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.