Arthur in the Garden!

It is Mid-May and roses are in full-bloom! Between the Raleigh Rose Garden,   The JC Raulston Arboretum rose garden, and the smaller city parks in Raleigh you can always them in bloom. Although, I still think they should not be included in any landscape because of rose rosette virus.

Summer festival season is beginning! Artsplosure is a favorite! http://artsplosure.org

Sunday we traveled to Durham and visited the Sarah P Duke Gardens on Duke University West Campus. It is beautiful with its division into zones and all the streams they created which flow through each garden. http://gardens.duke.edu/visit/duke-gardens-map

The Historic Terraces & Fish Pool

The Blomquist Garden of native plants

The Roney Fountain

The Mary Duke Biddle Rose Garden

And in my garden the amaryllis are still going strong.

And the squirrels are digging everywhere.

Gus’s chemo treatments are going well. He has had three treatments and latest radiographs revealed little growth in the lung adenocarcinoma and no new tumors. His weight has stabilized, although, he still appears thin as he was 85 pounds and now weights around 60 pounds. So I will continue with them and the NSAIDs.

He had a new friend I named Roscoe. I thought it was a rat but now realize it is an opossum!

Why if conservatives like a hands-off approach to governing why do they want to prevent local government from establishing their own policies for citizens – read the entire bill people! It’s more than bathrooms! It takes away all local protections for women.

Why did they call a special overnight session if they were not trying to be sneaky?

The governor and the others in the republican legislature at not even native North Carolinians!

This past weekend OutRaleigh had over 50,000 attend on a beautiful day! I think all the news and attention brought many people out? I am just glad there is some sort of festival almost every weekend downtown!

And why can’t I get a Chinese dogwood to live more than a season or two? Below is a variety call Greensleaves at JC Raulston Arboretum at North Carolina State University.  It blooms in May and the fruit resembles a cherry and is eatable.

And why do I love sweet potato fries!!!! So good but greasy!

Oh well!

I will drink my iced mocha latte and keep asking “why”?

April’s shower brings May’s flowers…so the saying goes. The end of April saw the garden full of German irises and the yellow water iris.

My birthday is May 1st so a trip to the coast was on order. About an hour East of Raleigh is Greenville. It’s a small city where East Carolina University is located. It is a great small town and I enjoyed living there while I attended ECU.

We stopped in Greeville at a Mongolian Grill Resturant. You fill a bowl with veggies and such from a buffet. Hand it to the cook and he cooks it on a flat grill while you wait. Served with a flat bread of which I would like to make some day.

I felt as if someone was watching us as we ate!

 Another hour and a half drive East and you are on the central coast of North Carolina. I grew up in Morehead City and spent many summers in Salter Path which is on Bogue Banks, one of the string of islands that separate the mainland from the Atlantic Ocean.

A house on Bogue Banks in Atlantic Beach

The Morehead City waterfront

We also visited Beaufort, North Carolina

And drove over the bridge to Bogue Banks to the Civil War era Fort Macon

And ate seafood!

Fried bluefish, hush puppies, collards, and potato salad 

A shrimp burger 

I love the names of these rental bikes!

And then it was time to go back home to Raleigh!