Glowing Orange Lilies

I posted last week about my yellow lilies, but these orange ones actually opened first.

I didn’t expect any of my lilies to bloom until the beginning of June. Last year, they bloomed on the same day that my dog, Rosie, passed away. (The red ones may wait until June after all, but I was so happy to see the orange ones opening now!) Here are a few shots of them, from babies to blooming:

As you can see, it looks like they may have multiplied! 😁

Looks like the newbies are too young to bloom, but maybe they will next year. 😀

Now it’s big enough to be seen. 🙂

I little bigger…

BIGGER…

Here is the orange lilies’ spider guardian. 😂

Opened! 😀

I absolutely adore these flowers. 😍

And there we go! I hope you enjoyed the journey as much as I did, haha. 😊

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Shining Yellow Lilies

Dutch Goes The Photo’s photo challenge last week was “shine” – though I fear I’m a bit late in posting for the challenge. 😅 My yellow lilies seem to almost glow in the dark in these photos – as if the flowers were made of sunshine. 🙂

And here is a glimpse of the journey that they took to get there:

Plants but the buds are not visible yet.

The plants are bigger but the buds are still too small to see.

Here come the buds!

Fully grown buds – it was only a matter of days. 😀

Hello, yellow Asian Lily! 😍 One of my favorite flowers! God added such detail to the petals.<3 In addition to these, I have orange ones, which are also open now (keep your eyes peeled, that post will probably come later this week), and red ones that are a little further behind and will probably open at the beginning of June. I bought pink ones this year and they already opened and died back. (If you missed them, you can see them here.) I hope to add a new color every year! I really want purple, but I’ve never seen them locally… but I’ve never seen one I didn’t like so I’m sure I’ll find something. 😁

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Also, on a different note, I want to thank you all for the support – I got this in my notifications bell a few days ago:

And a special thanks to Keri L, who told me that my posts weren’t showing up in the reader because I was using too many tags and categories. ❤ Looks like it’s working now and people are seeing my posts. 🙂

Purple Bearded Irises

After my grandma died a couple of years ago, we dug up her irises and brought them home. As long as I can remember, she only had one to bloom, and the others had never bloomed. And they never bloomed for us either.

Until this year that is. 😁

And they are PURPLE! (My favorite color.) As you can see,  was so excited about it that I took photos as the blooms developed. Here is the open bloom is all its glory:

Not only is it purple – it has little tiger stripe looking designs on the petals. You can see that better in the next photo. 🙂

From the research my dad and I did, it looks like they are called Purple Bearded Irises. I am absolutely floored by the beauty of these flowers.

This is the top view.

And here is an experimental macro shot of the veins in a petal. I like how this turned out! I think it just screams at me to put a quote on it.

And as if I wasn’t excited enough about one bloom… a second iris decided to bloom about a week later.

As you can see, it is also a Purple Bearded Iris, but it is a slightly different shade of purple. I love the variety! I hope these decide to bloom again next year, along with a few more. 😀

First Day Of Spring – March 20th, 2018

Let’s celebrate the first day of Spring by marveling at the beauty of God’s creation! Especially the flowers…

Easter Lillies

My mom has these beautiful flowers planted all over our yard. And the fun thing is – different batches of flowers have different colors. The above one, if I remember correctly, was planted around a tree near our driveway.

This one was in the flower bed of my dad’s shop.

These were in the flower bed in front of our house.

These were outside the flower bed at my mom’s gazebo.

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Peach Blossoms

This one is also known as a selfie fail. 😂 I had the camera on a tripod and put the camera on timer mode. I ended up having to get on a step-stool to get a proper selfie. And then once I was up there, I saw the bees…

If you look closely, you can see a bee in the center of this photo. Or the backside of one, anyway.

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Pear Blossoms

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Tulips

I found this beauty at Walmart for $1. Someone messed up and put three tulip bulbs in one pot; it was supposed to be $1 for one tulip. So I guess I got each tulip for 33.333333 cents? Haha. And each tulip is at a different stage of blooming. This is the first one. I expect the next two to bloom at the end of the month or in early April. I hope we have more time the next time we go back to Walmart because I plan to look and see if they made more mistakes… 😅

I love the texture of the petals.

