Author: Timelesslady

Married with children and grandchildren. Reader, writer, painter - maybe a bit of an artist. Gardener... Led by the Spirit.

Quick Tip – Transplanting Tiny Volunteers

On By TimelessladyIn Quick Tip8 Comments

Anyone who reads my blog knows I love plants that come up on their own in strange places. This week, in my front garden, I noticed several coleus sprouts beneath larger plants, volunteers from last year’s coleus. The coleus are extremely small and have no chance to thrive if left to grow beneath large trees.

After I spot a desirable sprout I dig a small shallow hole for transplanting. My favorite tool for removing the small plantlet is a putty knife. The knife slides into the soil easily and lifts the sprout right out of the ground. I don’t want to disturb the roots any further so I fill the transplant hole up with water, and while it is sinking into the ground insert the sprout into the well of water. The pull of the water plants the sprout without me having to touch it or crush it with a stream of water from a watering can or hose.

If you spot a small volunteer sprout in your garden and have a perfect spot for it to grow, give this technique for planting a try.

Photo & Place – Weather Vane Wednesday/Ocean City, NJ, 12th and the Boardwalk

On By TimelessladyIn Quirkiness16 Comments

Monday evening, we drove to Ocean City, a good hour’s drive, just to have boardwalk pizza for dinner. Eating pizza at Manco and Manco, once known as Mac and Manco, is a tradition for many people in our area. The pizza was delicious and sitting on a counter stool with the ocean in view while we ate was sublime. Oh, and did I say, Manco and Manco makes the best pizza in the world? I also was lucky and found several weather vanes in the area. Here is one with a resting gull beside it. Happy Wednesday to you!

Skywatch

I miss the WordPress Photo Challenge and thought an interesting alternative would be to offer one of my own on Wednesdays. Weather Vane Wednesdays is just what the title implies, a photo of a weather vane.

Create a weather vane post, the name doesn’t have to be in the title. If you would like others to see your post leave a link to your blog in the comment box. You can also tag the post #weathervaneweds. If you place a link to my post in your post you will create a pingback that will appear in the comment section. Thanks so much for taking part in my challenge

Problem-Solving – Hornet’s Nest

On By TimelessladyIn Problem-Solving8 Comments

Today, while working in the garden I was stung. My first words were a startled, “What was that?” I thought right away it was a bee, but because I didn’t see the culprit, wondered if it might have been a spider of some kind disturbed by my earlier weeding.

Later in the morning, another pass near the spot drew my eyes up to the robin’s nest in the crape myrtle. She was gone, probably looking for some food, and then…I saw it, a few feet away from the empty nest, a hornet’s nest. NO!

I apologize for the fuzziness of the photo, but I took a quick shot…not willing to risk getting stung again. These hornets are bald-faced hornets.

I didn’t want to douse the nest with insecticide in hopes the robin might come back. Instead, I squirted a small amount into the opening and RAN. Of course they swarmed out; the insecticide didn’t seem to affect them other than make them angrier. I was righteously indignant too, and returned when things settled down with a large-lidded coffee can and pruning shears. When the hornets went back in the nest I quickly snipped away the branch, and let it fall into the can. I sprayed anything still flying into oblivion with a hard spray of water from the hose. I saw the queen escape, but don’t know where she went. Since this hornet’s nest was small and low this worked for me. I would never try it on a large one.

I filled the can with water and hopefully that is the end of the dilemma and hornets in my yard. Since I never provoked them, and was only walking by the bush when stung, I am so glad I saw it before more hornets hatched out. I have five grandchildren, and one has life-threatening allergies, he has never been stung as of yet so multiple stings could have been a disaster. Thank you Lord for eyes to see hazards around me.

Quirky – Weather Vane Wednesday – Fortescue, NJ

On By TimelessladyIn quirky6 Comments

I photographed quite a few weather vanes this past weekend in the Delaware Bay town of Fortescue, NJ. Here’s one that seemed ‘beachy’ to me. I think it is a heron design.

