Yes, oops. I missed writing this blog on Friday, but I am only a few days late. What can I say, S-happens. First I think I'll write about commitments. I have been thinking that writing this blog is a commitment to myself. A commitment to write each Friday. But now I am seeing it as a commitment for others to read. I seem to do better when the commitment is for others. I always keep my commitments to others unless there is no possible way I can keep it. But I seem to allow commitments to myself to fall to the wayside. This includes fun things as well as health related things. Any commitment I make to myself I have trouble keeping. Other things and other people can take priority at any time. I would really like to be my first priority. There is no reason for me not to be my first priority anymore. All of my kids are grown and my grandkids have parents to take care of them, so I am free to be first in my life. This is new territory. So I think I will think of my commtiment to the blog as a commitment to the reader until I can actually feel a shift in my thinking, where my enjoyment of writing the blog is a commitment to my self. A fun thing I do for me.
That said, I want talk about my front yard. (the HOUSE comes later) I love my front yard. My entire property is 3/4 acres. That is almost unheard of in Los Angeles County. I am so fortunate to have a large lot. I thouht my front yard was small. It seemed small at first. It is only 22 feet deep but it is about 80 feet or more wide. When I bought the property it was ugly, not only the front yard but everything. But now the front yard is lovely. There is pine tree, a Deodor, on the north side of the yard. The lower limbs have been removed to create a seating area underneath the tree. My son, Daryl, poured a concrete slab under the tree to create a patio area. There are benches and chairs and potted plants on the patio. The curve of the lawn follows the natural curve of the tree as the limbs overhang and give shade. The concrete slab is also curved. A garden edged by smooth pink Yosemite rocks sits between the lawn and the patio. There are stepping stones though the middle of that garden to the seating area. The garden is filled with ground cover gardenias. Naked Lady Lillies pop up in late Spring and flower into the summer. When they die back, the gardenias are exposed. Lights, mostly white with a spatering of blue, hang in the pine tree, twisting down around themselves to remind me of moss hanging in southern trees. This is my favorite place to sit and relax in the evening, and I also like to have my morning coffee in this special area in my front yard.
This is the house I grew up in. I always loved this house. Years ago, my mother had my brother cut back some of those pine tree limbs so that she could have a 'room' outside in the shade. When I first bought the house, this area was dirt and pine needles. I laid down wood chips until last year when I asked Daryl to pour the concrete. Eventually I want to have slate tiles set over the concrete.
When I bought the house, the front yard was a jungle and there was a Maple tree in the middle of the yard, but it died and had to be removed. Daryl removed the jungle and I began replanting.
Now, there are several trees in the yard. One that sits right against the house is an Artificical Plum. It has pink flowers in the Spring, and plum colored leaves all Summer and late into the Fall. I have pink lights in that tree.
In the middle of the yard, where the Maple tree used to be, I planted a young tree. I can't remember the name of the tree. It has pink bell shaped flowers in the Spring and it is drought tollerant. I think is it getting too much water because It gets watered every morning when the the sprinklers water the lawn. But is is doing fine. I have tiny faint yellow solar lights in that tree. These lights look like fireflies to me. They are so tiny and faint that they do not compete with the pink lights in the Artificial Plum tree.
At the other end of the front yard there are three young Magnolia trees. These trees only grow to a maximum of 15 feet. There are two with pink finger like blooms, and one with yellow standard shaped magnolia flowers. The two pink ones are at each side of the gate that leads to the back yard. The yellow one is at the curb on the property line. These trees also have the same faint yellow solar lights.
Between the one yellow magnolia and one of the pink magnolia's there is a garden that is shared by my neighbor. I planted a Jacaranda tree on the property line in the middle of that garden. There are faint blue/white solar lights in the Jacaranda tree. All of the lights are beautiful and actually work well together. There are also walkway solar lights edging the garden under the pine tree and the various other garden areas in the front yard. All of these lights change color. They are my rainbow lights. I enjoy driving up to my house in the evening after work. Sometines I just sit there for a few minutes and take it all in. My front yard and the lights in it fill me with joy.
One neighbor across the street told me that my yard looks like a park.
Well, I think that is all for now.
TT
That said, I want talk about my front yard. (the HOUSE comes later) I love my front yard. My entire property is 3/4 acres. That is almost unheard of in Los Angeles County. I am so fortunate to have a large lot. I thouht my front yard was small. It seemed small at first. It is only 22 feet deep but it is about 80 feet or more wide. When I bought the property it was ugly, not only the front yard but everything. But now the front yard is lovely. There is pine tree, a Deodor, on the north side of the yard. The lower limbs have been removed to create a seating area underneath the tree. My son, Daryl, poured a concrete slab under the tree to create a patio area. There are benches and chairs and potted plants on the patio. The curve of the lawn follows the natural curve of the tree as the limbs overhang and give shade. The concrete slab is also curved. A garden edged by smooth pink Yosemite rocks sits between the lawn and the patio. There are stepping stones though the middle of that garden to the seating area. The garden is filled with ground cover gardenias. Naked Lady Lillies pop up in late Spring and flower into the summer. When they die back, the gardenias are exposed. Lights, mostly white with a spatering of blue, hang in the pine tree, twisting down around themselves to remind me of moss hanging in southern trees. This is my favorite place to sit and relax in the evening, and I also like to have my morning coffee in this special area in my front yard.
This is the house I grew up in. I always loved this house. Years ago, my mother had my brother cut back some of those pine tree limbs so that she could have a 'room' outside in the shade. When I first bought the house, this area was dirt and pine needles. I laid down wood chips until last year when I asked Daryl to pour the concrete. Eventually I want to have slate tiles set over the concrete.
When I bought the house, the front yard was a jungle and there was a Maple tree in the middle of the yard, but it died and had to be removed. Daryl removed the jungle and I began replanting.
Now, there are several trees in the yard. One that sits right against the house is an Artificical Plum. It has pink flowers in the Spring, and plum colored leaves all Summer and late into the Fall. I have pink lights in that tree.
In the middle of the yard, where the Maple tree used to be, I planted a young tree. I can't remember the name of the tree. It has pink bell shaped flowers in the Spring and it is drought tollerant. I think is it getting too much water because It gets watered every morning when the the sprinklers water the lawn. But is is doing fine. I have tiny faint yellow solar lights in that tree. These lights look like fireflies to me. They are so tiny and faint that they do not compete with the pink lights in the Artificial Plum tree.
At the other end of the front yard there are three young Magnolia trees. These trees only grow to a maximum of 15 feet. There are two with pink finger like blooms, and one with yellow standard shaped magnolia flowers. The two pink ones are at each side of the gate that leads to the back yard. The yellow one is at the curb on the property line. These trees also have the same faint yellow solar lights.
Between the one yellow magnolia and one of the pink magnolia's there is a garden that is shared by my neighbor. I planted a Jacaranda tree on the property line in the middle of that garden. There are faint blue/white solar lights in the Jacaranda tree. All of the lights are beautiful and actually work well together. There are also walkway solar lights edging the garden under the pine tree and the various other garden areas in the front yard. All of these lights change color. They are my rainbow lights. I enjoy driving up to my house in the evening after work. Sometines I just sit there for a few minutes and take it all in. My front yard and the lights in it fill me with joy.
One neighbor across the street told me that my yard looks like a park.
Well, I think that is all for now.
TT
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