Relieved

When my friend got to the hospital to volunteer yesterday, she said she'd never been so relieved to see me. I'd missed a week because of a family trip, but that response seemed over the top to me.
She went on to say she'd seen an accident involving the train and was afraid I'd been in it.
I had seen that something was going on there and went a different route. As the day wore on, I saw people's phone pictures and heard that a guy was killed when he hit the train. I don't know how that could happen because the picture I saw showed the back of the truck missing. Who would back into a moving train? I don't really know what happened, but it wasn't me.

Greenhouse

I've started trying to start my flower boxes and baskets. Larry said we should paint the porch before putting the flowers in the boxes. We have rain forecast for the next few days so we'll have to wait for everything to dry out again. I don't want to put flowers out until late April, so we have time. I am still putting seeds in the soil in the little pots in the greenhouse. Everything is coming also pretty slowly. I planted the azaleas I rooted, so that made some space in the greenhouse. I moved the gardenias outside. The wind kept tipping the pots over so I dug a couple of the pots into the soil.

Happy Easter!

 Larry planted tulips on each side of the front steps.

The ground cover has started to bloom.

Amaryllis

Amaryllis 

Larry loves these. He stores them in the basement during the winter and brings them out when he decides it's time. This one has five bloom spikes coming up. They will turn green as they get sunlight. They were winter hardy in Grand Bay, Alabama, but have to be taken inside for the winter in Tennessee.

Choices

 Hot dog, grilled vegetables, and coffee was Larry's healthy choice.

 Hot dog, chips, and water was my choice. I didn't eat all of it, so that was my healthy choice.

This is Larry's favorite place to eat. I like it, too, but I like a lot of places.

New Camera

Larry has a sleek, pocket-sized new camera. It takes great pictures and slides in the pocket even better than mine. I was surprised that he decided he wanted a small camera, but glad. The memory card holds 16 g. Mine is so old that it will only take a 2g card.

I Didn't Order That

We had breakfast at Niki's West on the way home. The cinnamon rolls come with breakfast. The first time we had breakfast there, when they brought the rolls, I pointed out we hadn't ordered them. The waitress said they come with every breakfast order. Well, if I didn't order them and they didn't cost extra, they must be on my diet:)

Scary

This is supposed to be the passenger side rear view mirror. The traffic on 280 is scary when everything goes well. But when a boat snaps the mirror just outside the window, scary ramps up several levels! The rental truck is turned in, the insurance company notified and we're back home! It was still a good visit and we're lucky it wasn't worse.

Visiting

 We visited family near Birmingham and stayed at an airbnb. I like staying in a house or apartment when taking trips. We were able to talk without the stilted feeling of visiting each other's hotel rooms.

 Amara was reading The Swiss Family Robinson for her bedtime story.

It was a really nice visit!

Suggestions?

I've gotten emails and a post card telling me to update my kindles. I didn't manage to get my kindle to agree that it was successful and Larry wants me to do his tonight. Well, I said I'd try.

Eggs

This is a different dye and really pretty. I was concerned that it wouldn't carve. Acrylic tears but this isn't acrylic. I read the ingredients and couldn't be sure. So I had to try it. Easter has crept up on me this year and I haven't done much.

March Colors

The bulb bed in the foreground is the newest addition, but the Japanese magnolia backed by plum trees behind that add color. The white bradford pear in the background isn't ours but we can enjoy the color. The Japanese maple at the end of the bulb bed hasn't leafed out yet, but I'm looking forward to its deep, vibrant red.

Sweetbay Magnolia

Yesterday Larry bought another magnolia tree. We have two southern magnolias and several Little Gems. We have a couple of beautiful Japanese Magnolias but I don't know if they are really in the same family. Larry saw sweetbay magnolias at a rest stop in Corinth, Mississippi, and decided we needed one. It is supposed to be very fragrant and bloom off and on all season, maybe like the Little Gems.

Trying to Help

A guy came over to borrow a 4 inch grinder. I told him to go to the shop. I said it would be better to drive around so he wouldn't slide down the muddy hill trying to walk it. Well, we had to call somebody to come pull him out of the field. I asked Larry if he couldn't tell where the driveway was and Larry said he thought he wasn't looking at the driveway but was looking around at stuff. I don't know what his problem was. And we didn't have a four inch grinder.

Signs of Spring

I love this time of year. We still have a flash flood watch until 7:00 A.M. tomorrow, but this afternoon we had sun along with our dark clouds. The fields are turning green, trees are beginning to leaf out and it was pleasant enough to start weeding. I also killed slugs today. I saw a blue bird today.

New Arrangement

I tossed the roses from this arrangement and added daffodils. The roses didn't last as long and the ferns and little white flowers.

