Visits

Hello again.  I love travel.  I love vacation.  I love my Family.

Last Friday, I was lucky enough to begin my vacation.  Or Staycation.  Only I went a little ways away from home for a little bit.  I spent a nice long weekend at my Sister Peggy's home with her and her family and friends.  Unfortunately I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted so I will have to fill this in with dialog.  Can I just say again I love my Family?  And I am sooooo happy to be able to have a vacation?  Even tho I couldn't afford to go anywhere exciting or eventful, I am still happy.  Originally I had planned to do some mini day trips, but the electric company had other ideas!

Some of these photos were sent to me by my sweet niece Mandy just before my last visit.  But since the dates were close enough together, I decided to include them in this blog.  Here is from left to right view...Tyler, Peggy, Me, Leslie, and Michael Covey.  Love this photo.  Aren't we cute?

Left to right.  Michael, Mandy, Me, Jessy, Tyler.

Moms and Sons are together.  Aren't they cute?  Don't I look a mess?

My girls.  Well, not really...they really belong to my sister, but you know.  Now that they are grown, and out of diapers, and no longer teenagers...can I just keep them?  Ok, well, I can borrow them when I visit right?  Love you girls.

This wasn't part of my visit, but Mandy sent it to me before I got there....a double rainbow!  How nice!  Here where I live, that would have made it on the evening news!

Peggy's birthday cake.  See the flip flops and the Palm trees?  They will have a 'Florida room' in their new home, and I also donated a lighted Palm tree and some Palm tree decorations.  Leslie picked out this beautifully decorated ice cream cake.  (It was delicious too by the way).  Happy Birthday again Sis!  Muah! ♥

"Ooooh, for me?"  Surprise! 

Fat Face!  This is after the Mary Kay makeup.  I'm saying "Gee, do I have to?"  All for a good cause, Miss Mandy is going to sell Mary Kay!  So we were practicing!

Jessybeary.  This is her "Yeah, I did it, and I am proud of it" look.  She had on such a cute dress too.  Her makeup looked great!  Keep it up sweetie.  Love you!

Miss Mandy.  So determined looking.  I missed you sooo much these last 10 years, where did the time go?  Much love and luck in your future endeavors.  Love you sweet pea!

The girls!  There is no family resemblance here right?  Right.

Yeah, I know...I posted one of these with all of us already.  But I like it!  Love you girls!

So, my sister and Leslie got a new home, and I intended to take pictures of it, but somehow I didn't get around to it.  That will be a future blog.  The home is amazing.  Lots of cubbies and storage places.  Old, yet new.  Two fireplaces!  (violating one of the ten commandments, I am jealous). I am so mad at myself for not getting pictures.  The garage is a tour of its own.  HUGE!  It even has a mechanics pit in it!  Stay tuned.

I have a fruit tree!

So, Bill and his sister Mary and her husband Gabby went off to Chicago to see their brother Bob without me. I was invited last year, but time didn't warrant that this year. No matter.

I have been wanting a fruit tree ever since our last visit. He has so many and I just think this is incredible. Imagine, you are cooking, and the recipe calls for Lemon zest, or Orange zest....and you just go and pick one! Not to mention the smell of them growing. I can only imagine!

You may have already guessed it, I now am the proud owner of an Orange tree! Yay! I have a lot to research, but I reckon I can keep it outside until possible November or so, and then I will bring it inside. Kewl! Now here is the kicker...I also have a Pineapple plant! How cool is that? Thank you sooo much Bill and brother Bob. (let's hope I don't kill them.) Pictures will follow.

Late Summer, early Fall. Wow.

Okay, so I can't believe how long it has been since I posted to this blog. No, that's not true, I guess I can. I'm lazy. Ok, it is true. Me...lazy. Ok, now that I have that confession over with here we go.

Ashton and I have endured an incredible spring and summer. A lot of rain, a lot of heat, and not only did we suffer, so did our poor plants. Today, I tried to do what I could to make things a bit better. And Ashton helped of course!

Here is what used to be pretty flower boxes over the railings that I installed a few years ago for my front porch. The boxes have changed color and modified over the years, and this year I planted pretty little blue annuals in them. They met their death a few heat waves ago and in their place are these things....not sure what they are, but they are alive and somewhat green so I am leaving them alone for now.

Awwww....my pretty beside the door planters were at one time looking good. Not so much now, but I did trim off all of the dead stuff. Do you see the little red buds to the left of the photo? That was not there when I started. Love it!

One of my Day Lillies with the Tiger grass off to the side. When I started today, all of this was a mess. It is a bit like gum in a child's hair. You need to be patient and go careful. Strand by strand. In addition, some of it is like a teenager, you know how they can be obsessed with split ends? If you just trim off the 'split ends' things will grow better!

The cute yellow flower was there at the beginning, but wasn't as 'perky' as it is now!

The yellow bushy looking thing needs very bad to be divided up. Love the little yellow flowers. The little blue flowers are so delightful as well. I will leave them alone one more year I think.

And here are the spoils. What a mess I made, but the weather and the temperature was so perfect for this type of work. I probably looked a lot like that woman bending over her garden cartoon. Oh well.

And here is Ms. Ashton looking for something she can fetch, or chew, or......

Our happy Ms. Ashton. It's a dog's life, right?

More Spring Steps

I can't believe only 4 days ago these little beauties were not yet open, now look at them! They are sooo pretty.

And all of these have grown a lot also. Also see some greenery in other places that there wasn't any before. Yah!

Spring has Sprung!

I love these little blue flowers, they are some of the first of the spring bulbs to appear. Wish I had planted more all those years ago, but I think I was just experimenting and wasn't sure what would work and what wouldn't. Note to self, plant more this fall. Hyacinths I think. Seems to me tho, I planted them all around the tree and not just on one side...who knows?

The red tulips are trying to open up now as well. They get prettier every year! Did a good job planting them on the side of the house, makes a somewhat boring area look pretty. Neighbors on the side need to see something pretty also, right?

And in front, the Day Lillies are growing up and getting ready for their show, along with what else will show up this year. Three years ago, I planted some perennials with the hopes that eventually I could split some and spread them out, this should be the year to do it however I am uncertain what is going to still grow. Trial and error.

And then here is sweet Ms. Ashton, keeping an eye on everything and waiting for someone to throw her the ball!

Spring maybe? 2011

I cannot really believe that I have waited this long to post to my blog. Maybe I will do a little better this year? Anyway...here we go. I have hopes that this will be a family blog, we will see, it may possibly be just me random logging my thoughts and photos, and what is so bad about that?