Especially with the sunlight filtering through them.

And the inside is really awesome too.

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Wildflowers

You’ve probably noticed that I have a fondness for wildflowers. So of course, I had to get photos of them too. 🙂

We have a few trees in our woods growing wild that have some of the most beautiful pink blossoms!

I don’t know what they are, but I really like them.

Wild violets!

I didn’t see the plant that the flower came from, but we have been getting high winds, so it could have blown in from anywhere. I’ve seen the vines that have these kinds of flowers, but the flowers on those aren’t opened yet.

This is also growing wild. At first, I thought it might be a dogwood, but no other dogwoods are blooming. The blooms remind me of my mom’s apple tree. I would compare them, but it hasn’t bloomed yet. It didn’t bloom last year either. We’re beginning to think it’s dead… but if this is a new apple tree that nature planted, I can’t wait to see if it produces apples this year. 🙂

Wistful Wildflowers, Shadow Silhouettes, And Silent Sunsets

I took these last year when I went for a peaceful, quiet walk. And with these photos, I will participate in four different challenges all at the same time. 😄 First, I spotted some tiny wildflowers.

When in the garden later, I noticed that my bell peppers were starting to produce, and the dying flower petals are kind of close to the Granny Smith Apple color:

I stopped by my onion patch to take a photo, not realizing at first that my silhouette in shadow form was the main star of the photo instead of my onions. 😂

And later on, I saw this sunset, which seems to have most of the colors in this weeks installment of the Color Your World challenge – except for Granny Smith Apple green.

In Your Strong Wing’s Shadow

Wildflower at my grandma’s

I’m to fear no evil in this world,
Since You make it all Your footstool;
I await the day when Your plans are unfurled,
And You, King of Kings, on Your throne forever, rule.

It’s an uphill battle and I’m losing ground,
Hide me in Your strong wing’s shadow
So that I may be safe and sound.
Hug me and never let me go!

Hold me in Your loving arms,
Protect me, even if it is from me.
Don’t let anyone bring my soul harm,
But if trials come, let it bring glory to Thee.

As long as You, my Lord, are walking beside me,
I shall try my best to fearlessly follow You;
Please, Jesus my Savior, abide in me,
So that Your will I may do!

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And David himself saith in the book of Psalms (Grace’s note: Psalm 110:1), “The LORD said unto my Lord, ‘Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.’ ” Luke 20:42 – 43

Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in Thee: yea, in the shadow of Thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast. (Psalm 57:1)

Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of Thy wings… (Psalm 17:8)

Because Thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice. (Psalm 63:7)

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)

If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. (John 15:7)

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Another poem I found in my drafts that I never posted. This one from July of last year. 🙂 And so is the photo. That was taken with my old camera if you can believe that. 😅

I Trust In You

Do I have faith? Do I have the courage to take the leap?
Are these empty promises that You could not keep?

No! I trust in You, Lord; You never break Your promises,
You keep Your word; there are never hits and misses!

You were not lost forever in eternal sleep,
You rose from the dead; from the deep!

I will follow You, no matter where You lead me,
Whether it is through green pastures where you feed me,

Or besides still waters where I may be washed spotless,
I bow to You and I shall all that is on my heart, to You, confess!

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And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures… (First Corinthians 15:4:)

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. (Psalm 23:2: )

For it is written, ” ‘As I live, ‘ saith the Lord, ‘every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.’ ” (Romans 14:11:)

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Hello everyone!  🙂 I found this poem in my drafts – from last June! I thought it was time it made its debut. Not sure why it hadn’t before now, haha. Anyway. I was thinking about fear of the unknown and trusting Him with leading me – and having the courage to follow that leading wherever He may lead. Sometimes I fear where I’m being led (or think I’m being led), and wonder what God is thinking – but He knows best, and He is a faithful God! ❤