Spring break

Well, it's spring break at my house this week.

Every year as spring break gets closer, I think I'm going to be working in my garden nonstop for a whole week. And every year the ground is no anywhere near ready to be worked!

This year I decided to be sensible. I had no plans for working in the garden, but plenty for projects on the house.

More spring cleaning, bringing excess stuff to our local thrift store, finishing the painting and decorating in my side entry,baking up a storm, organizing and possibly painting my laundry room. . .

Well. . .I will get very little of that done ( who am I kidding, no one could have gotten all that done in a week!)

This week is now going to be all about getting ready for the trip of a lifetime! (and finishing off my garden design, which will give me spending money for this trip.)

Where am I going?

Well, thanks to my dear sister T, I will be accompanying her on a business trip to check out a big trade show. I have worked for them before but never in this way. Due to various circumstances no one else could go with her, and I became the lucky candidate.

So. . .

I will be spending this week cleaning the house, cooking meals and baking for the freezer, picking up my passport, getting shots at the doctor's, applying for a travel visa, shopping, and, if I have time,( Ha!) sewing myself a cool bag to take with me.

To China.

Quiet Sundays

Playing around

Jada loves to play.




She thinks everyone else should love to play as well.

Mom? Do you want to join in?

Doesn't this look like fun Morgan?

Spring is coming to the front yard

Yesterday I showed you the back yard and today I thought I'd show you how the front yard is coming along.

The front starts thawing before the back as there are no buildings blocking the sun.

The view to my bench is much different at this time of year!

Jada spends a lot of time with her head out the window once the weather warms up.

Every once in a while this can be a bit of a problem.

Early one afternoon this past summer, our mail carrier went to put our mail in the mailbox.

Jada heard her from the back room, and went racing to the front door.

Barking like a maniac, she thrust her head through the screen door's opening. My poor mail lady let out a small shriek, threw the mail on the top step and went racing to the sidewalk!

By this time I was at the door, horrified.

I asked her if she was okay and she started to apologize to me! The poor woman is terrified of dogs as she had been bitten by one. Could I feel any worse?

I now make sure that door is closed when she might be delivering the mail.

There is still a bit of snow there.

It's at this time of year when I appreciate having some hard scape in the garden. You can't really tell here, but my trellis' are really losing bits and pieces. That's what happens when you buy prefab! Not to worry though, Henry has promised to build me new ones this spring. He's even talking about connecting them so it looks somewhat like a half gazebo!

Now let's all hope that doesn't take as long to finish as my garden shed! That took all summer and I would like to grow vines on them this year.

I can't really complain though, because his work is always beautiful, and good craftsmanship takes time.

And that's what good garden's are all about.

It's still melting

I thought I'd show you what my backyard is looking like these days.

It's hard to believe, when you look at this barren brown ground, that it will ever be lush and green.

Or that you would want to sit on these chairs, look out over the pond, and watch the antics of birds while they bathe.

Could this ever be green again?

Will this big snow pile ever melt?

Yes! Here comes spring! (In the front yard mind you, but spring none the less!)

Blackboard message

Poor Morgan has been asking me to get his Sunday suit dry cleaned for over a month!

Henry did not appreciate the tone of the message.

Holly knew the magic word.

See? I told you Henry and I had started rubbing off on each other!

