Reboot!

 As I have progressed in my skills as an amateur genealogist, I have increasingly wanted to "publish" my findings to share with family members in an easy way.  Should I write a book?  A family genealogical history?  I kept coming back to creating a blog that I could provide updates and information about our common family history.  Today I decided to explore the idea further and in doing so was reminded that. . . . I HAVE A BLOG!  

I had nearly forgotten my days of luxury as a housewife in my 40's and the ramblings I posted infrequently about whatever thing I was doing at the time.  I've decided to leave this blog with all it's prior posts and simply start anew - with current musings, thoughts, and interests.  That, of course, is GENEALOGY!  

So welcome to my re-boot blog.  Although I no longer live on my 2 Acres on Planet Earth, my heart and mind still like to think I do.  Stay tuned as I dust off this few bytes of cyberspace.

The Rush of Spring and the Year of Travel

Spring has peeked its friendly face here by way of a few days in the mid-60's last week.  But she quickly retreated when Old Man Winter blew back in to town.  The age old war of seasonal change goes on.  Daylight Savings Time is this weekend and the kids start Spring Break on Monday.  Signs of Spring are in abundance outdoors too as green shoots are appearing throughout the garden and I could swear the grass appears to have taken on a greenish hue.  Spring-like rain showers and a good old-fashioned Midwestern thunderstorm have also occurred in the last ten days.  It won't be long now.

As is customary for me, Spring brings a huge shift in gears.  Gone over the next month will be the leisurely after dinner nights of Winter spent watching television, reading or surfing the web.  Nope, I've already started to shift into a higher gear as our vacation to Mexico draws close.  Lots of preparations and last minute planning have been the work of the past week.

                                                 

We decided to try having our groceries ordered in advance and delivered to our villa before our arrival in Akumal.  We debated on it last year, but being newbie tourists to the Riviera Maya we elected to not trust the sources we read online and arranged with our villa manager to get groceries once we were there.  The booking agency I used this year recommended the grocery service so I thought that was a plus and they really do have a lot of good press in the tourist forums.  I hope it works out as grocery shopping is not how I want to spend my vacation.

I'm really looking forward to this Mexico vacation because it was just so truly relaxing last year.  A week-long holiday in the tropics does have a way of getting you to unwind and relax.  In less than two weeks I'll be sitting here and having margaritas all day long while I read or spend time with the family having a good time on the beach and in the pool.


This year we are planning to voyage into the interior of Mexico to visit Chichen Itza, the ancient Mayan ruins.  The trip, one-way, is three hours so it will be a long day.  But being one of the New Seven Wonders of the World we just feel it would be a travesty to not go visit it when we are so close. 

We'll also do an afternoon sailing on the large 45-foot catamaran similar to last year.  Instead of a full day sail with lunch on the beach and jungle ride in the back of a pick-up truck (gosh that was a tense moment or two), we all agreed to do a 4-hour sail with snorkeling and snacks provided by the sailing outfit.

                                

Patrick and I are planning a trip to Vegas sometime in April courtesy of a nice windfall we came in to this past week.  So I have lots of planning to do there as well.  The windfall also allowed me to pick out some new carpet for the formal living room and dining room at last.  They come to measure this week and hopefully it will arrive while we are on vacation so that we can schedule installation shortly after our return.

Back in January we made the decision (finally! after years of telling everyone in the family I wanted to do it) to visit Washington, DC over the 4th of July this year.  We booked our airfare and hotel back then but I need to start looking at what we'll have time to visit and see while we're there.  I'm really excited to share this truly American and most-patriotic event with my girls.  Being in DC on the 4th is something that has stood out in my mind for years as one of the greatest things I've participated in.  I'm glad they'll finally get to experience it.  Maybe they in turn will make it a tradition by taking their children some day.

Somewhere amidst all this travel I have to find time for the gardening I have been planning this winter.  Plants and bulbs are ordered, planting and sowing schedules are committed to paper, and seeds have arrived.  There's no turning back now.  Onward towards Spring I march.  Eager for the faster pace, warmer weather, and higher spirits that come with it all.

