It's Almost Summer!

 It has been a nice cool spring so far -- only a few really hot days. I missed the daffodils at my house, getting home at the beginning of May. A lot of my flowers have disappeared, such as the white hydranga and some daisies. The tulips are gone because they were worn out. I think the other missing items are because I had to spray poison ivy poison again and that stuff kills everything in the area. I had an awful case of poison ivy last year and I don't want to relive that.

But going back to California, knowing that I would not be there for Carole's big birthday party, I threw a mini party for her at Mom's house.

It was a small group and we had fun playing Mexican Train Dominoes after a lunch of three different kinds of quiche, sweet potatoes, and salad. The party that Carole had at her house had many people, lots of food, and a mariachi band!

One of my favorite cactus in Palm Springs.

The spring roses in Palm Springs were gorgeous as always. I love spying on the bees as they gather pollen, don't you?

No, I don't know what this is called but it's pretty.

J and J's hedge outdid itself with blooms this year.

On the road again at the beginning of May. At this point, I believe I was in New Mexico. I had bought a new tire in California because of a totally flat and useless tire. But I seemed to have problems keeping air in it and I had a heck of a time finding air pumps that worked. Here, I stopped at a tiny garage off an access road. The scenery was spectacular but, of course, I couldn't just stop on the highway to take pictures. So while the guys were checking my tires, I snapped some shots.

Then on to a Missouri (the Cave State) rest stop. The wall was much bigger than this, covered with many license plates.

Finally, I made my way to LaGrange, Illinois where my friends Alaine and Todd live. They are the best hosts ever! We went to the Garfield Park Conservatory which had mounted their spring flower show. It was spectacular in many many greenhouse rooms. There wasn't too much blooming outside and it was raining quite heavily so we didn't mind being inside.

The yellow "flowers" below are Chilhuly glass sculptures.

At this point in my photos, I have a picture of my EZ Pass. I found out the hard way that I had forgotten to give them my new credit card number. One of the tolls (was it in Kansas, Toto?) was $10! The toll booth person was very nice and asked if my transponder was not working. (I had to take a picture of the transponder to get the number to call to give them the right number -- the writing was too small to read so I took a picture and enlarged it.)

And then it was home to other people's tulips and flowering trees. And my unmown lawn which had turned into a meadow in spots.

I had contracted with Busy Bee Landscapers but they had not seen fit to get busy...

Last year, I discarded the falling down deck and got a new one. This year, I used the same company to put on a new front porch. The old one was hazardous for old ladies such as myself.

Before

After

I've been helping to make jam at the church and working in the kitchen for the spring supper. Breakfast on the deck is wonderful.

The lettuce you see in the picture is pretty much done after three harvests. It was warm enough to discourage the lettuce. I have more tomato starter plants (cherry tomatoes) and basil. Phyllis kindly brought me some oregano which I still have to repot.

Ann and I had a good time at the Paradise City Arts Festival in Northampton. It was very hot that day but we did manage to see all of the displays in the three huge barns.

I finished binding this quilt today. It's for a Barbie doll and each of those squares is one inch or less. Cathy gave me the yellow fabric and it's very happy.

The church steeple is half finished. Completion and dedication will be later in the month. (There is a bell up there too.)

My backyard jungle is doing well. The purple flowers are chives. There are some purple lupines hiding in the over growth. But last fall, I scattered wildflower seeds so I'm waiting to see if anything else blooms.

Then I had to get a new washing machine. Shortly after that, I was informed that I need a new tankless water heater. But I think I'll wait maybe until September for that since I don't need that much hot water in a shower while ithe weather is hot. 

I almost caught the peonies before they were totally gone, but they were a bit droopy when I picked them. 

And that is it! I hope you all are having a happy spring/summer!