Happy Mail

Always a delight to receive happy mail from Nan. She sent  a beautifully flourished and painted postcard

She said she's been practicing with the wedge brush, but I think she's mastered the technique. Thanks, Nan, for brightening my day and the contents of the mailbox.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

 Another back to front story.

After trying all week, I finally got a picture of Candy, the itty bitty, bunny. Too bad the photo had to be taken through the screen.

After some storms, a gorgeous sunset

A dragonfly came in for a landing.

Giant milkweed plants looking like something out of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea or Lost in Space

The only birds I've seen in the yard since the bird feeders were taken down.

A weed in the flower box

Dedo keeping cool

Sgraggly looking petunias

Morning glories starting to bloom out front

Lettuce

A cucumber deciding to climb on its neighbor's pole

Cucumbers reaching for the sky

The tomato is starting to turn red.

Sad view without the bird feeder and birds

Something got at the petunias. Maybe slugs as it's been so wet and humid

A dusting of food grade diatomaceous earth to keep the bugs and slugs away from the plants. The food grade DE is safe for humans and pets.

A light breeze and the sound of the new wind chimes and traffic

How does your garden grow?

Saturday Morning at the Library

Heidi

Johanna Spyri

When I was 5 years old, I was forced to take dancing lessons while the Brother was forced to take accordion lessons. I hated dancing class. The Knights of Columbus Hall where the classes were given had no heat or it wasn't turned on. I hated wearing the pink beginner tights. I liked clacking around in the tap shoes, but Ma wouldn't let me practice inside the house on the wood floors. I spent most of my time in class being miserable and crying. Eventually, I was taken out of class.

While the Brother still had to endure accordion lessons, Dad took me to the library. He would leave me upstairs in the children's library where I could look at the books and choose to take some books home with my own library card. As I got older, I would go downstairs to the adult library and wander among the stacks enjoying the scent of the books before going to find Dad in the reference area consulting the law books and catching up on his work.

So for the next several weeks, a list of my favorite books, some I have read as a child, others as an adult and some  I have read more than once.

This week, Heidi by Johanna Spyri

If you haven't read this book, you can download it for free at Project Gutenberg. You can also find it in the children's section of your public library or favorite bookstore.

The Friday Five Good Things

 Five good things that happened this week.

1. Had a good time at the family Gathering. The skies grew ominous and we left arriving home before wild thunderstorms

2. Had a nice time at the Great-Nephew's Christening. The decorations on the cupcakes were hysterical. A headshot of the Baby Boy with a Bishop's Miter. 

3. Saw a new itty-bitty, baby bunny in the yard.  It sat up just like a chocolate bunny so I named it Candy. Just as I was to take a picture it ran away

4. A trip to the post office and I  had a nice chat with S. Every time I’ve been there, I missed her shift. Fun to be a townie

5. Opened the garage door for the Culligan Man’s salt delivery to find he was backing the truck into the driveway. He kindly brought the salt bags into the utility room and filled the salt tank for the water softener.

How was your week?

For The Hitchhikers

 

Whatcha Doin?

 

Today is the Young One's birthday so I'm planning. I had asked her if there were any special foods or treats she would like for her celebration. She thought she would like a Key Lime Pie, some chocolate dipped pineapple, to go out for a lobster roll, and some bubble tea from Kung Fu tea. 

I'm a planner so there's always a plan B. I picked up some pineapple chunks, but couldn't find the chocolate to dip fruit in. So I grabbed a jar of Nutella. Everybody and his brother must have bought all the Key Lime pies so I picked up a Lemon Meringue instead. Just in case I can't find a Key Lime pie at another store.

Another part of plan B is the Young One is plagued with stomach issues. Some days she can eat food and enjoy it and other days her stomach is in knots. Just in case she doesn't feel like eating or drinking anything, Luigi's Italian Ice fits the bill. Especially when the weather is hot and humid.

So we may not be going out for lobster roll or bubble tea, but the beauty of plan B is being able to roll with the punches. As Scarlett O'Hara said:

Whatcha doin?

T Stands for Visit to the Cemetery and Breakfast at the Cracker Barrel

 Another back to front story

A big breakfast. I think this was called the Sunrise Sampler. I forget. What I really wanted was in bowl in the lower left corner. Grits. I love grits. There was also biscuits and gravy, 2 scrambled eggs, plain hash brown potatoes (no yucky cheese added to them), fried apples, and bacon, ham, and sausage. I ate the grits, the apples, and the biscuits and gravy and took the rest home for dinner. 

This week I remembered to take a picture of my tea. Himself had a Coke.

Browsing in the gift shop while waiting for our table. I was tempted to buy the cardinal mug.

Cracker Barrel, our usual destination after the visit.

This restaurant used to be Michael's Pasta in the Pan, but no longer. There's a new restaurant called the Hangar Pub. Too bad Michael's closed as the food was good and reasonably priced. I don't know if the restaurant went out of business due to the pandemic or if the owner decided to close this location. There was another location a few towns over. Maybe he retired.

There was some wild weather the night before. Lots of branches and leaves down. Six Flags Amusement Park had to close the day before because of flooding. The park was still closed this day due to flooding and cleanup

A new neighbor is moving in.

Okay, this looks like I'm greeting Dad first even though his bona fides are on the front of the stone.

The first one to be greeted had to be Ma. She would be put out if she was greeted second. She was funny like that. So I brought her flowers and greeted her first. We made our visit on 30. June. A visit for my parents' wedding anniversary. They were married on the Fourth of July and would have been married 78 years.

It wasn't until I looked at the photos that I noticed there was a sunflower in the bouquet. The Young One's favorite flower is the sunflower. Ma would have liked that.

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.