I miss the WordPress Photo Challenge and thought an interesting alternative would be to offer one of my own on Wednesdays. Weather Vane Wednesdays is just what the title implies, a photo of a weather vane.

Create a weather vane post, the name doesn’t have to be in the title. If you would like others to see your post leave a link to your blog in the comment box. You can also tag the post #weathervaneweds. If you place a link to my post in your post you will create a pingback that will appear in the comment section. Thanks so much for taking part in my challenge

Photographs – Summer Creativity

On By TimelessladyIn Photographs10 Comments


A seashore or bay town is usually a boon to the creative spirit of its inhabitants. This horizontal line-up of birdhouses on the porch of a trailer in Fortescue, New Jersey, is a testament to creativity, and also a good photo for Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Horizontal Lines.

I was surprised to find CREATIVITY listed as a virtue by Virtues for Life. This virtue, for me personally, is a lot easier to achieve than some of the stickier virtues…such as ‘Flexibility or Detachment,’ two virtues I have trouble following at times.

Another good example of horizontal lines is this flat-bottomed boat appropriately named, ‘The Greenhead Hotel.’ If you’ve ever been to the Delaware Bay or another New Jersey salt marsh in summer you won’t need to be told what greenhead implies. Once bitten by a greenhead fly you will never forget the name or the big pinch of the bite.

I’ll close this post with one of my favorite quotes on creativity.

Background – Elephant Ear leaf.

Phamily – Happy Father’s Day

On By TimelessladyIn Phamily10 Comments

Happy Father’s Day! A snapshot of a neighbor, my father and me in the late 1950’s. I think this is probably New Castle, PA.

Quote – Fortitude

On By TimelessladyIn Quirkiness4 Comments

I love this little Johnny Jump Up Viola. Every year a plant or two of this variety springs up within the confines of a crack in my front stoop. The foliage gets a little bruised and battered by foot traffic and concrete detritus, but the bloom is radiant and perfect. This type of garden quirkiness always becomes a favorite, compelling me to keep at all my dreams, “Onward!”

Photo – Weathervane Wednesday/Courthouse

On By TimelessladyIn Quirkiness8 Comments

These weather vane photos were taken from the car as we drove by the County Courthouse in Woodbury, New Jersey. My favorite is the first shot taken when we were stopped at the traffic light. This particular weather vane is about three times the size of most. The County Courthouse was built in 1787.

Please feel free to add links and pingbacks to this Weather Vane Wednesday.

Photo Challenges – Columns and Vertical Lines

On By TimelessladyIn photo challenges13 Comments
A dragonfly, vertical lines on his wing, sitting on the column of a Shepherd’s Hook.

I love taking part in Cee’s Fun Foto Challenges. Today I checked the subject out and commented on Cee’s blog that the challenge looked like fun, and I would be on the lookout for a perfect subject to photograph. I wasn’t expecting the opportunity to present itself so fast! Within minutes I spotted this amazing fellow/gal on the shepherd’s hook my birdfeeder hangs on.

The hook is my column, the vertical lines are covering the dragonfly and his wings.

Detail of dragonfly wing/vertical lines

What a beautiful creature he is; I feel a sense of awe and wonder as I look at the details God created, the beauty of something as humble as an insect is an awesome example of his mysterious ways.

Quick Tip – Garden/Container Greenhouse Drainage

On By TimelessladyIn Quick Tip11 Comments

Here’s an easy way to create drainage holes in plastic disposable food containers. These containers come in all sizes and make perfect miniature greenhouses for stem cuttings and seed sowing, but creating drainage holes can be tricky. I’ve found that if I lay the container on the lawn to use as a stabilizer, an ice pick (screwdrivers and nails work great too) will easily pierce the plastic when hit with a hammer without tearing the bottom into shreds.

There you have it! Perfect drainage in less than five minutes with a minimum of fuss. Happy Gardening!