Halloween and Other Things

Backward, turn backward,
O Time, in your flight
make me a child again
just for to-night!
~Elizabeth Akers Allen



First, let's get this out of the way.....she is NOT Cinderella. She couldn't remember what she was, but got most agitated if someone referred to her as Cinderella. In actuality, her costume was called "Snow Contessa". She didn't know what a contessa was but she was thrilled to be one.

It was a rather cold Halloween this year, but at least there was no rain. It seems we have a rainy Halloween every few years and we were due. Now, of course, it got up to the mid-70's the next day, but we were bundled in our winter coats for trick-or-treating.

Patrick got a new car on Halloween Day. It's a gorgeous 2010 Nissan GT-R. At least it's the kind of "sporty car" that I like. . . something with a little muscle and some conveniences.

Unfortunately, he awoke on Sunday to buyer's remorse. That lasted about a day. When he came home from work on Monday there was no sign of the remorse of the previous day.

I have been running in relax-mode the past week; just enjoying not having to do anything by a deadline. But, my mind has been at work despite the activity hiatus and I've started making me a list for the coming month of things to do around the house. It has been much neglected in the past several months. I've turned my eye back to my living room, which I had painted last fall. Time to get back to putting finishing touches on the decorations and knick-knacks. To that end I've ordered a couple of items to add to the room this past week: a stained glass wall sconce, a set of 3 rich-colored bottles, and a new painting of roses in a vase.

Next up on the list is some deep-cleaning projects. I'd like to get these done before the holidays. Things like closet clean-outs and the like. I've also still got fall bulbs to plant and the temps are suppose to be in the mid-60's most of this week. I've got no excuse as I have Thursday and Friday wide-open on my calendar. JUST DO IT!

I'd also like to get some baking in. Cookies and some apple turnovers have been on my mind as we shift to cooler weather. Also, it's about time to start baking dog cookies again too.

My aunt Ann held a little get-together last Friday in honor of my cousin Chris' visit home in about 4 years. It was a super party and very heartwarming to attend. Lots of good food, good company and laughs were had. Ann snapped this impromptu shot of the girls and Chris.

Health Care Reform Fables

Well I've about had all I can take of the TV ads, "news" programs, and radio shows that do a tremendous disservice to the American public about what the proposed health care reforms are going to do to the health care system in America. Where is the FCC when it comes to truth in advertising? Shouldn't those rules also apply to political ads?

Ah, yes, the government cannot do anything to protect unwitting Americans from being duped by fallacious political ads. They don't count because of Freedom of Speech.

I have no fight to pick with anyone about free speech. My whole belief system centers on the right of people to choose what they want to believe in and their right to express it. What I do take issue with is the idea of presenting false statements as fact to intentionally misinform. Not only does it cross an ethical line, but when the subject at hand is something as critical as health care for all then political parties, politicians, and lobbyists have gone too far. They should be held liable for these mis-characterizations they put out or at a minimum explain why they draw the conclusions that they do.

Check out this commentary from MSNBC News' Rachel Maddow back in May before the debate was anywhere near the heated battle it is today:



Bravo I say to groups like AARP that put out television ads that call out the lobbyists and state that they are trying to "block progress on health care reform".



More of us should do our part to unveil the fallacies of these political ads. We should educate why they are inaccurate....point to facts. We should root out the source of funding for these ads.....health care industry lobbyists and ultra-conservatives determined to undermine the President at any cost. Organizing for Change, the grassroots organization, recently ran a competition for private Americans to do a 30-second ad spot for health care reform. Here's my favorite of the 20 finalists:



Think about it......REALLY think about it.

Self Pity and Optimism

Well it's 5:38am and I've been up for almost an hour. Patrick was up at 4:30am for a 6:23am flight to San Diego this morning. It's been a week of chaos. Well, actually more than a week but who's counting.


