Wordless Wednesday.......

 A ray of sunshine on a bleak day.

A Spring Wedding......

On May 18, 2013 my Granddaughter Ashley married her sweetheart Chris

on the shore of beautiful Lake Cushman in Washington and 

honeymooned at the lake and in Seattle. 

Love and Best Wishes to you both.

Semi Wordless Wednesday.......

My Hoya has been hanging out of this Colman's Dry Mustard 

can, with it's feet in water for 6 years and totally loves it. To show it's 

pleasure it presents me with the most beautiful pink 

flowers with the most heavenly smell

and a sweet single droplet in each center.

Mother Nature is at it Again......

High gusting winds and pounding rain the last couple of days

have really beaten down my iris and lilacs. So today I

drastically pruned my leggy lilac, cut the surviving iris and brought

them all in to enjoy. My house smells wonderful. 

Happy Mother's Day.......

.....with love and hugs to all the Mother's and Mother's-to-Be 

in my life. A special hug to our Mother, who still

watches over her family. 

1911 - 1985

 

When Good Weather and Energy Prevails.......

I love it when a beautiful day is accompanied by an energy level that's

higher than usual, and this is the third day in a row for me. 

Wonders never cease! 

The other day I discovered that Soft Scrub, which I use on my 

cooktop, does a great job of cleaning up white vinyl gutters that manage

to acquire a layer of moss over the winter. I can reach the gutters over

the deck with my 2-step ladder and it doesn't take a lot of 

elbow grease to get them shiny white. Wiping down the vinyl siding

is easier than doing the windows, so....with all this nice weather

I almost have one side of the house done. The down-side, the rest of 

the gutters require a taller ladder.....and a younger person, but

I can still do the bottom 2/3's of the siding with my feet firmly on the ground. 

Yesterday I pulled weeds from the large bed and in the process of making

some breathing room for my hostas, I discovered that the 15 Oregon

Grape starts I planted 6-7 yrs. ago, as ground cover, hadn't died after all. I found 

about 20 or so 2-leaf shoots popping up amid all the weeds. I'm thrilled. 

Today I tackled the dahlia bed. I didn't dig the tubers last Fall and 

decided not to this Spring, and they're already sending up shoots. Unfortunately 

an unexpected frost could wipe them out so may have to cover them

with some of the grass clippings next time son mows. 

 

I started amending my potting soil for the few pots and plants I'll do.

Decided to cut back about half since I'll be doing a bit of traveling this summer. 

Son is good about watering everything but not much on dead-heading.     

Tomorrow, depending on the energy level, I need to clean out the area where

I do the tomatoes....as long as I don't disturb the cat's hidey-hole under

the Laurel bush on the left. And it probably wouldn't hurt to clean

up my mess around the potting bench...or not, it will only get dirty again. 

A Special Birthday Present......

At some point during the night last night, I turned 78 years of age, but

yesterday afternoon I received a most exciting gift.....I am to become a 

Great Great Grandma by the end of the year. If this child is born in December it 

will have it's Mother, Grandfather, Great Grandmother, an Aunt, a Great Aunt, 

a Great Uncle and a Great Great Aunt to share it with. If he/she is born on the 13th,

 the mother's birth date, they will join an Aunt who's daughter was born on her 

January birth date. And if this child is a girl, she will be the 5th generation in our 

5 Generations of First Born - All Daughters. Now that's an honor.

The Parent's-to-be, Tyler `n Lexi

The soon-to be...each for the first time....me, as Great Great Grandmother,

my daughter as Great Grandmother, my Great Granddaughter as Mother 

and my Granddaughter as Grandmother. That's going

to be one lucky Grandchild.

A Prelude to Summer.......

What a beautiful day it was today. Not a cloud in the sky, 

temperature at 71 with a gentle breeze that made it perfect for

working outdoors. It's the first time this year I've been able to throw open 

the doors and air out the smells of winter. It's now 9:30 pm

and time to close up, the weatherman says we're in for another frosty morning. 

The "almost" full moon is shining down on the deck that I almost 

finished pressure washing today, making the small unfinished area look

like a black hole, but we're in for another nice day tomorrow

and I can finish it before the rains return on Friday. 

