Artistic Flower Arrangements

This year I decided to put come chicken wire around my peony plants to help keep them from toppling over when the flowers got too heavy.  Little did I know that my Peonies would mature to full bloom in what felt was a few days.  The day I first put the wire around the flowers, they were approximately 6 inches tall.  When I checked on them the next time (4 days later) they were almost to the top of the wire.  A few more days later each plant had over two dozen buds on it.  About a week later, lo and behold, my peonies were all in bloom in an astonishing period of time.  I have included photos below of what they looked like down the side of my driveway.  In all there are only twelve plants,  but as you can see, it looks like a whole lot more.  I really enjoy the beauty of this plant, I only wish they would stay in bloom longer!

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With all the plentiful rain this year, the trees have not been stressed out as in the past few years.  As a result the Autumn colors should be spectacular this year.  I can hardly wait, although it does mean summer is coming to an end.  This summer has been rather mild and never got really hot, so I can’t complain.  As soon as the trees begin turning here in Tennessee I will be sure to post some pictures.  In the meantime if any of you have Autumn photos you would like to send me please do, I’ll be happy to post them.

The picture below is one taken by a neighbor of mine a few years back of our lake.

Autumn on the Lake

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On Monday, 4/27/09 we had a really good scare in our community.  I live in a wooded area and most the lots are 1 acre or more.  Anyway, one of the homeowners smelled smoke and low and behold a fire indeed had started in a field near them.  During this time I was inside working on the computer when I heard sirens and thought oh, no one of our neighbors had taken a turn for the worse  and was being taken to the hospital.  I called one of my neighbors to find out what had happened and found out that instead a fire was engulfing some of the properties on their side of the complex.  By the time it was all done, we had 50 acres of our community burned by the brush fires.  (We were very fortunate that the fires remained near the ground and had not gotten up high into the tree tops.)  The next day I went out with hubby to see what had actually happened and the area looked like a battle zone.  I could not believe all the damage that was done to the land.  Thank the Lord that no homes were burned, even though the fire did come to within 30 feet of a few. Now I have a good understanding of  the devastation fire can do, even if it was small compared to what happens on the West Coast.  My heart goes out to all those folks that have lost everything they had in such a manner.  I have included some photos of  the area for all you to see.  My hat is off to the men and women who fight these fires, Thank You for saving our Community.

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