Spring Flower Show

Hi! Happy last days of March! I can't let March fade away without sharing the annual March flower show. It's always lovely, like a suddenly May day. click to enlarge photos, to see details...

Come walk with me? The big greenhouses are filled with trees, shrubs, spring flowers and ideas!

                                         

This large garden center is on the north shore of Long Island, an area of rolling hills and trees. This year the show featured delightful woodland scenes, with lots of ferns and moss and tiny creatures.

A fairy house! If I had a wooded yard I would have to have a tiny dwelling under a big old tree. So magical and wonderful. I can just see me and my dad creating this in his Cape Cod woodlot.

Even a Hobbit House this year.

It was about 3 feet high, with round door and rounded windows that we could peek into and see the little pantry and kitchen, with candles, a tiny rocking chair and an itty bitty pie cooling on the window sill.

I loved the tiny resident Hobbit couple.

Nearby was a lovely pond, with koi and butterflies [faux] , and [caged but real] birds.

The featured flower this year was Lenten Roses, or Hellebore. Lovely in a subtle woodland sort of way.

 Remember I mentioned early blooming Andromeda? This is a beautiful specimen.

Some tropical gardens, still popular despite being difficult to achieve.

A waterfall. And weird hanging jelly fish?

Hydrangeas and hardy colorful flowers for us beach dwellers.

Ideas for deck planters.

Then : Easter~

I wanted the mercury glass Easter eggs , of course. But got an elephant ear bulb and canna bulbs instead.

Pansies! So sweet and hopeful. And salt air hardy.

Bedding bulb plants for those of us who forgot to plant last Fall.

This was one of my favorite things! Sweet and tiny and perfect. Lily of the valley are another fave of mine.

*******
Today we have torrential rains, in expectation of April's showers. Mo likes his new raincoat. [For those who think doggy raincoats are stupid--they're not for the doggy, they're so that a wet smelly pooch doesn't destroy one's white sofas. I lay out a towel for Mo, he jumps up on it for me to dry his feet. Perfect!] Now the wind has picked up to 47 mph. I think we may skip Mo's sunset walk.

And something for the weekend. I plan to make a roast. And maybe try this new recipe? Never had cooked radishes, have you? RECIPE

love

lizzy

gone to the beach....

Out and About

Hi! The days are much longer now, and despite the relentlessly brown trees and marshes, there's  a hint of spring, if only in our imaginations. The other day L and I went out exploring. I'd received a coupon in the mail, an ad for a do-it-yourself art studio that specializes in ''fused glass". We had to go and find it!

Our plan was a future birthday celebration with a couple more friends. Some warm summer evening we'd pick up bubble tea at the cafe next door and we'd all make a pretty glass---something.

What is bubble tea, you ask? Or maybe you're familiar with it. I had heard about it from a writing group friend who lives in Taiwan, where bubble tea originated, but I have never tried it. Isn't it so pretty!


Bubble tea is a Taiwanese tea-based drink invented in Taichung in the 1980s. Most bubble tea recipes contain a tea base mixed/shaken with fruit or milk, to which chewy tapioca balls and fruit jelly are often added. 
Wikipedia
Anyway the day of our outing was one of the coldest so far this winter! The bubble cafe was closed! The art studio looks fun, more for the great ceramic choices than the fused glass.

I had hoped to make a replacement for my Sydenstricker fused glass Christmas platter which I discovered broken in its cupboard this holiday past. I've always been fascinated by the  glass works on Cape Cod and I know their designs are done with powdered glass and stencils. The art studio's method of fusing two thin layers of glass is similar but the designs are very mosaic like, not my style---and very expensive.
If we do go back, I'll probably made a ceramic piece. I loved this tall jug, with the simple polka dots. Not for sale, a sample only, too bad.

Down the block from the ceramics studio there was this shop.

A wine bar with painting, open only in the evenings. Not sure what one paints! The DIY art/ craft shops seem quite popular, everything from hen party-showers to toddler birthday parties! [migraine-in-waiting, imho. ] Too bad there isn't a quilt shop we could go to and make fun things!
We did find info about another bubble tea cafe, over by the big flea market. Something to find on another exploration day. here
And since we were in the area, we decided to stop in at the very big original [to us] Home Goods.

The blue and white choices were so tempting!

A gift from HG for me from L!

I thought these rough wooden bowls were interesting. The centers were carved out and filled with various glazes--pearl and gold and silver. Good for collecting sea glass or beach pebbles maybe?

I got this  pretty shadow box frame with a clip inside, to show off my tiny Dragonfly quilt from Sue.

......

It was a busy day. I later went out with  friends to celebrate late winter birthdays. We went to our fave Mexican place.
Raspberry margaritas!

And  grilled slivered skirt steak Chimichunga burritos. Perfect on a frigid night. It was sooo cold, so windy, we ended up wearing our coats during dinner.

I hope you're having fun too!

love

lizzy

gone to the beach......

                              

Sydenstricker Glass

and HERE