Son Randy spent part of the day pruning and shaping a cedar tree

gone awry and made worse by heavy snows this winter. Said

if he couldn't make it look decent he would cut it down, 

but it looks good now so no chopping it down. I had hoped he was as

talented as Edward Scissorhands, but alas, it just looks like a

"cedar tree gone awry and made worse by heavy snows" 

that has been pruned and shaped. I gave him an A+ for not 

chopping it down.

 I should know better than to take photos through a window....they never turn out good.

Simply Saturday.......

The weather can't be classed as a nice Spring day but it isn't

a bad one either. It's the kind of Spring day when you're anxious

to get your hands in the soil and start your garden, but it's

way too early for most things so you "putter". 

I can see smoke from three fires around the neighborhood.....I

imagine many are out cleaning up the beds in readiness. The elderly

couple next door are tending to several young fruit trees they 

planted last month. I hope they have better luck this year

than they did with the trees they put in three years ago. 

The plant nursery behind me is getting ready for their opening next week

and I can hear the bleating of the 12 new lambs making themselves heard. 

They're probably excited about the attention they'll get from

all the kids that come to the petting area opening day. 

There isn't much to do in my yard....it's too early to dig the

dahlias, or put out my tomato plants. I did the pruning a couple of 

weeks ago so I'm feeling totally guilt-free as I sit here at

the computer. Besides.....the sun just went away and a

few sprinkles of rain are clinging to the windows, so I guess

we're going to get that 40% chance of rain after all. 

Have a nice weekend!

Truthful Tuesday.......

Yesterday I gave myself an "undiet day" and indulged

in a couple of forbidden goodies. I decided I owed myself a

reward for sticking to my weight loss regimen for over 

a year now. It's not the first time I've taken a 

bite of something on the Not Allowed list, but this was 

more than just a bite. This was the whole box of four 3" square brownies

with cream cheese icing. The melt-in-your-mouth kind that

doesn't require a glass of milk to wash it down. OMG....it was soooo

good, soooo sweet and sooooo satisfying that I'm not

going to be tempted to do it again very soon. And I finished off the 

day with a PB`n J sandwich.  All that and I still 

showed a 1 lb. 2 oz. loss for the day.

  Today I'm back to 175 grams of protein twice a day, massive

amounts of veggies, certain fruits and 1 gallon of green tea a day. I had

to take my pants in another 2" on each side, so guess I better

think about buying some new ones pretty soon.  

Color me Happy!!!

Friday Funny......On the Job Training........

.....guess I need to hone my skills on the zero-turn mower.

At least the fence is still standing. 

Socializing With the Neighbors Again.........

The First to Arrive.......

.....and add some color to this dark `n dreary day.

Old Friends Meet......

In 1980, two sets of friends came together at the local bowling alley to form

a team of left-overs, and thirty-five years later it's still a friendship, minus one. We lost

Kay in 2005. Priscilla and Sandy were young mothers and neighbors on the 

west side of town, Kay and I were sisters-in-law from the east side. Kipling said "never the twain shall meet", but he was dead wrong (no pun intended). 

Bowling day was Thursday morning, but it was a full day for Kay and I. We had lunch

after bowling then made the rounds of all the garage sales in the area.

 We tried to get Priscilla and Sandy to do lunch with us, but with young 

daughters in Kindergarten it wasn't an option....for a couple of years, but it eventually

happened and the friendship strengthened as we spent more time together.

In 1988 the team broke up when Sandy decided to go back to

school and I had a chance to go to work in the Aleutians with my husband. The

friendships continued, but Priscilla and I became much closer over the years. Our husbands

retired and we both moved to the country. We live about a mile apart, still do 

lunch on occasion but talk or have tea often. Sandy still lives up north, so

when she called and wanted to come down and do lunch, we were thrilled. 

It was a nice day, lunch was great, and it was wonderful to

spend time with old friends....would have been better if Kay had been there. 

1980...Sandy, Priscilla, Kay and Me

2013...Me, Sandy and Priscilla

Wordless Wednesday.......

A variety of Magnolia