THANK YOU FRIENDS

JUST STOPPING IN TO THANK YOU ALL FOR CARING AND FOR YOUR GOOD WISHES. MOM IS BACK AT HOME BUT NOT OUT OF THE WOODS YET. DAD IS STILL THE SAME, STRUGGLING WITH HIS PARKINSON'S DISEASE. THIS IS ALL TOO SAD TO SEE. BLESSINGS TO YOU ALL.

TAKING A BREAK

I haven't been able to write, cook or even take pictures in the past few weeks. My 82 year old mom fell down and broke her shoulder and while she was in the hospital she was diagnosed with double pneumonia. My 92 year old dad is at home with his aide and misses his wife very much. As you can see my time is divided between their home, visiting mom in the hospital, my work and my home.  Running errands and taking dad to his doctors are also part of my daily life. Sometimes there are not enough hours during the day. Today I gave my self a brief moment to go online just to get out of the monotony of my daily chores. I  wish everyone a very safe, happy and healthy summer. See you all soon..

FRESH BOUQUETS

Lavender from my garden

  Mixed flowers

HAVE A NICE WEEK-END EVERYONE

MORE FLOWERS ...

I'm so happy that this year we are able to enjoy our flowers. Last year groundhog and deer ate most of my flowers before they got a chance to blossom.  It was disheartening that we didn't get to see our efforts and labor. The critters are still here but I'm glad that they didn't bother with our garden this year (hopefully they found a better garden) but I have a feeling that my next door neighbor's cat who's been frequenting our back yard has something to do with it.

LAMB'S EAR

DAY LILY

                                                                   ECCHINACEA

ECCHINACEA

DAY LILIES, PRIM ROSE AND LAVENDER

                                                                  YELLOW  YARROW
                                                         

ASTILBE

PRIM ROSE

 WHITE YARROW AND COREOPSIS

BALLOON FLOWER

 COREOPSIS

                              (I don't know the name of this flower, but its abundant in the back yard)

SOME SILLY PHOTOS

 The beautiful pink Peony flower is almost as big as my head.  I had planted these  years ago and enjoy them every year.  They have a faint but very  sweet scent. When they are budding they tend to attract ants partly due to the nectar that forms on the outside of the bud. With the ants activities the blossoms open up. Very symbiotic relationship isn't it?   This year they were beautiful and plentiful. The flowers were so big that I had to put them  in a bowl of water instead of a vase just  to keep them from  toppeling over.



My husband's favorite trellis. It took us a while to get the rambling roses to climb to the top.   

This fern is a transplant from my dad's yard . Few years ago he gave me a few shoots to plant. First  I planted them  at a sunny location they looked miserable, following year I planted them in the shade and their growth  was stunted. Last year I planted them at the bottom of a tree where they were partially in the sun. I think  I finally succeeded in finding them the  right spot. 

I'm not very lucky growing Iris. I must have planted variety of colors over the years, most of them didn't come up. This is the only one that came up this year.

Just look at this funny cloud formation. I took this picture from the car. ( I wasn't driving)..

MY FRIEND

We celebrated my friend's 100th birthday this month. I met her years ago when she was in her late 80's and I was younger than her youngest daughter.  Despite the age difference we  bonded immediately. I became her best friend, confidant and liaison to a younger world. She and I talked about fashion, hair,  make-up and about serious matters. She told me about her children, her husband and her life. Sometimes we cried together but mostly I made her laugh. I had a feeling that some of the stories she shared with me was not shared with anyone else.  After my bout with cancer I asked her if she had had a mammogram done. She told me she was too old for that. After one week of hounding her to see a doctor, she finally relented and went to get a  mammography. Her results were not good but it  was not too late. She was lucky enough to get diagnosed early. During her ordeal to uplift her spirits I told her that she and I'll dance at her 100th birthday to which she shrugged and said she didn't think so. I dared her and we made a pact that we would dance even if she was in a wheel chair. Since then she has travelled around the world and was on many cruises, shopped, drove her car until her arthritis stopped her. We keep in touch with each other over the phone most of the time. Her major complaint these days is her loss of hearing and she abhors hearing aids. Today she is still sharp as a tack and sweet as an apple pie.  At her birthday party we were seated with her physicians and we all agreed that  she was a very young 100 and has many more years in her. Oh, by the way I'm happy to report that  my dear friend  wasn't in a wheel chair at her birthday party and she and I  danced  amid all her children, grand children and great grandchildren. 

A VERY HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL MOTHERS,  GRANDMOTHERS, MOTHER-IN-LAWS, MOTHERS' TO BE AND MOTHERS' AT HEART.