I spent about 3 hours at the hospital ER yesterday afternoon with Matt. He's been sick for almost 2 weeks and been to the doctor twice. Both times she said he had a cold. I was certain he had H1N1; fever, cough, aches, fatigue, but I was wrong. He has mono. I was concerned about him getting pneumonia because his coughing and breathing were getting worse. They did a chest x-ray though and it looked good.

Sarah was sick mid-week and I took her on Thursday to the doctor. He narrowed her illness down to flu or strep and did a rapid strep test. No strep. He started her on Tamiflu and now 5 days later she's feeling pretty good; albeit she still has a persistent cough.

Yesterday, of course, Leah started running a fever and Patrick woke up with a sore throat and swollen lymph nodes. ::sigh::

Patrick's stirring around (okay he doesn't quite "stir" as much as "crash" around in the early morning hours) woke me up this morning at 4:45am. Well or not, he's got a business trip that needs to be taken and so he's off. I had a fitful night of sleep with a noticeable cough waking me every hour or so. Is it my turn to get sick now that Patrick is out of town? That would be my luck.


The gods thought it fitting to land in my email box today this great article from iMom. I think I needed that after the last month. It got me thinking about how I often (well, maybe a few times a year) get to thinking I'm taken for granted. The analogy to a great cathedral builder of Middle Age Europe is a great one. I think I'll take that story and a ferret it away in my memory for those days when self-pity takes over. Great words to remember: "with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees".



Patrick and I went to my sister and brother-in-law's annual Halloween costume party on Saturday night. With flu season in full swing already the turnout was lighter than usual, but we had a great time. At Patrick's urging, I switched from being Cleopatra this year to a maenad with Patrick serving as my minion. It was a take on our favorite television series: True Blood.

The Woodland Elementary Book Fair wrapped up last week. That concludes my PTO projects for the foreseeable future. Next up on my PTO plate is to get the archive binder ready to hand over to the new Secretary for this year. Mostly that involves copying some document files onto a CD and then I'm done. It will be a good transition to the next board meeting in early November. After that, my next PTO project will be to push the board to support a committee continuity idea I have.

The week ahead is a full schedule of appointments, Halloween parties and trick-or-treating. All I need to do is stay healthy.

Time Sure Flies

Wow.....where did the year go? Spring sprang and summer flew by as we waited...and waited...and waited...and waited for it to warm up. (It never did.) Rain has been plentiful this year and the weeds took over my backyard with a vengeance. I think the last day we swam in our pool was in early July right after the 4th. I never really made it out in to the yard much after early summer and admired my blooms this year from afar. But pay the price I did. I sauntered out one evening, as the days started to cool down even further, and discovered multitudes of green "soldiers" standing tall and alert in the form of tall prairie grasses and weeds. Some stood taller than I.

Quickly the months ticked by and back-to-school days were upon us. As a member of our PTO Executive Board, my school year got started early with preparation in late July for Registration at our elementary school, Woodland Elementary. The current PTO President, Scott, is in his last year as President and asked if I might be interested in running next year. Well I tried to resist....really I did, but my manic half urged me to delve a little further into what this might entail. Before I knew it I was in a full-blown manic episode and running wild with enthusiasm about volunteering in every way I could imagine at Leah's school.

While I've certainly gone overboard (as I so often do) a few good things have definitely come out of it. For starters, I created a new PTO website that I just launched last week. I won't win any cyber awards, but it sure does the trick and gives the PTO a good place to communicate with Parents and staff at Woodland.

While my official role on the PTO is as Vice President, I've filled in pretty much full-time as the Secretary and in that role I created a binder.....a quasi archive if you will. I'm collecting everything related to the PTO....meeting minutes, financial reports, committee procedures/steps/forms and volunteer lists. My hope is that it provides some continuity year to year and serves as a good foundation as the PTO moves forward. Our school was opened just last year and so it just seemed right to set the parent-teacher organization up with a framework within which it could operate efficiently. If nothing else, I'll at least have documented the first two years of the organization.

