Rain, rain...I love you

Well, the garden loves the rain also.  It never has looked better.  Everything is growing up in fine style.  Big issues this week.  Last fall we had a huge hail storm which did a lot of damage to the roof and siding.  It needed to be fixed but couldn't be fixed until we had the chimneys rebuilt.  That rebuilding resulted is a bunch of bricks left over.  So...the big project,issue this week...I'm edging the biggest garden with bricks.  That means digging a small ditch and carrying...placing...bricks.  I think I'm about half way finished with that.  The digging is easy...rain, rain.  Little by little the job gets done.  I also transplanted some JOE PIE WEED...Yup...that's the name...from Judy's garden.  She just pulls it out and I think it's a very interesting plant.  Great blooms later in the summer.  The garden in the gourd arbor is doing very well.  We should have cherry tomatoes this week.  Egg plant and beans and squash are blooming as well as the potatoes.  No deer problems anywhere this year.  It needs to continue.  There are deer in the neighborhood but I think they have changed their route to the creek.  Today is church and this afternoon is the first softball game of the year for church folks.  Just a great time to sit under the trees, visit with families and relax.  Not to much happening this week.  Well, that's the current plan.  There will probably be a trip to the library.  The books of the day are picture books of gardens.  I have a great one from the Hudson Valley.  It feeds my mind.  Interesting enough, I can find lots of plants in the pictures that I have in the garden.  If I don't recognize the name I google it.  One that I did turned out to be Bug Bane.  That's another interesting name.  It's a beautiful plant...I could use another one.  Hard to keep a gardener satisfied with what she has but I give it my best effort.  More rain today.  It's happened almost every day this past week.  Well, I could say this past month.

Woo An evA busy few days...real busy.

And one that changed from day to day.  It all started with a whole bunch of doctors appointments that all turned out well.  Then Tuesday was Andrew and Noah day which I wrote about.  Fun, fun.  Wed. got an afternoon call that JB and family was driving south and was expected to arrive around 10 pm.  What a great surprise although we were trying to make this happen and the weekends were just never cooperating.  So...Thurs. and Friday it was great family time.  Andrew and Noah were here for almost all of Friday so the fun really was 5 times over.  Kimmy has posted great pictures on her blog.  Just so many good memories.  Sat. morning Doug and I left for Ohio attending a retirement party for friend Nancy Baxter.  The Hefners invited us to FLY over with them to Cleveland.  What fun. It was just the best trip.  Patty H. and I have worked for years on visuals at church and now she is spending half of the year in AZ. so I really never have time with her to talk about all sorts of things.  So...it was two hrs of solid talk.  Loved every minute of it.  And the air trip was fabulous.  And it was just wonderful again to see Nancy.  She worked at church with Christian Ed.  I took several trips with her to Atlanta with the confirmation kids.  Memories, memories...oh, so good.  So...it was just one of those super duper trips and I should add the time with the kids was part of the super duper weekend.  We left before Kimmy and JB did and you know...when we got home the house had been swept, cleaned etc. which just made that an unbelievable surprise.  I continue to find places that I hadn't noticed was done. My brain continues to spin about the last few days.  Today our church organist Martin Ellis announced his leaving to live in Portland OR.  We will MISS him soooo much.  But like children...one needs to let him go just as we did Nancy years ago.  He will be leaving Sept. 1.  This week looks pretty clear of stuff.  Lots of rain last week so the dirt needs to be stirred.  Should be a good week to just sit on the patio and read the paper or a good book which I don't have.

Another day

Gardens are looking wonderful.  Did a lot of watering today and this evening.  Now neighbor Judy says it's going to rain.  Fat chance in my mind. 

Fun with the grandsons.  They were here all day and I just had to take a sleep early afternoon.  Woo...they want their grandma to play with them all the time...And I do.  Catching butterflies was just a hoot.  They can run with the best of them and they did manage to catch two cabbage butterflies, much to my surprise!  We found a toad, spent two hrs. at our neighborhood park, played in the sprinkler two times, watered flowers and more and more.  Tomorrow it's off to church to change banners among other things.  Not much more on the calendar.  The Patty trip is off.  Bummer but there are other committments.

Looking forward to another Michigan vacation.  Woo...I'm wondering how old I'll be when I say I'm to old to sleep in a tent.  At least our latest tent is one I can stand up in! 

I'm hear again.

It's been a while for various reasons, probably none of which makes sense.  I've had a blast with all my gardens.  Woo...what fun and things really look good.  Rain has been plentiful so little watering so far although there has been just a bit.  I visit everything every day.  Veg. garden...lettuce, cilantro, egg plant, squash, beans, potatoes and tomatoes and the deer can't get t o the garden because it's in the gourd arbor.  Although a huge surprise when we found a fawn lying in the arbor.  Could not have been more than a week old or maybe less.  Flowers are looking good.  I replanted most of the front bed going across the front of the house with shade plants moved from the back shade yard.  Woo...it's a good looking fresh bed.  So...lots to check on each morning particularly if one looks for evidences of deer which I saw this morning.  I have decided that the deer have a place...maybe.  I've had such fun working with neighbor Judy.  She is a master gardener that just plants and plants but it 's all flowers.  I scratch in the dirt every day.

Andrew and Noah continue to spend Tuesdays with me.  What  a blast.  I love talking to both of the boys.  It takes me back to memories of teaching first grade children. Andrew is ready for 2nd grade and Noah will be in kindergarten.

I've been sewing bibs for Sarah Ellen Mamlin for her Kenyan children.  This is the last week of her being here in the states so it 's packing time which has happened almost every day this week.  It 's a process for sure.  She leaves tomorrow and Doug and I will take her to the airport in the afternoon.

Before Sunday...I have a new preacher robe to hem as well as a stole to finish.  Idle times never last very long which pleases me a great deal.  Last Sun was Pentecost which required lots of red banner hanging, this Sun. is Trinity Sun...white banners.  Last Sunday the choir did The World Beloved. A blue grass mass.  It was wonderful, wonderful.  The church is still talking about it and I think that will continue for a long time.  What fun, fun, fun.  Wonderful rhythms, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, and bass.  It's worth looking into if one doesn't know about it.

Next weekend friend Patty is flying 4 other folks including Doug and I to Cleveland for a day with old friend Nancy, who is retiring from her job.  Nancy at one time worked at North...such a great friend.
 So that's it for now.