Going into Summer

Just a little on the latest ---
Naomi's flower-girl dress will be finished tonight, at long last! I've had to do a bit of taking out and re-stitching as I go along - today it seemed everything was done twice. Today's goal is a perfect princess dress! I hope Petra's princess flower-girl dress will go quicker. :)
My Mom is moving on Monday - to Maple View Lodge in Athens. We were hoping that she could come live with us (because I now have the time!), but we'll have to see how she likes the nursing home situation. My guess is that it's going to be a really huge adjustment on her part - she's going from a home into an institution. But - she will be only 10 minutes away from us, and she'll spend a lot of time here anyway!
My flower gardens are enjoying the rain we've been getting - but so do the weeds! This evening we'll see our second "moon-flower" open up. I'm going to start referring to it as a "sundrop" though - that seems to be its botanical family.
We participated in a yard sale at church last week - I've been steadily removing un-used and unneccessary items from the house during the last year and adding them to the "yard sale" boxes. We would have come out on the plus side, but John purchased a couple of things in the silent auction, and so we broke even. Oh, well!
Maria spent a couple of days at Opa's and Oma's last week, and had a good time with - - Oma! It's interesting how she's quite alright with Opa at her house, but it takes a while for her to warm up to him here! She did allow him to help her with food, but it was spending time with him at the church on Saturday that truly helped the relationship. And Opa sure appreciated getting hugs instead of tears! Unfortuately for us, she's staying at her Grandpa's and Grandma's this month, and we're not sure when she'll see Opa again! Let's hope she'll be quicker to give him hugs next time she does see him. She does know who he is though; she calls him either 'pa or papa. And she does blow kisses when he turns to go out the door.
A couple of weeks ago, I took the great-grands to grandparent's day at Naomi's school. I think Naomi should have received an award for having the most grandparents there!
And last week, the girls had a tea-party luncheon in honour of Oma's birthday. The lunch was delicious and the decorating was really nice and the playing was fun!
And last week, as well, there was an ultrasound of our next grandbaby! How blessed we are!
So that's the latest - life is full!

Blue Perfume

As I was cultivating around the patch of blue iris, my senses were assailed by a lovely and delicate fragrance. Lo and behold, it was the blue iris! My white irises are fragrant, but not too many others are, so this was a surprise. It truly smells like it could be a perfume. Here is the patch of blue iris. Behind it you see the pink bleeding heart, then the blue Jacob's ladder, then a purple iris and behind the hosta is more Jacob's ladder.

Spring in Pink and Blue

I thought I'd share some of my pink and blue garden with you. I'm quite pleased with my spring flowers. Last spring, I was quite disappointed with the tulip display, but this is the garden Naomi and Petra helped me plant. We mixed up all of the largest bulbs, and each one of them has bloomed. These forget-me-nots are pink with a little blue stripe in them. Very dainty. These blue ones, though, are a perennial favourite. Mom G. also has white ones in her garden.

As one walks down the path, the dark irises are on display. There are coral bells in between, and they are just beginnning to bloom.

Last year, Martin and Emily's backyard neighbour, Linn, gave me a small rooting of this plant. Look how it's grown! Linn calls it Baby Blue Eyes, but when I looked it up, the plant with that name has quite a different flower. So I searched some more, and I think these are a variety of creeping speedwell. I think they may be Veronica reptans "Big Blue", or Veronica pedincularis "Oxford Blue", or a Veronica with the name "Waterperry Blue". Emily, please ask Linn if she could confirm this information.

At any rate, it's a sweet flower, but it will need some control! It does like to creep!

Mother's Day Events and Thoughts

Macaroni and cheese. Hot-dogs. Store-made soup. Homemade chicken and rice. Egg and Tuna sandwiches.
Not exactly Mother's Day foods - but they served the purpose! Favourite foods make for comfort, and comfort is home, and home is where the heart is.
Stevin and Katrina and the girls were over on Saturday to dig up some trees - in the rain and mud! But the girls had their usual grand time indoors: playing on the stairs, reading, tackling Oma....
Sunday after church, I warmed up some store-prepared soup and buns to go with our coffee/lunch with Mom T. and Dad and Mom G.
But what made the weekend special were the heartfelt expressions of love. I enjoy watching the girls making themselves right at home with Oma's things. Even Rachel got into the fun when she discovered the shelf with the dish-cloths!
I did get this cute picture of her so that I can update my wall of grand-kids...

