May 2009

As long as I am going through pictures I thought I'd share some of my garden.

This year I vowed to "use what I already have" to fulfill my garden dreams. I stuck to it pretty well, too

The house is freshly painted and, by the way, David finished my railing. Good job and thank you so VERY much! Thanks for the planters, Mom.

Welcome

Outside my kitchen door

This Poppy is bigger than my hand! These are just popped Poppies. They aren't as big as the first one was, but the color is amazing!


Ahh, Peonies! Enlarge the white one to see just a hint of a pink streak, about 4:00 from center.

First Peony blooms of my infant garden. Only 2 bloomed. Could need another season to bloom or I"ve planted them too deep. I guess time will tell. Gardening certainly lends itself to the lesson of learning patience!

"Lemon Merigue" is the name of this climbing rose and the fragrance is Delicious!!


Siberian (or Japanese) Iris. I want to get some white ones like this, too. The larger irises I planted into my "baby" garden have not bloomed, but sometimes it takes 2 seasons before they will.

I have big plans in my head for an English "Cottage Style" Garden. Of course, now I need to remove the stinky (like cat pee) Boxwoods from the front of the house. I don't want to kill them, that would be sacreligious here in Virginia. I will sincerely try to find a happy home for them. In addition I need muscle, and oh yeah, money! I do feel I am off to a good start though.

The Rosemary plant in tn the "Mother Garden" that I planted the first year I was here, as one of those Lowe's Chrsitmas tree-shaped plants, now looks like a hedge. It's in a good place for picking up fragrance, right beside the my brick walk. However, she is battling with the Lavendar Hedge (that I grew from seeds Pierrette gave me) that, too, is in a good place to pick up fragrance. Oh, what to do, what to do!

Pierrette also gave me Sweet William seeds. The small, deep pink flowers near the lavendar bush. They are blooming for the second year

Gardening is my joy and my pain.; even though I pay a price, sometimes, it is worth it. Keeps me out of trouble anyway!

Lucie's Birthday

I put up a google web album to view some pictures of Lucie's Birthday Party. It was a big hit! Ellen & David, Great teamwork!

http://picasaweb.google.com/katch52/LucieS3rdBirthdayParty?locked=true#

Gratitude

I just need to say that I am grateful for my loving and supportive family.

As long as there is sunshine tomorrow the painter will start! With any luck I will be heading south next weekend.

So wish me luck!

Irish Soda Bread II

Last weekend I made my Irish Soda Bread and Corned beef and cabbage. I was so pleased how the bread turned out I had to show it off. It tasted good, too!

My new dilemma

I've been waiting for the right time to head south to see Peter, Elise, Noah, Sophia, Mom and the rest of the gang, and for a little R & R. I figured April 1st would be a good day to start my trip. stay maybe 3 weeks and be home in time for my tentative closing date of May 2. Then after that is done get a new furnace while the weather is mild enough to have fresh air come in through my windows.

I have applied to re-finance my mortgage, lower interest rate, etc. The initial appraisal of my home has gone up almost $25,000 dollars, even in these times. I was quite surprised. Oh, back to the dilemma, In order to get an FHA mortgage I would need to paint my house. Now, the paint has blistered in a lot of spots. When I went to scrape some of the blistered areas, it went all the way down to bare wood. A lot of layers all at once. The paint came off too easily.

Do I patch paint, which is what seems to have been done over the years, or do it right, scraping, sanding, priming, caulking and then paint. Oh, and have it done by the middle of April and it's raining today!

I really wanted to be in Florida for Easter. Peter is off and we could all have fun together. Then spend time with Mom.

I don't want to miss the window of opportunity to get a lower rate mortgage AND get enough cash back to buy a new furnace. I've had 4 different heating/cooling guys in to give me estimates. That's another thing to figure out. What kind of furnace should I get? You would not believe how many different kinds are out there

Ellen T. has said she will help me as much as she can. Whether that means finding someone to do it or patch it up our selves.

I know I'm only supposed to write "happy things" in this blog but any input would be greatly appreciated.

Oh, the drama of everyday life!

Did I mention I really want to visit FL?

Snow in the Heart of Virginia

Just a quick note & pics showing our snow


Snow in my Stone Garden, perfect white snow cushions on the chaise lounges


and on my birdbath



Down my brick walk

and capping car

This is the kind of snow kids pray for! No school, but we knew that last night. The snow is good packing and deep, at least 6 inches. If I were (a lot) younger I would be out there from sun-up till sundown. Rosy cheeked, wet, cold and sniffly. Snowmen, sledding, snow ball fights, snow forts and walls. At least I have those memories! Going to the cow pasture and sliding down the hill, it was the best. Until Albert ran into my face with his sled. White snow and lots of RED blood! I remember I didn't want Grandma Chandler to see me because she had just had a heart attack and I didn't want to be the cause of another one. Then there was talk of stitches! NO WAY! Albert's mother was a nurse and suggested it. If that happened now that child would get taken to the ER and gotten stitches AND a Tetanus shot! Ahh, those were the days!

I was praying some kid would come by and offer to shovel my driveway for a couple of bucks. Not a one! Where are all the teenagers? Probably on the slopes, that's where.

While sweeping the snow off the roof of my car I managed to snap off my antenna. I really was trying to be careful around it, too. I sure hoped that can be fixed!

Kids

Recently I was babysitting for Lucie and Jack. They were asleep so I read a magazine and when I was done with that I wondered into the dining room where Lucie's doll house was. I glanced at it and did a double take. She had set everything up so nicely. All the furniture was placed according to the right room, the baby napping, Diego at the dining room table, Papa sitting in the livingroom. I don't know why the Mommy and Grandma are lying on the floor but everything else seemed to be in place. Lucie can spend a lot of time playing with that and making up little scenarios. I was so impressed with her placement of everything I had to capture it with my camera:

When Ellen got home I couldn't wait to show her what Lucie had done! She told me that when Lucie and Jack went to bed the night before she took her time straightening up and had set up the doll house herself!