Everybody Would Want Them

I was complaining that the tulips are so short they can't be seen from the road. Larry said it was a good thing because everybody would come up the driveway wanting to know where we got the short tulips so they could have some, too.

Flood Days

School was dismissed at 9:00 A.M. yesterday and all day today. We decided to go to a nearby small town to eat our anniversary meal. We knew none of those roads were washed out. We enjoyed our lunch and pretended we aren't on diets:)

Today's Plan Changed

I was looking forward to going to town, shopping, and eating out today. I don't usually look forward to shopping, but Larry wanted something so that was all right. But then we got a flood warning last night. We used to ignore them until we found out that roads sometimes wash out. I wouldn't want that to happen when we were on the other side of it. Schools dismissed early and are closed tomorrow, too. When it stopped raining, I went to check the rain gauge. It was five inches. When I got back to the house, it started raining again. So, I'm guessing we won't go to town tomorrow, either.

Larry's Birds

The latest high for cardinals is 17 males at once. That is a plastic quart container on the platform feeder. Larry puts a quart of sunflower seeds out at a time. When there's a lot of food available, he still feeds them once a day. When there's snow and ice out, he feeds them several times a day. When we are gone and I pay somebody to water my porch flowers, I also get them to put water in the birdbath, seeds on the feeder, and hummingbird food in the hanging feeders. They are entertaining to watch, but I wouldn't feed them like he does. He also puts shelled corn out for the doves.

Bulbs

We worked really hard to start this bulb garden. It isn't turning out like I planned. They aren't all blooming at once, for one thing. The other thing is the tulips are really, really short!

Daffodils

We have clumps of daffodils all over. We finally planted some late bloomers so all of them don't bloom and die at the same time.

Flowers for my Anniversary

Well, if you want flowers, don't wait for somebody to guess. Buy them yourself!

Another Beautiful Day

We spent some time raking debris from the front flower bed that parallels the road. I had cut broom sage, etc., a couple of days ago and we raked it and burned it to prevent some of it from seeding. We are less than half finished with that flower strip, but we got six large plastic garbage cans of dead leaves and other plant stuff. We drove around in the gator picking up limbs and throwing them in ditches.
The daffodils are opening more and more each day. The hyacinths are putting up blooms and the grape hyacinths are starting to shoot up their little blooms.
I love this time of year.

Warm, Sunny Day

Daffodils are starting to bloom. Today we planted 9 cabbages and nine Brussels sprouts. A guy came and picked up hay bales, the big round kind. He brought a bale of old, unused hay so Larry can use it for mulch in the garden.

Do You Know What's Special about Next Week?

We were on our way to the marina for the first time this year, when Larry asked if I knew what is special about next week. I said, "Monday is our 48th wedding anniversary." "That wasn't what I was thinking about." "Wednesday is my birthday." "I wasn't thinking about that, either." "I guess you'll have to tell me." "I don't have a single doctor's appointment all week." "I hadn't thought about that, but I had realized that neither of us have to go anywhere today." "Yes, today we get to go somewhere we want to go."

Your Eyes Glaze Over

I told my friend the doctor said I should lose some weight so I'd gone on a stricter version of the diet I stick to pretty much all the time.
She said, "Tell me about your diet."
"Your eyes glaze over when I tell you about it."
"Yes, but I'm asking."
About three sentences in, she yawned.
I told you, your eyes glaze over.
"What fruit can you have?"
"Strawberries, blueberries, blackberries."
"I like strawberries dipped in chocolate," she said.
"I do, too. But I like strawberries with sour cream and splenda, too. If I'm trying to lose weight, I can have that and still be on my diet."
She isn't diabetic and her weight is in the normal range. She gobbles all sorts of things I can't have. That's fine, but her husband is diabetic. She said her daughter says she is trying to kill him. Fun stuff.

It's Starbucks

My doctor walked in with a cup of coffee that smelled wonderful. He asked if I wanted a cup. I tried to be polite and sit up straight instead of leaning over his cup and declined. He said, "It's Starbucks and I just made a new pot.  Come with me." So we walked to the break room and he poured me a cup and showed me the dairy stuff and sugar. We went back to the examination room and proceeded with the lab work follow up. I'm fine and I'd lost eight pounds which he'd suggested last time. Then I left so he could have Larry's consultation.
When Larry got out to the car, he said, "He didn't offer me coffee." His pharmacy hands coffee to him out the drive-through window! We like our coffee:)

Low-Carb Birthday Card

Larry got a birthday card with a picture of an old guy with French fries stuck in his nostrils and ears. As long as they aren't in his mouth, they are on a low-carb diet!