Tagged

Well I said I would tell you ten things about myself this morning so. . .
Here it goes. . .
1. I can curl my tongue.
2. I LOVE to read! I started with Dick and Jane ( which should tell you I am definitely middle aged!) , moved on to the Little House books, read every Brother's Grimm Fairy tale book in our local library ( and there were a lot!) I read all the Nancy Drew's and most of the Hardy Boys, then moved on to all Louisa May Alcott books as well as all the Anne books (Lucy Maud Montgomery) which, by the way I still read. The teen years found me reading anything and everything. I even read horror novels (although I think I did that to horrify my step mom more than anything!). I read numerous Harlequin's as a young mom, then went on to fantasy, followed by mysterys.
Now that I'm older, I have become very picky about what I read, which has made finding a good book difficult. I still read mystery's, some fantasy, some christian novels and I love it when I can find something to read that is funny or uplifting.
Can you tell I like to read?!
3. I love to splash in puddles. The bigger the better! Since I don't often have rubber boots on when I meet a good puddle, I have resorted to a rather shameful practice. Once in a while, during the height of spring melt, if I come across a really big puddle while driving my school bus, I am overcome by an irresistible urge. After a quick check to assure myself that yes, the bus is already dirty, and no, there are no pedestrians nearby, I 'accidentally ' speed up just a bit and just happen to drift into that puddle.
The huge splash is incredibly satisfying!
Of course ,if any of the kids notice, I'll look very surprised and let out a loud, WHOOPS!
4. I am very proper. Henry is not at all proper!. After 23 years of marriage we have rubbed off on each other a bit. I'm no longer as easily embarrassed and Henry no longer tries to embarrass me as often. ( Okay, that last bit isn't really true.)
5. I am a research geek. I have to thoroughly research anything new that comes my way. I used to have piles of books around my chair when I was starting something new. I use the Internet a lot more these days.
6. I am a visual learner.
7. If you asked my family what I was like they would tell you I was eccentric. ( Or quirky if they were feeling kind.) When I was younger, my younger sister liked to tell people I was just like the character of Denise on the Cosby show.
8. When my kids were young, breakfast consisted of Pepsi and cigarettes. Now I have two breakfasts. The first I have before I leave for work, and it is always the same. One package of instant oatmeal. When I get home from bus driving I have my second breakfast. Two pieces of jam toast. Although if there is any baking in the house I would go for that first! I haven't smoked for over 16 years.
9. I am a tea drinker. I have never grown up enough to enjoy coffee.
10. I'm a dreamer.

Tagged!

I've just been tagged to tell ten things about myself, by my friend Brenda ,over at the http://thebrendablog.typepad.com/thebrendablog/ .

If you play the game properly you then tag 5 other bloggers to do the same.

As I don't read or comment on many blogs on a regular basis ,I wouldn't know who to tag, but, I'm willing to play the game!

I'm going to have to think about what those ten things might be however. The idea is to tell people something they might not know about you so. . .

The fact that I'm crazy about gardening wouldn't count. . .

Check back tomorrow to see what I've come up with.

It may or may not be interesting!

Easter baskets

My four kids are 22, 20, 17 and 15.

Henry's 48.

You wouldn't think I'd have to worry about Easter baskets anymore would you?

You wouldn't think that I'd hear whining when I announce that I will no longer be putting out an Easter basket would you?

You wouldn't think my hubby would care one way or another would you?

But you'd be wrong!

Because ever year it's the same thing. . .

A loud chorus of " WHAT! You can't do that!"

" It's tradition!"

"If you stop now, every one else will have gotten chocolate bunnies for more years than I have!" (That would be Jesse, the 15 year old)

It's not that they don't know the true meaning of Easter.

Our minister had an amazing Easter sermon.

They just want their chocolate bunnies and Easter candy.

And it tastes best when mom buys it!

A ladybug

I saw a ladybug in my garden yesterday afternoon! (Not on that rose mind you. I just put that there because I'm getting a little impatient!You know. . . for green stuff in the garden.)

Of course when I ran back to get my camera she was gone.

The snow is starting to melt fast, at least in the front garden.

The back has a lot more shade from the garage, until later in the season, when the sun is higher.

I took Jada for her walk this morning and it was wonderful. Still pretty brisk, mind you but that spring feeling is definitely in the air!

I'm going to plant my second last batch of seeds today! They are a bit later than I'd like, but, by the end of the season they should be caught up with the rest of my plants

Wishing everyone a blessed Easter weekend!

I'll see you all back here on Tuesday!

An adventure with Ev

I took my friend Ev out for her birthday last week.

We went to see a house first. (which requires a post of it's own.)

Next we headed off to a little town near by.

I had always thought of this town as a boring, nothing special, kind of place.

