End of April?

Oh my goodness.  Where has this month gone?  Seems just yesterday we were celebrating Easter.  Now here it is the last day of April.  

I've worked some in the yard.  Haven't planted any flowers, but cleaned out the flower beds and piddled around.  I'm still trying to decide what I want to add this year.  One thing that needs to be added is more pea gravel unless Hubby rewires our outside lights.  I don't like seeing the wires...The pea gravel has settled which caused the wires to be exposed.

My roses at the front porch are blooming.  There's an "old-fashioned" Lincoln rose which is the taller one.  The ones to the right are Knock Out roses.  I shouldn't have planted both here, but it's too late now.  I'm afraid moving either of them would do damage.

My peonies - not a good photo, but they smell so good.

This clemitis (sp) is one of my favorite colors.

A close-up of a rose - I just had to include it here.  It was taken with my cell phone camera.

More knockout roses.  These are in the back yard in the pea graveled area.  The recent cool weather stunted my grass.  Is stunted a Southern word?

These are just some of the blooms I've enjoyed so far.  There are others, but I will share them later.  I thinks this is enough for one post.

Here's hoping May will bring more blooms, rain when needed and sunshine! 

Ramble Time

Since it's too cold to plant a garden or work outside, I'm wishing I could take a road trip.  I'd like to drive 100 miles in one direction and stop at the little antique shops along the way, then drive 100 miles in another direction and do the same thing.  I think I would enjoy doing that for about a week.  Maybe along the way I'd take pictures of country churches and barns.  Guess I'm just needing a little time doing I enjoy.  

I've purchased most of the seeds for our garden.  We'll have corn, okra, watermelons, cantaloupe, onions, peas, cabbage, green beans, butter beans, cucumbers, strawberries and tomatoes.  I'm looking forward to having a full freezer of home-grown veggies.  We'll be planting on my brother-in-law's land this year.  It's about 20 minutes from home.   It's WORK, but well worth it.  If the weather will cooperate I'll be planting by the end of the week.  I'm sure Andrew will "help" me!

Happy Monday.

Happy Birthday, Johnny

Today is my older brother's birthday.  Johnny is a special guy, always has been.  Growing up together, he was the person I went to when I needed to vent.  I was the one he talked to when he needed to discuss girlfriends among other things. 

This photo was taken Christmas 2011.  It's not a good quality one, but I liked it because he didn't know it was being taken and you can clearly see he's smiling as he looks at his first and only grandson. 

Miles separate us now, but we do talk on the phone at various times.  He retired from the US Postal Service, but cannot stop working on something.  He definitely isn't lazy.  He will find something to do no matter what and if he's not physically doing something, he's thinking about something he can or wants to do.  He's currently building a house close to the parents. 

I admire Johnny so much.  I know if I needed him, he'd be here as soon as he could.  If I needed to just talk, he wouldn't care if I called him any hour of the day.  He knows I feel the same.  We share a bond and understand each other (most of the time ha ha).

Happy Birthday, Johnny.  I won't joke with you here about being older than me.  I'll save that for the phone call!  I love you dearly.

Easter 2012

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter.  Our grandson was here Sunday afternoon so we had an egg hunt and Easter dinner.   We're still enjoying the leftovers and I'm loving not having to cook for a day or two.

Andrew found an egg and looks like he's deep in thought about what may be inside.

Pa and Andrew are playing with a toy left by the Easter Bunny.

Another photo of Pa and Andrew...

Nana had to help open the Easter Basket which was taped beyond necessary.  Andrew and his Dad supervise.

 Something was funny.  I love it when Andrew laughs.   It makes me happy.

 Andrew and his dad, Greg.  They had fun finding eggs and spending time together.



After the egg hunt, I cooked dinner.  We had ham, chicken 'n dressing, potatoes, pineapple casserole, mac 'n cheese and rolls. Oh, we also had deviled eggs.   By the time I cleaned up the kitchen I was exhausted and went to bed for some much needed rest. 

Hubby and I missed having Jon and his wife with us for Easter.  Hopefully they'll make it next year. 

Happy Easter

When I was a child I'm sure my first thoughts of Easter were egg hunts.  Oh how much fun we had hunting those eggs.   There were new Easter dresses, shoes and sometimes hats and little white gloves.  Mother always cooked a special meal for Easter Sunday and it always included ham along with chicken and dressing.  We always went to church anyway, so going on Easter Sunday was nothing new, but it was an extra special day.  I learned the true meaning of Easter early in life but didn't fully understand until I was older.  

Dottie Rambo penned it perfectly when she wrote the lyrics to If That Isn't Love.  If you're not familiar with the song, you should take a minute and find it online.  I love that song and I am so happy and thankful  that He loved little ole me enough to die so I could live with him eternally.   His sacrifice for us was so much more than what he asks in return.  I fail miserably when it comes to doing all He asked.  Today, especially, I'm reminded of that.  Easter is certainly a day that brings my sins to the forefront of my mind and they hang over my head and I feel ashamed.  Once again, I must ask God to forgive me.  

Andrew will be coming over later today.  I'll be cooking our Easter dinner and we'll have an egg hunt!  I can only imagine how much fun he'll have looking for those eggs.  I have a feeling I'll have just as much fun watching!   I remember well how much fun my boys had when we'd gather at my parents' house for Easter.  All the grands had a hard time waiting for Easter lunch to be finished so they could go find eggs.  I miss those days.  I hope they never forget them.  I know I won't.  Most important, though, I hope they never forget the real meaning of Easter.

Happy Easter. 

Blahs

I'm sitting in bed with the laptop listening to rumbles of thunder.  I'm hoping we don't have any bad weather.  My prayers are with those in the Dallas area who were affected by the tornadoes.  Thankfully no lives were lost.

Sometimes it feels as though there are tornadoes ripping through my life.  My thoughts are going in every direction, crashing into each other and I can't seem to stop them.  Why is that?  Maybe it's because I've spent most of the week in bed not feeling well and have too much time to think.  Should I do this, or that, or the other?  What if, well maybe, no, yes, oh just forget it.  I don't like feeling like this.  I can't seem to focus on any ONE thing.  I feel restless.  Maybe that's because I'm wanting to go visit my parents and can't right now.  It's hard not to be able to do what I want when I want to.  Most of the time I handle it well, but not this time.

I want to see my brothers and sister and spend some time with them - longer than just a couple of hours.  Time flies by so quickly.  It's been almost four months since I've seen them and that's just too long.  It's hard being so far away.  Guess I'm just homesick!  Below is a picture of my sweet parents with their children and their spouses.  The first couple standing is my brother Johnny and his wife, Teresa.  Next is Leslie, wife of my brother, David, then my sister Ruth and her husband, Rickey, then there's me in the green shirt and my husband, Dale.

I'm hoping I can go visit them soon. 

Promises

Every time I see a rainbow in the sky I am reminded of God's promise to Noah many many years ago.  There have been floods since then, but the entire earth has never been destroyed by floods since His promise long ago and it never will.  

We've all heard the old saying "the only things certain in life are death and taxes".  That's not true. While those are certainly two things we can be sure of,  they  most definitely are not the only two nor are they the most important.  We  have God's promises and there are  many of them.  

He has and will always fulfill His promises.  We choose where to receive the most important promise of all.  My choice will always be Heaven. 

The Weekend

Weekends are spent with my grandson, Andrew.  Here he is back behind the barn riding the 4-wheeler over rocky terrain.  It didn't take much of that to drain the battery. 

I don't have a battery, but I'm drained and need to recharge so this is a very short post.

Happy April 1st.  Have a great week.