Oh oh

I am expecting a call from my friend Corry in Germany any minute (see previous blog). I better get going to fill you in what's happening here. The bottom line is that we are always busy, never bored, and have fun. And of course there are projects.

At then end of April I noticed that one of my square planters left and right of the stairs to the lawn had a rather large hole in it. Lawnmowing people? It took some searching locally and then online to find what we needed. Yes, we had to order online. It came in a few days but we had to put it together. Luckily the directions were not bad and all the parts were there. 

The weather was lovely and we enjoyed being in the garden. One rhododendron in full bloom and the other just starting to show some gorgenous. 

The last Richmond Forum event of the season on April 29. We decided to go the easy route and watch it live at home. It was very interesting to hear Dr. Cornel West and Thomas Chatterton Williams debating "The absolute condemnation of no one". We renewed our subscription for another year ... with the intent not to be too lazy and actually go to the Altria. 

The following week we criss-crossed the area in search of what we wanted to plant in our two new planters. After googling and "falling in love" with "Joseph's Coat" we decided to find it. It is a climbing rose and had raving reviews. We finally found it and then had to decide to buy 2 or have 2 different climbing roses. We decided on different and we are so very happy with our choice. Here is the first photo of "Joseph". 

And his companion "Fruity Petals" is equally gorgeous. We are so happy with our choices and sit often on the patio marveling about God's beautiful creations. 

Talking about sitting on the patio: our decisions of plurging and buying a new birdfeeder with its special food paid off so well. We never had these many different birds visiting. We could call this bluebird almost a "regular" now.

Saturday May 6 - the Coronation

Everybody asked us whether we watched. What a question? Of course we watched. We woke up as most times around 6 am and James turned on the TV. We have a subscription to Britbox which was perfect. One of us got a cup of tea (as every morning) and we enjoyed watching it. James was reminiscing: when he was about 10 his father took him and his 2 year older sister Jane to London to be there for the late Queen Elizabeth's coronation. 

This is the Mall and he has fond memories about being there about 71 years ago seeing the golden coach going by. 

When it was pretty much over and we could get up, have our showers and get dressed we had breakfast and went all out to even have soft-boiled eggs and toast with marmalade. Oh yeah!

Every day there seems so much happening. There is so much to do. So much to experience. 

Here is an example: 2023-05-08 Caleb's project

A third-grader sometimes needs a little help. He had a project to do and Mom Sarah had done some research she had done to sugest what he could do for this project in class time. She calls every day on her way to work and told me about it. I happened to go that day to a craft store for something I needed for a workshop I was given at Church and texted her whether Caleb needed this and that for his project and whether I should buy it since we were seeing them that night anyway. She told me yes and was very grateful saving her time. Well, I could not help myself and had to try out that project. This Omi (grandma) had a lot of time doing it.

And then there are things when we are tired of walking just in our community. We went to Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. Unfortunately we didn't get as many steps but it was so much fun. Yeah, yeah, I took a lot of photos but I only posted the butterflies this time. And one of the special exhibitions. 

Sitting on the patio, probably playing our one a day card game, I see ....

... this! A rabbit visited us. Every single leaf on this tiger lily is gone. And a lot of the buds too. Ugh. I am really disappointed. Oh well, he might be cute but could he not eat the weeds?

But I also saw this. Sorry the picture is crooked. The rhubarb, the clematis, the two large knock-out bushes and the new roses ... fun.

Oh, and this is something cute too. Saw it on one of our walks in our community. What is not to like.

This is it for now. Hope to catch up with the rest soon. It's the end of the month and of course I was working on our monthly church newsletter. Just mailed it out. Here is the link: The Cloak June 2023

More April

Yesterday my wonderful friend Corry in Germany called me "are you o.k.?". Oh yes, we are. She called because I had not written a blog in too long! My, my, that touched me. And here I am writing.

James and I are very busy ... in a good way. Some work, some play. Here just some highlights. 

Wednesday April 11 - At 11 am we just suddenly decided to not just walk in the neighborhood. Instead we drove to Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. After all, we are members. We should take more adventage of it. And it is not far either. It was very very nice. Most of the daffodils were done but the tulips were in their glory. 

And so was the Conservatory ... or what is taken care of in it. Here just a few photos. The first: not sure what plant this is but the flowers are stunning, about a foot long.

