Calm Before The Storm

The house seems very quiet now that things are back to normal after such a busy weekend.  The boys conked out after lunch and haven't moved since.  Ahhh, the luxury of silence.  Well, except for the snoring...

Today is very beautiful, just about perfect really, at least to me:  Clear, blue skies, gentle breeze, doors and windows open, and the temperature holding in the mid-70s.  Like I said: perfect.

However, tomorrow a bizarre weather system is supposed to hit the Northwest.  Heavy rains, snow in the higher elevations, hail, lightning, temps only reaching the mid-50s.  I think May and April changed places this year.  April was abnormally hot, now May is heading toward unseasonably cold wintery weather that is to last into next week.

So, considering the crap to come, I did some battening down, then wandered through the gardens taking photos in case things get demolished by the storms.

Oh, but first:  When we were out and about Saturday, my sister spotted this great oil painting that was exactly what I was looking for to replace the picture that hung on the wall over the staircase.  It was fairly dramatic and exciting to balance precariously on my tallest ladder, remove the old picture and hang the new without hurling down the stairs to my doom.  Thanks to Mom and my sister, I've lived to tell the tale.

I love my new painting:  Birch Trees...

Okay, now a few photos of my garden, before the imminent arrival of the violent and allegedly terrible freak storms coming tomorrow...

Looking up the back slope.  Snapdragons and blue, blue skies:

At the top of the garden, the lavender, wildflowers--mostly poppies at the moment--and my vegetables are going crazy in the sunshine.  Last week I planted squash, tomato and zucchini, one in each little raised box.  They can't be seen through the sea of poppies, but they are there and growing happily in their wee containers...

How wonderfully exotic and beautiful is this bloom?  I reminds me of Jamaica, or something from Africa...

 

The front of the house is more orderly, though no less flowery and has its own coolness.  I love the boulders, the wafting and ever-moving Feather grass, the rhodys, but especially the iris.

If you are a regular visitor, dear reader, you will know I often channel Georgia O'Keeffe when I photograph flowers, and have a life-long fascination for their inner lives.  Is it any wonder when you look at this?

Hopefully I won't actually lose any of these beauties, and the storm won't be as bad as expected, though I wouldn't mind a stretch of rain.  No mowing, weeding or watering.   I would most definitely vote for that little break in the routine...