Can you smell them?

My boomerang lilacs were the first flowers to make an appearance in my garden this season.  The clematis is starting to burst and the leaves of the lilies are standing at attention.  Sadly, the azaleas in the front yard are looking pretty weak but the fragrance of the lilacs makes up for the sad state of the azaleas.


Oh, I wish you could smell them.

The beauty of boomerang lilacs is that they will repeatedly bloom throughout the season.  You can cut them back to a point and they will shoot off more flowers.  It's a beautiful thing!

At the kitchen window.

Lilacs often remind me of old English gardens.  They just seem to have a gracefulness about them and their fragrance reminds me of prim and proper London ladies...thus the 'aged' edit below.

Hoping you're enjoying your gardens as we work our way through spring.

Borgata Glass...

(Click on and enlarge the photos to get a better view)

Well, my camera hasn't seen the light of day in what seems to be forever.  Between work, finalizing my mom's issues, dealing with doctors and aids and then there's the sewer pipe that decided to drip all over the basement floor this weekend and the tire that declared it needed more pressure when I pulled into the parking deck this morning...well, you get the picture.

I can't recall when I had a day when I went straight from the office to home, had dinner at a reasonable hour, got in bed before the grandfather clock struck 11 and was able to enjoy a good book without my mind wandering off to the pressing issues of the day.

A dear friend has offered me an overnight stay at one the casinos in Atlantic City.  You know I'm not a gambler but you can be sure I'll be taking her up on this offer.  I'm a sucker for a hot tub and a great buffet.  And I know a buffet is one of the worst places to eat if you're trying to be in control but, I NEED THIS NIGHT!

Anyway, thinking about getting away I came across these shots from our A.C. excursion last fall and decided to investigate who the artist was that created this unusual glass work at The Borgata.  Maybe I'm living under a rock but this is the first time I've heard of Dale Chihuly.  I hope you enjoy looking at these as much as I did.  For me, there was a big Ooooooo and Ahhhhhhh factor here.

I wish...

A conversation with my mom…

 

You know, I had a shower today.

You did?!

That tall lady over there helped me. She was so nice.

That's great!  (High five)

When she asked me, I told her no but she said it would be OK.

Well, what did you think?

It was wonderful!  The water was so warm and it felt so good.

Well mom, now you know why your kids spent so much time in the shower.

 

Many of you might think this conversation odd, unusual, or strange. After all, who has not taken a shower? This was my mother’s first. When you grow up during the war and Depression and your father has died at a young age and there are four girls to raise in a two-bedroom apartment with one bath and no shower, you make do. And, often when you are brought up in those conditions, you hold onto your habits because the circumstances have been embedded in your mind, body, and soul.

 

I recall the many visits with my aunts (my mother’s sisters) to the last apartment where she and her sisters lived. There was a claw-foot tub and often, if you weren’t first in line, you had to heat the bath water on the stove. Believe me, it wasn’t that bad and they made it fun.

 

I wish I had that claw-foot tub today.  I wish…I wish…

 

An old punch bowl sits atop an antique
dresser in the attic of my
mom's home.

 

Orchids in the office...

It's a well-know fact among family and friends that my green thumb is not always a true green but rather has some shades of brown mixed in.  So, when the orchid I have in my office decides to bloom in all it's glory, it's a real 'occasion' and time to find the camera among all the current clutter in my house.

This is the third time it has graced us with flowers in four years.  Each time I've photographed it, I've gotten different results and, up until now, I have been less than satisfied .  Perhaps it's because this plant has such an unusual shade of bloom but this time I played with some HDR and I believe I'm finally happy with what came out of the camera.

Here's to a wonderful weekend full of beautiful things!

Losing my marbles...

At the age of 96, mother has moved on to a care center. Yes, I know it’s a nursing home but I refuse to refer to it as such. She has lots of adjustments to make but, somehow, I never considered how much it would affect everyone else.   So….I won’t be posting much in the upcoming weeks…maybe a photo here and there with a short description but, right now, I think my brain in just about fried and I can think of nothing else but getting done what needs to be done in order to make this transition as easy as possible.

 

A bag of marbles found tucked in a dresser drawer at my mom's house.  I suspect my aunt entertained
my son some 30 years ago with these.  I will keep them for him...they will touch his heart
and bring back good memories.

Looking over the last two weeks…

• I have filled out financial forms about six times, repeating the same information over and over.
• I have been up until 2 AM printing out 5 years worth of bank statements for review by Medicaid.
• I have preplanned a funeral, not because I wanted to but because Medicaid required it.
• I have met with a hospital social worker.
• I have met with the administrators of the care center (who are angels in disguise).
• I have met with the financial department of the care center (and I am still in shock).
• I have spoken to more speech therapists, physical therapists, aids, nurses, doctors, visiting nurses then I have family members.
• I have packed what seems to feel like several tons of clothes for recycle, yard sales, and washing and I'm still not done.
• I have visited the care center almost everyday, hoping and praying this transition will go smoothly (and then the staff told me to cut back).
• I have forwarded all the mail.
• I have met with a realtor and signed a ton of paperwork.
• I have met with the attorney.
• I have called the oil company.
• I have stopped the milk delivery.  And of all the things I have done, this was by far the hardest and the only one I cried over.

Yes, I am losing my marbles.

 

My blog posts have never been as frequent as I would have liked.  Life has too often gotten in the way.  Going forward, after all the dust has settled and all the paperwork has been sorted and filed, I will hopefully resurrect the creative gene, however creative that might be.  In the meantime, I'll be watching all the wonderful blogs I follow and trying to post a photo here and there and hope my followers hang in with me.  After all, this blog thing has been keeping me sane and going for some time now.

 

Hugs!  Peace!