Hibiscus in Redding and Shasta County

  

Hibiscus is a beautiful flower and plant.  I love the white ones, and the purple ones for that matter.  The neighbor has a bush which has been formed into a tree, and the flowers are up above.  My mother's is more like a bush.  Not quite as old as the neighbors, his tree must be 30+ years old.

Hibiscus is popular because it attracts bees and butterflies, also you may be more familiar with hibiscus as a tea.  There are hundreds of varieties of the hibiscus flowers, and bush.

The hibiscus prefers a warmer climate.  This is the technical name for this type of hibiscus, Hibiscus syriacus.

 

 

Hibiscus in Redding, California.

This year, right before the purple hibiscus bloomed, I stepped out the door, and I smelled coconut.   I could not figure out where the scent was coming from.  As it turns out it was the Hibiscus!  

Hibiscus syriacus and Tonka truck.

Aunt Julies beautiful flowers, Trinity county, California.

Pink Columbine

One of my aunts has some gorgeous flowers around her yard and garden.  Lots of varieties and colors.  Here are a few of my favorites.  It's in Trinity county and very mountainous. 

My aunt. takes very good care of all her flowers, and there seems to always be something blooming between spring, and fall.  My mother, grandmother and aunts all do a wonderful job with their gardens.


Flowers are lovely and brighten your day, and your life.  I am blessed to have aunts, and grandmothers, and my mother who all cultivate flowers, and enjoy them.













 

White Columbine

Daisy

Hollyhock

Dhalias that look like daisies, Trinity county, California

My cousin's mother in law owns this house that has a nice garden, it's very old.  It has huge old rose bushes, and huge fruit trees, and it is somewhat of a "garden of paradise". 


I find all kinds of flowers here for photos.  There is also a separate garden area, which actually someone has planted vegetables and herbs.

My cousin planted these dahlias which kinda look like a daisy of sorts.  I never saw this flower before, but thought it was very neat.

Tigerlilies in Shasta County, Redding, California

These tiger lilies bloom every year in the back yard and they are beautiful.    I was looking on some sites, and they are an actual wildflower that grows quite easily in ditches throughout America.  They do well in moist soil, thus the natural propagation in ditches.  

They also have medicinal qualities which I did not know about.  Apparently they can aid with congestion,  and the nausea and vomiting associated with pregnancy.

Roses in Shasta county, Redding.

Fuschia Rose

My mother has beautiful roses, they are continually blooming it seems, and she has a wide variety of different types and colors of roses. 

Pink White Rose after rain.

Orange Rose and Chives.

Tropicana Rose

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pig Pen Birthday Party for Kids.

When I was a kid, my mom made lots of cakes.  One time we had a fight with the cake batter, in the house.  


It was a long time ago, but it was probably the most fun, us kids had ever at one time.  


Hence, I believe the theme for this party, Pig Pen.

It was Rainbow Girls birthday and in addition to being a puppet maker, movie star and ballerina, she is an avid believer in playing in the mud.  

So this party was all about playing in the mud among other things.  There was a kiddie pool full of jello.  The jello didn't set too well in the 95 degree weather.  

Also, a tub of chocolate pudding, another kiddie pool filled with water balloons, a water slide, and a mud slide.  

The kids all made an obstacle course with the water slide, jello tubs, mud slide, and various tasks.  Then we timed everyone.  Many of the kids wanted to do it again and improve their times.  :-)



Then in addition there was a chocolate cake fight we had, and whipped cream fight.    We rinsed off in the hoses, and got chocolate cake out of our ears.

After all that was done, the kids started using the jello and pudding to dump on one another.    Soon there were bees due to all the sugar.  

Only one adult got stung.

This was the pig pinata, and there was a princess one too, which they hit first.  

The princess one was a big disappointment.  


It was a big fake out and had DIRT in it.  :-) 

I thought that was pretty funny.

The water balloon fight was fun too!  Although the water balloons had a sting to them when the hit you.  So after a couple kids were crying from being stung by water balloons, we figured out it was best to throw them at the ground in front of a person.  




All in all it was an excellent birthday party.  After it was all over and everyone was heading out, I heard the birthday girl asked, 


"Can we do it all over again?" :-)

Kitty Climbs the Willow Tree

This cat can get kinda crazy when we go outside and go for walks.  Quite often she will getting a running start and jump up into a tree.  Doesn't matter what kind of tree, pine, willow, cherry, pear, she will manage to climb it.

I took photos of her one day in the willow tree, which is over thirty years old.