Outing of the Week 2b - Sycamore

My friend's mother offered to us her very sturdy, very LARGE porch swing that has been stored in her barn for some years. We finally made the trip out to pick it up this afternoon, and were charmed by her lovely property by the creek. Her house is tucked into a clearing by the creek, and is surrounded by huge old trees. Flowering plants are nestled away in beds and pots here and there. It is green, green every where. The only sound heard was the trickling of the stream as it tumbled over the edge of an enormous flat rock. It was all so inviting that we would have loved to set up our deck chairs in the back yard and just relax!

The girls were enchanted as well, discovering hiding places under the trees to explore. J's words as we drove up the long drive: "Wow! This place is AMAZING! Aunt S is a Country Girl!"

Tonight Kali proved her prowess as a true mouser, catching a rodent of some sort that the kitties let get away. We had to coax it away from her with the offering of some of her special carob dog cookies. Ugh.

Exterior Decorating

The girls and I made mosaic bird baths over the past week. We got the idea from Family Fun Magazine (of course). You can get directions for it here. I think they turned out very well!

Here is L's,



and J's,



and mine.



In addition to the bird baths in my flower garden, the girls have put in numerous pigs. Now the cats sleep in there too. (At least they are no longer pooping in it...they use my new flower bed for the toilet now.)



J has been creating colorful designs in front of the garage in chalk. This sun was my favorite part this time.

Outing of the Week 2a - Cars 2 in 3-D

Three words on this one: WASTE OF MONEY!

Although I personally have not yet seen a Disney or Pixar movie that I considered to be a complete flop, this is one that you should wait to rent from Redbox for a dollar. The whole 3-D movie scene is a racket, if you ask me. We had to spend an extra $12 for our family, just on the 3-D upcharge! So...the movie was cute, and somewhat entertaining, but featured Mater too much. A little Mater goes a LONG way.

If you are looking for a less expensive, more entertaining outing, might I suggest reading The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins on the veranda at Poplar Ridge. The past couple of evenings have been lovely here: no bugs, cool breezes, silence, your choice of cats or dogs (we have 2 of each this week) to stroke. It is EXTREMELY relaxing!

Mom

This morning we learned that JP's mother passed away at home in her sleep last night. She would have turned 89 in another month. She had been in failing health for quite some time, but was being cared for by JP's sister.

I sat down this afternoon to look through old pictures with the girls and talk about memories of Grandma M. It made me realize that I have been a part of her family for almost as long as I haven't! I must admit that I was a bit speechless when she tearfully told me, soon after JP and I announced our engagement, "You are JUST the person we prayed for for our son!"

Mom was quite the pioneer! As a young and single, Mennonite lady, she went out West and worked for the actress, Joan Blondell. I've heard the story told that she met a gentleman in the kitchen one day, whom she assumed was the gardener, and struck up a conversation. Only later did she discover she was really speaking to Humphrey Bogart!

After marrying JP's father, the two of them travelled far and wide, ministering in Spanish to Hispanic populations in Chicago, Indiana, Oregon, Texas and Virginia. She spoke fluent Spanish, and was conversing in it just last weekend.



My children are her 2 youngest grandchildren (by a good stretch...the next oldest graduated from High School this year!). In fact, she has a number of great-grandchildren too: 7 (I think), and 4 more on the way. Unfortunately, her health was declining by the time my children joined the family, and my girls never had the pleasure of sampling Mom's cooking. Although I have gotten the recipes from her, and I can make a very good semblance of them, I still have never had tamales or arros con pollos as delicious as those she made.



We are sad to have lost Mom on this earth, but grateful that she is no longer suffering. Adios Mom, te quiero!

Poplar Ridge Treasure

GOLD

JEWELS

Outing of the Week 1 - Klavon's Ice Cream Parlor

Another trip to the big city today to visit the Children's Hospital, this time JP was able to come along. Dr. H was a bit concerned about swelling in J's left ankle, especially since we told him that both ankles have been swelling on and off since our last visit in Feb. At this point, we are to watch it for another 2 weeks. If the swelling has not subsided, she will need to have an MRI of the ankle.

I have been very optimistic about J's disease course, since she hasn't had any pain or long term swelling since her knees were aspirated and injected in January. Today, however, the Dr. said it was likely to recur...the incidence of complete remission after the injections is apparently very rare. We will continue to hope for the best!

After our appointment, we decided to visit a nearby Ice Cream Parlor that we had seen featured on the local PBS station recently. You can watch it here, starting at 14:35. The girls had hand scooped ice cream cones, JP had a delicious strawberry milkshake, and I had a chocolate New York Egg Cream (milk, chocolate syrup and soda water...interesting). The building has beautiful art deco lights, original inlaid terrazzo floor, and an 18 foot long marble soda counter with iron stools in the shape of bottle caps. There are lots of interesting old bottles and memorabilia from when it was also a pharmacy, back in the 1920's. J asked if we could "come back a lot"? I think we can make it a tradition after appointments at Children's Hospital.

Wet Weekend

We got a fair amount of rain this weekend. Luckily, most of it came during the night, allowing me to work on my flower beds during the day. The weeds came out easily since the soil was moist. Why is it though, that nicer grass grows in my flower bed than in the yard? After the weeding was completed, I mulched it well with wood mulch, and then it rained some more!



The Morning Glories are coming up in my new flower bed. They look like tiny dragonflies hovering over the soil.



We also spent the weekend rehab-ing a turtle who got run over by the lawn mower Friday night. He got a small section, about a centimeter in diameter, scalped from the top of his shell. It was bleeding quite a bit when JP brought it in. I washed it well and applied antibiotic ointment and some paper tape. After that, we created a turtle paradise in the old kiddie pool we swiped from our friends' trash pile. Unfortunately, until this morning, we have not found anything that he likes to eat, so he is going free later on to fend for himself. (He seems to enjoy the black raspberries that I picked while on a walk with the dog this morning.)

We took my parents and grandmother out for dinner on Saturday evening to celebrate an early Father's Day and late Mother's Day (my parents were in Africa in May, so we didn't get to eat out with them then.) We ate at a very nice Italian restaurant along the river in WV. The food was delicious, and the roaming Accordion Player stopped by our table for quite a while to play The Pennsylvania Polka, The Chicken Dance, and several other songs.

Yesterday, when we reheated our left-overs, we discovered in part why the food was so delicious, close to a stick of melted butter was left over in the container and on our plates!



Last week, the girls and I hosted a fancy tea party for my mom and grandmother. There were a lot of laughs at our 4 generation tea, and a lot of uninvited guests.