Taking time to stop and smell the roses. And everything else I can sniff.

[stoney321]

So before all the sinus roto-rootering happened, I had what my family lovingly called the nose of a truffle pig. I could root out the source of any foul odor (instead of truffles, woe,) no matter how faint. It's gotten to the point where I get a look on my face, whip around in search of dirty socks, toots, dog breath, illegal stink bugs in jars squirreled away in bedrooms, and my husband would laugh and say that "Mama's got the Shine!" (Joke for people that have read The Shining.)

Now that everything is cleaned out upstairs in my sniff-boxer everything BUT the stink smells is intensifying. This is good, because I worried that maybe I was smelling a dilute version of ALL things, not just the foul. If you're wondering if this morning I stroked the side of my coffee cup, eyes closed, a smile on my face, you'd be right. <3 When my gardenia and ginger plants bloom later this year, I might just stroke out from the happiness of the Full Bodied Flavor of Flower.

Speaking of flowers, I took some pictures of the first blooms showing up in my garden. (Not too image heavy - six pics)

With quince all a'flower and peach blossoms a'bower'd
And mountain laurel all a'glow.


My bluebonnets grown from seed - they've almost been evergreen for me. I've had the leaves for months. One of my all-time faves, and not just because it's my state's flower. The blue is electric when it's all blossomed out.



Some Dutch iris a friend gave me that I just can't seem to get rid of. There's nothing wrong with it, I just need to add the blue/yellow variety alongside it so the faint blue in this variety pops a bit more. Hardy as hell. I'm a big fan of bulbs.



My flowering quince that came with me from our old house. I've since pulled off some babies and transplanted them - this is supposed to flower first, then leaf out, but it does it backwards every year. My guess is how quickly we warm up is the culprit. I loooooove the apricot color of the blossoms. There's a blue juniper behind it, and it looks so pretty in contrast.



My mountain laurel. This is a slow grower (it's grown two inches in two years) but it doesn't need anything. Plus, the blossoms smell like Grape Nehi, I swear. <3



Our weetiny peach tree in the back. The mockingbirds got to the peaches first last year, so this year I will fool them with netting. Fortunately the tree is still shorter than me, so that won't be a hassle to do. (I bought some cheap-o netting for 80s style dresses at a fabric shop for pennies on the dollar. Way cheaper than the landscape netting.) Next year this will be moved and espaliered against a new fence we plan on building.



And lastly, our saucer magnolia. It's a humdrum tree once it leafs out, but in spring? These huge fuchsia blossoms are so pretty. I moved this from an inconspicuous corner in the back yard to up front by my fountain (which also was moved.)

I see all the other plants budding or leafing out and I'm getting all aflutter for plants and blossoms because I am a dork.

Am I the only one aside from janedavitt that is watching Chuck? One little thing last night that I loved was Chuck tailing the scientist, then dropping to a knee to fake-tie his laces on his cast. Little things like that crack me up. The "will they/won't they" aspect of the show is getting weary, but I still like it.

I want some creamy soup for lunch today. Mmmm and crusty bread. Suggestions?

Comments

[kseenaa.livejournal.com]

Such gorgeous flowers. :-) I am not much for gardening. In fact, I hate it. But I love to look at what other people grow. Not to mention smell them. Thanx for sharing them pictures there. :-)

Good to hear your nose has been so improved! :-D Most feel good, no?

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Feels GREAT to properly smell things! And there'll never be a lack of flower pics in this LJ... LOL.

[dampersnspoons.livejournal.com]

Them's some garjiss flars, Larra!

For a good soup recipe, I found one that uses garbanzo beans as a base. It sounds damn yummy. http://pinchmysalt.com/2008/02/07/the-accidental-soup-recipe-chick-peas-ginger-and-coriander-oh-my/

Or, roast some tomatoes, onions and garlic, throw 'em in a pot and mash 'em, toss in some fresh basil and rosemary, cream, and whip that bastard into shape. Cook. Eat. Poop.

I am calling you later. If I do not today, it's because I'm getting stuff organized before we meet with C-dog's parental units for his b-day dinner.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Oooh, that garbanzo bean soup sounds good. I have La Madeline's tomato basil soup recipe and I love it, but we made it so much over the winter that I'm burned out on it. I want like, beer-cheese soup or cream of carrot. Hmm. Anything sounds good, rilly.

I wanted to know if Christ was off tomorrow so I could take you both to lunch - thoughts? Calling would be good, too.

HI BREF.

[minstrel666.livejournal.com]

*sneaks away from work*

I watched Chuck a couple of times during this winter break when I was back home. Alas, I cannot follow it now, as I have no TV here.

