Flower Power

Yesterday the weather was so lovely that we just HAD TO visit our Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. It's a 12 minute drive from us. You have to get tickets online so they can control the number of people in it, but that is no problem of course. We are members so its free for us. We like memberships because you don't feel like we have to spend all day to "get our money's worth". And we like to go at the spur of the moment for just a little bit.

Yes, and even outdoors masks are required. Ha-ha, during this pollen-time not a bad thing anyway.

I have never been good at taking selfies. My arms seem to be too short and I forget to take the stick (a gift from Sarah) with me. So I had to take another photo so that more of the background can be seen.

Isn't this just lovely?

Instead of taking a paper map I just took a photo of it. Have to be mindful that not too many trees have to be cut down.

First of course we have to go to the big greenhouse to see the orchids. Oh my, I can't believe I took only one photo? So much gorgeousness. 

These vines are lovely too.

Most of the daffodils are gone but there were still plenty of cute pansies.

There were also plenty of bluebells everywhere where there was shade. Just loved them. But ... they only bloom for about 2 weeks and they are poisonous to dogs. We have grand-dogs!

And we do enjoy our own garden. Every day I "make the round" a couple of times. This must be one of the very last camellias for this season. The little new ones which we planted last fall have done very well. They are late winter / early spring bloomers. Surely I have shared photos of our late fall / early winter blooming pink one. Last fall we also ordered the same kind for a different spot in our garden. It was mail-order and very small. No blooms yet but it seems to be doing well and we can looking forward to fall. 

No more space. Our camellias are complete!

And there is still the story about our rhubarb. I was so worried that I had wrecked my chances to have a little harvest this year by cutting the flower down. 

But ... hurray ... there seems to be something happening!

For retired people somehow we seem to be very busy. Trying to keep up with this blog and the quilt one too (see tab on top). I didn't even sew much this past year. There are still several Chrismon possibilities in my head. But quilting and lacemaking is pulling me. Here is a project in the making for a while which seems to get attention again. The pattern is called "Lone Star". The big one is a 34" square and the small one about 9".

And now I better get back on working on next month's newsletter for our church. 

Itchy eyes ...

... and scratchy throat. And this is the culprit. 

Plenty of pine trees in the back of our house. Everything seems yellow. For about two weeks we do not venture to sit on our back patio.

Our local weatherman had good info for me on FaceBook:

On a happier note ... I hung this hummingbird feeder up just two days ago and today I saw the first hummingbird take advantage of it. I thought that was exciting!

Well, well, well, our first grandson LOVES mangoes and especially mango cream. He can come. Omi put plenty into the freezer.

Yesterday of course we had to watch TV in the morning. The evening before James had shown me what he had seen reading the (electronic) newspaper. This photo made me think of so many things. All those visits to James' hometown. I love Windsor. It is a charming town. Lovely walking along the Thames. Or doing the walk from the Castle to the Copper Horse. On this map I could show you my favorite pub. Ah, lovely pub food. We miss our families in Europe. 

The big question: when might we be able to travel again? 

In the evening more electronic time. The last Richmond Forum event of the season. Vijay Gupta is an accomplished violinist and advocate for social justice. Only born in 1987 he already had a quite interesting life. He started college at the age of 13, finishing with a pre-med bachelor's; and by 19 he was hired by the Los Angeles Philharmonic as the youngest member ever. But he wanted his art to be of service to the community around him. He founded the "Street Symphony", musicians giving free concert to homeless and incarcerated. The Forum event was called "The Healing Power of Music".

One of William's classes right now is music. Helen had just told me about a report he just had to write.  In my weekly letter to him I wrote this today because he might find it interesting:

He is playing with a violin which is loaned to him by a museum. It was made in the 1700s and very valuable. He told us that there are violinists who volunteer to go to museums daily to play old instruments because they need to be played or they disintegrate (which the dictionary says means: break up into small parts or decay). I didn’t know that. 

_ _ _

Wow, lots of subjects today. But it is time to shut the computer. Wishing you all a great week!

This and That

So much going on. I don't understand people who complain about being bored. I consider saying that is a sin.

Of course before Easter a lot was going on anyway. Sarah unfortunately had nanny issues and we were needed (yeah!). The twins don't have school on Fridays so we had them for the day. We took them to Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden which was fun. 

In the big greenhouse the orchids were in full bloom. Oh, how I got homesick for Singapore. Wonderful memories.

Uh uh, places like this are so tempting for our little adventurers but they also mind very well.

This was interesting. I thought rock cairns were only an artistic fun thing. But there is more to it.

James actually found this sign. The fern had not started growing yet. Of course tatting is one of the things I do too so I looked it up on the computer. The tatting fern's fronds really do look like something tatted. Might be nice to have one in our garden but none are available to buy in our area.

Have to brag about our William. He tested on March 26 and now has a red belt in Taekwondo. So proud of him.

Good Friday all three (from "over the river") were out of school and Sarah thought it might be better if we had one of them. Caleb spent the night from Thursday to Friday. He is such a busy boy. He wants to help. Cutting the dead daffodil heads off seem to be a treat. Then he insisted on pulling some weeds.

