Sowing and Reaping

Yesterday afternoon, Deke and I took strawberries and shortcake to Mom and the residents in assisted living. We all sat down and enjoyed a great bowl of the sweet stuff. Afterward, I took Mom to her room to wash her hair as I had been unable to take her for her regular appointment the day before (funeral)and it had been a little over a week since her perm. She really came out curly but on her it's cute. When all that was done, we went into the courtyard where the janitors had made planter boxes for the residents to plant some annuals. I brought along some geraniums for Mom to plant then we sat outside enjoying the gorgeous weather.

Enjoying the strawberry shortcake



Planting the geraniums (notice the planter boxes in the background)



Cute gardener watering the plants



Mama Jo

Bountiful Harvest

It must be all of the rain we have had this spring. Everything is super-sized and healthy-reminds me of Washington state with all the greens and gorgeous blossoms. Enjoy!

2nd full harvest




Clematis gone wild with tons of blossoms yet to bloom




Perfect peonies




The beginnings of a great potato harvest

Summertime on the Homestead

First real pick of the season

Illinois Visit

We left Friday after work and traveled to Mark and Lori's for a short visit. We wanted to pick up Deke's military Mess Dress (to be worn for our vow renewal ceremony) that he purchased and had altered at Scott AFB . In addition we had some unfinished projects to do. Most of the time I forget to chronicle the events with pictures so you'll just have to envision the rototilled garden, fabric boards over Mark and Lori's headboard and the homemade "gate" so the almost toddler won't toddle down the basement stairs. We had a great time and of course loved being with little C-Bear.

Doing some landscaping near the garage









"Yes, I can crawl now!"





"No fair, Grandpa!"

Mother's Day

Marian, Ken, Gr Mary, Max (Dianne was with her mother), Mama Jo, Cindy, Deke

Gr Mary cum chapeau

Mama Jo

Changed into jammies and ready for bed

On the Thursday night before Mother's Day, Deke received a phone call asking him to perform a wedding on Saturday. The pastor had been diagnosed with throat cancer and, because of radiation burning, had been unable to speak. So Friday we traveled to Wabash for the rehearsal but had to drive home that night because I was in charge of a women's Half Day of Prayer at our church the next morning. I had 8 pages of memorized text to perform. When the retreat ended, we drove home to change our clothes then headed back to Wabash for the wedding. We got home in time to cover the strawberries before the frost hit in the middle of the night.

Mother's Day started with early church then a breakfast for the mothers served by the men of the church. After 2nd service, we beat it to Rossville to pick up Mom and squeaked in 2-3 minutes before the first guest arrived for our Mother's Day luncheon. We had a great lunch of grilled meat, oriental salad and right-out-of-the-garden asparagus. All of us old folks sat around in lawn chairs and one even managed to catch a nap. Deke and I took the moms home then crawled to the bedroom for a much-needed night of sleep.

A Time to Remember

After I dropped Mom off for her hair appointment this past Friday, I went to the cemetery to put some flowers on Dave's grave. I was a bit late this year as I usually get there by the end of April. While there I decided to take a pic or two of the two graves as most of the family can't make the trek very often. Hope it helps some.

60- The new 30 Something

L-R Linda , Jennifer , Me, Ann

Every three months, a few of my old high school friends and I get together for lunch. We have experimented with various restaurants but all agree that O'Charley's is our dive of choice. We sit around and catch up on all of our news, commiserate one another on our children and grandchildren woes, and just love being together in general. After lunch we usually go shopping at the nearby mall where we hang out in the children's dept of Macy's for hours and occasionally buy something for ourselves. WE HAVE FUN! So yesterday was our day.

We don't feel 60 + and we certainly didn't act it in the Macy's lingerie department, but you're just as old as you feel and all we feel is a great and abiding love for one another. Did I say WE HAD FUN!