*goes back to work*

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Aww, sorry about the no TV! Now you just have to read books. Bleh. ;)

[turnonmyheels.livejournal.com]

So pretty. Only daffodils are blooming here. They're very pretty and sunny-faced and I luff them.

I too, watch the Chuck. I'm oh-so weary of the will they/won't they, but I do *truly* love all other parts. ::draws hearts::

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

I used to grow daffodils at my old place, but they have such a short bloom time here (a week, maybe two if you're lucky) that I don't bother anymore. Ditto on tulips, which is saddening as they are one of my all-time faves.

Every time Adam Baldwin's Agent Casey grunts in disapproval, my toes curl. I love him. The Nerd Herd? Love them. I want Chuck and Sarah to go ahead and get together and try and make it work/have problems arise for something NEW already...

[kwizbit.livejournal.com]

It's that time again! stoney321 has started her Garden Posts! I love the Garden Posts. Thanks for sharing with us. The flowers are gorgeous, I can't wait to see the gardenia -- I love that scent *inhales*

Oh, and I'm glad your sniffer is working, hee!

ETA: I hope you don't mind that I added you to my del.icio.us network! I'm in need of some awesome websites.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

WHEE!! I'm glad you like them! I should have LOADS coming up as I've moved a bunch of things, added more, made a whole new shade bed, on and on. :)

Hahaha, ME TOO! I only THOUGHT I knew the greatness that is coffee brewing. I had smelled only a hint of its beauty... HEE.

[fiveandfour.livejournal.com]

There used to be this cafe across the street from my office that made the best creamy chicken and wild rice soup. Once they sold the business and new owners took over, all of the things I loved weren't as good any more. (It's amazing how a recipe can make completely different products in different people's hands.) Anyway, I haven't had that soup in years, but I think about it a lot. That now-mythical soup would be great with crusty bread.

Since that's not possible, how about a nice cream of tomato instead? (With a sprinkling of fresh-cracked pepper and dill. Yum.)

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Oooooh, I haven't have creamy chicken and wild rice soup in AGES! Mmmm. You're right: that would be fabulous with some crusty bread to sop up the last drops.

I'm rooting around for some leftover cream of carrot soup I made this winter and stuck in the freezer. It has a hint of ginger in it, too. GLAH I LOVE YOU FOOD. <3 <3 <3

(I was just telling my sister up there that I am burned out on cream of tomato soup because I love it so much I made it every week this winter. I need a break to date other soups for a bit... hee.)

[brunettepet.livejournal.com]

What gorgeous flowers. All I've got are a bunch of bulbine, which are hardy as heck but have no aroma. Our mountain laurels started blooming a couple weekends ago. I love their grape-y fragrance!

How wonderful to be able to smell more than just noxious odors!

Minestrone and some crusty bread sounds good to me. I think I have some in the freezer.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

I had bulbine in my old garden, but you're right: no scent. We also get just a leeeetle too cold up here for it to come back every year, so I nixed it.

I planted a mess of sweet peas to grow up a cage I made for my phone box. I'm so excited for those to bloom. Holy Gorgeous Smell!

Minestrone! I seriously love soup. I could eat that every day and not be sad in my mouth, trufax.

[wickedsin.livejournal.com]

I love Chuck and I wish they'd just let him and Walker be together

and I did not like the previews for next week

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

i want them to hook up, too. I think it would be interesting to see them try and have a relationship amidst all the spy work. Also, Chuck is a total babe, I want him kissing. :D

[stephanierb.livejournal.com]

Beautiful flowers!

Oh no, you're not the only two who watch Chuck. It is appointment television for me and my favorite show on television at the moment. The will they/won't they is tiring, for me at least, because it seems clear that for the time being, they won't, and I'd like to see them go somewhere else for a bit and let it rest. They don't have to make this the Chuck/Sarah show every single week.

But I'm slightly biased because I love Casey and I think they're wasting Adam Baldwin at the moment. I would love to see a few episodes that focus on Chuck and Casey working together, because those two are comedy gold.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

We love watching Chuck - now that Dancing With The Stars is on, though, it's on DVR for later family viewing. :D

I LOVE CASEY. I want Casey more prominently featured, too. Then again, I'm a huge Adam Baldwin fan, so he's always welcomed on my screen. I love the Chuck/Casey dynamic, too. You're right: pure hilarity.

[swmbo.livejournal.com]

I want to go visit your garden (right now!)

