Last Twelve Miles by Erika Roebuck

The Prayer Box by Lisa Wingate

Here be Dragons: Treading the Deep Waters of Motherhood, Mean Girls and Generational Trauma by Melanie Shankle

I have read The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins. I devoured the 3 other Hunger Games books, but I put this one off for some reason. I did like it but I think it is similar to some other books that I have tried to read in the past couple of years. My circumstances have made it hard to dive into some sad stuff. There is a new one out in this series and I would normally already have gone to the store to buy it, but I am just predicting I am going to have trouble reading it too. I want to read it but am not sure I can in my current circumstances. 

The above is not all my reads but some I can safely say are good if you are interested in the topics. Now Under the Magnolias was a little hard too, but really good.

Hobbies are important. They can be varied amongst us but that is what makes us interesting.

I hope you are having a good week and resting in the love of Christ...

Sandy