Oh, and something else. This blog https://christa-feelingblessed.blogspot.com/2026/04/trip-belgium-and-holland-in-springtime_11.html talks about the awesome painting "Mystic Lamb" in the cathedral in Ghent. It was one of the paintings almost perished in WWII. As soon as we could we watched the movie "The Monument Men". Seeing it and having seen the painting made a huge difference, in many ways. Highly recommend it!
When we came back from Nashville I almost did not believe my eyes. Every year this lily came up, had lots of buds and looked so promising. Before it could show its beauty something/somebody (most likely a rabbit) came along and ate it all the way down til only a bit of the trunk was left. A great disappointment every year. Nothing bad happened to it this year. Most likely the hawk got the rabbit!
We don't make the boys sport games very often. Caleb's soccer games had been quite some distance away or at very inconvenient times. Same with Colin and Owen's baseball games. Saturday May 30 we made it to Rockwood Park and had fun watching. It was very hot though and we tried to find shade. I finally understand the game better and totally forgot to take photos, just these two to remember that we did it.
Next day we could finally get together with our friends Martha and Jerry. We had bought a "Tres Leches" Cake for Jerry's birthday on May 5th but had to put it into the freezer because we could not "sync our calendars". Finally we could say "happy birthday".
Every time this indoor plant gets neglected (has dried out) and I remember to water it again, it rewards me soon with a flower. This wax plant or porcelain plant or hoya carnosa is very easy.
Saturday June 6 our church wine club had an outing to the Jolene Family Winery in Quinton. After our "meeting" and before we left, Martha, Jerry, James and I walked a little around on the property because it was so pretty.
Our local grandsons are now having their summer break too. The twins are gone this week to an overnight camp but Caleb staid and in the mornings attends this week a goalie camp. James and I were asked to pick him up from there on Tuesday at 11:30am. Sarah told us that nothing else was on their calendar for that day and we could do something else with him afterwards. We really enjoyed that!
When we had him in the car and asked him what he would like to do he answered with "lunch". He was very hungry but he didn't want Asian food. He told us that it is not lunch but should be dinner. So, pho was out. When I asked what else he would like and may be something like Olive Garden, he immidiately reacted that that would be great. It was only 1.4 miles away.
He also told us immidiately that next door is a bakery were they just a few days had bought a birthday cake for an Aunt and it was sooooo good. Needless to say, that was the plan for after the lunch.
When I asked what else he wanted to do in the afternoon .... one of the museums? Or ....? He right away answered that he wanted to play the five crowns card game with us.
So we bought the "nothing bundt cakes" (one of course for his mother) and drove to our house.
Happy boy!
And, even though it didn't look so good in the beginning for him, he ended up being the winner. Omi lost mightily.
Of course I had to try making another flower arrangement. The blue hydrangeas are there best right now. Unfortunately they are on very short stems coming off main stems were others are coming off too. Difficult to cut. When I looked around what else I could pair them with I saw the rose of sharon bush which never looks like much but when I cut a few stems I was excited how nice they are in a vase. I also wanted to find out how they are as cut-flowers. The result: great!
This is the bush which keeps giving right now for our enjoyment.
And this is the pink hydrangea bush. It might have been wrongly pruned by the community garden company. The internet says "the golden rule of pruning huydrangeas is knowing whether they bloom on old wood (growth from last year) or new wood (growth from this spring/summer).
(In front of it are daisies which will show their beauty soon.)
I did see this lonely flower on it though.
And then there are all those ordinary household chores. Outdoor plants should be watered in the morning. James has sometimes PT appointments. We managed to buy a suitcase for our next trip since one of ours suffered a wheel casualty on the last trip. Ha-ha, that seemed to have been a more difficult decision than deciding on which trip to go. And don't forget our daily card game. We still have lots of fun with that.
Oh yes, and yesterday we got our two silk rugs back. They needed cleaning and also repair. The fringes on both were almost gone and looked terrible. What to do? I had heard that somebody could put a binding on. I had received that info from carpet people who have sometimes edged remnants after a floor to floor installation. When I called I was told it would be best if the carpets are cleaned. That, of course, we had done before by a specialty company who takes care of oriental rugs.
Here we got the information that they too do repairs but not by machine. Everything is handmade and with silk thread on silk rugs. That sounded so much better ... and of course also much more expensive.
The smaller beige/brown rug also had a special border on the fringe side I had actually forgotten about. We were told that we would loose that border if the rug would get the binding. If we would opt for a new handmade fringe the border could be preserved.
Oh, decision, decision.
Being a lacemaker and quilter I know how long handmade things take. So we decided that we wanted to enjoy the rugs for as long as we can and paid for them being made lovely again. Too bad I don't have a before-photo of the fringe. You would understand.
It is very hot here right now. Virginia summer with humidity. We try to walk either as early we can in the morning or late in the evening. Evenings are not so easy though because of course that is when our ages show, ha-ha. Of course I can not complain in summer because I am complaining about cold in winter. You can only complain once.
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