I had soup for lunch! But not creamy soup, it was one I made that had 3 kinds of beans (lentils, great northern and black-eyed peas) and then onion, celery, sliced grape tomatoes, carrots, spinach and a can of tomatoes, plus a little chicken stock and then Assorted Random SpicesTM. And a splash of tabasco sauce.

And my belly is now all happy - even if I ate my lunch at 11:15! WHOOPS. Lets see how hungry I am by 3/4.

I am not watching Chuck exactly, but I sort of am! I'm just really behind, I like it, but I'm only halfway through S1 and moving slowly.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

*pats cushioned seat next to me* I have lots of birdies flittering in my new fountain I put in this weekend, too. <3

Oh, holy NUM your soup sounds delish!! I'm a big fan of tabasco, too. (Have you tried the Chipotle Tabasco? I use that straight as a dip for steak. SO YUM.)

Chuck is fun. It's just silly good times, but Adam Baldwin is always fantastic. I love the real nerd stuff that comes out on the show, especially after reading that they guys that play Chuck, Morgan, and the rest of the Nerd Herd correct things the writers put in, because they're all REAL nerds. :D

[denelian.livejournal.com]

i have a total black thumb - i mean, i killed KUDZU (which i was trying to grow for a science fair project on controling kudzu...)

these are absolutely beautifu. also, if you ever want to, i think you might have a new career as a photographer. very beautiful pics.

thank you for brightening my day. also, for reminding me that there is wonderful Black Bean soup at Pinera today, that sounds sooooooooo good...

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

I normally take TERRIBLE pictures, I just lucked out today with excellent subjects. :D

Mmm, black bean soup! I love that, esp. if it has some lentils and a little chopped spinach. NUM. Okay, I really need to get some FOOD. My belleh is rumblin...

[crazydiamondsue.livejournal.com]

Love the bluebonnets. Not a soup eater or a Chuck watcher, so no help there. I'd forgotten about your truffle nose. Glad it's not all stank! Yes, I am typing one handed while I prop a bottle on a boob.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Wait, wait, wait. How did I not know after all these years that you're not a soup eater?!? Like, not even stews? WHAT!?

I'm sad in my pants about this, Sue.

I always called my boobs "nature's little pillows." Or when I just had a baby (and they were massive) "nature's big honkin' tables." :D

[tabaqui]

Oooooooh, oh pretty. I love spring flowers the most, i think.
:)

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I love spring LEAVES the most. Leetle bright green buds popping all over the place? That electric green color of new blades of grass?

(Mostly because Spring is so short here, I try to not get too emotionally attached. Hahaha. Now, SUMMER... That's when my glads and roses and gardenias and just about everything else pops out.)

If I lived just a bit more north where I could have a few months of Spring, I think I'd go bananas with the happy. Tulips! Hyacinths! Daffodils! <3 <3 <3

[copykween.livejournal.com]

Ohh, love the flowers! And I REALLY love the smell of Mountain Laurel flowers!!! There is a definite grape smell, for sure. Nothing is blooming for me yet, but lots of things are poking through the ground. I'm looking forward to seeing all the spring wildflowers, too.

I LOL'd when Chuck "tied" his cast, too LOL. And you're right...the angst with Sara is getting old. As is Ellie's constant NAGGING. Oy!

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Isn't the mountain laurel smell so great? I totally want a grape Nehi right now, but after my post yesterday about the evils of soda.... Ahahaha.

Oooh, I love the way it looks when little babies are poking up through the ground. My ginger is starting to do just that. Little red and green swirled points bursting out of the compost. <3

I loved him tying his cast! I bet you diamonds to donuts that he came up with that on his own, too. Oy, Ellie's nagging, yes. More Awesome and Chuck interactions would be great, too.

[empresspatti.livejournal.com]

Beautiful garden.

Had my sinus surgery yesterday. Am high on drugs, packed till Thursday and still bleeding. I am so sick of the gauze pad. Got a polyp off my throat too, so the weight loss opportunities the next two weeks are endless.

Long way of saying that your recovery encourages me.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It's so barren out there, I just can't wait for everything to flower and unfurl.

Oh, honey! I hope the pain pills are keeping you sane. That gauze strip under the nose was a pain the tuchus, but it won't be there much longer. I only had to wear mine for two or three days, but you had more extensive surgery, so maybe four or so?

Hahahaha to the weight loss. LOL! I dropped four pounds over the course of two weeks from my surgery to now, and mind, I'm not complaining. I see many delicious smoothies in your future...

And I sniffed a blossom today and I SMELLED IT. I know you'll get how important that is. :) Get lots and lots of sleep! I wish you the speediest recovery!

