animals, gardening, Nature, Uncategorized, Weather

Amazing Azalea

60 Comments

Like a lot of folks, I am spending a bit of my time each day walking the dog.  I live in a great neighborhood for walking, lots of yards, a creek, the parkway.  I try to walk by a certain house each day, as I love the garden.  The tulips there have bloomed and I can’t wait to see how the garden is blossoming day by day.

Then we walk back, taking a different route each day.  Yesterday morning we walked by a house with the most amazing azalea bush out front.  As I was taking the photo, the owner came out with her dog so I was able to tell her how beautiful the bush is.  She agreed and we went on our way.  It was just a few minutes in the day, but I’m still smiling when I think of it.

Have you had a moment the last few days?

60 thoughts on “Amazing Azalea”

  1. i am new to this house so my own azalea bush got me yesterday
    last year a girl at the health club and i discovered we lived on he same street when she asked which house i told her and she said oh the one with the beautiful blooming tree in the spring? i said i didnt know and when spring rolled around i discovered she was right. i do have a beautiful blooming tree in the front yard, this year i discovered its in front of the azalea bush

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      1. that one with the purple flowers.
        yesterday i downloaded an app that will identify plants for me. i know a bunch but now i will be able to know them all.

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  2. i am not much of a twitter person myself but i enjoy following people on twitter because a brief blip similar to what clydeused to do with his vignettes can make such an impact on your moment.
    anne lamott one of my favorite authors is a twitter person that I follow and appreciate here is one from a few days ago:
    “People who teach others to read or to navigate a library, who don’t give up on slow or challenged students, will get the best seats in heaven. I don’t know a lot, but I know this to be true.” ~@ANNELAMOTT

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  3. anybody touch base with clyde?
    we sure were lucky to have him.
    the first time i met dale at a coffee shop in his part of town we were chatting and he said “i dont think clyde is real.”
    clyde was such a sweeping brush stroke of stuff it was hard for dale to imagine he was not a composite invention of someones online imagination i guess.
    i hope hes doing well

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    2. On the other hand, when it comes to Baboons, it is hard to believe a blog of MPR listeners would carry on for 10 years, and here we are. In that respect, Clyde was a typical Baboon. I also hope he is doing well.

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      1. A friend told me, this is Clyde, about this bit of a thread here. I do not have a WP identity any more. My computer will not let me post. We will see if my iPad will.
        Dale did now believe I was real? There is an existential moment. Wonder what led him to that conclusion. Later he certainly knew because a volunteer dj on his station knows me well. What did I do to seem fake? An interesting funny thought to pursue. I am just a cyber construct, a rogue set of electrons, the scheme of an evil scientist or a clever comedian, a mass cross-the-ether hallucination.
        We are both in immense pain. Hers is the result of a dr. Making a clearly incorrect diagnosis which means she cannot have her lupus drugs. Try to get to another dr. In that field for a second opinion right now. What damage is being done to her health? Oops. Do not want to go on about us. My son’s company just folded. Many people in his field are unemployed. My teenage grandson is in depression from all this and loneliness. I could go on. Just making the point this pandemic hits us very hard. But we plow on day to day. Being silent on social media, except for this bit of self pity, is part of my survival.
        Stay healthy all.

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        1. So thankful you posted. I think Dale just meant you were extraordinary. You are, you know.

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  4. We have threerhododendrons in the back yard, one is pink and about to bloom, and the other two are white. They bloom later.

    There has been a dramatic increase in the number of Newfoundland dogs in town. One gets walked in our neighborhood everyday. Her name is Rayna, and she is enormous. I smile whenever I see her. I saw two others in the north part of town last weekend. I guess that these abusive dog breeders from South Dakota fled here in the winter to avoid having their dogs seized by SD authorities, but their dogs were seized here just after they arrived. They had Boxers and Newfoundlands that are being fostered and rehomed, so I guess that accounts for all the Newfies I see. A friend of ours fostered some of the Boxer pups.

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    1. we have a neighbor with and old one and a young one. they said they cant walk together because the old one holds the young one back. twice as many walks is their deal. then i saw another a couple weeks ago and i wondered if the neighbors had a kid i didnt know about to help walk the dog. nope new dog within the walking range of my part of the world.

      i live in a circular subdivision and there are only 3 choices on which way to walk. each way has 30 people within a mile going direction a or direction b and as they walk and pass by each other probably have been exposed by maskless folks 18 inches away 20-30 times by the time they finish. everyones over 40, most over 60. spring is only 10 days old. i get concerned about spring fever corona contact. and im the least ocd around. dead folks are what we will mark this little go round with.

      republican bowling shirt survival of the fittest

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        2. On first reading, I had this image of the neighbors all walking in circles and by the time they finished they were over 40, some over 60.

          How old were they when they started, I wondered?

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        4. i think of trumps fans as not the 1%
          i think of them as the flag waving
          bowling shirt wearing guys from rural minnesota north dakota iowa kansas arkansas who drive rusty ford focus’ with bumper stickers that say reduce my taxes when they are in line for a $100 tax deduction except the trump family and his 1%buddies get a 12 million dollar tax break and pay nothing again because they sold the bowling shirt republicans on the concept of lowering taxes praising jesus keeping mexicans muslims and gays away from our lives

          you know that 40% of the american public we were unaware of before the hate groups got presidential support and the ralleys called to incite riots to crank up the economy and ban muslims

          america 2020….

