And The May Garden Is So Different

Candy Geraniums

Yellow Irises

It's almost a month later from my last blog about all the flowers in my garden and now everything has changed. Gone are the tulips and daffodils and it's all irises and budding roses and geraniums and peonies.
It's a lot of pink and yellow and even blue and very exciting to see everything coming out blooming again.

King Peonies

Pixie Queen Irises

Miniature Blue Iris

I've been growing these flowers for years now and it's always a lovely surprise when the leaves shoot up and the buds form and then -- usually after a few days of sun and heat -- the flowers start to unfurl.  Each year the flowers are different, either a bulb has doubled and there are more flowers or somehow the plant is making bigger flowers, or in the case of the Queen Elizabeth rose bush, smaller flowers seem to be appearing, but a lot more than usual.  I've spied about 20 buds there! And for some other reason the miniature blue irises doubled and are a huge mass this year.  Just so delightful!

Queen Elizabeth Roses Budding

Daffodils in January in BloomingdaleDC

DAFFODILS!

It's so astounding to see daffodils in the middle of January.  There were two clumps of them blazing yellowly in the cold windy air of this unusually warm winter month over on First Street, NW in Bloomingdale. Often by now we have had snow or rain or used at least two tankfuls of oil to heat the house. But it's been so warm we've had the windows open even, during the best part of the day. And we've got daffodils sprouting and blooming. Totally amazing!

Back at Harry's Again

Looking out onto E St NW

No, I don't add ketchup to my martini

It seems we end up at Harry's Bar & Restaurant about once every few months on our Friday evening dates so last Friday found us there again. Noisy with rock and roll tapes, decorated with 80's ceiling fans and fake Tiffany lampshades,  and a general air of slight disrepair, nevertheless the service is pretty good and the food comes fast. Usually, we are on our way to the movies and because it's on several bus routes Harry's is easy to get to and near what we want to do. I had a veggie burger which I'd never ordered before with a martini which you know I've ordered before and hubster had chicken salad and a lager beer. All around us were tourist families who stay at the Hotel Harrington which is surely the nastiest cheapiest hotel downtown DC and is the building with Harry's on its ground floor.  There's also a few other couples of varying ages and lots of groups of noisy 20 or 30 somethings. Because it was so unexpectedly cold they didn't have the tables set up outside even though they have outdoor heat lamps for when it's not that cold. .Maybe it's the odd collection of pictures on the walls, or the half a dozen TV screens blasting sports and news, or maybe it's the talkative bartenders, but we find ourselves here several times a year.