Spring Flowers

Crab Apple Tree

Lily of the Valley

Lilacs

Snowball Viburnum

I took my walk yesterday morning and the air was so filled with the fragrance of lilacs--I could barely take a step without sneezing.

The pollen counts have been very high.  My windows are all firmly closed.  I will have to take Arkansas Patti's recommendation and check out Quercetin.

Spring is worth it though!

Giving Credit

Yes, I have to give credit where credit is due.

Mike made a commitment to himself and has stuck to it.  He has made several adjustments in diet habits and it really seems to be paying off.  His feet and ankles are no longer swollen and he has lost a bit of weight.  He had a check-up at the cardiologist today.  His blood pressure was 120/76, lowest reading in a medical setting since I have known him.  One medication was swapped for another and three were dropped entirely. 

Of course, he did have a number of tests done today--and he has to see his regular physician for a possible bladder infection.  We will have to wait for those results, but today was good news.

Oh, and my jeans fit again after the shock of travel bloat.  It has turned cold, so the jeans came back out along with a couple of sweaters.  Winter jacket, hats, and mittens are put away for the season though.  I'm just firm about that.  So that was good news for me.  I was so happy about the jeans thing that I went out for my walk even though it was raining.  I shouldn't be too happy, though--I know that my doctor will tell me to lose ten pounds when I go for my physical.  She always does.  You'd think she would give up.  Or maybe I should drop the ten pounds? 


The daffodils are all gone by now.  The lilacs and lily-of-the-valley are in bloom.  They smell so wonderfully like spring.  The bleeding heart in out as well, and the crab apple trees are in full blossom.  It is such a beautiful time of year...and so fleeting.

Mothers' Day

 

April, 2013

 

A nice lunch with my daughter and the two kids at Fire and Ice Restaurant in Middlebury, VT, was a good way to celebrate Mother's Day.  We got together on Saturday to avoid standing in a waiting line with hungry children.



My son was not able to attend.  He spent this weekend taking the motorcycle safety course.





Now there is a perfect Mother's Day gift--the idea that your child is contemplating a motorcycle.  So what if he is in his forties and doesn't actually need my permission.





I hope it was a wonderful day for everyone.

Library Crafts

Libraries in all the states (except for Texas, the last I knew) provide summer reading programs around a common theme.  This year’s theme is Dig Into Reading.
Lately, my library volunteer duties have included putting together some sample crafts.  The librarian will take a little road show to area schools to drum up interest.  This is a small sampling.

These programs bring an incredible amount of traffic into our library—kids of course, but also adult and teen volunteers, parents and/or grandparents who bring the kids and browse the library stacks while they wait.  A lot of learning goes on over the summer.  The place will be jumping…not the like the quiet library I tiptoed around when I was a kid.

Here’s the Dirt

Two yards of it delivered on Tuesday afternoon.

I spent the afternoon spreading it in this shed garden and then replanting things that I had dug up that morning.
Did I over do it?  Perhaps.

I know for sure that during the night I woke up with numb fingers and pain, make the PAIN, in my wrist.  Mike told me to take the day off—knowing how stubborn I can get when I have a job that I want to get finished.  Well, I could not have handled that shovel if I tried.

For good measure, I did not go out and work in the garden today either.  I might have, but we are getting a bit of much needed rain—the first in almost a month. Most of what is left in the pile needs to be moved around to the front so that made me doubly glad that it was raining today.

 

You know, it was hot on Tuesday, and I did feel tired and sweaty when I stopped my digging, but I wasn’t in pain.  If I had any warning twinges, I was very effective at ignoring them.

Graduation Time

Mike's oldest grand daughter and his second grand son both have graduations this month.  She is graduating from college (and has a good job lined up!) and he will graduate from high school to start college in the fall.  We will be with them in spirit. 

I did some shopping yesterday, for graduation presents.  I made their cards and Mike will package and send them out in the morning.  (With any luck!)


Okay...it is one of those times when Blogger gets stubborn about where to put pictures.
Can you tell these two are brother and sister?  And aren't they good looking?

Congratulations to both you guys.  We are so proud of you both!

The Lawn

Mike has not said much about his feet bothering him lately, but I suspect that they have been painful for him. It's something about they way he clumps down the stairs, trying to put most of his weight on the bannister.  He forgets that I can hear him.  I am not unsympathetic though.  I said that I would mow the lawn today.  It had to be done.

Then I realized something.  We did get a new lawn tractor last summer and I had never used it.  Even though it is a John Deere like the last one, it is very different.  The old one had a shift lever and the brake was on the right side.  The new one has an accelerator on the right side and then another pedal that is somehow supposed to be used for reverse.  Mike gave me a quick lesson.

I really did not try to master reverse--just kept going forward.  I had a hard time adjusting to the accelerator.  My right foot definitely remembers that it did the braking.  It was kind of scary when my brain would say, "Slow down!"  and my right foot would say, "I'm on it!" and then I would be hurtling ahead faster than ever.  It took a long time to get used to that.

Then there is the ditching along the roadside with its steep sides.  I made one pass and felt for all the world like I was tilting enough to fall off the tractor or roll the whole thing over.  I decided that part of the lawn just would not get mowed.  Not by me.  No how.

See.  It can happen.  And has.

Our ditch is not really this steep, but still...

While I was doing the lawn, Mike got out the bluebird houses and put them up.  I hope we get a pair to nest this summer.

I will be getting a delivery of compost to spread on the gardens on Tuesday.  Lots of playing in the dirt at this time of year.

I snapped this picture on the town green Friday afternoon.  Chicken Coop Tour is coming up.  Who says we don't know how to have fun here in Jericho, VT?

 

 

That little white spec in back and behind a tree is the little library.  I suggested that we cash in on the fund raising opportunity and host a chicken dance marathon, but no body would take me seriously.