Flowers for Mother's 100th

Sheila and I put flowers in the church on Sunday in memory of my Mother, Ruth Baird Shaw, on her 100th birthday. I'd like to save the pictures here.  

I also cut a bunch of daffodils from my yard for a small bouquet 
which was placed in the narthex of the church. The primary reason I have planted so many daffodils in my yard was to have a good supply to cut for my Mother during the late winter and spring.
How I miss seeing her face brighten when I walk in with jonquils.

Granny & GrandShaw Grand Adventure 2022 - 9/8

Grandshaw loves his early morning walks in Vista. Here the sun rises on Wednesday as I walk from  Blackbird toward Anza.

 

I turned back west to snap this view of Vista  in the valley with steep Apollo Drive in the foreground. 

Along Cortes I snapped these Morning Glories.

Susannah with her Mom.

Clementine had mentioned this elixir to us the day before,
but today she wanted to show us her "Mortal Tea".

She had hopes that this magic brew would regrow Bowie's tail.

Meanwhile the swing on the back porch got lots of use first by Susie, then by the other two girls.

The one green cushions (what are they called?) were a great purchase. The girls arrange and rearrange those things into all sorts of playscape.

The "ice cream" toys were also a great idea. We are served ice cream  many times a day.

Granny is such a great playmate. On the screen is "The Pirates of Penzance" currently a favorite video in the Carlin household. Unfortunately none of them seem to know the correct words to one of the songs. Who remembers: "Hail, Hail, the gang's all here. Time for Woody Willow. Time for Woody Willow. Hail, Hail, the gang's all here. Time for Woody Willow, now!". 

I had to run an errand that took me up the 78 past the Emerald Drive exit. It was here that Susannah was born in a car at the side of the road last October.

Granny and the girls "roast" "marshmallows" around a "campfire".
There is no shortage of imagination in this room.

Papa and Gamma have bought and installed an above-ground pool since our last visit. 

Clemmie loves it!

Clementine has taken swimming lessons and is a little fish!

Granny says the water is cold!

Mom and Susannah are dry; that is a condition Clemmie is glad to remedy.

Ruthie is playing with Granny.

Clemmie like to hide under the floats and then surprise everyone!

All four Carlin girls.

Susie likes the water too.

Papa found this little electric car at a garage sale.

Along Dorsey on the way to Papa and Gamma's is a house that really decorates for Halloween.

Tonight we watched... 

...two videos......

 ....the Pirates of Penzance and...

... Lady and the Tramp. We liked when Lady and "Bootch" shared their spaghetti...

and we like to sing "We are Siamese if you please; we are Siamese if you don't please."

We were sad to find out that the people of the United Kingdom had lost their queen today. She was a very old lady.

Flowers for Mother --- One Year Ago Today.

One year ago today I visited my Mother at her home on Rollingwood and noticed that one of the giant hibiscuses was blooming. Mother walked out with me to see it and I snapped her picture. It turned out to be the last picture of her before her stroke the next day, and we lost her only 13 days after this picture was taken.

Way back the previous fall I bought four woebegone hibiscus plants off the garden center bargain racks at Lowes for a dollar each. There was virtually no green left on them, but I decided to gamble four bucks on the chance they'd sprout again in the spring... and, how about that, they did! 

And they are blooming again now. How I'd love to show Mother.

May Flowers

 As May begins here on the banks of the Oostanaula, our garden is still choked with weeds and marred by neglect, but the same factors which have inspired the weeds to flourish have also brought beautiful and prolific blooms. 

Sheila walks through the weedy path past several varieties of irises at the foot of the levee.

Ain't they pretty?

I think I will buy a weed torch; I just despise using weed killer.

The blackberry blossoms are giving way to lots of little green fruits.

Only three flowers on the peonies so far.

The Knock-Out roses are gorgeous.

These last three pictures are from a few days earlier:

The first peony.

Volunteer oxalis at the back steps.

Another Knock-out rose.

Irises

Last year two of my neighbors (Carolyn McGinnis & Nena Dake) generously shared their iris plants with me as they were thinning theirs. So now, despite the fact that I have let weeds crowd my garden this spring, look at the gorgeous blooms I have. (No wide angle shots though till I get the weeds under control!)