Saturday, November 30, 2013

BIRTHDAY AND LBJ


Greetings!
The snow has arrived in Ottawa ... very early this year.
Here is our daughter's backyard: a Winter Wonderland for December.
Grandson H will be out there throwing snowballs at the Little Bebe ...
while his Mum has been digging the car out of the drifts because Dad was away working.
It happens.



Happy Thanksgiving weekend to all North Americans.
DD sent me these thanksgiving decorations, so I spread them round the fireplace.
The pretty leaves are made of various materials, felt, silk, and paper.
Added a few red cardinals for atmosphere..

The Cardinal nest may be a bit confused with all the theming around here..
We have Thanksgiving, Christmas, and a birthday going on simultaneously...



Long-term readers of this blog may remember I have an annual garden competition with myself, in which I attempt to keep pansies blooming, despite heat, droughts and floods, until my birthday at end November.

Two tiny little white blooms made it -


onto my birthday sponge cake!


Mr C's card: pink stuff with little red birds... clever man ..


Among other special items, he gave me this Paris themed, vintage silk scarf.
Well played, Mr Cardinal (Faux Fuchsia 2013)



Having watched, at least in part, many of the JFK docos this week, I had a look at one about his successor as President, Lyndon B Johnson.

His background was very different from that of the Kennedys..
They showed his boyhood home, in Johnson City, Texas, including the swing seat on the front porch.

Reader, I have sat on that seat!


This is Mr C's photo of the house, taken in 2006 during our visit.
You can just see the top of the swing seat in the porch to the left.

Johnson City is in the very pretty Texas Hill Country, West of Austin, and North-West of San Antonio which we were visiting.

This and the following: Google images

Here are LBJ and Lady-bird in the area.  She was very active in encouraging interest in, and preservation of, wildflowers.  The LBJ ranch was not far from his boyhood home.


The family home, while not impoverished, was certainly neither luxurious nor ostentatious, and his early life must have shaped his interest in social justice and welfare.





I can remember when he came to Australia, and our then Prime Minister, Harold Holt, declared that Australia was "All the Way with LBJ"!


The Garden of Neglect has excelled and thrown up this hippeastrum lily (amaryllis), which unfortunately will not last until Christmas.
But looks good near a Santa.


It's all happening around this nest!

Have a great week

XXXX



25 comments:

  1. Glad you were spoilt on your birthday. Boy that snowy photo makes you feel decidedly chilly. Love all your decorating too. It is scary that I also remember "all the way with LBJ"

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    1. Thanks Michelle, was spoilt lots for my birthday :) Now back onto the diet bandwagon...

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  2. Happy Birthday, Patricia! That snow piccie is just the total opposite from us at the moment. I just popped my son on a flight to USA this AM, for 3 weeks of basketball ~ hopefully it isn't that cold for him! My Blood Lilies flowered this week ~ just have to keep them protected from this wind for a few days ... J

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    1. Thanks Judith, it was quite a heavy snowfall to begin the season this year. It will be a long cold winter for the little mother, with two little boys to bundle up every time they venture out. Good luck to your son for the USA, and trust he is not going into the cold freeze! Look after those lilies..

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  3. Belated happy birthday Patricia - now how did I guess that you would have a pink cake?
    What a lot of snow they have in Canada, I had heard from one of my followers that snow had fallen already, but I didn't realise they had received such a lot.
    Lovely amaryllis, the deep red is one of my favourites, especially at this time of year.

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    1. Thank you Rosemary. Now, I had to match the cake to the Christmas decorations, of course ...
      It is a lot of snow for the end of November, about 12 inches, quite an early start to the Canadian winter. I love the deep red amaryllis too, and they remind me of my mother who grew them when I was little. This plant is a descendant of her plants, which I have kept going for many years.

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  4. A belated, but Happy Birthday Greeting to You!
    Gosh, Ottawa got it´s snow before southern Finland.
    Terrible, horrible for the adults, but children like it much.
    It seems, that you were treated like a Queen on your birthday : ).

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    1. Thank you Mette, I like the birthday that keeps going for a few days, even though I think I swore off birthdays some time ago..
      It is an unusual lot of snow, so early in the season. Poor DD, with 2 active little boys!

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  5. Happy birthday to you, I love the photo of all that snow so very different from where I am.

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    1. Thank you Greenthumb, looking at the snow pics helps cool me off, just a fraction :))

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  6. Happy Belated Birthday, Patricia. I like celebrating for more than just a day. I hope you are having warm, sunny days!

    I love LBJ's comforable abode. It looks like you could make yourself at home there.

    And like you, I'm trying to keep a plant alive until Christmas ... a 6 inch, fully bloomed poinsetttia. They usually last until February, but after that, I don't have much luck in keeping one.

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    1. Hi Debra, thank you for the b'day greetings - I think I need to get back on the straight and narrow today. LBJ's house did look comfortable, and also very warm and welcoming, I thought. I am sure he had a great childhood running about the friendly neighbourhood. Hope you pointsettia keeps it going for Christmas; they are very festive plants!

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  7. Happy Birthday to you, a few days late. Sounds like you had a terrific celebration. That snow looks so "Christmassy," doesn't it? I have never visited the LBJ home in Texas; neat that you sat in the swing pictured. Your red amaryllis is so pretty. I must remember to buy a white one for Christmas this year. Hope you will have a great December!

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    1. Thank you Sanda. I love Texas and all it has to offer; hope to get back there one day. I have only rarely seen a white amaryllis - perhaps they don't grow well here in Brisbane - however they would be perfect for Christmas. I should put it on my garden wish-list! Happy Christmas prep time to you, Sanda.

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  8. Happy Birthday! I would hate to have to deal with snow and two babies while my husband was out of town - tell your daughter "Well done!" for me!

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    1. Hi Beryl, I will tell DD "Well done" from you, and from me too :) She is a great little mother, and has even done a spot of Christmas decorating over the weekend! Thanks for the birthday greetings, too.

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  9. Very late but sincere best wishes for your Birthday. What care your DH took in finding just the perfect card for you. Fun when people pay attention to details like that.

    Darla

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    1. Dear Darla, thank you for you kind wishes - it is the Birthday which keeps on giving! I was mightily impressed by that card, and I loved it.

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  10. Happy birthday Patricia! this must be such a festive time for you. I guess that living where you do, the charm of snow must pall pretty quickly but it does make a festive background, anyway! :)

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    1. Thank you Jenny, it is a very festive time of year. Our two grandsons in Canada have had birthdays in the past fortnight as well. Our daughter lives in snowy Canada, but we live in sunny Queensland, in Australia, and it never snows here. I find it very pretty and charming at a distance!

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  11. Belated birthday greetings, Patricia. It looks as though you had a wonderful day and were nicely spoiled. :-) I do hope that Ottawa snow isn't about to head across the Atlantic in our direction -- at least not before Christmas. That amaryllis is gorgeous . Neglect is obviously the way to go. :-)

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    1. Thank you Perpetua, for a person who said she had given up birthdays, I did rather well this year! Hope the snow stays where it is for now - they are used to it, and well prepared. You don't want to be snowed in again as you were last winter.

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  12. Happy belated birthday! The scarf is beautiful! You can sort of say you had snow on your birthday. :-)

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    1. Thank you Kristie, and yes, I like the thought of a snowfall for my birthday - very nice :-)

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