Mardi Gras and Camellias

This weekend was spent at Krewe Den working with the Costume Committee.  I love working on costumes and the do-dads associated with costumes.  The float is looking great.  It's all coming together.  I'm having more fun this year during the Mardi Gras season than I've had for several years.  I think it's because all of the krewe is getting together at Krewe Den to work on the float and costumes and we are even having dance practice at Krewe Den.  We all have such a good time together.  It is a special time.

Our young krewe member, Monette, turned 40 last week.  We gave her a surprise party yesterday.  Several of the girls went in together and bought her a krewe jacket.  She loved it.  The cake was beautifully decorated with mermaids and under the sea motif.  Best of all, she really was surprised.

Our Queen Doris XX also got her krewe jacket this past week.  It's hard to believe this krewe has been together for 20 years.  I've been with them for about 7 years now.  It's a great krewe and a great season.

Of course, with the beautiful weather we have been having, both George and I have a serious case of spring fever.  We have been working in the yard and in our gardens everyday.  The cabbage is growing.  The onions are growing.  We are having more broccoli for dinner tonight.  The oregano is up.  The radishes and lettuce are growing but not ready to harvest.  The garlic is looking beautiful.  The chard is beautiful.  On top of that we have planted our seeds for the spring garden.  The camellias are blooming and are beautiful, both the pink and the red.  In fact, George is out in the yard now planting more seeds.  Sure hope they grow.

I need to get back to embroidery.  Have a good day:>)

Is This Spring?

Our neighbor's company arrived from Pennsylvania with kayakes strapped to the top of the SUV.  They said it was freezing up north.  So, I'm glad we are in sunny Florida.  Although we've had our share of cold weather this winter.

Spring fever has overcome me.  The past couple of days have been gorgeous and I'm hoping and praying that spring is here and winter is gone.  We assessed the winter damage to the yard and garden.  Some things are budding and some things we are praying over and hope they survived. 

We planted the asparagus two years ago and the instructions said to let it grow without harvesting it for two years, then we could start harvesting each year.  Last year everytime we looked at the asparagus there were new sprouts and it was so tempting to pick.  However, we were obedient to the instructions.  Over the past few weeks we've had 3 little asparagus sprouts that we've harvested and nothing else.  The one batch of asparagus plants on the south side of the house haven't had any shoots.  Asparagus is supposed to like the cold, so, I'm hoping it survived and will provide lots of tasty asparagus for our table this year and years to come.  It's just not looking real good right now.

We've been eating the lettuce, baby carrots, onion tops, parsley, and broccoli lately.  This is my first time growing lettuce other than iceberg.  I expected large plants but they are actually rather small.  I thought that they were stunted.  We went out to eat the other day and I was looking at the salad bar and their romaine lettuce looks just like mine, same size and everything.  In that case, I guess our's is doing good.  It does taste good. 

The pansys are blooming.  They are so pretty and colorful.  Such a nice plant to have during the winter and spring.  On those days where there is nothing but overcast skies and frigid temperatures, the pansies sit in their pots bright yellow, purple, blue, and red.  It's nourishment for my soul.

Garden and yard plants should start budding soon and the landscape should turn lush.  The proof of this is in the blueberry bushes planted last fall.  Look at the buds.  Sassy the Satsuma is doing fine, too.

The parsley is unbelievable.  I cut back the old, harvested a bunch, and thinned out the plants and they are still beautiful.  Look above for the parsley picture.

Now we need to get out there and plant tomatoes, peppers, peas, and beans.

Enough of the garden.  This blog is about embroidery, although I do get carried away with the beauty of nature.  Staying in the nature theme, here is a beautiful pelican design embroidered on the back of a fleece jacket.  Now that is pretty.  The design is about 8" or 9" tall.