Today I took the time to putter a bit in the yard before it got dark. It is really getting dark noticeably early now. First I hung up my two Fall/Autumn garden flags. This is my second year for both of these. I really like changing my garden flags with the season.
I need to do some trimming of the foliage below this one so it will hang better. It is getting kind of tangled with the grassy bush thingie there.
This is the top of my red ruffle leaf coleous. I notice these things coming out the top. I am not sure why they are there. This is my first year to plant coleous plants. I am not sure if I am spelling that correctly. Anyway, it has been interesting growing these. They are in my wine barrel that you see in the picture in my side bar. Next year I will do it differently now that I know how big they get.
There was a planter box in the yard already when we moved in. This is my first year to actually plant something there. I have petunias and snapdragons growing there. Very successfully too. I use Miracle-Gro Liquafeed and it seems my flowers have thrived. It was a thrill to have some success with growing things. I am encouraged to do more next year. Anyway, this strange plant came up in the planter box as well. This is the first time I have seen it and we have no idea what it is. So this is my question "Does anybody recognize what this is?
I took the picture with the berries in my hand for size reference. It starts with the white star flowers and then I noticed the green berry type things, then I noticed them turning a dark purple. I may have to take a clipping to a local nursery and ask there what this is. I don't recognize it at all!
This last picture shows the clusters of berries, if that is what they are really called. I don't dare try it in case it is poisonious.
So I hope someone who reads this recognizes it. If not, I will just have to go ask at the nursery. I just thought it would be fun to ask here first.
While browsing blogs, I noticed one person likes to end each blog with her joys for the day. I thought that is a great idea. Look for the happy things in each day and encourage us to appreciate each day. This is similiar to how meetings and bible studies are started now at our church. We start each one with some reflection time, thinking about what God has been doing in our lives the previous week. It was hard at first for some people to have to sit quietly for a bit and reflect. Then if you were comfortable we were invited to share those things.
So my joys for today-------
-Hearing how my help was appreciated from a patient during her therapy session. Her roommate told me she raved about me to the adminstrators and even mentioned me by name. So nice to get that praise from appreciative patients.
-Getting an "I love you" text message from my daughter.
-Staying with a young woman, whose car was smoking until her boyfriend got there. I had to show her how to open the hood of her car. This is a "pay it forward" for all those times some one nice stopped to help me when I was stuck. I had just gotten a Starbuck's coffee and was about to leave when this happened.
-Puttering in the yard and noticing changes taking place bringing me smiles.
What are your joys?
Inside was an assortment of chocolates. Yummy! All of which I had never tried before with the exception of the Ghirardelli Square chocolate. I promise I will not eat it all in one sitting. Besides I would probably get an upset stomach if I do. Instead I will enjoy it bit by bit and make it last several days. And yes I will probably share some with my hubby since it is good chocolate. He has a tendency to break out with the cheap chocolates.
This is the card that came with the gift. We thought it was hilarious. I had to share it with you. I know the flash shows in the picture above, but I managed to get one without the flash making it hard to read in the bottom one which shows what it says inside the card. The question marks are because I am not supposed to know who it is from. And truly I don't know who it is from. I don't have a clue this time.
So it was a good day. We will treat ourselves to dinner out later in the week. Need to wait until my payday. It was nice to be remembered. My parents gave us a card today too. 