I also jumped wholeheartedly into the committees which are the heart and soul of our group. The committees are where things happen. Everything from the student name & address directory to the school carnival and fund raisers are done by committee volunteers. I knew I was going to volunteer to head up two committees this year ever since I got involved with PTO last school year. The Directory and the Book Fair were things I worked on last year to a degree and wanted to do more this year. However, because committee chairpersons were hard to find this year I ended up agreeing to take on the Book Club and Welcoming committee as well.

And that is where I find myself this month....head swimming in plans for a Book Fair that opens on October 21st, a Directory that has a targeted publish date of October 1st, and a Welcoming committee and Book Club that never got off the ground last school year. "Busy" just doesn't say it, what I have been is "buried". I say that with a smile and a strong sense of satisfaction. I've done pretty darn well.

The Directory will be ready for publication on 9/29....tomorrow. The Welcoming process and packets are ready to reproduce minus a form from the Yearbook committee. The Book Fair has a two-page time line of activities and volunteer and storyteller schedules more than halfway filled in. Book Fair volunteers have been briefed and assignments taken. We're ready to rock! Only the Book Club is somewhat stagnant and that's because the school principal is re-thinking what she wants our school's Book Club to be.

Two weeks ago a calendar reminder popped up one morning reminding me of my oldest daughter, Sarah's birthday on October 2nd. I left the reminder there each day for about a week and then sat down to compose the annual email invite to my extended family for the birthday party. After addressing the recipients on the message I came to the "Subject" field and typed in: Sarah's Sweet Sixteen. Oh dear. An idea began to brew in that hyped up, overactive brain of mine. Might I be able to pull together a somewhat passable Sweet Sixteen bash? Surely, I could.


A mere 12 days before my intended party night, October 3rd, I set about making plans. Being a Sweet Sixteen party, no ordinary birthday party would do. Wouldn't a rented space with a DJ and some of my daughter's closest 30 (or heck maybe even 50) friends be a grand way to commemorate my daughter's 16th year? First step, find a location that was available on 11 days notice. Things didn't go so well in that department and I wasted a good five days finding out that no one had space available except the local Holiday Inn and it was by far more expensive than my other locale choices. With one week left, I talked to Patrick, my husband, and got a thumbs up to go ahead with the higher expense.

Multi-tasker that I am, I didn't entirely waste those five days. I did lots of research on food and DJs and with 7 days left booked the DJ even though I hadn't been able to reserve the ballroom at the Holiday Inn before the weekend and the event manager only works Monday through Friday. Bright and early today (Monday) I booked the room and spent an hour and a half with the event manager planning our big night. A bit of research on Google over the weekend gave me three good leads for a cake source. By mid-morning today, I had a beautiful 2-tier hot pink and black Sweet Sixteen cake ordered. The girls and I squeezed in a Saturday shopping trip for some fall clothes and party decorations.

So I sit here tonight quite smug. Not only have I managed to stay on top of all the school activities, keep up with doing all the bookkeeping for my online gardening coop group, AND plan a Sweet Sixteen bash like none seen so far in my extended family, but I've also managed in the last month to:

1) deal with a dog that needed surgery (three vet visits and $500 poorer),
2) fret and worry and visit a mother that was hospitalized with a blood clot that went from her calf to her navel,
3) hold down the fort single-handedly while the hubby was away in China for 7 days,
4) see my daughter off to her first Homecoming dance,

My daughter, Sarah (left), her best friend, River (right)

5) been to or taken family or dogs to 11 appointments,
6) attended 12 meetings,
7) helped sort out over 300 pieces of clothing of "spirit wear" at Woodland
8) volunteered and walked at the Woodland Walk-a-thon
9) taken my family to Olathe's annual Old Settlers fall festival/carnival

and last, but hardly the least. . . .

10) stayed sane the entire time

......well mostly.

