A happy Sunday...

How to get back to blogging, when away for so long?... Well, there's a conundrum. Do I write a big long post telling you what I've been doing for the past year (no doubt boring the pants of any readers that happen to pass by this little old place) or do I just post some pictures of my day spent in the garden, acting as though I'd never even left? Yes, I like the sound of the latter much more... More my style. So, here I am, shuffling back into the room, head down, hoping no one will notice.

Today, I've been pottering in the garden. Now, our little garden took quite a hammering in the old Super Storm Sandy... So much so, that when we returned back to our little old house, I wondered whether it would ever look green again. With everything caked in a thick brown sludge and looking battered and broken, I could only hope that it would recover and amble on. So, here it is looking lush and green once more, baring but a few battle scars (namely the pear tree which now leans at a forty-five degree angle, but I haven't the heart to remove it)... . Granted, a fair few plants were lost (plants and salt water are not a match made in heaven, apparently), but the old trusty roses came back, and this is their second round of blooms. The arbor was laden with flowers in June... The scent was heavenly, but short lived, as the weather turned sweltering for a week and the poor blooms simply wilted and left a petal carpet on the path...

Surprisingly, many of my annuals self-seeded and frothy alyssum bubbles over rock walls and petunias spill over the path... All manner of colors engulf the old stone owl.

At the front of the house, I lost a lot of plants... I had creeping verbena and lady's mantel softening the hard lines of the path, but they didn't come back, so I made the best of what was left and hope that in time the lavender will creep over the rocks.

The dog sign is an attempt to stop the local cat population from spraying my lavender... This is the second batch planted! Bloomin' cats!! (Just for the record I love my cat... just not the big tom cat that sprays my garden daily... I don't want to offend any moggy lovers on this site... I need all the support I can get!)

Anyways, down the path we go... The side of the house is always a cool spot, so you can usually find a dog or two hanging around... here's Lucy in 'attack' mode... No doubt her pray will be licked to death very soon...

The planting down the side took a hammering during Hurricane Sandy, and I lost all of my ferns, which had once  loved this shady spot... nevertheless, I still like to meander down this path, knowing that the gate opens up to my tranquil garden.

We have a temporary fence in front of the lawn, at the moment... you can just see it in the background (an attempt to keep the dogs off the lawn)... it's definitely not in keeping with the rest of the garden, but needs must and all that... meanwhile, I'll still be on the hunt for a permanent solution.

So, there you go... this is me dipping the proverbial toe back into blogland.. I've decided to post real time pictures... no foofing and faffing around... a warts and all look into my little world...

Oh, and if you were wondering where I am? Here's me, sat on our local beach on Saturday night... even though Super Storm Sandy dealt us a heavy blow last October, I still feel truly blessed to live next to the ocean. When people ask me, 'Is it worth all the drama to live so close to the beach?', my firm answer is 'Absolutely'!
Toodle pip!
Lx