Time to Garden

Finally! The day I've been waiting for since January. Yesterday was a beautiful day and it was time to plant peas, beans, radishes ....and Basil! (With a guard fence to keep out the neighborhood rabbits).

Then it was on to flowers.....this is my huge, crazy hosta which absolutely LOVES its home in my front south facing flower bed.... tomorrow a friend of mine and I are going to a local nursery to pick out more annuals for the flower beds.


I got my window box filled .....

and still have these left to do.....

I still need plants for pots we place around the house, some hanging pots, a variety to put in several other flower beds and my garden border......and can't forget my tomato and pepper plants.....oh so much to plant, so little time - Wisconsin needs more spring and summer weather and a lot less winter snowy stuff.

HOME!

Ah-how good your own bed can look after 10 days on the road!

Got home safe and sound - good night, sleep tight!

Assateague Island

Our last couple of days have been spent at the amazing Assateague Island off the coast of Maryland. I must admit when Jim suggested this several months ago, I was a little hesitant. I think this was one of the highlights of the trip. Of course the DC sights were wonderful, but we knew what to expect, while the sights and sounds of nature on this island were awesome. This island has had wild horses, (called ponies), roaming on them for several hundred years. There are several theories on how they got there - I favor the theory that a ship headed for South Africa was wrecked near the island and the ponies that survived swam to shore and these are the ancestors of those survivors......at any rate, they are very used to humans and do and WILL invade any camping equipment left out. This gal was interested in what we had in our coolers. They are NOT tame horses, and are dangerous and can be nasty, so we were warned to keep our distance and keep our camping area free of food.

This gal did not give up - "hmm, wonder what they may have under here - sugar lumps anywhere?"

After we safely tucked everything away from the horses, we headed for the beach, finding shells and horse shoe crabs, and built BEAUTIFUL "drippy castles" in the sand, with the Atlantic Ocean pounding against the beach just a few yards away.

Then it was off to the next leg of our adventure with these great cupcakes Grandma Falvey found at a neighborhood bakery. There wasn't a crumb left from these treats.

Today we headed back toward the Midwest - taking time to stop in Big Pool, Maryland to visit an Army buddy of Orlin's. They had not seen each other since bootcamp back in 1964 - we had a short, but nice visit and hopefully Steve and Joni can travel to Wisconsin at some point.

We are "convoying" back home with Jim's sister and her children from Virginia. Tonight we will stay in Sandusky, Ohio and will take off from here as soon as everyone has their breakfast in the morning, hopefully reaching LaCrosse by evening. We take turns traveling in the motorhome and the van - the kids LOVE the RV, and the adults take turns having a little quiet time in Kathleen's van. I'm looking forward to getting back in my garden - and OUT of a swaying RV!

Washington DC

As many of my friends know, I have been a big Statler Bros. fan for many years. One of their songs was about visiting Washington DC and of all the sites they visited but there was only one thing that they missed seeing ..... here are a couple lines from that song (with a few minor changes) that I can relate to, after our visit in our nation's capitol today.....

I SAW WASHINGTON'S MEMORIAL....

AND I SAW LINCOLN'S TOO.....

SAW A PLAY AT FORD'S THEATRE

AND LET ME TELL YOU THIS....

THE TOMB OF THE UNKNOWN NO ONE SHOULD EVER MISS....

GOT LOST 7 TIMES ON PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, THERE'S ONLY

ONE THING I MISSED SEEING AND THAT WAS.....

YOU!!!!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO SHAWN, THE NEWEST MOM IN OUR FAMILY!

FIRST WE GO TO THE OPERA

First we went to the fabulous Three Piggy Opera .....starring the talented Kindergarten and First Graders at State Road School as pink piggies and big bad wolves.....

After an evening at the opera, our motor home was manuevered into place with James at the wheel.

WHAT - there's more in the house?!!

Breakfast on the road - don't let that smile fool you - this Momma Bear doesn't smile at 2:00 a.m. when she and the cubs haven't yet slept!

Somewhere in the hills of PA -



We are enjoying our trip, everything is going great - AND we all still like each other! (Now, I AM realistic, we have another week to go in this very cozy environment.) :-} Jim's sister and her husband, Kathleen and Constatine, are hosting us in their gorgeous Virginia farmhome, and showing me how to cook REAL meals. Cheers to all - we'll check back soon, for now, its on to Washington DC!

The World is Full of Color!

I think spring may finally be here - more colorful blossoms are showing their beauty every day. Cool nights are still the norm, but the days are getting nicer, and we've had enough rain to give the local fire departments a break from all the grass fires. I'm anxious to get back into my garden - I've been getting things prepared, having fun putting in wider brick paths and worked on my rain barrel today - can a "rain chain" really divert the water into the barrel? We'll find out soon.

Get your grills, mowers, weed wackers ready and enjoy the outdoors!

Where IS Spring?

We are doing our best to urge spring to appear! The crocuses are popping up in my garden trying to encourage the warm weather to show up.

Finnian and Adalia spent part of the weekend with us - we visited Pooh's house for the first time since last fall, went to the park and climbed in a couple of trees - but we had to bundle up to keep the chilly wind from freezing noses and toes-es. We are SO ready for warm weather!!