Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Inspecting the Troops

Inspecting the troops
My Mom loves her flowers and each spring begins calculating what flowers she will get and what annuals to intermingle with her perenials to fill in all the blank spots along her fence row. My mom's yard is beautiful and enjoyable to sit and admire the hard work she puts into it.

Her hanging baskets are also a part of her plan in "landscaping" her 2 porches. We always buy a basket for her and so does my sister. She will usually pick up a couple additional baskets to hang with the ones we buy and my brothers will have baskets sent. Mom has room for 3 baskets to hang from her front porch. The color of the flowers are very important to her and she especially likes the cascading red geraniums. It is also VERY important that all the baskets hanging on her front porch be planted in the same color basket.

Mom will also create baskets from last year's gifts. She will buy impatients and "tunies" (uh, thats petunias) and mix them up in various colors to hang on her back porch. This porch is really a roofed patio. She has room here for at least 3 or 4 more baskets.

She has a window box planter under her kitchen window. This is always filled with petunias. They multiply and are quickly blooming and filling up the basket. She will just pick our a colorful mix.

Since she is no longer able to do all the work required to take care of her flowers she does not plant as many as she used to. She relies on Jamelah to help her get flowers planted. We always make a "Mother's Day" project of buying the hanging baskets and extra flowers to plant and spend time with Mom filling the extra baskets and Jamelah plants her window box.

Mom also has a circular flower bed in her front yard. This is a bare spot that was left by a tree which became a problem and had to be cut down. There are perentials that come up every year. A few tulips, daffodils, crocus and purple grape hiacinths. She also adds a few other flowers into the mix to fill in the spots when these spring flowers stop blooming.

With the early warmth you could tell Mom was already eager to begin planting. As we drove by the place wher ewe often bought our plants she noted that they were getting ready to stock their outdoor space with all the nursery plants that would be coming in. It will be fun. Spring is here. Its time to plant flowers.fence row daffodils

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh Spring, Finally!

flowering pear
We finally got to spring. In fact we had so much spring it turned into summer. For 10 whole days the temperatures were averaging 20 degrees above normal for this time of year which means we were up into the 70s and almost to 80. Gosh! It felt so good. I think it has to have made up a bit for all the crappy weather we had all winter. On days it didn't snow the sky was so gray you wished it would. But now, the grasss is green and needs mowing. The flowers have bloomed.

So what if we are back to normal temperatures for this time of year. Well, actully a little below normal temperatures. Yes, it is COLD outside. Ok, so we did have frost last night, but it's OK. I didn't have to scrape ice off my windshield before I could drive into work. So, I had to wear a coat. I have one and by lunch time I probably won't even need it. Today the sun is shining. Yeah, the air seeping in around my windows is chilling, but hey! I have sunshine. I can deal with it.Lovely Day For a Walk


I just want to celebrate that this is SPRING! I feel like dancing. I feel like dancing a little jig of joy! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, finally. Spring.

Monday, April 07, 2008

Lovin' My Job

Phone Rings...

I pick it up and the following conversation takes place

ME: Good afternoon. Assessing. This is Anne. May I help you?

SHE: Can you tell me which office this is?

ME: Assessing

SHE: Oh, Recessing. OK, then. I wondered if you could help me?

ME: I don't know. What did you need.

SHE: I want to know how I go about getting out of a contract.

ME: What kind of a contract?

SHE: A housing contract.

ME: I'm not sure I know the answer.

SHE: Can I just go down there and tell them to take my name off it?

ME: I don't know exactly the type contract you are talking about.

SHE: Do you think I have to get a lawyer?

ME: (flash of inspiration) Yes, I think that would probably be a wise choice.

SHE: So, you can't tell me?

ME: No, I'm afraid I don't have expertise in the area where you need advice. I don't think I am qualified to properly answer your question.

SHE: Then I should talk to a lawyer?

ME: Yes, that would be a good idea.

SHE: Uh, Ok then, goodbye.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. I love my job. Why did I think I would ever like to retirement.