[soulwhispers.livejournal.com]

Chuck! <3
I'm still happy about them going undercover in the suburbs. :)
And I love how shippy his sister is about them.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

I loved the suburban undercover ep! Everyone all cheerful and evil, hahahaha.

I want funny Chuck/Casey moments, I won't lie. I love their bickering. :)

[reiseohneende.livejournal.com]

Oooh I love bluebonnets! I miss them so much ever since I moved to Georgia. I didn't know you lived in Texas - now I'm jealous of that to go along with my jealousy of how pretty you are. ^_^

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Bluebonnets might be in my top 5 flower of all time. I have some Texas bluebells that will knock your socks off, they're so vibrant. I was sad about not having bluebonnets when I lived in Utah - nothing like driving down I-45 or I-35 and seeing that beautiful swath of blue along the roadside.

Aww, shucks, thanks.

[julia-here.livejournal.com]

We're watching Chuck at my house; I'm not involved in many fannish conversations right now for reasons of Too Fucking Much Reality, but I enjoy it; the spousal unit is enthralled, being that it is, at the bottom, a story of his people, the Nerds and Geeks (Morgan, Lester, and Jeff are the real heroes, you know?). I find it entirely clever and lovable, and wish it were secure in renewal.

Julia, needing to get out and check cattle and yet too sick to move until the damned pills get done fighting it out

[julia-here.livejournal.com]

Also, lovely flowers in general; do you have a Latin binomial for your Mountain Laurel, as that's out of phase with my local common name "Mountain Laurel" and whatever it is I want some- gorgeous, gorgeous blue and silver!

Julia, my Star Magnolia, which should be in bloom, is sullenly wrapped in its furry sepals; it was snowing yesterday, which is just all kinds of wrong.

[anelith.livejournal.com]

Those flowers are just the thing I need to look at right now. Outside my window is still all SNOW. But at least it's sunny right now.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Hi, my sweet. I send you love and hugs.

[setauuta.livejournal.com]

Pretties!

I'm a big fan of Chuck, though I think we're about three weeks behind right now. Thank heavens for DVRs. It's gotten to the point that my husband and I are only home one night a week, if that. Craziness!

I saw a really good recipe for potato soup (with BACON!) over on cooking yesterday. It looked marvelous.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Mmmmm, that's just how I like to make potato soup, too! (I put cheese in the broth as well, and top it with chives and a leeetle bit of sour cream. HOGOD SO GOOD.)

That's how it is with a lot of shows for the Mr. and I. Friday night is catch up on TV night, because we know how to party. ;)

[crevette.livejournal.com]

I love Chuck. And I cannot wait for the day that Morgan discovers the Castle.

Because you know it's coming, right?

I love the Buy More crew with the fire of a thousand suns. Lester and Jeff and their powers of repulsion FTW!

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Ahahaha, their power of repulsion! I love how the writers mirror the spy world with the Nerd Herd, too.

I cannot WAIT for Morgan to discover the Castle. :D

[viciouswishes.livejournal.com]

Makes me wish things were blooming here, but we're currently having freezing weather instead. *stares at the pretty*

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

that was my #1 motivation for posting some flowers, I know most of y'all are still in snow and cold. <3

[entrenous88.livejournal.com]

Beauteous flowerses! This gives me hope for spring.

So glad your schnozz is in working order for the good smells!

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Spring! It's coming, I feel it in my BONES. <3 <3 <3

Have we talked about Bakerella before? Because if not, hogod her leetle cuppie cakes are so cute and nommable!!

*Sniffs your glorious hair*

[abusing-sarcasm.livejournal.com]

I know it's past lunch, but if you're still looking for recipes, you HAVE to check THIS (http://www.box.net/shared/gots5q5z8g) out. It's the "Fandom Cook Book" compiled by calanthe_fics. Coolest idea ever. :D

*huggles*

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Oooh, thank you for that! DOwnloading as I type!

[pernickety.livejournal.com]

That iris is gorgeous! So many colors. I know I say this every time, but: YOUR GARDEN IS SO BEAUTIFUL I'M GOING TO LOSE MY MIND.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

I mentioned up there that I needed to put some blue/yellow dutch irises in my garden, and guess what just bloomed this afternoon? I forgot that I had done that already... Lol.

COME TO MY GARDEN!! We can oogle the baby cucumbers, sniff the tomatoes, marvel at all the excessive thyme taking over, then drink good liquor.

OH! And I discovered a grape vine in the back. ??? I didn't plant one, but it's definitely a grape! WTH? Vino in 10 a few years! :D