My World Tuesday Season # 2 Episode # 34

I hope all of you had a great Memorial Day weekend, a time to spend with our families and friends but most importantly to remember our Veterans past and present. Thank you to all men and women who have served and are serving in the Military, and we need to remember wives and mothers who were left at home while their loved ones served their country. Craverii, thanks for this reminder.

For those who paid the ultimate sacrifice there are not enough words to express my appreciation for what they did for us, my heart is full at the thought of so many who have been lost. To the families who will no longer see them walk through the door, again there are no words but they will always be remembered. I pray the time will come when there will be no more wars on this planet, no more lives lost. For the sake of our children and our children's children, I will always live in hope.

Yesterday on our trip to the Shenandoah's the weather was glorious, a great day for motorcycle riders to dust off their wheels and take to the road. We passed many we presumed were heading into Washington DC for the Rolling Thunder gathering. We missed shots of the larger groups but I did take a few photos of riders along the way. Gregg took a photo of these motorbikes above which were parked at our local post office, our first stop before we headed to the mountains.

This is the day when motorcycle riders from all over the country ride through the city. They made an impressive sight whether on their own or in the smaller groups that we saw, and I hope one day we can get into DC to see the actual event. I read that in 1988 there were approximately 2,500 motorcycles participating, this year they were expecting 250,000. If you would like to learn more on how this all started, you can click here and there is a news article on line which you can read here.

We found these young people at a gas station. Not sure if they were part of Rolling Thunder, but I think I read that you don't have to be a Veteran to take part.

This man and his son were riding a new British Triumph motorcycle.

Years ago our son spent three weeks in hospital. It was a stressful time for us as you can imagine but one day a group of these riders made the rounds of the children's ward. They were dressed the part and it was an exciting event for our sick boy and the other children. They came laden with toys and books for each patient, gave everyone a baseball cap and generally cheered everyone by their appearance. Consequently I have always had a soft spot for this special group and I will always be grateful for their kindness.

A great day for a ride. Safe traveling to all.

Thank you Klaus, Sandy, Wren, Fishing Guy and Sylvia for hosting My World.

You can see other My World photos or join in yourself by clicking here.

TODAY'S FLOWERS #95

Gregg and I are going out for the day. We're driving up to the Shenandoah's, to Skyline Drive ending up at Big Meadows, one of our favorite places to get a little exercise. It's a hat and sunscreen kind of a day I think. I'm sorry I won't be able to visit your blog today as I don't expect to be home until pretty late but I will try to catch up in the next day or so.

Have a wonderful Sunday everyone, and a great week ahead.

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We are always looking for new participants. If you are not already doing so, won't you please consider joining in TODAY'S FLOWERS by sharing blooms from your part of the world? We would love to see them. You will find the link below my photos.

Anyone who would like to be a "Guest Friend" and have their flowers displayed on the home page, Luiz explains how you can do this at the TODAY'S FLOWERS site.

These were taken when I went to our local garden center. I identify them when I can. These were rather pretty leaves with no flowers, and were in a pot on sale with no identification.

Pincushion Flower - Scabiosa Columbaria

The following photos are of the Trollius - Golden Queen

The next two photos, Polemonium - Heavenly Habit

And the next two are Papaver - Champagne Bubbles - Icelandic Poppy

Knautia Macedonia - 'Mars Midget'

TODAY’S FLOWER’S was created by our good friend Luiz Santilli Jr.

You can find beautiful and unusual flowers from all over the world by clicking here.

Camera Critters

Bianca was new to the modeling game. She was young and a pampered little thing, not too long out of the nest. How could they ask her to work in this kind of heat. She was hot, tired and bored, at first refusing to pose for the camera. The thousands and thousands of peanuts she had been paid made no difference. No matter how many peanuts we bribed her with now, she was in no mood to flash those pearly whites. She was getting the reputation of being a bit of a Diva.

We tried again and again, "Here, have another peanut, a few sunflower seeds perhaps?" "No, no, too many carbs!" she exclaimed. "How about mineral water? A facial massage?" It took a lot of patience and there were signs that she was coming around and then, all of a sudden after waiting an hour or two, with the clock ticking along.....

Well, at first we had to listen to, "Oh my, does this fur coat make me look a little broad in the beam?" "Oh my, could you stop shining that light in my eyes?" "Oh my, please take that camera out of my face, so many PHOTOGRAPHS!" "Someone, PLEASE get me a misting spray!" Eyes rolling everywhere, from both sides. After what seemed like an eternity, she started acting like a professional and believe me we all breathed a sigh of relief. Look at that pose!

