fait accompli

the 2009 75th anniversary - fgcn state meeting and flower show has ended.
as a group we did rather well. all our entries won an award.
here is elnora building one of her designs and the finished project.

elnora is 80 something and loves to make designs. she won 4 awards.
thursday was spent setting tables, entering exhibits and, for many, building their designs. friday was committee meetings, judging (for which i clerked - quite a learning experience) and the flower show itself. saturday was the general business meeting, auction and awards banquet. the garden club's national president was our guest friday evening and saturday.

the amount of 'haulage' is staggering.













your humble correspondent received 2nd place for this entry.
i obviously need to work on my camera angles....
(i'm not even done posting and i have a comment!!) i bought a few plants at our auction - one woman brought, among other plants, about 60 of the healthiest, most beautiful salmon colored geraniums i've ever seen - and took 2 more home as door prizes. (this past week we've had some heat and some rain and my flower beds are erupting with both wanted and unwanted growth. i'm off on tuesday, the forecast says low 60s and i'm anxious to get out there and get something done.)
i got home around 10 last night and while browsing channels in an effort to relax before bed i found kenneth branagh's henry v so it was actually this morning when i got to bed last night. i find it impossible to pass up kenneth branagh's shakespeare. a couple weeks ago it was hamlet (his is the best i've seen)and i was up....
tim had to work today so it has been minimal laundry and maximum vegging for charlie and me today.

sunday afternoon

we actually had sunshine today though the wind was fairly stiff and cool. tim mowed the lawn, took a phone call and told me that as we were expecting company i should get "spiffied up".
about an hour later several very nice people pulled up in front of the house and unloaded this:

mikey dancer is on his way to making a name in stock car racing. his finish last season prompted some upgrades and an 'let's go for it!' attitude for this season. he and his crew were on their way to lexington for the debut run of his new car when they stopped to give us a look.
mike's mother works with tim and long story short.....


this will be the 3rd year with my name on mikey's car.

we hope this season brings safety and success for mikey and the crew!!

gomer pyle

surprise! surprise! surprise!
i honestly don't remember planting crocus. at all. no bells are ringing here.
as more and more green is poking through my as-yet-untouched winter debris i'm realizing that i did a very poor job of 'recording' my flower beds last season.
in previous years new plants/placements were documented with photos and a chart. oh well - i guess it's going to be a surprise season ......
you can see that i marked these bulbs with bamboo skewers - and while i'm pretty sure i planted daffodils there only time will tell.

i have no recollection of adding tulips to this particular bed but here it is. the leaves in front of it have me guessing, as well.
they're awfully narrow for tulip leaves. i know they're not iris. another surprise in the making.
peonies and iris are about 6 inches tall. columbine is filling out. yarrow starting to take shape. if i could just get a good work day out there!

snowballing

a fast moving snowstorm went through here saturday night while we were enjoying aidan's birthday weekend in minneapolis. the snowball began, innocently enough, with a phone message after our return on monday night. said message was dutifully,though inaccurately, delivered and started the whole mess in motion. thinking that my 2:00 meeting was now going to be held at 10 i rearranged my whole day and upon my late (uncharacteristic) arrival saw no cars and got that first little tingle of dread....
i don't mean to go through the day blow by blow but will give you an idea of what was involved throughout the next few hours. no groceries. no ironing. no walk. a cracked windshield. disconnected flower show planning . water in the basement. lots of water. sopping wet towels. emptying a closet. the bathtub drain. fans. dehumidifiers. broken nails from tearing up floor tiles. and this morning the neighborhood woodpecker found our house!!
deep breath.
the groceries are now in the cupboard. the ironing will wait a few more days. i'm on my way to work and because naphtali posted all the good pictures from our visit (we did have a very good time)i'll close with my first daffodils

and my spring-y new flats.

today

today's entry was meant simply to bring jacob's surgery to the attention of my faithful readers. he's scheduled to have his shoulder repaired today - let's hope everything goes well.

and because on other occasions readers have expressed a preference for photos i have included yet another first for your perusal. we leave for parts north tomorrow morning to help aidan celebrate his 5th birthday. an assortment of flotsam goes with us including these:


my first ever 'blown-out'(technically they weren't blown-out but what else do you call them?), decorated eggs. i'm pretty sure this is a first. if not i'm pretty sure someone may correct my misrecollection. enjoy your weekend.