I'm Ba-a-a-ack!

Yes, it has been four years since my last post.  For a brief time, I moved to Tucker, Georgia where I helped take care of baby granddaughters.  Those were good years, but last August I moved back to Douglasville where I also have a grandson, age 21, and a daughter, age 41.

Here's my plan:  I want to continue to write about Douglasville, Georgia, but instead of just writing about the beautiful flowers and other foliage, I want to take a broader view.  At the center of my posts will be Douglasville, of course, but this time around I wish to pull in some of my own personal interests such as my everyday life and hobbies.  I am in a new house which takes time to clean and decorate.  I still have frequent visits with granddaughters Ava and Violet, but I also knit, crochet, quilt, sew and read.

So what's new?  Many changes have taken place in Douglasville since 2009.  The economy dictated the closing of many stores and the opening of new ones.  I'm lucky, however, that my three favorite ones, Joann's Fabrics, Hobby Lobby and Michael's Craft Store, are still here and thriving.  When you can't afford to vacation, eat out or buy new cars or clothes, go to crafts for entertainment.  I think that's the message here.  I know I take advantage of coupons and discount stores more than ever.  I have even begun to use coupons displayed on my iPhone, a new for me.

In Tucker, Georgia, I was super blessed with a yard chocked full of magnolia trees, azalea bushes, a raging hydrangea bush and a camellia tree.  I rarely was without fresh flowers for displaying in the house.  In fact, here's one of the last bouquets gleaned from the yard shortly before I moved back to Douglasville.

As you can see, I'm still crazy for flowers.  So, I'm back and ready to roll again through the thoughts of one Douglasville, Georgia resident.

Myrtle Crepe

A little overcast today but so pleasant around seventy nine degrees and it is 11:04 am. We have not yet turned on the air conditioner. The doors have been open all morning.

All around town the crepe myrtles are blooming. Even though gardening experts say not to prune the crepe myrtle bushes, most people in Douglasville chop off the tops in the early spring (or is it fall?). It doesn't seem to make any difference. The pruned and the unpruned ones bloom profusely in July. The predominant colors are the rose and white ones.

Almost every month in Douglasville sees at least one major bloom. Maybe January and February are truly bare of flowers, but even so the dark greens of the cedars and the red and green of the nandinas are colorful. And there's always the pansies, right? In March, flowers start the show with the gorgeous, outrageous Bradford pear trees. They are huge tree balls of white blooms that make you weep they are so beautiful. I've tried to capture their beauty in pictures, but so far I haven't made it. And you might think it is too cold, but the daffodils pop up around the late part of March. The yellow daffodils kind of compete with the yellow of the forsythia at the same time. In April, the dogwoods show their stuff, and if you can find a pink dogwood, you just find a way to drive by often to look at its brilliance. Toward the end of April and on into May the azaleas glorify the area. It is not uncommon to find yards with huge blooming azaleas draped like antebellum dresses across the landscape. Also in April and May, cherry trees briefly but poignantly burst into bloom. In May the dominant flower is, of course, the magnolia. I love to look at the creaminess of the magnolia bloom, and if I have to, I sneak a bloom from someone's tree to place on my dining room table in a brandy snifter filled with water. It lasts for a few days. In June the daylillies dance around the town. There used to be a time when everyone had daylillies in their yard, but now I notice those yards are fewer and farther between. And now this month, the crepe myrtles take center stage. What comes next month? I don't remember, but I will report the event on this blog.