I love pink roses....

An old rose from St. Francisville.

This has been a good year for roses.  And weeds.  

A rose with a fancy french name from Menards.

Another rose with a french name that I can't remember.  Madame something or other.

David Austen Heritage.

Mary Rose

                                                   

Sarah's Kitten

The kittens aren't cooperating as far as photos and movies go.  They play happily and I bring out the camera.  Then they suddenly decide it's time for a subterranean nap.   But this little tuxedo kitten stayed out to play with the ball chaser.  He is very athletic and handles the jingle balls like David Beckham.

Memorial Day 2013

The point of keeping this blog was to help me remember things as I have let the past few years blur together in my memory.  So this entry won't be more than a reminder for me that I went home to St. Francisville to decorate the cemetery this year.  I rented a car and drove down on Friday.  That was after Gisele endured taking me to Walmart to buy silk arrangements.  What fun!  I managed to hit her with the large box that one arrangement was in.  It was an accident I swear.

I was sorry to see many houses had been torn down in St. F..  Mrs.  Tagart's house was gone and several other lots were empty or had mobile homes instead of houses.  A few really old houses need to be saved before it's too late.  The Wooden Bridge was still there so I drove over  it one more time in case it is demolished before I get there again.  Overall the town was looking fairly shabby.  But there is a new grandstand which is a nice tribute to the past.

At the cemetery I saw a lot of graves that surprised me.  People who I didn't know had passed away or people who were too young have passed away.  I decorated all of the family graves and looked around the cemetery before driving around town.  I managed to see Orlinda on my last pass by our house.  I stopped and caught up with her and collected some persimmon seeds from mom's tree.  I hope I can get a tree started with them.

The joys of spring

Kittens were born under the house late this winter.  I started to feed the mother cat when I realized that she was pregnant.  I hope to have her spayed but she is very wild.  The kittens finally appeared last week and are learning to eat kitten chow.  A couple have moved on to eat the mother's canned food.   The grey kitten is the boldest and was the first to belly up to the food dish.  He also did a bang up job of cleaning his nose afterward.   Wild cats are hard to predict and she may take the kittens away as soon as they are weaned.  I hope this story has a happy ending.

Happy Fish

Nice weather.....

........if you are a toad.

Water iris in the trough sending up shoots

Flowers are finally blooming in my yard thanks to lots of rain and few warm days

Hellebore

Quince

When I was growing up there was a quince bush outside my bedroom window.  We called it japonica.  Every year a catbird would build its nest in the brambles of the bush.  Early each morning, in the earliest hours, the catbird would practice its broad repertoire of songs.  Even when I was young I could appreciate the song and its mimicry of other birds.

Catbird on Singer trade card

Service berry

We had a huge service berry tree at home in St. Francisville.  Mom bought it for dad because he remembered them from his youth.  He called it a sarvice berry and it was only a few years ago that I found out the true pronunciation.  Mom made pie for Dad with the berries.  

                                                                                                         

Finally making things again

Easter passed by unmarked by any celebration this year. (Except for an easter surprise left on my steps by Phyllis which was much appreciated.)  Instead, I worked nonstop to make some jewelry for the annual Artists Against Aids show and sale.  After a rough, start things more or less came together and I have a few pieces I am happy with.  I'm glad that I'm finally using a lot of the supplies that I've purchased.  I even used some of my best scrapbook paper which was a big step toward letting go of my craft supply hoarding.  The biggest accomplishment was finding the package of fiddly adhesive tags required to label everything according to the specifications of the sale.   Things really are going well! So after a little more work packing up the pieces I'll deliver everything just under the wire later today.  Then it's on to spring cleaning and doing my taxes.  Fun.