A look around my yard this morning with coffee in hand. A Morning look is my favorite as the sun shines  through the trees

the flowers on this azalea remind me of foxglove blooms

I believe I like the color of this one the best,  I call it rusty red color.

grand daughters play horse showing beyond grouping here,  if there wasn't room for the play horse, I am afraid I would have to lose a few azaleas.

 Hosta's,  I am so surprised they weren't taken out by voles or moles.

A second cup of coffee starts here.

Fossil beach

Today was the perfect day for getting out in the yard,  taking care of plants  that needed to be put in the ground and some weeding.   Instead we took a ride to Westmoreland state park Va.  to check it out and see if it is a place we would want to go back to, maybe stay a night or two in a cabin.   Take our chairs out on the beach, read  and just relax.
About 1 1/2 miles along the Potomac river,  the park extends.  Neighboring it is 1, 299 acres of the former homes of George Washington and Robert E. Lee.  Stratford hall is minutes away.
Here are some pictures of our trek to fossil beach where fossilized sharks teeth can be found.

the bench you can see is just right before we head down a sharp decline.

an 8/10 of a mile round trip hike,  doesn't sound like much but it was something I wasn't used to.  Down the paths to the beach was fine,  but coming back up was a whole different matter.   Will have hiking shoes the next time.

this gets steeper

Paradise as soon as we come around the woods to the beach.

Can't really see them well with my cell phone camera but there are eagles in the trees ahead on the cliff top.

Both sides are beautiful colored cliffs

trees that fell from the cliff behind me

Will be back

friday favorites

Pink Lily

The Lily I received at Easter from Derek and Miranda is scenting the foyer with  a sweet fragrance and much beauty.

Plants for the yard

Stopped by a local garden center to see what was growing and every plant there I liked.   I picked a few but will be back to get more when I ready a place for them and some will have to be put in some rat wire in the ground to keep voles and moles away.
I've not grown a Hellebore before and understand deer do not eat them so I got one to try.  The little seeds drop off so I will have more next year and that will be a good thing.

A rose color I like and I like the white ones too.  Will have to see how this one works here.

I will mix this one with some yellow petunias

coral bells - I like the little bell shaped flowers and they should start blooming in June.

zinnias - always grow when nothing else will

chocolate mint is coming back again for the forth year - I crush it and put in yellow cake mix.  Not bad for tea either.

chives

A lilac bush that came from a bush of my mothers about 15 years ago.   It has been moved three times, but always springs back.   I think it likes to travel.

If they grow,  should be colorful

gonna try these again and will put these in wire in ground to protect from little critters.

I have grown these before and found the scent to be stronger than others.

Happy Thursday
betsy

Finally getting back to work on this old dresser that was thrown out because  the drawer slides popped off and broke.   I glued them back in and glued the top back down.   Sanded and now working on the top finish and hopefully finish painting the sides by the weekend.

Experimenting on making  the top to look a little like marble,  with practice it will get better.  

So far this is what I have done.

painted the top a satin white first 

I just dabbed white then grays and white again until I got it looking like I wanted

I see that sanding is needed  to make a smoother finish 

I used a feather from a feather duster because that is what I had, not the greatest and resorted back to using a skinny paint brush to do the lines.  Painting the lines would have looked much nicer if I had glaze to mix with the paint.   I will make sure I have that the next time.

well back to finishing and hopefully post it here this week when its done. 

Need to soften some lines on the top I see.

Our Easter day

Our little bunnies arriving and checking out the basket left at Opa and Oma's house

Adalyn in my favorite  patent leather shoes  for Easter 

We always got as children new patent leather shoes for Easter along with a hat and gloves and of course a patent leather purse

Genevieve and her cute little self in her new patents too.

Genevieve decided she wanted outside - Opa brought her back in

They made record time tearing into their Easter goodies

Genevieve put her bucket down, cause when she found eggs , she would pop them open and eat the candy.  Mom held her bucket of empty eggs.  

Adalyn

We had ham with other extras but this is our favorite,  mac in cheese and Miranda's green bean casserole,Opa's very favorite

Tulips opening more and brighten the table

Pretty Lillie's from Derek and Miranda

Now for cake

It's a yellow poke cake with raspberry and apple jello

We had a wonderful Easter