Posted on April 27, 2026 8:00 AM by Gerry Trout
I had never seen the Gardens at Duke. It was part of the 3-mile Angels Among Us walk. Oh my goodness!!! What a gorgeous place. Acres and acres of big trees and flowers and water features and on and on. Right there on the campus of Duke University.
I just love these Alliums: the flowers are about 3 feet tall, and there are 4 curved beds of them. Don't they look just like my leeks? I might have to plant some of these in my garden.
It is definitely a place to go see if you are anywhere near Raleigh/Durham. Do it!!
HAPPY SPRING!!!
Posted on April 26, 2026 8:00 AM by Gerry Trout
On Saturday, my friend and I participated in the Angels Among Us Walk at Duke Medical Center in Durham. Since she was on a committee to work with volunteers, we had to be there at 5:45 AM!!! When I saw this cool sign for the walk the sun was just coming up and the sky was pink.
What a great way to start the day: seeing the sunrise. I might start getting up early every day.
HAPPY SPRING!!!
Posted on April 5, 2026 8:00 AM by Gerry Trout
I copied this picture from a Teleflora Ad. I went to the Farmers Almanac, and they said that Easter, 2026 falls on Sunday, April 3rd. Actually, April 3, 2026 is a Friday. I think they made a mistake. Anyway, their pics weren't that great, so I went and found us something pretty to look at today.
HAPPY EASTER!!!
Posted on February 27, 2026 8:00 AM by Gerry Trout
I thought you'd like to know that we spent yesterday taking down the Christmas tree, and the best part: we got it back into the box!!! Stand and all. What a beautiful thing.
In January, we took off the Christmas ornaments and just left the angels and a few others. It was so pretty in the living room, I just didn't want to put it away.
But it is almost March, and yesterday was too wet to go outside, so we made it our project. It was fun, and now we are decorated for spring. We are looking at silk Forsythia and sweet peas. I guess it is more seasonal.
LOOKING FORWARD TO SPRING!!!
Posted on February 8, 2026 8:00 AM by Gerry Trout
I don't know for sure, but I thought you might like to see this page from the Five Forks Website. This is where I enter my blogs. This is where I can view, edit, add, and delete blog posts. The part of this page that I love is watching that Active number grow. I circled it in red. As you can see it is up to 2101. That means that you can go back into the archives, and read 2,101 active blogs. I can't take credit for 34 of them, but I wrote the rest. That's a bunch, since 2017.
I hope you enjoy reading them, as much as I have loved writing them.
HAPPY FEBRUARY!!!
Posted on February 6, 2026 8:00 AM by Gerry Trout
The snow is all gone, but look what we got yesterday. The trees were flocked!!!
It was still only 27 degrees at noon, and it was like a fairyland. Beautiful!!!
OK, enough of this, I'm ready for spring.
HAPPY WINTER!!!
Posted on February 3, 2026 8:00 AM by Gerry Trout
Do you recognize my beautiful rosemary? I know, she looks a bit different.
Rosemary can only tolerate a low temperature of 10 degrees. So when the prediction is for 15 or lower, Jon goes into "Dad mode" and covers her with a blanket and a tarp. He was out there at 7 am on Saturday to make sure she survives the snow and the cold. Fingers crossed she makes it through the winter.
Rosemary and I are grateful to our hero.
HAPPY WINTER!!!
Posted on February 2, 2026 8:00 AM by Gerry Trout
I wonder if Mr. Groundhog saw his shadow today. I bet: NOT. It is cold and cloudy everywhere. So, according to the legend; if he doesn't see his shadow, winter will end, and spring should arrive in 6 weeks. Which it will do anyway. So.......
Violet sent me this picture that she took of a finch just outside her window. Winter moves into spring: we get it when we get it.
HAPPY FEBRUARY!!!
Posted on February 1, 2026 8:00 AM by Gerry Trout
This is our beautiful landscape, (ie. our driveway.) It was WAY too cold to go out today, but we did manage a couple ventures. Of course, Jon had to fill the bird feeders. And I took a couple pix, but 12 degrees is just a little too cold for sledding, or anything else. So we just stayed inside.
HAPPY WINTER!!!
Posted on January 28, 2026 8:00 AM by Gerry Trout
And Gizmo helped. He hung out by the fireplace all day. Better than underfoot, right?
HAPPY WINTER!!!