We also got these snapshots of Great-Grandma reading to Naomi and Petra -
Before they left mid-afternoon to plant their trees before the end of the day, I received two pots of blueberry bushes! I hope these plants do well - I so enjoy blueberries from the freezer all year long!! At the end of the day, a bouquet of flowers was delivered from Martin and Emily and Maria and Nicole. They are beautiful!
Sunday's chats with David and Stephanie, and later with Michael, are always special! I'm glad with Steph that she is finally feeling better!

I love each one of you! There are many things I wish I had done, or things I could do, but I am proud of each one of my 4 + 3 + 5 and a half children. I must have done something right, because each one of you is so special! I thank God for giving you to me. You continue to bless me with all that you are, and I pray that God will continue to bless you wherever you are.

Laura Jane Marie

I'm learning about scanning, these got done, but there was difficulty with increasing the sizes. Oh well, enjoy these anyway.
Laura would have been 31 years old today! And yes, I shed a few tears today between my pictures and Aunt Trish's and Aunt Gwenda's - all on FaceBook... I thought I'd add mine here as well.
The above picture was taken when Laura was baptized; it was also the day that she first started smiling. We know that John/Opa is pretty special to his girls - well, it started with Laura!

This picture was taken during a camping trip to Kilbear Provincial Park.

She was so pleased to have babies in the house - here she looks so proud to be a big sister!

This is one of my favourites of a lively little girl - she enjoyed life so much!

All kids love Christmas and presents - Laura was no different!

And here she is on her 4th birthday - she's actually on her feet here, wanting to get at that cake!

Date Night

About a month ago, we were asked which restaurant would be really nice to have dinner at: Stevin apparently wanted to surprise Katrina with a night out, and we were also asked if we would babysit. Imagine our surprise when we received tickets for a special show the same night that he was planning for!
Turns out they wanted to guarantee our availability for that night! We also received a gift certificate for the restaurant we recommended: The Mill in downtown Brockville.
We were awake very early Saturday morning - summer daylight has that effect on us. And we worked outside all day. John had a good nap in the afternoon, I caught about 20 minutes. Imagine, a nap before you go out on the town!!
We had a lovely and delicious dinner: John had the prime rib special, I chose maple-glazed salmon. Had a bottle of Chardonnay. And lemon cheese cake with blueberries for dessert. And yes, daughters-in-law, we did talk!
After dinner, we strolled over to the Brockville Arts Centre. We've lived in this area for the last 15 years, and this was our first time there! It's a very nice concert hall, constructed way back in the mid-1800's, and recently renovated. Our seats were second row from the front on the west side of the hall, in front of the speakers.
Attraction for the evening:

The Stuart McLean Show! The first half featured Patrick Watson and his band from Montreal, and Dave's week with dog-sitting. The second half was spent in Stuart's diary and music featuring his musicians, with songs according to the era. Although the show was 2 hours long, the time flew by, and we could have listened to the stories for much longer! We'll have to make sure we find a couple more of his cd's for our trip east in July!

Thanks to all of our kids and grand-kids for the gift of a very enjoyable evening! You're the best!

an attitude of gratitude

We take so much for granted, that it's hard to have an ATTITUDE of GRATITUDE. The sun rises EVERY morning. A roof over our heads. Food to fill our tummies. Family and friends who loves us in spite of us. Wedding anniversaries and birthdays. Kids and Grand-Kids. Work to occupy us for money OR for pleasure OR just because it's there!
I'm trying to keep up this attitude in spite of what's going on in our lives right now, but it's not easy. Having my income cut to zilch without the benefits of EI is a hard pill to swallow.
However, IT IS SPRING-TIME and spring brings new LIFE, and where there is life there is HOPE!

a sunny day

Today is Dad and Mom's 60th anniversary and they had a great day! The secret was out yesterday afternoon when a friend told them he and his wife were coming to the party, and Mom did make herself busy, but I don't think she lost too much sleep over it.
The sunroom was filled with bright sunshine and a group of 23 people!!
We were surprised with Trish's arrival with Amanda, and Dad and Mom were surprised again when Gwenda and Tanya arrived with Josina, Devin, Brent, Shannon and Lisa.
I was grateful for their help! Thankyou ladies, and gents!

listening?

If you have sound on your 'puter, turn it up for some fun listening. I've been looking for some fun oldies for grown-ups and kids.
One person I couldn't add is Anna Russell. Google her name and click onto her videos on u-tube. Anna was a former opera singer who changed the focus of her singing and music - fun and funny.
The other music - - ah, hope you enjoy! Memories, if nothing else!! :)

more blessings, more pleasures!!

Hurray! We're allowed to tell now!! Click on to David and Stephanie's blogsite to find out what our latest news is!!