Perspective, Photograph & Quote – Waiting

On By TimelessladyIn Perspective, photograph, Quote12 Comments

The mountain laurel, late in blooming this year, is finally flowering. It blooms in a small woods near our home. I like to photograph the pristine white flowers illuminated by the canopy of trees and sky.

This Spring, everything has been late in coming into leaf or flower, we’ve waited on just about everything, including the warm weather. I found quite a few quotes on waiting and some lauded the ability to wait while others criticized the tendency. I liked this one by Lincoln…

“Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.”

                                      ~ Abraham Lincoln

Today I think I will choose to hustle!

Quirkiness – Weather Vane Wednesday/An Invitaton and Challenge

On By TimelessladyIn Quirkiness18 Comments

“As of the end of this month (and 2,000 Daily Prompts, 380 Photo Challenges, 260 Community Pools, and 100 First Fridays later), we will no longer publish new posts, prompts, or challenges on this site.” ~Daily Post

I’m disappointed that WordPress has stopped their daily/weekly challenges. I have met many of you, read your blogs, and followed you through these challenges, and I’m so grateful for that opportunity. I am hoping to find more challenges through your blogs and thought I would start one of my own that will keep all of us looking up. I’m challenging myself to post a weather vane photograph every Wednesday through June of 2019. I hope many of you will join me and leave a link or pingback in my post comments to your post and photo. Thanks!

History of Weather vanes

Glen Lake Boulevard, Pitman, NJ

Quirkiness – Can You See Me?

On By TimelessladyIn Quirkiness8 Comments

Can you see me? I’m a catbird nest, built low in a trumpet vine, directly beside the back porch, one of the busiest places in the yard, but does that deter the catbirds?

No! They keep redesigning and adding building materials.

Can you see me? I’m a baby mourning dove, still not comfortable with flight, hiding out under the shrub roses.

Can you see me? I blend in perfectly with the water lilies. Here’s a close-up view. My domed and arched eyes are perfect for Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Arch Dome or Half Circle.

All these garden and pond photos were taken early this morning…Spring has finally arrived in New Jersey.

Teeny-tiny froglet on lily pads.

Quirky – Tip on Thursday/Do You See It?

On By TimelessladyIn quirky8 Comments

Do you see it?
Look closer…try to find the leaves of four.
A change in pattern is a trick to use in finding four-leaf clovers.
Or you can use the new trick I’ve just discovered.
Look for luck right after the rain passes over.
The four-leaf clover has leaves that are closer together and holds a droplet of water in its center while its three-leafed siblings do not. You might get wet feet and knees, but you also might find some luck.

Peculiarities – Twists and Turtles

On By TimelessladyIn Peculiarities11 Comments

Today while I was searching for flowers and foliage to press I came upon a twisted swirl of yellow. A twist so unique and perfect for this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge I raced back home to get my camera hoping my subject would be true to its nature and not move away too quickly.

He was still in place when I came back with my camera in hand. Although he glared an unfriendly warning at me with his orange eye, I took several good photos.

Even more peculiar was the sight of one of his woodsy pals crossing the road (To get to the other side I wonder???) when I returned home. I took a photo of him too before I helped him across, out of the way of oncoming cars.

I see Eastern box turtles at least once a season, but it is rare to see more than one on the same day. When I came home I found a four leaf clover in the yard. Some luck! All in all I think this post is perfect for Cee’s Oddball Challenge.

Quote – Memorial Day

On By TimelessladyIn Quote2 Comments

“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” – President John F. Kennedy

People – Summer Me

On By TimelessladyIn People12 Comments

For those of you who wonder what I look like…this was taken earlier today right before our first day at the local lake. I’m wearing the sunhat and beach cover up my grand-daughter picked out for me for Mother’s Day. She has great style for a five-year-old. I love the big hat, it kept the sun off of me just like a portable umbrella. I am still a bit incognito behind the glasses, but folks…this is me. I wish for you all a sensational summer, and for those of you in the hemisphere down-under, I wish you an easy winter.