Frequent Visitors in My Garden

By Hazel Holland

 Here are some frequent visitors to my garden!

 

Noisy baby starlings running toward their mother for food!

Mother starling feeding bread crumbs to her two babies that are as big as she is.

A baby sparrow's looking right at me through my office window.  But I missed the cute shot of the mother bird feeding him seconds earlier.

Aha!  Another sunflower seeds that dropped from the bird feeder!

Think this squirrel might have found a little "nest" of sunflower seeds buried in the grass beneath the bird feeder!

Now that his tummy is filled he's on his way home.

My Flourishing Back Yard

By Hazel Holland

My back yard has been flourishing the last few weeks.  The lilacs are out... a long hedge of them... white and purple.  Just love these flowers 'cause they smell so good! 

Take a look and see what my back yard looks like...  I still have a lot of work to do to get it up to par so that it looks like an English garden. But that is the goal  I'm striving for. :-) 

 

I was delighted to discover that I have lilacs growing in my back yard!

 I love the white and purple lilacs.

I'm not sure what this these blossoms are, but they're not lilacs.

 My garden shed and a hedge of lilacs.

 

 I don't know what these little white flowers are, but they are all over my yard. 

 I dug up about 10 plants yesterday and transplanted them to window boxes

 in my front yard when I discovered that they grew from bulbs. 

 They survived the trip and are flourishing!

I thought this was a shady spot for a bird bath 

Purple irises growing near my back door

I burrowed inside this "hedge" and found a large woodsy area that I can make into a lovely place for my grandchildren to explore... after I get rig of all the dead wood and fallen leaves. 

 View of back yard

 View of back yard

View of back yard

These raspberry bushes grow near the weed patch at the far end of my garden

 Grape vine and a mountain of weeds to pull up. 

I began pulling weeds yesterday.

Today I can hardly move!

Here's another view of back yard from between the plum trees

 Small overhang by garden shed.  I put little candles in the lanterns tonight.

 I don't know the name of these flowers, but they brighten up the area.

  

This is hail that fell while I was mowing the grass three weeks ago!

I don't know the name of these flowers, either

I'm watching it hail outside from the bedroom window

 These apple blossoms have dropped now.

 I'm not sure what fruit blossoms these are, but they're not apple..

 These tulips were blooming a couple of weeks ago

But now the weather is warmer the flowers have faded

Max's First Birthday Party!

By Hazel Holland

We celebrated Max's first birthday yesterday.  What fun to be with the grand kids and see their laughter and joy!  Makes my heart smile. ♥   

One-year-old birthday boy!

 Jake "helping" Max open his presents

Max enjoying his new super heroes chair

Max's favorite birthday gift?  It's a toss up 

between the bow and the bike!


A thoughtful Max moment
 

Another precious pose

Spring in My Garden

By Hazel Holland

Spring is happening in my garden.  Bulbs and fruit trees are blossoming and budding leaves are blooming everywhere.  I just love this time of the year!

 red tulips

 yellow tulips

 apple blossom

apple tree in bloom

Pleasantly Plump Robin

By Hazel Holland

I got a picture of this fat little robin yesterday.  Lately I've noticed that he and his mate are always looking for worms far away from where the rest of the birds congregate...over by the bird feeders.  

Perhaps bird seed and bread crumbs are not their cup of tea!.  Although I got a picture of him eating a worm the other day, the picture was too fuzzy to post.

Spring Has Come!

By Hazel Holland

I decided to look around in my garden today to see what was growing and discovered that spring came this past Easter weekend!  Someone who lived here before me must have loved flowers, too.♥ 

purple violets

 mauve violets

 pink violets

 pink hyacinths

daffodils 

tulips & daffodils

Gentleness

By Hazel Holland

I painted this watercolor without any picture in front of me, and I just let the colors run where they wanted to.  Only recently have I begun doing this kind of painting, so it is still very new to me.  But it is so rewarding and so much fun, because I never know where it will lead, and what the picture will look like when I'm finished.

Most people don't know the struggle I often go through when I pick up the brush to paint... Most of the time I have no idea how to do what I feel called to to.  So I'm very dependent upon the Spirit to guide me as I paint, and in my choice of subject matter. 

That's why I pray as I paint.  I follow the leading of the Holy Spirit as I sense that perhaps God has something to say to someone through my paintings.  All I know is that I want the world to know how high and how low, how deep and how wide is the love of God for even the vilest of sinners.  And if I can convey something about His love and goodness towards us in my paintings then that is what I want to do.♥

See link: Be Harmless As Doves

Heart Gardens

By Hazel Holland

I'm practicing painting flowers for greeting cards with

 wet colored tissue paper and water soluble crayons.

Petie

By Hazel Holland

 An oil painting I did years ago of Petie... 
my sweet feathered friend.♥

A Cure For Anxiety

By Hazel Holland

It was great to see a blue sky and sunshine today.  Although it's 25 degrees outside these grateful sparrows are basking in the sunlight after feeding on the breadcrumbs and birdseed that I put out for them.  Now that their tummies are full they're preening their feathers and sunning themselves!

As I watched these birds I couldn't help but be reminded of this familiar Scripture...  "Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?"  Matthew 6:26

I hope that this word picture today can be a cure for the anxiety we experience at times about God taking care of our temporal needs. ♥