Twenty-fifth Anniversary=250,000 Daffodils

When I found out that Salt Lake City's Red Butte Garden & Arboretum was planting

250,000 daffodils

in honor of their twenty-fifth year as a garden, I just about went crazy.

I've been dropping by the garden every few days since March, waiting for the peak of the flowers bloom.
This Sunday, April 18th was THE day, as far as I could tell.

The sky was bright, the air was warm, and off I went, determined to photograph

ALL

250,000

blooms.

I felt sorry that you all couldn't be here to see them in person.

I know, it was quite a task, but imagine how sad it would be for any of the daffodils to not get their picture taken.

It just wouldn't be right.

I had never seen a daffodil like this one before. It was a biggie, and no center "trumpet" form to be seen. It was almost like seeing my Persian grandkitties with their flat faces.

Right away I got interested in comparing daffodil sizes.

Two of these little gems were barely as big as one of my fingers.

Let's see...I had four daffodils total in the previous picture.

This one has 94, so we are almost done with the first one hundred blooms...

The white ones with the palest of apricot centers and a yellow eye seem so sophisticated.

The regular yellow/deeper yellow combo seems like an old friendly face by comparison.

Yellow on yellow: Monochromatic coloration is classy too.

Forty four blooms in this shot.

(I really ought go get a pencil and paper; I'm going to start losing count any moment now.)

Um...225 blooms?

I might have missed a couple.

You go ahead and count if you want to check my count.

I must admit that this variety troubled me.

So tiny, and it looked exactly like a dandelion to me.

I thought it was a weed when I first saw it.

Someone must have worked very hard to genetically modify or breed this variety.
Maybe it will grow on me if I look at it a few more times.

The green petals are kind of unusual....

Let's just call it 300 even.

And another three hundred.

A three headed specimen.

So tiny, yet there's a bouquet on a single stem.

The flat faced red and yellow combo vs. the long faced orange and yellow combo.

Which do you like best?

Oh...I'd say around 400 in this shot.

(I like the red-orange centered one myself.)

The ruffle, stamin pattern and outer petal pleat is so dramatic.

Look how l-o-n-g those yellow noses are!
I do wish Red Butte had labeled their daffodils, or printed a guide for me to use.

I'd like to know the name of this variety.

By the by..."Butte" is pronounced with a long "u"...and it sound like you haven't quite finish saying the "tee" part in the word "beauty".

For some reason, the non-female part of the population of my family all seem to prefer to pronounce it as "Butt".

As in "Are you going to go see Red Butt again?"

Boys. Men. Guys.

Gotta love 'em.

Ahem.

Sorry about that little digression.

There were lots of trees in bloom at the garden too; but right now we are concentrating on the daffodils.

Would somebody else mind counting the daffodils in the picture above?

Maybe we could just fudge a little and say there were 400 in that picture.

Why are some so big and others smaller, yet they look like the same variety.

Are they the same variety?

Or did the big bloom's bulb just manage to be planted somewhere with more nutrients?

(I should go and ask if I could have a private tour with one of the people who works there so I could know the answer to these sort of questions.)

It was in the high 70's while I was walking around taking all these pictures. That bench was put to good use for a bit.

I had showered and washed my hair just before I went there; by the time I left the grounds my hair was soaked and I had to shower up again.

Anything over 50 F. feels way too warm to me this early in the year.

What do you think...300?

At least that many.

All throughout the grounds there are benches and tables and chairs tucked into nooks and crannies, and at the bends of the paths.

There were a lot of couples around my age with picnic baskets and bottle of white wine, enjoying the end of the weekend together on the first really warm day of spring.

The garden is only 15 minutes from our house; I'm thinking I'm going to join in on that kind of date with B. really soon.

Such long petals, and such a tiny nose.

Rather exotic looking don't you think?

What do you say?

150?

I am CRAZY about this variety.

That white ruffled collar looks like it should be on girl's yellow dress.

Like the peachy ones...

They are pretty good sized.

What I couldn't figure out was why there were not hoards of families out with their children.

Seriously...isn't this scene missing some sweet children posing for an annual picture, bending over to examine the flowers, or sitting cross legged surrounded by chest high blooms?

I may have to ask if I can borrow the 15 month old girl next door.

