Happy Birthday!

Today is Peggy's birthday. This picture was taken in 1975, in the back yard of the house on highway 60. I love you mama!

Happy Father's Day

Friday Combo

Well, no big storm last night, so the garden is fine. I got out early this morning to get this shot. And then there was a downpour for about two minutes. Plenty enough to water the containers. It was great to see this combo again. It's one of my favorites.

Thursday Clematis

We're supposed to have big thunderstorms with possible hail tonight! I should have taken more pictures this morning. It may look like a different garden in the morning. . .

I just found out about this blog from the O Magazine. It's just one message after another from moms everywhere. http://postcardsfromyomomma.com/ yomama.com

Hostas

Mouse Ears (forefront), Blue Angel (left) and Lakeside Kaleidescope (right): The rain has made this a really good hosta year.

Peonies, Garden Roses, Baptisia

Monday Iris

Most of the irises are gone now. The plants have been big beautiful gorgeous with all the rain. And we had another big rain last night.

Sunday Morning

G Dog and Lilla have been with us for a whole year now. They are helping me get ready to walk that 10K. Here they are, taking a break after hiking 3 miles this morning. Lilla has been lying in the hosta bed here just like Sandy used to do. That big gorgeous hosta behind them is Paul's Gold.

Judson and Rachel's New House

It's hard to believe that it's only been a week since we left! Seems like a long, long time. Their house is so nice. We loved rocking Betsy on the front porch every morning.

All These Pretty Girls!

Aren't they beautiful? Lucy, Katie, Emily (who made a wonderful upside down pineapple cake for us), Betsy, and Allie. It was so nice to see them all.

And Sun Glasses

Sun Hat

We're just back from London, Kentucky where we had a great time. Here's Betsy with her paw-paw's tilley hat. Also check out Rachel's blog for a video of the best bubble blowing ever.

http://rachljones.blogspot.com/

Wednesday Centerpiece

We're having a potluck today to say goodbye to Jennifer. We'll miss her!

Saturday Garden Tour

Abe's Army

Check out the picture on the Abe's Army blog at http://abesarmy.blogspot.com/. My friends Pam and Jo-An and I went to orientation the other night. You can see us in the front row. I'm the one in the black jacket (I was freezing in this cold May weather!) who looks like she's sleeping. Jo-An is in blue to the left and there's Pam in her cute purple outfit. The lady sitting on the other side of me is Jo-An's friend Brenda. Anyway, we're all going to walk walk walk this summer getting ready to walk Abe's Amble, a 10K race at the state fair in August.

Allium

The allium have been exceptionally pretty this year. All the bulbs are bigger and better. We think it's because we've had such good rain and cool weather this spring.

Really?

Corn plants. I guess maybe some people would want a head start on their corn crop. Just seems a little weird to me. Mark and I did a test one year with tomato plants. We planted a huge one with blooms from a garden center along with our little baby starts from seed. Then we waited for our first ripe tomato. No difference.

Tuesday Morning

Saturday Lunch

I love this picture of my mama. She looks like she is saying, "Yes, I know the table flowers are a little tacky, but the hummus is wonderful!" Thanks to my sis for sending.

Happy Birthday Mark!

When I said that it was Lilla's garden too, I never dreamed that she would dig a hole like this! It's about a foot deep and from the looks of it, she must have been after a chipmunk. No more unsupervised garden privileges!

Friday Iris

Thursday Rabbit Hunt

I'm happy to report the rabbit population has gone down over the last couple of weeks. Lilla and G are doing their part to take care of the garden. Of course, there has also been some damage from all the tromping and bounding and tracking. But hey, it's their garden too.

Lily of the Valley

Last year I harvested all the blooms I could, then had Mark cut the plants back to the ground. The blooms are precious, but the plants are thugs! But here we are again, and this little hand-tied is so sweet that I'm just going to let them run wild.

Happy Mother's Day

A Gardener is Born

Rainy Thursday Morning

30 Seconds

just flies by when we're having fun with Betsy. My videography skills are sad, really sad, so I need lots of practice with her.

Snoozing

Tuesday Betsy

She taught me how to blow bubbles again. I had forgotten how to do that.

Iris Season!

Visit with Great Grandma Emma

We went to see Emma who's just back from Florida. She had a great time there and told us all about her adventures.

New Betsy Pictures

I'm having trouble loading video, but here's the best of the pics. We had such a good time with her! Leaving was awful, as usual; but knowing she's coming here next weekend makes it better!

Washington Park

We took the dogs for a walk last Sunday. It was just beautiful. I would have taken more pictures, but my batteries went down. They're all charged up now so that we can take lots of pictures of Betsy!

Thursday

Wednesday

Springfield's Best Plant Sale

Sandy Gabriel has a big plant sale at the vet's office every spring. So Sunday morning we went shopping for a new daylily, a perennial heliotrope, and bear's breeches. Look at her bleeding heart. That's beautiful. Which makes me realize, I haven't noticed mine this spring. I'll have to look for it tomorrow.