Simple Gestures

Driving my mom and brother to the cemetery to honor my father

Putting flowers beside the graves of my father, and my husband’s grandparents, Paul and Naydeen

Using a columbine flower from a plant that was in Naydeen’s garden, then her daughter Susie’s yard, and now in my flower bed, to put beside their gravemarker.

Planting hostas and other flowers in front of the house to make it look green and alive.

Arranging potted flowers in the front to give a splash of color.

Traveling to Martin Creek to spend a weekend with my mom, brother, sister, brother-in-law and two daughters.

Letting my oldest daughter stay home with her dad so she can get caught up on school projects.

Promising your youngest daughter you will play the card game of “Spoons” with her today.

Listening to your middle daughter memorize her lines for her upcoming performance.

Cooking breakfast for your family, and making that special potato dish you created.

Buying cough and cold medicine for your sister before you leave so she doesn’t have to drive back into town.

These are just a few small gestures that hopefully told some people

You are important.

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I Finally Get To Spend Some Time In My Yard...YEAH!!!

I found this beautiful, joyful jonquil in my yard today. There was a whole patch of them, in fact. What a wonderful surprise.

PKR got the sprinkler system up and going today, and Sadie loved trying to catch the drops of water in her mouth. This picture doesn't quite do the whole experience justice. She was so darn cute.

PKR's aunt and uncle are moving away in about a month, and his Aunt Susie offered this rose bush to us. It is a very special rose bush. It comes from PKR's Great Grandma's yard. Here is the story as Susie shared it with us in an email.

I have a little rose bush…more of a sprig…that we transplanted from Aunt Charlotte’s when she sold her home. It is a climbing rose, red, but has not really flourished at our house. I was praying that this year would be the year. Now that we are moving…but we’ll be in a rental….I wondered if you would like the little sprig.

The sentimental meaning behind this little sprig is that the bush was originally planted by Grandma Nancy Bushnell. Uncle Wayne transplanted it to his house when she died. No other family member…on either Taylor or Bushnell side…has a piece of this rose.

Would you be interested it moving it to your property? I think it would like to stay in Kellogg. (And Uncle Wayne would be proud that Pert Woolum’s daughter now is watching over the plant)

Ah, a mighty task, but I am up to the challenge, and plan to take good care of it.

But I did check out a couple of our roses, and they aren't looking too good. This is our "Lynx" rose. Planted in honor of our cat Lynx who died in 1996.

This is the "Mikey" rose. Mikey was our cat who found us when we moved back to Kellogg. He died of cancer in 2003. We have a rose for each cat we have lost since we have been married. Our "Jessie" rose is flourishing.

Here a one of two columbine's we also received from Aunt Susie's yard.

I was checking out the front flower bed, and realized these beautiful hyacynths were being choked by all the overgrown grass in the flower bed.

I made substantial progress on the bed. Still have some grass to pull, though. And the hyacynths don't get enough sun over here. Neither do the irises coming up behind them. So I may be doing some bulb transplanting soon.

But that will be another day. I'm just glad I finally got to spend some time in our yard and get some stuff done.