She would be adorable in this scene.

There's even a small path that would be just right for a small child to walk upon.

This one: so tiny I could wear it atop a finger like a jewel.

Now there was one bride in another area getting her pictures taken next to a tree awash in white blooms.

Why wasn't there engaged couples having their pictures taken under this arbor?

It is interesting how some of the daffodil varieties have petals that sweep backwards.

They seem to be flying fast somewhere.

Daffodils as roses...

Of course I really tried to catch the sunlight shining through the blooms so they would appear to glow.

As big as my whole hand!
I had never seen such huge daffodils before.

All of the daffodils in this scene were the palm sized variety.
Again: I really, really want to know the variety's name!

Moments after I shot this picture Julie Andrews came into view, spinning with her arms outstretched and singing "The hills are alive...with the sound of music..."

Actually that is partly true.

Red Butte does have an amplitheater and some of the top vocalists in the country come in summer to perform.

I'm eyeing Mary Chapin Carpenter and Nora Jones tickets in August.

Or maybe Steve Martin performing bluegrass music in June.
I'm still making up my mind.

Wedding.

Definitely the perfect daffodil for a wedding.

The bare trees seem so stark compared to the daffodils.

There had to be about 600 daffodils in this picture.

And another six hundred in this one...

I think I'm pretty close to getting all 250,000 flowers photographed.

These remind me of flying geese, with the necks stretched out far ahead of their wings.
Those center noses are really long.

I wonder what variety has the longest center form.

How long is too long?

Afterall, they have bred daffodils with no noses; is there a limit to how long the noses can be?

I think I have seen varieties like this one, only with a green ring instead of the salmon colored ring.
Gosh it must be fun to know how to cross breed daffodils and see what their blooms wind up looking like.

I'm saying about 1,000 in this shot.

28 here.

Hundred.

Two.

Four hundred and seventy nine.

(Don't believe me? You count 'em then!)

Lots.

Lots and lots.

Three finger wide variety.

Hand width wide variety.

(Isn't that gigantic???)

They are just as curious about seeing you as you are about seeing them....

I'm seeing a woman in a crisp white suit with an tangerine silk scarf tied at the throat.

White pumps too...

Well, I think I got a picture of all of the daffodils.

If I missed any, I do apologize.

On the other hand, why don't you plan to come see them for yourself next year?

I'll go along with you; it is hard to keep track of daffodil count when you are taking pictures all by yourself!

PS: If you would like to see a site that has daffodils with their names, check out Gotta Garden by clicking HERE. Totally amazing collection of daffodil varieties, just scroll down through her site as she posts pictures of the varieties in her garden as they bloom.

Shake, rattle and roll!

I was in another earthquake today.
A 4.9 quake hit here in Utah just before six pm. I was catching a quick nap before starting in on some projects, and felt three distinct wiggles. The cats weren't on the bed so I knew it had to be an earthquake.

Is it normal to be so familiar with earthquakes that now I don't even bound to my computer to see what the magnitude was?

Gee...just look at that quake map.
It seem like it was just days ago that I was riding out the biggie 7.2 in San Diego; Utah's tiny red marked 4.9 seems puny by comparison.
Hardly up to San Diego aftershock standards!

But what with the Iceland volcano and China's big quake, I am glad that Utah's "big one" didn't happen here today.

Anyone want to take a guess who gets the next major shake?
(Take a peek at THIS page to see what area seems a bit seismically blank....)
I'm going with Oregon. There have been a lot of little tremors off Oregon's coast lately.
Make sense to think it is winding up for a good one.

On the other hand, there's this quote from the LA Times article:

...researchers say there has been an uptick in earthquakes this year.
The number of earthquakes greater than magnitude 4.0 in Southern California and Baja California has increased significantly in 2010.
There have been 70 such quakes so far this year, the most of any year in the last decade.
And it's only April.
There were 30 in 2009 and 29 in 2008.

From THIS article.

Not to worry though. There are scientist all over the web spilling elaborate mathematical formulas that show the earthquake rate continues well within norm, which they state is a major earthquake (over a 5) somewhere in the world every two days.

All I can say is: If the scientist's math starts to show that more and more quakes are happening, and happening at a rate outside the norm, then they had better speak up real fast.

