by

While I Was Away

Traveling is a wonderful treat.

So to is the homecoming.

While I ponder how much to share about my visits to Atlanta, Virginia, DC and New York (no one wants to plod through someone else’s holiday pics) I do want to share my garden’s amazing transformation while I was away.

Being gone for nearly two weeks as spring got under way gave me the unique opportunity to see everything with fresh eyes.  What a treat! Will you come have a look?

I’m gradually reading through your blogs, so please bear with me. I’m looking forward to catching up.

 

46 thoughts on “While I Was Away”

  1. How lovely! My sweet peas would only flower as summer got truly underway – yours are prolific and it is still spring time! A little rain (well, quite a lot really) in California and the garden goes bonkers!! What an added treat for you to return home to, your lovely men-folk, the kitties and a riot of colour and scent. Welcome home Alys, I know you had a fabulous time but I bet you are glad to be back in the heart of your family again. xoxo

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    • Pauline, it’s so nice to see you here. I thought of you often in DC and wished you could have been there with us. You would have loved meeting Joe and his wife, Terry too. We had a wonderful time. It is always nice to come home after a long trip, as you know. It was nice to be missed, too. I flew home Easter day, so Mike arranged to pick up C and we all had a pizza lunch and a catch up (and yes I still put together small Easter baskets). 😉 How are you? Let’s have a good catch up via Skype soon. xo

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  2. I did enjoy that video, Alys…..and to see Mouse in a starting role. After those years of drought and all the anguish it brought you it is so wonderful to see that your garden now is a glorious riot of colours. I can smell the sweet peas from here!

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    • Thank you, Anne. It was a treat to come home to all those flowers. It’s been an extraordinary spring so far. I’m glad you can smell the sweet peas. Neighbors are commenting when they walk by as they are flowering on both sides of the sidewalk. I’m enjoying every minute of this before the heat of our summer descends.

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  3. That was the sweetest video I’ve ever seen! My garden needs so much work but it just doesn’t stop raining unless I’m gone for the day. :/ I’m sure you will soon figure out what parts of your trip to share but I loved the happy place in your garden in the meantime. I always love homecoming too. 🙂

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    • Hello Marlene! I’m glad you enjoyed the video. It was fun to make, and so nice of Mouse to cooperate for a couple of videos. I adore him…in case that wasn’t obvious. 🙂

      I thought I would be more rested by now, but I’m still adjusting and getting back into my rhythm. Soon. Hugs xo

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  5. Oh my sweet goodness me…you’ve been buried by sweat peas and every other manner of glory to springtime and California rain. What a fun video you made Alys, it was like walking along with you and Mouse and Lindy too. I just can’t imagine a whole yard full of flowers! Wow Wow! How you put these things together so fast is beyond. I’m still doing holiday laundry, ha! One more day of work, then I’m cracking the whip…nah, just kidding xo ❤ I can't wait to plant our secret sweet pea gardens around San Jose. Maybe you could invite them Sharks over for same spiked Lemonade so they were tired in their next meet up with the Oilers, ha! I'm so not a hockey fan, I didn't even know our two cities were in this round of playoffs together….7/zip…..that stings….ha! I'll cheer for both 😀

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    • LOL. I should have guessed about the the playoffs. There was a drunk and rowdy Oiler’s fan on my last flight home. He interrupted the flight attendant during landing, then continued to shout down the Sharks at the baggage check. The funniest part was that everyone just ignored him. He couldn’t get a rise out of anyone (thank goodness). I’ll never understand that sports fan mentality, but was relieved that we didn’t have a Sharks counterpart on the same flight or things would get ugly. Go Oiler’s. Go Shark’s. (I think the Oiler’s will win the playoff)

      Planting secret sweet peas sounds like fun. 🙂 I hope you’re finally feeling better and well rid of that cough and congestion.

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      • Ha, I’m so behind, the Oilers are now into their next round (two games up). I’m surprised the airline let that Oiler fan aboard when he was so full of himself, loud and obnoxious. What a baboon. I guess there’s been a few bad apples after the games downtown too. I find it ridiculous that adults don’t know their limits and act like a bad child and expect others to put up with their annoying behaviour – a shame to the game. Bravo to the other travels for ignoring his behaviour and not giving him any attention.

        Thanks for the healthy wishes. I’m still coughing, though not as much. It seems to be the never ending cold. Some people I’ve talked to say they had it for a month! GAH, hopefully it will not take that long. xox k

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  6. What a lovely tour around your garden and so nice to hear your gentle voice.
    We have some wild sweet peas growing here but the cultivated ones would probably suffer from slug damage and less than perfect soil so we haven’t planted any – maybe we should try them.