One wing in the conservatory is dedicated just to orchids and they were all in full bloom at this time. James decided that this one was looking at him. The tiny little face in the middle seems to be looking at us saying "why are you looking at me?"

The little fellow on this flower just didn’t know what to do so I helped him, let him crawl on a little stick and helped him outside. He shouldn't bother the orchids. 

We think we have to visit again in a few weeks. The peony bushes had big buds on them. This one was in a very sheltered place so it was already in full bloom. Each flower was the size of a saucer. So gorgeous. We have some peonies in our garden too. But nothing like this though. And not blooming yet.

A couple of days later we decided on a different place for our daily walk again. This time we went to Meadow Farm / Crump Park. There are several different parking places and we parked where we went straight into the forest. There is such a criss cross of unmarked trails. It was a bit of guess work but we thoroughly enjoyed it. At one point I needed to stop and just look up. The trees were so tall and it was so peaceful. 

Sometimes we drive "over the river". That's what we say when we see the kids (for schoolbus duty or watching games of theirs). Saturday April 15 Caleb was playing soccer. He did really well and it was fun. 

 

His brothers were playing somewhere else baseball. Luckily not too far. But the parents had to split up. Colin and Owen were done earlier and Wade could see the last part of Caleb's game. Where Colin and Owen were watching Caleb after climbing into the tree at the edge of the soccer field? 

Not everything common in England or Germany is readily available in the USA. Sometimes it is difficult to get what we like to have in our house to enjoy and also offer our guests. Ah, did you ever have Stone's Ginger Wine? It's a bit like a sherry but sweeter and just right at certain occasions. We were totally out and the place were we used to be able to buy it doesn't carry it any longer. Ah, what a pity. I surprised my husband with the knowledge that we could order it for pick-up in a few days at a certain store. It just took a few telephone calls. He was delighted and told me to go for it. And of course a dozen is cheaper, ha-ha. 

We had to celebrate with a taste after we were able to pick it up. Thank you, Wegmans.

At the end of April the weather was so nice. So much was already blooming. I forgot to take a photo when the right azalia was blooming just like the left one. 

We had our lunches on the back porch under the awning. The rhubarb looked better then ever and I could harvest twice. The first time for 4 portions (dessert for us twice) and the second time for dessert once.

I tried a new recipe: Dutch baby or German pancake - baked in the oven.

With rhubarb on top quite nice.

Thursday April 20 - we had a surprise. Our community has a FaceBook place only for residents. One day I saw early in the morning that somebody had posted that they had 2 tickets for the musical Hamilton in town (for the next day) which they could not use. I not often look at FaceBook but when I inquired they were still available and I managed to buy those tickets. We had seen it before but it is not that easy to understand so were happy to go again. It was a matinee. Perfect. Parking can be tricky downtown so we went early, parked, and walked to a restaurant for lunch. I had researched the area at home and the Nisa Thai Restaurant sounded perfect. We walked there and it was delightful. 

After lunch we walked back to the Altria Theater through the park in front of it and even got a coffee at a stand there, sitting on a wall and injoying it.

We understood the show better the second time. The songs in this musical are so fast. And the story of course is important history. For those who don't know US history: (Bad uncle) Aaron Burr (third Vice President of the United States) and Alexander Hamilton (one of the Founding Fathers) were first friends and then enemies were having a duel in 1804. Duels were illegal by then and Hamilton died.

We very much enjoyed it. Also, I do like matinees very much too. You drive home when it is still light and also have a lot of time to digest the experience and talk about it.

On the way home we encountered some traffic problems and went a different way. James took a short-cut saying that it is better except if there is a train coming and the barriers are down. But that does not happen often. This day, as soon as he had said it, we came to it and heard the train. There was also a school bus in front of us and we both laughed about James' short-cut. I know it is silly but that's what we like ... we enjoy the silly things, the small things. We are thankful for lots of things.

And things are blooming around the house.

I had to send William this photo in his letter: our "sweet william" plant, actually one of several.

At the last third of every month I am very busy working on our church's newsletter. This time it had 23 pages, the most ever. It is very important for me to get it out on time (before the next month starts) and here is the link: The Cloak May 2023

Yes, Corry, not that much to report. But a lot to enjoy. That's all.