Meanwhile I'll keep checking the real time shake map regularly on my own.

Scientists: The same folk who once believed that all planets revolve in the same direction as their sun. They just found out that there are planets out there who are spinning in the opposite directions of their sun. According to Physics and Mathematics that is not supposed to be possible.

Call me a science skeptic if you wish.

I just think most scientist forget to figure in things that I do, like the one Whose Ways are Not Our Ways: The Creator of the whole shebang Himself.

What's the buzz...tell me what's a-happening.

Daffodils bloom in one direction.

Turn around and see this.

Look upwards; the bare branched trees have turned pink.

While at home, red summery strawberries nestle into cake.

That's what's happening around here.

I'm thinking about the lyrics from Jesus Christ Super Star:

What's the buzz?

Tell me what's a-happening?

JESUS:

Why should you want to know?

Don't you mind about the future?

Don't you try to think ahead?

Save tomorrow for tomorrow;

Think about today instead.

APOSTLES:

What's the buzz?

Tell me what's happening.

JESUS

I could give you facts and figures.

Even give you plans and forecasts.

Even tell you where I'm going.

APOSTLES

When do we ride into Jerusalem?

JESUS

Why should you want to know?

Why are you obsessed with fighting Times and fates you can't defy?

If you knew the path we're riding,

You'd understand it less than I.

APOSTLES

What's the buzz?

Tell me what's happening.

Here's what made me think of the old song:

The United States Library of Congress has announced that it will be archiving all Twitter messages.

You know, Twitter, that 140 character means of communication that people use to share news that range from the ridiculous to the sublime.

"Tweets" about eating a banana for breakfast; or Congressional votes.

I personally don't use Twitter, but like the Apostles, I always want to know what is happening.

I check the real time global earthquake reports a couple times a day.

Watch stock market reports.

Skip around webpages reporting on medical research, military efforts, decorating trends.

Facebook has replaced phone calls to inform me about upcoming surgeries, legal problems and yes, even deaths and funerals of family and friends.

My brain is addicted to news...did you read about how European flights are all grounded because of the Icelandic volcanic eruption?

(No one I know is currently flying out of Europe, I know no one who lives in Iceland, and I can't see the volcano from here. Why should I care about this? No reason at all, but yet I do.)

The long hand written letter morphed into an email; the journal article has been replaced by the blog.

The phone call is now too burdensome upon one's day; calls are not taken, a few letters flashed onto a screen is preferred.

Relational nuances could be communicated by choice of words or tone of voice; now there is no time for such subtle finesse.

Twitter and text messages go out nuance and mostly hard news free.

CUL8R?

Apparently yes, or at least the cryptic message will be seen later in the Library of Congress.

By whom, and why, I can't imagine.

But if anyone is interested reading such messages again, they will be there.

Whether the writer intended for it to seen again or not.

Candle-blowout day again....

How I spend April 14th in the past:

Newborn-1954

As a two year old in 1956

Age three in 1957-my dad's parent gave me the bunnies!

Age four in 1958

Ahhh...age 5!

It was the beginning year of the tradition of having little wooden angel candle holders on the cake.

Age six with a "Toni" perm and wearing my girl cousin Bonnie's hand me down dress.

1961

1962

1963...age 9

(Still wearing that same hand-me-down dress! Amazing isn't it?*)

1964-age 10, having a birthday party at the Rheinlandhaus German restaurant with friends.
I loved that dress with lavender and turquoise flowers and the bell sleeves made from a sheer fabric.

Age 11: Mom was taking a cake decorating class.

Notice the host of angels on the cake and my blue point Siamese cat Winnie looking on.

Age 12. These pictures are photos of my computer screen taken of the slide pictures that had been loaded onto a CD. Someday I'm hoping to buy a slide scanner and get better resolution.

Teen ager!

Age 14. Mom's cake artistry shows with the birthflower sweet peas decorating this cake.

Fifteen. I loved that knit dress and kept wearing it through college!

Sweet Sixteen...and only one candle for some reason.

My first birthday picture was a printed photo that I've posted before.

Aren't you glad I don't have FIFTY SIX pictures to blog share today?

Whew!

