Butterfly Bush

Im always watching my neighbor's butterfly bush next door. His is a large bush but not very tall. Its filled with yellow and orange flowers. This type of bush is called a "Lantana".

Every summer I see many butterflies and hummingbirds feast on the fragrant flowers it produces.

Well, guess what? Another neighbor, that lives behind me, brought me a cutting of his butterfly bush after hearing me mention how much I'd love to have one. The one he brought me was not like the one I see next door. This one is tall and produces purple cone shaped flowers. This type of bush is called a Buddleia "Purple Haze".

He brought it to me by surprise around February. It was just two stickily looking twigs with a root attached to the bottom. I stuck it in the ground without much confidence that it would grow. I cant even keep a cactus alive. I was sure it would not survive a few more cold weeks, and frost. But it did.

It looked naked and leafless for a couple months, but by May, it was full of blooms. The butterflies didn't really start coming around until June. Now I can look out the window and see several butterflies and humming birds swarming the plant in my very own yard.

 This butterfly posed for me.

See the humming bird? I didn't need to put the humming bird feeder out this year.

Its funny how at night, they butterflies will hang under the leafs like little bats hanging from a tree.

I asked my sister to send me a picture of her butterfly bush.  Her butterfly bush is like mine but in white. Then name for this type of bush is also a Buddleia  called a 'White Profusion'.

After seeing a lot of bees swarm this one, she finally sees butterflies. She was so excited. She loves butterflies while im more partial to hummingbirds.

With each of these plants, butterflies will feast off of the flowers until August before the flowers finally all die out and return next year with many new blooms.

Under the Red Umbrellas

Under the red umbrellas is where I met up with my friend the other night for dinner for some girl time. We like to do this every now and again so we can catch up with each others busy life. We talk about work, our kids, new things happening, plans we have for the future and anything else from hair styles to places we visited. I loved hearing about her recent visit to Italy. I can only dream of going to such places.

The umbrellas decorated an ally way uptown at a new bistro that just opened called "Lilly's Italian Bistro".

The weather was warm and the breeze was gentle. Just perfect for a small dinner and drink as it was not crowded and simply relaxing. A small dinner is exactly what I had. I ordered an appetizer of crab cakes on a bed of corn succotash.

It was a perfect portion for me as I'm still watching my diet. My friend ordered a salad wedge and complementary bread sticks with balsamic vinegar and oil. Everything on the menu looked good.

A few other friends we knew ended up sitting at a table next to us and we all enjoyed the evening talking and laughing for a couple hours. It was nice. I wish my husband would have came along but it was just the girls.

We did have a panhandler come up to us and ask for a cigarette and/or money. We couldn't really understand him but since we didn't own either item, we told him "no" and turn him away. We politely complained to the owner about the homeless problem around the town but we didn't let it ruin our good time. Its just something I guess will happen when your in an open area of a poor town.

You can check out  "Lilly's Bistro" online by clicking HERE.

Until next time...Well see if anything else new opens up around town to try. So far this could possible be our  favorite "go to place".