An Adventure with the Girls!

Today was a glorious spring day in Central Illinois! A high of 73, bright sun, blue skies and an outside just waiting to be enjoyed.

This past weekend was our weekend with the granddaughters and thanks to spring break at their schools, they were able to stay several more days. I love it when school holidays fall near our time with them! A couple of them were spending time with our daughter while 3 of them were with me. A visit to the Forest Preserve was just what the day seemed to call for- a chance to spend some quality time together and share in nature's delights.



Children of all ages seem to be drawn to the water. It must have a magical quality!

I can't quite find the right words to describe what I felt when I saw the shoes come off and the toes dabbling in the water. But it has to do with the idea that it's a time honored tradition that all kids seem to do. By the way, they were very surprised at how cold the water was!

After drying their toes, a walk on one of the many trails seemed in order. If you enlarge, you can see they all have walking sticks. Even Grandma had to have one which made picture taking a little awkward.

The forest is still very bare here. No wild flowers-not even a sign of them starting to grow yet. And because of the winds we didn't get to see or even hear any birds. Were we disappointed? Well, I was a little as I had hoped for more picture opportunities, but not the girls. They loved every minute of our adventure as evidenced by the smiles on their faces!

I hope you are getting to enjoy some glorious spring weather in or out of your gardens.

Busy as a Bee Gathering Summertime Pollen!

This has been one of the busiest weeks that I can remember having for a long time! As I have said, I started a part time job on Monday. I work from 4 in the afternoon til midnight. Now... that is taking some adjustment! Tuesday, I had a meeting with my Dad and the prospective buyers of his place, plus went shopping for more comfortable work shoes and some work capris. Wednesday, I worked and cleaned house for this weekend. Thursday, went grocery shopping and worked. Friday, I picked up the 3 granddaughters which we are now getting a couple times a month. Saturday, went to a ball game of the soon to be step-grand kids and then took them plus 6 granddaughters to an afternoon and evening cook out. After giving many, many baths that night, I got to sit and rest and read some of my favorite blogs. Sunday, we had the family over for a cookout. Afterwards, 3 grands went home leaving us with 5. Hubby went to work and the girls and I are finally relaxing, watching movies and eating watermelon. The point to this story is, I survived! Not only survived, but did pretty well. And I loved every minute of it.


The gardens are growing-as are the weeds, and flowers are starting to appear everywhere. And what is not yet blooming has buds near to bursting. The warm weather and the periodic rains have made this an exceptional year for the gardens.

These are the 2 youngest granddaughters posing(actually being little hams) in front of the cone flower bed.

My first day lily bloomed Thursday. It's in the d'oro family, and I think it's called lemon something. I bought this one at a discount grocery store and thinking I would surely remember the name, promptly threw the carton away. An post-menopause moment?

'Queen Elisabeth' also bloomed this week. Not bad for a rose that I was sure was dead only a couple of months ago.

These are some of my sunflowers that are going to help me participate in the "Great Sunflower Project".

This one is a lot farther along than the others for some reason, and a lot taller! It won't be long before I can start recording bee sighting data. If you have sunflowers in your garden you can participate in this project also.

One of the granddaughters found this dragonfly on the ground. While I tell them not to pick up bugs and insects because they might hurt them, in her excitment at finding such a treasure, she forgot. But the strange thing is, it didn't try to get away. We had time to take a couple of pictures before it did fly off. We were all thrilled!

This week should be a little calmer, although the 4th is coming and there is a chance we could have the girls again. One hope is to get in some weeding time as well as just time to enjoy my gardens. My other hope is that your week is filled with time for you to enjoys your gardens!

To all who wished me well at my new job, I thank you for your support-it means a lot to me.

Dragonflies, Tulips and Grandaughters!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. We certainly did at our house. Our daughter brought us this lovely azalea plant that looks so springy. And the beautiful plant stand she put in on has a dragonfly! I am so happy with it and plan on putting a very special container on it filled with flowers to compliment the blue dragonfly. Maybe something in yellows and silvers.

My tulips are coming through the ground at an amazing rate. I have found almost all of them up. I am missing a bunch of bright red ones, though. Am wondering if they have died. Last year they were beginning to really be crowded and I should have dug them up and separated them...I honestly forgot by the end of the season.

These look a little strange don't they? Okay, I will admit to the fact that a rabbit probably ate the tips of the leaves. I did find a couple of spots where they were eaten. I have been leaving comments at Greenbow and May Dreams Gardens that I have never been bothered by little bunnies. In fact, I went as far as to say I even liked having them in my yard. I guess I will have to recant! (I still think they are cute!)

What a week we have had here! Most of you know we had made the decision to place my mother-in-law in a nursing home, and do it on Monday of this week. And while a difficult one to make, the family felt it was best for her health and safety. It went much better than we had hoped. She wasn't thrilled, but neither did she refuse. We think she knows deep down that this is best for her. I want to thank all of you who have given us words of encourgaement. Such a wonderful network of friends we have in this blogging world. I spent many evenings reading your posts and feeling such a sense of calm and peacefulness.

Along with all of that going on, the granddaughters that we only get one weekend a month came to stay with us for 6 days and 5 nights. This after having them last weekend for their regular visit. I picked them up last Friday afternoon. Long story here, but I think their dad needed a place to park them for most of their spring break. And that is so alright with us. We will take them anytime, anywhere!

On Sat. I had those 3 and one of the other granddaughters and we made pies for Easter Sunday. I had 4 batches of pie dough going at one time. That is a lot of activity for my small kitchen.

Of course there were a few spills. But we didn't mind. We made 2 coconut cream pies and a blackberry pie. Plus an angel food cake with green coconut topping and jelly beans for tiny Easter eggs! What a joy to spend extra time with them having fun but being able to teach them also. More than anything, I want to make lasting happy memories with them!

And we had time to color eggs. There were a few dyed fingers and some spots on the counter, but who cares when you see the smiles on their faces?! We marked each egg with different colored crayons first. There were flowers on some, names on others, and a few had abstract drawings. When we put them in the dye, the effect was beautiful to them. Of course I thought they were all works of art!

On Easter Sunday, we had quite an egg hunt. Lots of extended family were here to share the day with us. The weather even cooperated and held off raining until after the hunt. That Easter bunny sure left eggs in strange places!

We had the girls, four, five, and six of them at times until Wednesday afternoon. We thank the powers that be for the extra time with them. So even though this post is not all about gardening, I hope you enjoyed seeing my beauties and hearing of our week.