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    • Lynn, how lovely to have wild sweet peas growing in your garden. I hope you’ll blog about your French paradise one day (or perhaps you have in the past). It sounds glorious. Funny thing: I must have tossed some old pea seeds in the back garden, as I came home to find the edible sweet peas growing in one of the planter boxes. That was a nice surprise. The lower half of the plant is indeed disappearing at the mouth of a snail, but the upper part seems impervious. I say give them a go. They’re so prolific once established, it seems, so perhaps the snails would only slow them down.

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  8. Oh wow – are you sure you’re not in an English cottage garden with roses around the door? The Wisteria is not quite out over here yet, as May is the month. I had blue cornflowers as my wedding bouquet four years ago – gorgeous. Sweet Peas remind me of the cottage I grew up in, where we used them as cut flowers all the time. It must have been wonderful to come back to all these flowers!

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    • Sheila, I always dreamed of an English garden, but gave up on the idea once the drought seemed to settle in for the long haul. It’s wonderful seeing what happens when the rains are prolific. It’s interesting to know that your wisteria arrives a month later. Mine arrived later than my neighbors did, so that was interesting too. I love it! You had cornflowers in your bouquet! What a lovely color. Did you also wear a blue dress?

      It was indeed wonderful arriving home to men that missed me, happy cats and a garden refreshed by so much rain.

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  9. Your garden gave you quite the “welcome home”! It still amazes me that, once you converted to a desert garden, you got rain! I’d love to hear more about your travels but I understand that dilemma of how much to share. I’m in sort of the same predicament right now . . .

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    • Hello Kerry! I hope you enjoyed your travels as well as the joy of coming home. I’m still tired five days in, but hoping the fog clears soon. I sorted through holiday photos on the plane and deleted half. That helps to narrow my thoughts, too if that makes sense.

      I’m looking forward to catching up on your posts over the next few days, with a quiet weekend ahead.

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  11. Thank you for that most lovely tour, Alys! I’m swooning over the blue cornflower and rununculas! You have lemons? They’re a late fall fruit here. Isn’t it so miraculous to receive rain after such a long drought? Your garden rejoices. What a welcome home treat. Big love, sweet pea!

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    • Hello Leilani, It’s so nice to see your sweet photo here. This one has long been one of my favorites of you. I’m glad you enjoyed the garden tour. Our lemons are on the vine late this year. They usually fruit in the fall as well. Now we have fully-formed fruit and blossoms at the same time, both on the orange and the lemon. Rain, glorious rain! Hugs

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    • Hi Patti, It was a treat meeting you too. It was far too brief, but I know we’ll meet up again. Thanks for your kind words on the garden. It’s my love and passion. Five years of drought have been challenging, so this is quite the treat.

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  15. Welcome home ! Your garden gave you a gift, lovely lavenders & blues. Our roses are “busting out all over” Quite a contrast to 20″ of snow in the mountains. Back for a while.

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    • Sylvia, that late season snow was really something. I’m glad to hear you’re back in Gilroy for awhile. I hope we can get together again soon. I could love that. Your garden is magnificent…so much space to cultivate and grow.

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  16. What a sweet video!! How I miss the sweet peas!! When we left Lompoc I took some seeds with me but they never did well in the Colorado high country. I think they might like the weather in VA but not the darn clay earth. Yuck. Plus I think there are some things I hold in my heart as CA things and even if they would flourish somewhere else I would stubbornly refuse to acknowledge it. 😉I am loving all the beautiful things that grow here in Hawaii. They smell so nice too. There is a lovely tree I see every morning as I walk my daughters pooch that has these glorious roots I know fairies are hiding in. I think of you. I’ll have to send you a photo. Glad you had a nice trip. Welcome home. Take care.

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    • Thank you, Amy. I’m glad you enjoyed the video. Sweet peas seem to resonate with people, don’t they? They’re both beautiful and fragrant, with a touch of nostalgia and romance. Believe it or not, Kelly sent me a few packets of seeds from Canada, and they’ve come up bigger and better, thanks to the increased rain. I love them! I also understand your reluctance to grow them and the strong identity they hold for you in California. I’m glad you’re having a restful visit in Hawaii, and what fun picturing you walking with your daughter’s pooch, discovering fairies around the corners and just out of view. Enjoy your beautiful stay.

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  18. Hi Alys, your postcard of the Earth Goddess in the Atlanta Botanical Garden arrived yesterday – how appropriate on Earth Day! Thank you so much! Look forward to hearing about your travels! 🙂

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  19. We’ve been away at the same time! And what a treat it’s been to catch up on your blog — and on this wonderful video of your garden. (HOW DID YOU DO THIS? It’s astoundingly beautiful!) In any case … welcome back! xx

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  20. Pingback: Communal Sweet Peas – Gardening Nirvana

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