He also came with the wish to sew a pillow for Tuffy. He reminded me that he had sewed a blanket for Tuffy several months ago. He really did do all the sewing on my good Bernina (were I can slow the speed down). He did a super job. Picked out the fabric himself.

After Easter was spring break for the boys. Sarah was off work on Monday and Tuesday. For Tuesday she had planned to take the boys to a pottery place for each to paint a project. Of course she liked for a second adult to come along. No problem.

Things going on in our the garden too. Years ago I had planted a rhubarb which never did well where it was. When we were preparing for our patio/walkway project that flower bed had to go. I could not part with the rhubarb and relocated it. I could see right away and for the rest of the year that it liked the new place. And this spring it is coming up strongly. 

Unfortunately suddenly I saw something strange developing. I took a photo and sent it to my sister Ute in Germany which has rhubarb galore in her garden. She called to tell me it was making a flower. What? I want to harvest this year!

After much searching on the internet (Ute called it "Dr Google") I decided to fertilize the plant and cut the flower off. Please, keep your fingers crossed. I really hoped that at least one Rhubarb Crumble was in our not too distant future. 

For a short time each spring the creeping phlox makes a red carpet and looks gorgeous. But ... most likely it has to come out ... for the sake of the rest of the year.

Last Saturday we ventured to the South of the James Farmers Market which had been relocated to the Bryan Park close to us for now because of the pandemic. We had never been but I really like this new place. Of course right now there are not that many veggies to buy but all sorts of other things. 

On the way back to the car I said to James that I regretted not having bought something I had seen. Dear James volunteered right away to get it. I continued to the car because the very slow walk had started to hurt my back. Had forgotten to take pictures. This shows the nice park but not the booths much.

Gosh, how I love him.

And this is it. I had never had Elderberry Syrup. "Holunder" in Germany. My sister makes syrup from the flowers every year. Got to try it!

And this is today's effort ... just because. Got an email from a lace friend, looked at the link and had to try it. An origami heart. 

Seen on Facebook :

I think though that our age definitely has its perks too. Yeah, I am happy.

Happy Easter

Oh, a glorious Easter it was. Holy Week had not quite gone as James and I had wanted but health issues come with getting older. 

Sarah had highly praised and shared on FaceBook how much fun the children had with their new gadget for coloring the Easter eggs. They were done with it this year so I borrowed it to do mine. 

I asked our friend Julie whether she would like to color some on Saturday with me. I knew she was going to her sister on Sunday and was sure she would like to take some. I told her that I would just make my maximum number of hardboiled eggs. Routine anyway.

We had a lovely time. Julie was so impressed with this. She loves painting on t-shirts, canvas bags, even glasses in her own style. Of course she puts her own style on the Easter eggs too. Yes, fun. Some are collaborate efforts. 

I encouraged her to take some to mutual friends next door to her too and that was fun too. 

Here is "my loot".

Julie and I noticed early on that the eggs were wobbling on it and found that one of the rubber rings had come off. We tried and James looked too but were not successful. 

Easter Sunday morning we met with Sarah and her family at our church. The church had rented a tent and all who wanted to come had registered. Chairs had been set up to give enough space between the different families. Of course we all wore masks. The altar area was beautifully decorated and it was an uplifting service. 

Afterwards there were egg hunts for the children and the memorial garden gave a nice back drop for a family photo.

We then went to our house. The boys had received a Lego kit each and that was the first thing they wanted to do. It was very nice out on the back patio. 

At 1 o'clock lunch was ready but we decided to have it inside. The table is larger and closer to the kitchen. 

We took our time and we even had dessert which was Grandma Burr's orange fluff. Years ago when our children were little James told us that his mother used to make it and it was called orange mold. We decided to re-name it since in the US mold doesn't sound very appetizing. 

Caleb had overheard that there might be a egg hunt here too so I had bought color chalk for them to decorate our driveway in the front. I had quickly put the leftover food into the fridge and could not believe what I saw when I too went outside. They drew silhouettes.

While that was going on in the front James and I hid the eggs in the back yard and the things for the clues.

I had all prepared. I had bought extra large plastic eggs and sorted them by colors making three lots.

I tried very hard to find things staying away from sweets. (I know Halloween, Christmas and Easter are a bit of a nightmare for parents)

I printed the photos out on paper and each child was told only collect "their" colors. It worked beautifully. Nobody got more than the other. Everything was equal. I was too busy to take many photos but Sarah shared. 

One egg for each had a clue of a hiding place of something too big to put into the eggs. Actually it was a (still as little as possible) chocolate bunny and a yoyo. The yoyo was a success too. They all tried hard. Wade demonstrated very impressive.

I had told Sarah that the egg coloring gadget had arrived wobbling and I had written to the company. 

Wow, I got a response this morning. 

The screwdriver was a clue. James found one which fitted and Sarah did it. All mended. Yeah!

Everybody was pretty tired and the young family packed up. We had had a great time.