Holiday Happenings

Have I mentioned my holiday baking this week? Oh....just every day. Yesterday was no different, except in that it didn't go quite as smooth as the other forays into holiday cookery. The day before the first grade Holiday Party (we can't call it a Christmas Party anymore these days) was the day to bake my designated "sweet treat". Yea, the kids these days get one "sweet treat" per "holiday party" in addition to a "healthy treat" and a treat bag sans snacks. Treat bags may only contain Happy Meal-esque toys, pencils, stickers et al. Forgive me, I digress.

So Wednesday was the appointed "sweet treat" baking day. I had selected one of Food Network's 12 Days of Cookies to prepare for our angelic partyers. I chose The Neely's Candy Cane Cookies for their festive color and seemingly simple recipe. I need 18 candy canes for my 18 party-goers. I mix up a batch of dough and proceed to divide it in half and color one half green and the other red. Let's just say that you can get a full 30-minute workout adding 3 drops of food coloring to a sugar cookie dough.

With cookie dough festive in green and red, I rolled it out and cut it into even strips to co-mingle them into delectable and attractive canes. Ummmmmm......the strips won't come up off the counter where I rolled them out. In the warmth of my post-snow day kitchen (including a pre-warmed oven) and my handling of the dough it simply is like butter . . . .1 whole stick of room-temperature butter to be exact. Okay so I quick think what can I do and decide every sugar cookie recipe calls for refrigerating the dough before rolling it out. I pop each color into a wax paper cocoon and place it in the fridge. I go about cleaning up and prepare a double batch of my great-grandmother's Date Nut Swirls (see recipe below).

Having been cooled for 40 some odd minutes I deem the dough cold enough to re-roll and, if I work quickly enough, ready to twist into festive canes worthy of any first grade "holiday party". Round Two. Ahhh, yes, this is much better. It rolls out much stiffer and the first few canes are a breeze to assemble. However, the situation quickly deteriorates and the strips start coming apart as I twist. I am determined, however, to bake these damn candy canes! I proceed at a furious pace and twist and twirl and patch together the 10 canes as best I can. ??? TEN canes? Did I get TEN candy canes? A quick check of the recipe does indeed confirm what I distinctly remember from my original read of the recipe....it makes a mere ten candy cane cookies. I have to go through this ordeal a second time? ::headsmack:: I don't have the patience to do it all over again immediately and decide to prepare the second batch after I pick the girls up at school.

All in all, the second time around went better than the first, mostly from having the experience of the first batch. They turned out pretty good albeit a little puffy (which the recipe does say will happen).


And for the patient reader, that delicious recipe for Date Nut Swirls from great-grandma. A holiday tradition every year at my home.

DATE NUT SWIRLS

Cream together:
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 beaten egg
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Date Filling:
1/2 lb. chopped dates
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup chopped nuts (I use pecans)

Combine dates, sugar and water for date filling in a saucepan and cook for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in nuts and salt. Cool.

Roll dough 1/4" thick. Spread with date filling, roll up and chill overnite in wax paper. Slice and place on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350° until light brown.

Snow Day

Today we woke to snow falling heavily, but alas the kids had school. The snow fell all day and I was forced to head to the store for supplies (we were scraping the cupboards last night for dinner). I decided to 2-cart the store trip and really stocked up. 2 gallons of milk, 6 lbs of hamburger, a gallon of OJ, eggs, bacon and sausage. . . . I loaded up. Don't want to get caught without food in cold weather again.

Here's the result of our cookie decorating session last night. These are the ones that I saved for us. The prettiest ones are headed to Shawn and Kate in their care packages. Don't they look yummy? Every year while I'm in the midst of decorating and all the mess I tell myself "not next year", but seeing (and tasting) the end product always makes me recant.

Last night I got a couple of packages delivered by UPS. Both were from Harry & David; one sent by Patrick's Mom & Dad and the other from his brother Nick and his wife Carolyn. Lots of sweet treats and yummy pears inside. We really enjoy the pears so much.