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      2. My neighbors once had a dog named Wally that I believe was a Newfoundland. He would stand up at the fence when I came by, and I would always stop to pet him and chat a bit. He was as tall as me when he was standing up with his front paws on the fence. He was a great guy.

        I was thinking bowling shirt might refer to another term beginning with the letters b and s.

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        1. no i visualize them all in bowling shirts and keep america great hats in their suburbans and camoflouge

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  5. i like boxers from what i have seen and heard. i have not putmin real time with one so i dont know. but my puppy mill experience is not good.

    that whole animal abuse thing sickens me.

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  6. The plant in the picture kinda looks like a rhododendron to me, perhaps a PJM or Catawba. Did the homeowner identify it as an azalea?

    I have to quibble about things like this when I post a comment before I’ve sufficiently fueled on coffee.

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      1. Azaleas are rhododendrons, but not all rhododendrons are azaleas. Most people who grow azaleas in cold areas grow the ones that are called Northern Lights, bred to be winter hardy. The picture doesn’t look like a Northern Lights, though, which is why I suspect it is not an azalea.

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      2. A typical rhododendron blossom has ten stamens, which makes the bushes very frilly-looking. Azaleas have only five stamens per blossom.

        You can also differentiate between the two in cold weather when the plants have gone dormant, because azaleas drop their leaves. On other rhododendrons, the leaves curl up till they look like little tubes, but they don’t fall off. They unfurl and green up in spring.

        This concludes our lesson for today.

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    3. Quibble away. I actually don’t know that much about bushes, I mostly only know about the lilies and peonies that I have in my yard. And actually she did not identify it as an azalea. When she came out I said “I hope it’s OK I’m taking a picture of your bush. It’s gorgeous.” She agreed that it’s doing really well this year but we didn’t talk about what kind of bush it was. I bow to your superior knowledge.

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      1. I’m having a moment right now. Somehow vs’ comment above, made me think of George Bush. From there my thoughts headed straight to Molly Ivins who called him a shrub. And just like that, I was off to the giggles recalling some of her funny quips. God how I miss her.

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  7. Rise and Shine Baboons,

    The pussy willows were spectacular this year. There is a pussy willow tree in the back yard that produces fat little buds on the branches that are just irresistible. Each year I cut them and bring some in. As I write this I am looking at them. Parts of Edith’s Bleeding Heart plant is planted in three different spots in the yard. The one in the East-facing garden, is blooming and beautiful.

    Neighbors on both sides of us have new puppies. And puppies, as ever, are just adorable. Kona, an airdale/shepherd, wolf mix lives with Shortie, an elderly Basset/Rottweiler mix. Watching these two in the front yard is like a circus act. The puppy is all over Shortie. And Shortie has had it with Kona. Now and then Shortie makes a break for it in slo-mo. It is like watching the dog version of Tim Conway’s Oldest Man sketches. It gives me a moment every time I see it.

    One of our dogs is sick. She has a growth in her bladder that is untreatable and creating UTIs. Right now she is on some meds that contain it, but we know that the day is coming when we have a tough decision to make. That situation is giving me sad moments.

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      1. Yeah. The other day we walked the dogs a bit over a mile and she peed 14 times. Bootsy went 3 times. Poor girl. When she starts to feel too much pain then we will make the decision.

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  8. My rhododendron is in full bloom right now. There is a red tulip that comes up next to it. I tried taking pictures, but failed to capture the true color. The tulip is red with a sort of pinkish blush on the side, but in photos it looks more pink than it truly is.
    Rhododendron & tulip

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  9. My moment was Sunday. I set out on a bike ride. Not a mile from my house, I passed a yellow rambler that might have been a farmhouse at one time because the owner’s lot is at least a couple acres. They used to have a HUGE garden every year. But that dwindled in recent years. I found out why. The couple is extremely old and not very mobile. I know this now because as I approached their house, the H & W were walking (creeping) down the south edge of their driveway. Each used a walker. Their steps were maybe 6-8 inches each. She led the way, he about three feet behind her. There was no car waiting for them, their garage was closed, and I couldn’t imagine they were going on any sort of a long walk, even though a great walking/biking path starts right across their street.

    After I passed their house, curiosity demanded I find out where they might be walking, so I did a U-turn about 100 yards past them. Sure enough, the couple made a left turn at the end of their driveway, walked to the north edge, turned left, and headed back toward the house. They must have been getting their daily constitutional and staying safe with social distancing by not venturing out too close to other people. Rather touching and bittersweet. I wonder if they did more than one lap of their driveway.

    Chris in Owatonna

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  10. Several moments the last few days, because I’ve been spending time weeding, and just sitting in the garden plots. I was given some wild ginger last fall, and there is a bloom – I love these. Here’s a photo collage from FB:

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  11. Fun moment last night: Our folk dance group has a Zoom gathering on Monday nights, not very satisfying because we dance alone watching just one leader, and the music is hard to hear. But Husband and I live next door to another f.d. regular, who was also dancing in his dining room, so I opened the blinds and we waved to each other while dancing. : )

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  12. Along the West River Road, where we walk every morning, just about every other house has a large purple azalea, some of them over six feet high. About a week ago, a fox came strolling down the sidewalk near our house.

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