Thank You to All Who Have Served

Have a safe Memorial Day and remember those who have served our country.

God Bless America!

Flowers

 

I am glad I took these pictures when I did a couple days ago.  Today is cool, cloudy, and very windy.  The bright pink Azaleas are still blooming and very pretty.  The Hydrangeas have opened up many more blooms and are several different colors.  So pretty!

Les and I are doing alright.  He is gradually getting stronger and was able to mow the grass yesterday.  I'm glad we got that riding mower a couple years ago. I went out and did the cleanup and pulled a few weeds in the mulched areas.

Our painter guy finished up the porch rails and that is looking much better.

I am still working on the garage cleaning out project.  Pretty soon Les can come out and help sort through a few things.  Then I will make a trip to the hazardous waste drop-off (paint and stuff), donate things, or give them away.  I have a pile accumulating on the workbench.

Please take care of yourselves and stay safe.  Life is good.  And God Bless America!

Flamingos!

Today is Little Miss E's birthday!  As she was leaving the house to wait for the school bus, she was surprised by a flock of flamingos! 🦩 There was much giggling to hear in the video that Chris took.  I hope she has a happy day!  

Just Some Pretty Magnolias

I like Magnolias.  I think they are pretty.  But our friends who have had them in their yards say that they are very messy trees and hard to do the cleanup with the dried blossoms and leaves.  I took this picture recently of the ones blooming in our neighbor's yard.  This is the first Spring that I have actually been able to see them.  She had several ailing/old, dangerous trees removed from her yard in the last year or so.  

Besides being able to see her Magnolias, a benefit of the tree removal is that our shrubs and blooming bushes on that side of our yard are really growing and blooming this year!  I'll be taking pictures soon of our Hydrangeas that are just starting to open their buds.  The Azaleas have done well, too, but most of those are done with their first blooming.  They will bloom again over the next few months.  We do have one of our original Azaleas that is just now starting with pretty bright dark pink blooms.  That one is always later than the others.  

Even the holly bushes are growing and filling out!  One of them has had a large "empty" spot for several years where I had to cut out a dead branch.  It's almost all filled in now!  And the new Coleus plants I just planted are doing well so far.  

Chris and Jordan came and did yard work for us again this past week.  It's looking very good out there right now.  Thanks, Chris and Jordan!

Les is doing okay and is getting stronger.  There is a little improvement every day.  He is starting to do more, but is being very careful.  I am keeping up with things.  The cleaning-out-the-garage project I started is ongoing. I have some piles started for things to dispose of and things to donate. Still more to do, but I've decided there is no hurry.  I might work on it some more this afternoon, or I may just sit and read.  😊

Take care of yourselves and stay safe.  Life is good.  And God Bless America!

Mothers' Day

We never stop missing our Moms. 

Mom and Me

Mom Parnacott with Dad

Miss you and love you all.  💗💗💗

Recent Evening Sky

I hope everyone is having a good day.  Les and I are alright here.  

I've been working on some cleaning projects this morning.  It was break time so I thought I'd say "hey".

I took this picture the other evening, just thought the sky was pretty. 

Take care of yourselves and stay safe.  God Bless America!

Hey!

I hope everyone is doing well.  Les and I are doing alright.

The pest control and the termite inspections are all done and no problems found.  Well, except for the dead mouse I found behind our recycle bin when I was moving it out to curb last evening.  It looked like it had been dead for a while, too. That recycle dumpster gets moved every two weeks.  Jason, our pest control guy, had told me there was an unusual increase in mouse activity all over the area.  He didn't know why.

This morning our TLX is at Acura for the annual safety inspection and a couple other things they found that needed to be done.  She should be done soon.

I'm not planning any big projects for today.  I've sort of been pushing things and trying to get things done lately.  I plan to spend some time with a good book.

Here's a picture of the new geraniums.  You can see that the side porch rail has been replaced but not painted yet.  Maybe later this week that will get done.  Jeff, our painter guy, said perhaps Friday.

Take care of yourselves and stay safe.  Life is good.  And God Bless America!

Thank YOU, Honey!

Les ordered these little cakes for me.  Unfortunately we had a sample before I remembered to take a picture.  They were very good and it was such a happy surprise!  Love you, honey!

Les is making some slow progress.  This is taking a lot longer than we expected and honestly, we both get frustrated.  But we are working on it.  He is trying to do more, but still having some problems and some pain when he's putting any pressure on his leg.  He will see the doctor again in a couple weeks.

As for me, I am still trying to keep up with things.  Sometimes the errands list gets long enough that I just have to go take care of things.  😊  And sometimes I just decide things can wait.

Chris and Jordan came last week and mowed our yard and trimmed for us and it's all cleaned up and looks so much better.  Thank you!  I've been keeping up with the weeding and cleanup of the mulched areas.  The day after the mowing was done, our Virginia Green person came and did a treatment.  That was good timing.

The porch pansies are done.  It was not a good year for them.  I scrubbed the pots and bought a new bag of potting soil and now have lovely Geraniums on the porch.  Everything in the yard is growing and looking better.  I also planted some Coleus in the large backyard mulched area.  First time I've tried any there, so we'll see.  Last year we had our guys that do our mulch plant six  azaleas for us and only one survived.  Since that was so disappointing, I said I wasn't planting more there.

This morning we had our quarterly pest control visit.  I am currently waiting for the man to arrive to do the annual termite inspection.  And next week we have the inspection on our back flow preventor with our sprinkler system.  We're also waiting on a call from the sprinkler system office to let us know when they are coming back.  The system was supposedly checked when they did the turn-on service a few weeks ago.  But we hadn't needed it on then.  Tried it yesterday and some sections are not working. 😖

Take care of yourselves and stay safe.  Les and I got our latest Covid booster last week!  Life is still good.  And God Bless America!

Congratulations, Jordan!

 

Jordan graduated Summa Cum Laude yesterday from ODU!  We are all very proud of her.

Les was not able to attend due to still recovering from surgery.  But I went with Jacquie.  Jordan had to be there by 7:30 a.m. so it was a long day.  There were over 2,000 graduates from the various ODU schools.  

And the job search begins.  Good luck sweetie, we love you!

Happy May Day!

This post is about memories.

When I was a very young girl growing up in a small town in Ohio, the elementary school teachers would have us go out to the playground and do a May Pole "dance" on the first day of May.  It wasn't really a dance, but I don't know what else to call it.  You may have seen pictures of something like this somewhere.

There was a tall pole, I think meant for pole climbing, like in gym class.  They attached large ribbons to the top.  Then each child held a ribbon end and we walked around and would weave the ribbons together, like braiding.  It was very pretty, and we had fun.  I'm sure there must have been some kind of music along with that, but I really don't remember.

However, I do remember very well how our landlady, Frau Bargholz, taught us to celebrate May Day when we lived in Germany.  The custom was to secretly put gifts of small bouquets on friend's and family's doors.  Sometimes small baskets were used, but what she liked to do was make cone shaped holders out of heavy bright colored paper.  

Pam was just a baby and not quite old enough to help, but she liked the colored paper and the flowers.  Jacquie was the helper and we would get them made and then quietly go around and put them on neighbors' doors.  

I hope you are doing well.  Les and I are "okayish" here.  He is still recuperating.

We had heavy rain and thunderstorms yesterday.  Today is cool, very windy, and sunny.  I am hoping the wind will dry out our yard enough so Chris and Jordan can do the mowing for us tomorrow. 😊

Take care and stay safe.