(*I had girl cousins who were dressed identically by my aunt. Bonnie and Chris were two years apart in age, I was the only girl cousin younger than they were so I would get TWO of each of their dressy dresses. The dresses were usually quite beautiful, but it was quite odd to be wearing a "re-run" wardrobe every two years!)

Hoping for Good Feline Garden Reviews

In our living room last Sunday afternoon: Tiggie poses on the edge of the couch.

He really is into posing and is totally aware how well his green eyes match his background, while his orangeness is brought out via color contrast.

Hart on the other hand looks better photographed with Bernie's grey sweatshirt as a backdrop.

His green eyes look pretty good in the room too.

Both cats are staying extremely close at hand since we returned from our vacation.

I think they missed us or something....

Yes...it is lovely to be a cat at our place on the weekends.

The other neighborhood cats feel the same way.

Our next door neighbor's cat "Gracie" comes by our place to spa in the sunshine on our front porch.

She does cat yoga, then give herself a massage by rolling and stroking herself with her pretty pink tongue.

Hart hadn't noticed Gracie out there yet.

Ooops...maybe I shouldn't have pointed out what was happening outside our front window.

(I didn't mention what was going on out our back window....Missy snoozing on the back porch couch. There really is no good reason to totally ruin Hart's day.)

Our house and garden is a cat oasis in a sea of doggie estates.

The neighbors on either side of us have dogs, and the three houses behind us also have dogs patrolling their yard.

Not very cat friendly, or flower friendly either for that matter.

No wonder all the neighborhood cats from other streets choose to hang out at our place on a sunny weekend afternoon.

The cats stroll through our yard like our place was on a garden tour or something.
I have to wonder if they later blog about what they see on some sort of psychic cat communication site.

There are at least three other cats that swing by regularly and view the flowers both up close and then from far away as they perch in the distance atop tree branches and fence rails.
(I decided to photograph the flowers as they see them-up close!)

Believe it or not, we got more snow last night. About three inches of the white stuff topped our garden, but it was melting rapidly by the time I got up this morning.
I think the cat garden review committee will wait until later to come by.

Another storm is scheduled to arrive later today, so the cats will need to plan their day accordingly.

This morning Tiggie and Hart took one look out the door at the wet drippy snow and retired to their favorite napping places.

They're not much on doing committee work anyway.

Can't say as I blame them....

I'd be snoozing with them if it wasn't a work day, and I avoid all committee work like the plague.

I really could use a snooze: I was up until 2 am last night painting and thinking about how to re-arrange and re-do our downstairs office area.

I came up with some great ideas!

Is it spring time inspiration or snowfall clarity that has been powering up my creative circuits? New ideas have been slow to come to me over the winter for some reason.

Whatever the cause of my creative rejuvination, I am glad.

I'll do some "Before and After" posts after the work is all done, and

after the touring cat window peek snoopervision is finished.

Gotta to get feline approval...who knows what they are saying to each other about our place on their blogs!

San Diego Vacation part 3: Easter Sunday

Do you ever visit your childhood church and remember years of Easter Celebrations?

I do...

It seems impossible that I first saw these windows when I was about five years old.

That was a half a century ago.

The years slip by so quickly!

A couple of "Easter Finest" pictures...no baskets or bunnies, no gloves or frills this time like there always were in the past.

(I borrowed a hat from Laura, as luggage space was tight this trip. The hat is really too small fit properly on my head, but it was still fun to wear. Two other women wore hats too!)

Mom and Me.

The scent of Easter lilies fill the sanctuary.

Then it was home for Easter brunch.

The milk glass dishes originally belonged to a dear friend and neighbor; when she passed away a few years ago, she left the set to my mom.

The milk glass has an opal like color, a bit reddish, on the rim of the goblets when held up to the light; that little test is how you tell real milk glass from reproductions.

I did think it was quite humorous to see my parent's neighbor's children hunting eggs in the front yard of my parent's house. Apparently the Easter bunny found it easier to leave his bounty around our property than theirs!

Our "good Christian family" drove off to church, leaving the heathens to their own pleasures.

(Mom gently tries to witness; the neighbors are content with an unredeemed state of being.)

Back in SLC our neighbors took their child to an Easter egg hunt up at the ski resort.

The pictures of kids hunting eggs in the snow was quite amusing!