Secret Garden Tour

I have found myself behind in all thing writing since April.  With my blogs, I still am not done with the Europe trip.  Since that time, I have had fun at the Secret Garden Tour and gone on an adventure on the Sioux Charley Lake Trail.  Later this week, I will be going on two more adventures.  I thought I would interrupt the spring trip to share the Secret Garden Tour.

  As we started out the warm summer morning to drive around Helena, I wondered what the gardens would be like compared to my own.  I love gardens.  I have always wanted to have a gorgeous garden that I could display.  I have some work to do.

My favorite garden was the first we visited.  The gentleman had created most of his city lot into a shade garden.  I can't recall how many trees he planted, but once we came to the front of the house, the cool shade welcomed us with hostas and ferns everywhere.  He built a stream that ended with a pool filled with fish.  I fell in love with hostas many years ago.  Unfortunately, until this year, I have not been able to grow them.  I don't have any consistent shade in my yard.  I left his garden determined to create a cooler environment for shade plans.  I may have to wait for ten years for bushes and trees to grow, but I will have shade!  I am also thinking hard about water.

Another garden I enjoyed reminded me of my own front garden.  This helped me to believe I may be able to be on a tour someday.  Many of our plants were the same.  The only reason her garden was better then mine was that it stretched all the way up her hill.  I need to add more gardens!!!

The rest of the gardens didn’t impress me much.  Sure, one had a creek with a bridge over the flowing water.  I can’t top that.  The flowers and design weren’t at all that impressive.  Another was fun with a water feature and wandering paths and some lawn art pieces.  The other two gardens were community gardens.  Those reminded me of the beauty of vegetable plants.

In the end, I was rejuvenated with all my gardening plans.  In these hot days of summer, I have scaled back my work.  I am traveling a lot, so the gardens will have to rest until the end of the month.  I am excited to plant flowers, bushes, and a few trees this fall.

I have a yellow and black bird just outside my window as I write this.  He is eating the seeds from my sunflowers.  Bees are buzzing all around.  If I don’t end up showing my gardens, I do have a lot of creatures that enjoy my work.

On the tour, I did take a couple of good flower pictures.

I also found some fun pieces I would like to add to my gardens.

           I think a peony in the middle would be gorgeous.  This next spring, I think I will build one.

           I think succulents would be perfect on the top of this mushroom.

My husband would probably protest, but I think frying pans around his grill and smoker would be really fantastic.

A German Festival

Four months ago, I was in Germany.  I haven't written about my experience.  I have thought about my time in this beautiful country, but I have failed to be able to put my thoughts to words on the page.    The time I spent in Paris was exactly as I thought it would be before we left on our trip.  My days in Germany were wonderful.  However, I can't express the loss I felt while I was there.  I might be rambling, but I want to get it out of my system.

I knew when we decided to travel with a teenager girl diagnosed with social anxiety and panic attacks who was in a fog from her medicine that the trip would be difficult.  By the time we made it to Germany, I was frazzled.  Madelle wanted to rest.  My husband and I wanted to go all over the place.  Normally, we would have planned two activities per day and thrown in some spontaneous things as well.  She could only handle one.  One of our days of touring ended after two hours (not including the drive there). 

The other problem was that I fell in love with Germany.  While there, we saw four areas.  I could have spent a couple days more in Frankfurt and a week in Trier and a week in the Lorelei area of the Rhine River.  I missed Heidelberg and the Burg Eltz.  The reality of our Germany part of the trip is that I didn't have near enough time.  I long to go back to finish the trip.  Unfortunately, I don't know when I will be able to go back, and my heart is breaking.  Being a positive person, I need to let go of my pouting.  So, without further ado, I will talk about our first full day of Germany.

We jumped into the rental car and drove two hours north of our little village.  The last half an hour, we drove alongside the Rhine River.  I have always wanted to see this body of water.  She is a beauty.  Before I saw her, I thought a cruise would be fun.  That bucket item has gone closer to the top of my list.  Along the hill on the opposite side of the highway we traveled, castles stood tall and majestic.  What a glorious drive!!!

At the festival, Madelle struggled.  We still managed to enjoy the joisting performance.  One Frenchman went against three Germans.  I have a soft spot for Frenchmen, due to my husband being French Canadian.  I got quit a few pictures of him.  I didn't understand the German being spoken, but I still enjoyed seeing the show.

The sights, sounds, and food were phenomenal.  We tried warm mead, spaetzle, and some bread with a sour cream sauce that was to die for.  We bought a few bottles of the mead.

A couple pictures of note.  I loved the orc.

I thought of my grandpa Hedahl when I saw the Mercedes.  I am sure we saw a lot of them as we drove along the countryside, but I still had to take a picture of at least one.

The sign for kaffee brought a huge smile to my face.  In my Tenet series, the trolls call coffee, kaffe.  This is the Norwegian spelling.  The similarity was fun.