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