It had been a difficult photo shoot but now we were heading back into the house and oh my, it's so hot and after I have stuck my head in the freezer for a minute or two to cool down, this Diva will be asking, "Where's that glass of wine? It's got to be after six o'clock in some part of the world."

Camera Critters is a wonderful meme created by Misty Dawn. Thank you Misty!

You can find other critter photos by clicking here.

SKYWATCH FRIDAY, SEASON 4, EPISODE 46

As I went outside to greet hubby home from work this evening, he told me to look up the street where we saw all these beautiful puffy clouds. I quickly ran in the house to get my camera so that I could share these pictures tonight. The neighbor must have seen us through her front window and came out and asked what we were looking at. I think I heard an "Oh!" when she found out we were just admiring the sky. Ah yes, we are those "nutty neighbors" who stand around looking upwards.

Thank you Klaus, Sandy, Wren, Fishing Guy, Louise and Sylvia for hosting SkyWatch Friday.

If you want to join in you can click right here.

Something to make you smile.

I found this in my e-mail just now from my friend. If you want to see the full screen version you can go here. It is called Breakfast at Ginger's.

Watery Wednesday

The only watery photos I took this week was of this Blue Jay. He was the first one to use the new dish I bought a few days ago from the garden center. I am using it as a bird bath and this afternoon I filled it for the first time and put it out on the back deck. He looked at it, looked at me, took a couple of sips, looked at me again and flew back up into the trees.

These are the birds who have me well trained. When I hear their urgent chirps I find myself automatically grabbing handfuls of peanuts (in shells) and tossing them out. It's a race in time to see who is the fastest, the squirrels or the Blue Jays. Usually the Blue Jays win out as they swoop down and quickly make off with each peanut. They are very entertaining.

Thank you 2sweetnsaxy for hosting this great meme.

You can get there by clicking here.

Early Bird

Oh, if you're a bird, be an early bird

And catch the worm for your breakfast plate.

If you're a bird be an early, early bird

But if you're a worm, sleep late!

~Shel Silverstein~

Monday Ramblings

Gregg has been in Seattle all week. This time I almost went with him, almost. It would have meant me entertaining myself for three days while he was working, which would have been easy because the hotel is downtown and I could have done a lot of exploring. And then we could have had the Saturday and Sunday together and traveled home on the Monday. But I kept thinking and decided that it was a long way to go for such a short space of time, let's save that money until we are able to take a whole vacation together, which we are planning to do in September, with hopefully a couple of long weekends away before then.

Later I did regret not going but shudda, cudda, day late, dollar short and all that. He called up and said, "Hey, guess where I am right now?" and after I said "Where?", he told me he was right across the street from the Elephant and Castle which is a pub/restaurant where we dined on our first trip to Seattle several years ago. It is located on 5th street and the British food pulled us through the door. We ordered fish and chips which were excellent. Afterwards we walked around the city before finally returning to our hotel. Above is a cell-phone photo Gregg sent me.

One good thing was that when he got on his flight here in Virginia last Tuesday, it was early enough for him to volunteer to give up his seat due to overbooking, and he was given four $100 coupons to use on another flight, so we'll be keeping that for our vacation. We are not usually that lucky when traveling.

On Friday I took myself off to Merrifield Garden Center. I haven't been to this place for a long time but I wanted to get a few ideas of what perennials to plant in the front flower bed. When we finally move into our last house (after Gregg's retirement) I am going to make sure that we find a place where the front has full sun because right now it is mostly shade. We also have a large tree which I have always liked and it has a squirrel's nest in the top of it, so I enjoy watching them play along the branches or run up and down the trunk - it also gives us a lot of that shade.

There is much work to be done to get the front presentable. Knowing that a new path and steps are needed, and probably a small retaining wall to be built on one side of the house to level things off (because the water drains too quickly and everything seems to die on that side), I have been putting things on the back burner as far as planting. Our neighbors had considerable work done as they were having the same problem. I even had a chat with the chap whose business it was, and took his name and number for when we were ready to get something done.

So, holding everything off all this time, I now have a bee in my bonnet about growing a variety of beautiful blooms this year, to encourage more butterfly activity and we all know how important those bees are, not forgetting our feathered friends of course. I would truly love a 'Secret Garden' but as I have never really had a green thumb, I don't think that's going to happen. My Dad was an amazing gardener and had 'the knowledge'. I am sad that he didn't pass those gardening genes down to me. Oh well, the spirit is willing and you just have to make do with what you have and you get a lot of advice from the gardening center, which I will do when the time comes.

