who is THAT taking a late night swing from my lime tree???

Latest yard project...

....extending the "flagstone" (a.k.a. concrete) path across the yard.

Man has no nobler function than to defend the truth.

-- Ruth McKenney

 

Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having FUN!

--Mary Lou Cook

Resolve to be Tender with the young,
Compassionate with the sick and the aged, Sympathetic of the poor,
Tolerant of the weak and the wrong.
At sometime in your life you
will have been all of these things.

More of the Heavenly Hydrangea....

 

Strawberry Fields....(yes, Forever!)

Amethyst Garden

Here's another little mystery.....

.....how the 105 degree temp can make magic like this happen....

How can anything so delicate-looking withstand this heat??

I received this hydrangea from a friend when i gave birth to Sean 6 years ago...and it was the most splendid shade of blue. Since then it has been producing pink flowers until this year...Royce put some rusty nails in the dirt and it's reverting back to blue! So amazing. It just needed some rust to become what it was meant to be....there's a lesson in there somewhere....

Those who, relying upon themselves only, not looking for assistance to anyone besides themselves, it is they who will reach the top-most height.

--Buddha

My Good Luck Charm...

Auntie Leslie got new glasses yesterday!

 

I hear that if you see a red dragonfly it's a sign of good luck to come...

I will let you know.

I love dragonflies for some reason...I remember being afraid of them as a kid, and I most certainly do not have a fondness for any other insects (except ladybugs and butterflies)...I just love dragonflies. Maybe the "good luck" was just the fact that I got a picture of this little guy before he took off. I'll hold out that financial gain will come flying into my life next..... 

My Grandma's Violets...

I had an odd day today in that I tried to remove all my music and photos from my hard drive and transfer it all to the new External Hard Drive that I just purchased. What a fiasco. I am not mentally equipped for such "simple" computer tasks. Now nothing works and I'm ready to pop a Valium. My family probably wishes that i would since they have to listen to me whine and worry and watch me pace the floor nervously. I knew I needed to think calm and relaxing thoughts...hence the photo of my Grandma's violets. I dug a couple of violet plants up from her yard when we sold her house after my grandparents passed away. I planted them in my yard and they grow wildly like groundcover which most people would find bothersome, but I find extremely comforting and desirable. Seeing them daily makes me feel like a kid again....now I can go back in time to a simpler day....one which didn't include External HardDrives and MP3 files. Help! 

I will make love my greatest weapon and none on who I call can defend
against its force....My love will melt all hearts liken to the sun
whose rays soften the coldest day.
-- Og Mandino

"Kites rise highest against
the wind -- not with it."

Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
British prime minister during WWII

He's six years old now and totally ready to fight crime...

My Little Kids...all growing up....Sean is 6 years old tomorrow!

Yay Leslie!!!

Baby Grant had fun at Aunt Leslie's Graduation!!!

Christi, Leslie, Ryan and Grant

Me and My Girls....

Our Little Graduate!

Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you will help them become what they are capable of becoming.

-- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Normally I don't like what I see lying on my kitchen floor...

But tonight, this brightened my spirits...an unexpected surprise...a little rose petal that had fallen off one of the roses I brought in from the yard....shaped like a little heart. So sweet. A Tender Mercy....and it made me smile.

Beauty, truth, friendship, love, creation – these are the great
values of life. We can’t prove them, or explain them, yet they are
the most stable things in our lives.

-- Jesse Herman Holmes