Flashback Friday or Normal is Good!

So after the great "boobie" scare of the last few weeks...it is good to be back to normal...almost! During the dark of the night, the very worst scenario would lodge into my brain and stay there...if nothing else the "scare" made me appreciate my life...the people I hold near and dear.
Please check the girls regularly and get a mammogram!

So...my grandson has been registered for kindergarten and I am not really sure where the time went...I am sharing the photos whereby little one still has a diaper and his shoes on...the cutest ones are of the bare cheeks running through the yard...that boy has always loved water and not wearing clothes...seems like he was born just five minutes ago...playing with the granddarlings brings me great joy!

A few other random thoughts:

I am wondering what the new neighbors with six kids, five dogs, two or three trucks and lots of tools will be building this weekend...last Saturday I woke up to hammering...there were two little buildings erected...I can't see much because for the first time in twenty years there is a privacy fence separating the yards...the house has been added to as well. I remember moving into our house and our backdoor neighbors passing brownies over the fence and how many backyard over the fence conversations we had...our children grew up together...I guess I won't be passing brownies through this fence.

Hopefully, I will be inspired to work on a few projects this weekend! I have started an art journal, a new dance/exercise class (more on that later...love it) apart from the millions of ideas floating through my brain right now I also have the very practical home and yard projects to consider. Actually...I probably should do more than consider those projects...I want some home grown fresh veggies!

Spring excites me...rebirth on so many levels...I am also reminded of my dear friend Dot Dot each time I see the daffodils in bloom...her favorite harbinger of Spring and the poem by Wordsworth!

I wandered lonely as a Cloud
That floats on high o'er Vales and Hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd
A host of dancing Daffodils;
Along the Lake, beneath the trees,
Ten thousand dancing in the breeze.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Outdid the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay
In such a laughing company:
I gazed -- and gazed --but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude,
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the Daffodils

Can you believe most of our "Daffys" down South have almost bloomed out!
What will you do with your glorious Spring time?

Flashback Friday or When the World Becomes a Little Insane

Today is the birthdate of our son in law, Raul...After September 11, 2001...Raul must share his day of celebration with a period in history that, to me, is still inconceivable. I think everyone remembers exactly where they were and what they were doing at the time. I was traveling to job sites to check on students. I heard the news of the first plane striking the first tower of the World Trade Center. I remember thinking what a horrible, horrible accident...then news of the second tower...attacks on the pentagon and another flight crashing...this was no accident. For me the world tilted on its axis and everything felt a bit surreal.








My heartfelt prayers reach out to those that lost loved ones...to those workers that sifted through the carnage and will never be the same...to those first responders who sacrificed their lives to save others...even to each of us that still find the events of that day hard to believe and accept.



"Every Small Candle Lights A Corner Of The Dark, And The Darkness Cannot Overcome It."



May we each find a way to shine in the darkness...to be a beacon for those who may be lost, grief stricken or lonely...to shine forth for truth, beauty, honor and freedom...to shine for all that is good in the world.

(photo from lenicheministries.com)

Flashback Friday - Gardening 101

I love Spring! My minds runs rampant with projects both indoors and outside. I love a beautiful yard and garden. Unfortunately, I did not inherit my mother's green thumb. I would love to pretend that the above pictures were indeed my lovely garden. NOT! They are in fact taken at the Riverbanks Botanical Gardens. This is what my patch of land would look like if I had unlimited time, funds and a really handy GARDENER or two! Some of my friends have stunning gardens. I have good intentions, really I do but I tend to under water, over water, or just plant the wrong things. Or when the thermostat reads 100+ , the only way I'm going outside is to sit by a pool or lake. That said, when the girls were small I wanted to encourage them to grow stuff. We started with small things, however, my father-in-law was appalled that we had so much land and "nothing" planted. Over the years, he took over the entire backyard of his suburban home. You could barely get out the back door without stepping on peppers, cucumbers, you name it. Imagine our surprise when we came home one day to find the back yard plowed up and planted in green beans! Amazingly, the things grew and grew and grew and grew....I think my father-in-law came by periodically to check on the progress and add his magic growing dust to these green beans. We ate green beans almost every night in every way imaginable. I CANNED green beans, gave them away, pickled them, froze them and finally when the weather hit the 100's and the gigantic locusts started visiting I turned the green beans over to said locusts or giant grasshoppers,whatever they were, they thumped hard when they landed!

The girls enjoyed watching the beans grow, picking them and eating the fruits of their labor. Baby girl in the background was not fond of being dirty but to give her credit she did do her part! My father in law was killed by a drunk driver and taken out of our lives a lot sooner than expected. I have never had as much success growing anything since the year of the bumper crop of beans. As the weather improves, my thoughts have once again turned towards spring planting and what I should add this year. I do have some beautiful flowers and a lovely lawn! I have plans for some herbs and a few easy, peasy vegetables...maybe my friend Phyllis can sprinkle her magic growing dust! How does your garden grow?

Good Grief, what color was my hair?!!! Green Bean Summer circa 1987. Life doesn't get too much better than this!!!
For my daughters in honor of farming and gardening, yes it is the blue jean jumper and flowered shirt! I will probably wear the shirt whilst weeding the flower beds this weekend. The jumper has sadly gone where the "what not to wear" clothes go when they are mocked.

Have a happy weekend, if you're bored, I have plenty of weeds to go around!