Last but not least is another beautiful amaryllis that bloomed today. This is 'Lemon Star'. I can't decide if this or 'Amalfi' is my favorite so far this year. Actually they have all been wonderful, but I did look forward to this one opening. If my count is accurate this is my seventh amaryllis to bloom this year. I have a total of 23 so there's many more to come yet. I tried 4 of the 8 paperwhites, but they have petered out and the sprouts have died. I'm thinking it was lack of heat as I had them in the basement under the lights. My best bet I've found is to place the forced bulbs on a closed heat register in front of a brightly lit window. I'll try the last 4 after Christmas and hopefully have better luck.

Patrick called a couple of times today. His flight out of Chicago was delayed by an hour and so by the time they landed in Hong Kong they had missed the last ferry over to the mainland. He ended up having to take a ferry to Macao and his Chinese contacts met him there and drove them to Shenzen an hour and half away. He made it to the hotel about 1am local time. He called me back two hours later. . . .sleepless in China despite having taken an Ambien. It's the same story every trip you'd think he'd come to expect it. . . I do. I had expected to hear from him by this time this evening (his morning) so I'm guessing he finally got to sleep and the Ambien is ensuring he gets a full 8 hours of sleep which it's designed to do. I'm sure he'll call in an hour or so.

Go away Jack Frost!

What a horribly cold, cold day. My weather station says we made it up to 12° today. Can't wait for the forecasted 20's later this week. As I write the wind chill reading is 3.6°. Bleh! It was so cold I couldn't bring myself to go get groceries today. Not that the rest of the week is going to be much better. I just really don't do well with bitter cold with my asthma and didn't want to risk it with Patrick out of town in China as of this morning.

The girls (more Leah than Sarah) helped me decorate the sugar cookies after school. It took about 2-1/2 hours as interest was really waning in the last hour. But we got it done, so that's another check mark on my To Do List of holiday baking. I also have to make some cookies for Leah's holiday party at school. That will be on Wednesday's to do list. Tomorrow will be a couple of things possibly. I had thought doing a little each day this week would be a good thing, now I find I'm dreading what each day's tasks are. (Hello?? Is that bi-polar depression knocking at my door? Every little incidence of unmotivation worries me these days.)

Snow is forecast all day tomorrow with some sleet thrown in for good measure. Gas is getting low in my car so I'll definitely need to go out tomorrow and fill up and get groceries. I should stockpile for the coming week. I've got my list of food to make for Christmas Day so I can pick up some of those things as well.

Patrick left for China this morning for 7 days. I wasn't very happy about him leaving this time of year. as he will miss Christmas at my mom's, but it was either that or miss his own birthday. I picked the former. Lord, knows I have enough to keep me busy with the baking, the party, and still a few presents to wrap; but I always miss him so much. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and I believe it!

I spent a good part of today working on my online gardening journal at Folia. I have 8 gardens left to enter old data going back to 2005 when we moved into this house. Once that monumental task is complete I will start entering all my 2008 gardening activities from my handwritten notes. After that huge task I still want to go through all of my 2008 pictures and add them to my web album and to the journal. And if I still have energy (and it's not Spring) by then, I need to enter all my purchases for 2009 I've made already.

Today I won 3 auctions for daylilies. I'm very excited about one of them....Femme de Joie. She's a really beauty. For now the amaryllis I have blooming are keeping my gardening appetite whetted. Here's a photo of 'Orange Sovereign' a huge, intense orange.

Definitely livin' in Oz

Today we had wind warnings all day long. It's no wonder they made Dorothy from Kansas in the Wizard of Oz. Check out my local weather station data on WeatherUnderground. Temps warmed up to a balmy 56°. Warm enough to have gotten the last of my tulips planted if it weren't for the wind from hell blowing out there. So I put ideas of gardening in December aside and set my sights on other more base pursuits. Food!

