quote monday

                                    Be bold enough to use your voice, 
                                 brave enough to listen to your heart, 
                      and strong enough to live the life you’ve always imagined.
                                                                   ~unknown~

Well...May was a whirlwind of a month! I will catch up with myself and my blog and all the other things that I need to catch up on. Or...I'll take a nap. 

Happy Monday!
Happy June!

quote monday

             Mothers hold their children’s hands for a short while, 
                                  but their hearts forever. 
                                                                                         ~Author Unknown



I had a very nice Mother's day yesterday. Austin and Rachel took me out for a nice leisurely brunch and then we went to a garden store and bought a few plants to spruce up some of my flower pots. Later, we met up and listened to some pretty bagpipe music , courtesy of Rachel's boyfriend....a hidden talent! And then, a late dinner. 

Thanks for the nice day my children!!

Photo above courtesy of Leah. This was sent to me all the way from Germany, where she is on her first stop in her grand adventure. 

that Hawaiian plant and a letter of sorts to my mom

 This plant sits in our living room in front of the tall windows. The last time I wrote about it, it had just made its way to my house here in Arizona. This plant is over 35 years old, starting from a bulb a high school friend gave to me after her vacation to Hawaii. My mom cared for the plant for all of those 35 plus years, until she moved to Texas and declared the plant mine. You can read the original post I wrote by clicking here. At the time, I wasn't sure what it was called. After our recent trip to Hawaii,  I learned it is a variety of the Star Lily .  Back when I wrote the original post, I promised my mom that I would keep her posted if it ever bloomed under my care. 

I had a discussion about my plant with a local Hawaiian resident while we were there. I told him the whole story of how I got the bulb and how it has only bloomed one time. He told me to water it like crazy and it would bloom. So, I returned home and immediately started watering it more frequently. I gave it a dose of plant food as well. And yep...just like he said.... a blossom stalk appeared.

I was pretty excited to say the least.

 So Mom, as I said in my original post that I wrote about this plant...this post is for you.

I snapped a picture every day or two. It didn't take long before it got quite tall and I was careful to turn the plant once in awhile so it wouldn't lean towards the windows too far to seek the sun. My plan worked for awhile...

...until this happened.

                                 Why does everything have to be so snake-like around here?

                        It really was interesting to see how it had changed from the day before.
                         And, because I had never seen it bloom, I had no idea what to expect.

             Finally, one of the buds opened. Sure enough, as its name suggests, it looks like a star.
                                       The fragrance was very lily-like...sweet .

It is obvious that it likes the sunlight. I've had it outside on the patio before, but as the wind blew the leaves would get bent, so, even though it isn't an ideal light situation, I believe it will stay right where it is at.

                                 After all, it must be somewhat happy since it bloomed!

I promised to take care of it ...and I was determined to get it to bloom again. I'd say I was successful....or just lucky. So, Mom...as Mother's Day is just around the corner...Happy Mother's Day. Here is a bouquet of flowers for you!!

Oh...so you wish you would have been here to see it bloom? Well guess what? When you arrive next Wednesday for Rachel's graduation, you'll get to see it do just that!!!

 When I got home from Texas, I found another stalk was working its way up. You WILL get to see it bloom! How lucky is that?

Happy Mother's Day!

quote monday

                 Every day may not be good, 
            but there's something good in every day.

                                                                                                  ~Author Unknown

Why does it seem there are more Mondays than any other day?

It's just another Manak Monday.

~norma~

tiny nest

Last week, when I was out on the front patio watering, a little hummingbird kept flying around my head and up into the magnolia tree. Yesterday, the same thing happened and I could hear it fluttering (humming) in and out of the tree. So, I looked up and searched around the leaves with my spying eyes. Sure enough, out near the end of one of the lower branches, I spotted the tiniest little nest.

With the tiniest little hummingbird sitting in it. I stood and watched for awhile and she really didn't seem to mind that I was there. I went in and grabbed my camera with the long zoom lens and snapped a few pics. She just sat up there as proud as she could be.

It really is amazing how intricately woven her nest is. It's so soft looking.

 I think she gathered lots of the fluffy "cotton" stuff that recently bloomed. It is a native Arizona plant that grows wild in the desert. I'm not sure what it is called but, the fluff that comes off  is almost as bad as the cotton that flies around after a cottonwood tree blooms. When I told Chuck it looked like she had used that cotton fluff (that has been a nuisance around here)...he said he was glad it was good for something!  I watched her through our bedroom window this morning using her long beak to weave more into it. She used her beak like a long needle!

While she was away from her nest, Austin, with his six foot stature and arms that can reach forever, held his cell phone up into the leaves and snapped this photo.

                                        Two sweet little eggs in a very soft and cozy nest.

Today, every time I peek up there, I can see her sitting diligently on her tiny little nest. Too cute!

This is a busy time of year for all the birds around here. They are flitting and nesting and at times acting a little crazy. Two doves in particular, have been acting all sorts of strange and creepy today. I've gotten some photos that I will share soon. I mean...Alfred Hitchcock kind of creepy! When I told Austin about it earlier and he looked around to see my remedy, he said it kinda looked like a crazy lady lived here. Well, I just sent him a pic from my phone (because they were back again) and he texted back and said "what the heck?" Wait until he sees the video. Don't call ME crazy!

Ok...call me crazy...but if you were to see the rattlesnakes, the tarantulas, the bobcats, the gila monsters, the king snakes, the lizards, giant bugs, javalina, scorpions, and these crazy birds...you might try some juvenile crazy lady tactics too! Oh, and how about this most recent treat while casually eating our lunch on the back patio the other day...

 Just slithering along the fence...

 ...and then coiled himself up in the trees...

A nice long Sonoran Gopher snake. (Chuck looked it up because we hadn't seen that particular kind before.) His coloring looks different in the shade. P.S. Chuck took that close up photo with his phone camera. The other two I took, with my zoom lens, from far , far away.  Good news though...they eat rodents!

I'd like to leave you with a more pleasant image.

The hummingbird is more enjoyable to look at.
So peaceful and cute.

Oh... I'm not a crazy lady...yet.

quote monday

Our kids played outside a a lot while growing up. I only hope that some of those life qualities were learned while swinging, sliding, digging in the dirt, dino-land building, playing with grasshoppers, bike riding, flower picking, hiding, lawn tractor riding, barn dancing, gardening, leaf raking and jumping, snowman making, sidewalk chalking, sledding, fort building, treasure hunting, gardening, pasture hiking, sprinkler running, footballing, baseballing, basketballing, soccering, volleyballing... the list goes on.

Get outside today. It might help your vocabularying.

Happy Monday.
~norma~

from the desert

I wish you a Happy Easter!