So the dance begins....we get teased by warm days and above-frost nights - then Mother Nature remembers that it is winter, it is February, and the sub-32 lows appear again.  So, out of the garage goes the lawnmower, and in go the Oleander, Lantana, Roses, Sweet Peas, Ferns, Walking Iris - and the flats of lettuce, greens, and flowers.  Oh well....

I returned to find really good germination with my second eggplant/pepper planting, and both flats of tomatoes.  The two tomato flats are in my office on the heat mats, but the peppers joined the other peppers and flowers under grow lights.  I've got a half flat of seedling sales tomatoes to plant - and may fill it in with the stubborn eggplant and peppers that are no- or slo-shows in my flats.

Thanks to our good friend Margie, Sue and I (along with Mocha and Buddy) enjoyed a beautiful Fri-Mon at Sunset Beach...just a few pics below.

 
 
It was a typically relaxing day.....
 
 
Sue and I are really fortunate to have a great friend, Margie.  Margie and I worked together for years.  It just so happens that she has a wonderful beach house at Sunset Beach, so wonderful that I've torn myself away from the garden so that the four of us - Sue, the two dogs and me - are spending a certain-to-be-relaxing long weekend with Margie at her place.


So, after a walk on the beach and a nice dinner - and anticipating some home made strawberry ice cream (mixing and freezing as I type), a much needed escape from work and the house begins.  


Tonight on our beach walk we saw two Black Skimmers soaring over the waves near the shore.  I've not seen Skimmers for years, long ago during a summer trip to Ocracoke Island.  Hopefully, it will be just the first in great wildlife sightings on our mini-vacation.