But Ev brought me too the old part of town.

There were old houses everywhere! (I love old houses.)

We had lunch in a converted school.

How fun is this?

The little restaurant was in the basement.

The main floor held this small museum, and a school was having a tour while we were there. ( They even had the kids scrubbing the floor on their hands and knees!)

The other room on the main floor had an art gallery with some amazing metal horses.

I didn't take any pictures though.

We went up to the top floor so Ev's daughter Alice could see the wedding dresses.

We also found this hat collection.

It came from a woman in government who was well known for her stylish hats.

Does anyone besides me wish we still wore hats?

Once Alice had had her fill of the wedding dresses, we moved on to the building next door.

It had some pretty neat stuff in it. I left with 4 root beer candy sticks.

They were not for my kids! Yum!

There were also lots of interesting items for sale and I began to feel very crafty.

To bad I don't have time to craft right now.

Oh well. . . Unto everything there is a season. . .

I don't know about you, but I love finding out of the way places and learning new things.

To me, that's an adventure!

Happy Birthday Ev.

Thank you.

A big Thank You to my cousin Chandra for correctly diagnosing my Blogger problem.
We are now back in business!

spring is coming!

One of the first signs of spring are the pussy willows.

Pretend the closeup of this pussy willow is focused on the fuzzy bud, not on everything else in the picture!

The poplars are also starting to bud.

Again, pretend the bud is in focus. . .

Yes spring is almost here. . .

I can once again hang my bedding on the line. I just love the smell of sheets and blankets hung on the line!

Of course these pictures were taken last week.

Before we got 10 cm of snow.

But it's starting to melt again.

And no, I did not hear anything about more snow overnight!

Spring is coming. . .

Soon.

Blogger is not working properly!

Sorry everyone, but I'm having real trouble using blogger right now.
Pictures show up as text (html?) and I can't use italics or bold things as more text shows up!
Some days!
I don't have time to fiddle any more as I have a lot of plants to transplant into larger pots and I have more seeds to start.
A big thank you to my friend L for lending me a few more fluorescent lights!
And Ev. . . I'll probably be knocking on your door soon, looking to borrow the 8' light!
Hope to be back with pictures soon!

Quiet Sundays

Carnage

What has been going on here?!

Brown dog,are you alright?

Brown dog. . .

Mr bear where is your ear?


Are you missing an eye?!




Oh no! Floppy bunny. . .

Big dog. . .

Speak to me!!

Quick, get the doctor.

Get the needle and thread!

Who is responsible for this?!

I should have known.

Still busy

I had intended to write about the adventure my friend Ev and I had earlier this week but. . .

Once again the unexpected has intruded.

I'm going to spend the day at the passport office.

I've got to tell you this has been one of the most exciting weeks I've ever had!

So far. . .

Treasure!

One day late I'm afraid but I spent most of yesterday (when I wasn't working) sleeping.

I've been feeling under the weather lately and it finally caught up with me.


So. . .


Without further ado. . .


The treasure!

What is this you ask?

Good question!

My sister T and her husband B were in town for a business seminar.

They are in the greenhouse business and the seminar required a game.

T came up with a game that required the participants to identify the various plant cuttings.

As there were two teams, there were two identical batches of cuttings. Twenty in each.

Guess who got to take the cuttings home?

Yep. ME!

Whoo hoo!

Better than jewelery anytime!

They had to be planted fast though, as they had spent nearly two days in T's carry on bag.

They all seem to be okay so I'll keep you posted.

Here's what one of them looked like in the bag.

Can you guess what this is?

Here it is out of the bag.

Can anyone tell me now?

Did you say million bells?

I did.

I was wrong.

It is a potunia. Have you ever heard of it?

I hadn't. But now I have.

I love new plants!

Here's what my plant shelves looked like before I planted 40 cuttings into 4" pots.

Here's what they look like now!

As you can see I have moved all non essential plants to other locations.

Anyone with any suggestions as to were all the plants I haven't started yet might go?

I'm going to be hanging lights in my bedroom next!