I started my holiday baking today, but first on the agenda was to get Matt's (my oldest) birthday cake baked for tomorrow's traditional family get-together. I made him the requested chocolate-peanut butter cake. It's a delectable recipe I found online. We'll see if it becomes a family favorite or a one-hit dud.

Next up was mixing up a batch of sugar cookie dough so Leah, my youngest, and I can do cutouts and decorate them up in our annual ritual. I also started making the white-chocolate covered pretzels and whipped up a quick batch of Puppy Chow.

I decided that since my sister, brother and I will not be exchanging gifts this year (at my brother's request) that I would prepare a little sweets package for them. They can't object to a homemade gift now could they? So I set aside some of the chocolate pretzels and Puppy Chow for their gift and saved the rest for us to nibble on over the next couple of weeks.

The pretzels are such a tedious concoction to make at home, that I wish I didn't love these little treats so much. I got one sheet pan made of them and split that for Shawn and Kate. I still have lots o' chocolate and lots o' pretzels to make more for us.

People Puppy Chow

1 (12 oz.) box Crispix cereal

1 stick butter

1 c. peanut butter

12 oz. pkg. chocolate chips

2 to 3 c. powdered sugar

Microwave on HIGH the butter, peanut butter and chocolate chips for 2 to 3 minutes. Pour the melted mixture over the cereal and stir until the cereal is thoroughly covered. Pour the coated cereal in a paper sack with the powdered sugar and shake until it is covered with the sugar. Pour this onto wax paper to cool and dry. Seal in plastic containers and may be stored in the refrigerator until time to serve.

Serves size: 1/2 cup.

Makes 16 cups

Domestic Goddess

So far this week I've baked a loaf of wheat bread (it was awful...like a brick), 2 batches of cookies, and some fried okra from farmer's market on Wednesday. Today I am spending the day doing laundry. I cleaned Leah's room up on Wed. and Sarah's today. So I am domestic goddess this week.

It's been raining since Tuesday night with flash flood warnings. We got 1/2" yesterday and 9/10" today for a 2-day total of 1.4". Luckily our drainage problem has remained at bay since each shower only lasts for 30 min or so and it's at least 2 hours between rain storms; giving time for the water to drain away.

Watched Blood Diamond with Leo DiCaprio today. Pretty good movie, but nothing to rave about. Interesting learning about the "conflict diamond" trade. Makes me wonder if my wedding ring is one of them. Most likely is given the timeframe in which it was purchased.

Still thinking of getting away with Patrick sometime in late July or early August before we go to Burning Man. Ideas range from Herman, MO to Chicago or New Orleans.

Above: Vatican City At right: At Sunset

Gorgeous day

Today is a beautiful day out following a night of rain. A tour of the gardens delighted me with several new daylilies in bloom. The rains were not kind to all of them and a few were rainsoaked and streaked. Found this beauty blooming.... Vatican City.

Ran several errands today including ortho for Sarah, hair appt for Sarah (found out it's tomorrow though! doh!), and Verizon store with Matt. Finally got home to start laundry and work on my photos.

Discovered the bluebirds on the deck laid 3 eggs in the birdhouse Pat & Leah built together. Guess they did a good job! The cowbird laid another egg in the now abandoned bluebird nest in the copper/tile birdhouse. Wonder what will become of those 2 eggs....the first is still inside the nest there.

New Blooms Today

Aphrodite double asiatic lily in bloom

I believe this is Tropical Dream, but no marker so not 100% sure.

Rain, rain... Go away....

Two inches of rain today led to another lake in the backyard. This time it was pretty bad in that the mulch washed out of the beds and onto the sidewalk, patio and eventually into the pool.

Mr. Bluebird on my shoulder....

Enjoying the bluebird couple that set up home in one of my decorative birdhouses. Spotted a cowbird intruder the other day and now there is 2 brown speckled eggs and only 1 blue egg. There had been 2 blue eggs and a speckled one. Is the cowbird destroying the bluebird's own eggs to make room for its eggs?