More Spring Colors

Here's what I found this week taking a Second Look around the yard.

The azaleas are blooming now.

Beside the white bush is a pink one.

And dark pink ones are around the other side of the house.

In front of the dark pink azalea bushes, the pansies that I planted last fall are starting to bloom. I like pansies because I can get two seasons of blooms out of them.

While weeding in the pansies, I found this young tree curving around the seed pod that was still attached. It's kind of hard to sort out the picture to see it (follow the brown stem), but it was fun to see in person. I love to find remnants of seeds above the ground. You may remember more than one picture here on the blog showing that. :)

When I went behind the bushes to continue weeding, I flushed out a robin that was sitting on this nest. You might say that we flushed out each other because I jumped out of the bushes as the robin flying past startled me. 

And speaking of nests, the bluebird's nest now has six eggs in it.

The first iris has bloomed. I was happy to see this one because it was from a plant I transplanted last fall.

Tucked in a dark corner along the fence, I found lily of the valley blooming. These were from a friend who helped me plant them when I first moved in. I am trying to create more of these surprise, "hidden" treasures here and there like these lily of the valley. While I enjoy the showy beds, I especially enjoy having things tucked here and there to find. I am working on creating more of these finds by planting things in out of the way places. 

And the rhododendron is blooming. I planted this bush last fall in memory of my mother. I picked a rhododendron because it is the state flower of West Virginia and blooms in her favorite color.

Thankful Sunday, May 5, 2019

I am thankful for another morning 
with Sarah.

Today, I spent another morning with my special buddy, Sarah. There was a lot of rain but that did not stop her from bringing her traveling menagerie of stuffed animals. Today she brought birds-3 mallard ducks, 3 Canadian geese, a robin, and way in the bottom of the bag was an ostrich, Stretch. Apparently, Stretch had been misbehaving because when Sarah was putting her birds away before we went for a walk, she said that Stretch had to stay out because he had been biting the other birds. And in the same breath she wanted to make sure I knew that Stretch was an ostrich and not an emu. I asked how she knew and she said that ostriches have two toes and emus have three toes. She showed me Stretch's toes and then showed me with her fingers how each bird walks. Another Live and Learn moment for me because I didn't know that. I always learn something from my time with Sarah and for that I am thankful.

Z is for Zoom, Zoom

My sister and I are Zooming across the mountains today to go to West Virginia to spend time with family for a couple of days. The weather looks good and there should be redbuds and dogwood blooming along the way. Always a treat. 



So until next time, which won't be tomorrow because I've run out alphabet, 😄, have a great day.

Y is for Yellow

Y is for Yellow around and about the house.

I think this banana is perfectly ripe. My father would have agreed, but my mother would have said that it was almost rotten. Ward will eat them green or very ripe. What's your banana preference?

This is a very positive picture book about the possibilities of a day. Good pictures and simple words for kids and also, a great message for adults and kids alike. It's one of my favorites.

I snatched this magnet from my mother's refrigerator when we were cleaning out her house. Blue and Yellow (gold) are WV's state colors.

Double sided tape always says school projects to me. Many posters were made with this kind of tape at our house when Wally and Theo were in school. BTW, I learned from all of them that you get what you pay for with DS tape.

Speaking of school, these are scissors that Theo used in third grade. The pen on top is my new favorite. It writes with smooth purple ink.

This is one of my gardening reference books. Like most of the Dummies books, it gives good information in a clear, easy to read style. 

Dandelion and a tiny ant enjoying its nectar. Dandelions are so pretty. I wonder when it was decided that they were a weed?

Leaf scoops. These are handy for picking up any kind of debris around the yard. We bought them on an impulse several years ago and have never regretted it.

The groundcover, yellow lanium, is in bloom. With its varigeited leaves and yellow blooms I think it is quite pretty.

X is for eXhale

Upon wakening this morning, I got the sad news that my Aunt Debbie died last night in her sleep. Then came a big gasp. And an exhale before the tears started to flow.  My uncle had been sick for months and was recovering from one surgery and waiting to get strong enough for two others.  So, it was a surprise to hear that she was the one who passed.

My aunt never left my uncle's side during the weeks he spent at the hospital. After 63 years together, they still held hands in their matching wheelchairs and it made for a very sweet picture. She died at home sleeping beside my uncle, just where she wanted to be.

Aunt Debbie was a happy person with a great laugh and I always enjoyed being around her. Last year at a family gathering, she told a great story about when she and my uncle met that I shared with you. I'm going to share it again now as I remember Aunt Debbie's smile and laugh as she told the the tale.

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An Interesting Question

Last weekend I went to a family reunion on my father's side of the family. Besides the normal catching up, there was a theme throughout the day. How did your parents meet? This all started because I found a newspaper clipping in one of my mother's scrapbooks about my oldest aunt's wedding in 1948. It got me thinking that I had heard the story about how my parents had met, but none of the accounts of how my aunts and uncles first got together. I asked around and heard bits and pieces of stories from various cousins about their parents. However, I was able to get one of the stories straight from the source--Aunt Debbie and Uncle Alan.

Debbie and Alan told the story of when they first laid eyes on each other at a church Christmas play. Upon seeing my uncle standing at the back of the church in a leather jacket, my aunt declared that was the man she going to marry. It didn't seem to matter that her fiancee at the time was sitting right beside her. They wove a quite colorful story of the complications of fiancees and girlfriends with my aunt even telling my uncle that she was engaged, but only on weekends.

While I immensely enjoyed the tale of their first meeting and courtship, there was another part that I found even more interesting. My aunt asked each one of her suitors, including my uncle, a curious question, "If you were going to build a city, what would you do?" Among other things, Uncle Alan answered that he would design one like Washington, D.C., with a center circle and streets going out like spokes from there. I commented to my aunt that that must have been an acceptable answer and she said that Alan was the only one who ever gave her an answer. Her fiancee said she was never going to build a city, so it didn't matter.

Then I asked the obvious question, why did she ask about building a city? Aunt Debbie said that it told her if the suitor could make a plan and if they could dream about the future. I found that very smart of her to question her boyfriends in that way. It seemed to be a good test because she and my uncle have been married for almost 63 years now.

Rest in Peace,  Aunt Debbie.