I didn't buy any flowers from Merrifield but I walked around their perennials and took photos of the ones that looked interesting. Hopefully this record will come in useful when I start shopping in earnest. I did buy a ceramic dish that I thought would make a great bird bath. Hopefully it will be put to good use this summer. I also bought a little ceramic frog holding an umbrella which I thought was cute.

It is on a pole which you stick into a plant pot and what's missing in the photo is the rain gauge. A couple of impulse buys but it was so cute and it has been a while since I treated myself.

A statue that I would love to put in my garden but I think the Home Owner's Association would be knocking on our door and wagging their finger at me if I did. I think she's beautiful!

Saturday I popped out and ran a few errands. It rained off and on and I pottered around all day, had a couple of phone conversations with friends, and was waiting for Gregg's call to say he had landed at Dulles. At about 10.30 p.m. he was home. Another neat thing that happened to him was when he got to security gate in Seattle and saw David Spade about four feet away. Everyone was lining up putting their belongings into those boxes just before going through the metal detector.

He took a quick photo with his cell phone to show me. He's partly hidden but I recognize him. I wonder where he was going and what was he doing in Seattle? Inquiring minds want to know, at least this mildly inquiring mind wants to know. Probably going back down to LA.

Sunday was a very rainy day. I heard it in the wee hours, a good torrential downpour. I always keep our window open at night as I love listening to the rain bouncing off the leaves on the tree - the branches are practically touching the glass. We will have to do some trimming soon methinks but right now it's lovely to look out there and watch the birds on the branches, invisible and unnoticed by them. It rained Saturday also but it was a bit heavier Sunday.

Gregg and I popped out to our favorite bagel place for breakfast. Breakfast for us was around noon. A quick stop to the grocery store and we spent the rest of the day very quietly at home where all day it felt like Saturday because when Gregg does travel he usually comes home on Friday, and sometimes Thursday. It was nice getting back to normal after he had been gone all week, and look at it now, it's already Monday and we're at the beginning of another week. Where does that time fly?

I have yet to hear if my friends got to see Newt Gingrich who had a book signing starting at 4.30 p.m. in the same store my son works. They live about an-hour-and-a-half west of us and wanted a copy of his book autographed and also wanted to meet him. The place was predicted to be a zoo and son told me it took about two hours to get a book signed. He got to be bodyguard to Mr. Gingrich and he said he was real nice. A couple came into the store with their dog and they asked Mr. Gingrich to hold him, and he allowed the dog to lick his face while they took the photo.

Now, the two hour finale of Lost! What can I say? I'm going to miss that show. I have watched it from the very beginning, except maybe for a short while when I got a bit bored, having missed a few episodes and not being able to keep up - I was lost - but then I came back not too long afterwards after watching the DVD of the previous season from start to finish and got hooked again. I won't go into detail on what I think about the ending because there may be people reading this - like my son - who won't be watching this show until tonight as he was working till late last night. He and his wife are inviting some friends over who also elected not to watch it until they could all get together and have a party.

That's about it for this week's rambles.

Added note: I did a little research and found out that David Spade was performing at The Snoqualmie Falls Casino on Friday, May 21st, 2010. If you click right here you will read that the actual Snoqualmie Falls is one of Washington State's most popular scenic attractions, with more than 1.5 million visitors a year.

TODAY'S FLOWERS #94

We are always looking for new participants. If you are not already doing so, won't you please consider joining in TODAY'S FLOWERS by sharing blooms from your the part of the world? We would love to see them. You will find the link below my photos.

Anyone who would like to be a "Guest Friend" and have their flowers displayed on the home page, Luiz explains how you can do this at the TODAY'S FLOWERS site.

I identify flowers when I can but for those I can't I always welcome a little help.

These two photos are wild iris'.

Not sure what kind of blossom this is.

I suppose most all of us know what this is, a water lily.

Same as the one before, not sure.

The next two photos are of wild honeysuckle. Their scent is fantastic.

Not sure what this is either. I want to say Queen Anne's Lace but I think the leaves are off. I will be pouring through my wildflower books to see if I can find its identity.

As you can see I am still very much a novice in my knowledge of flowers, but I have learned so much by being part of this meme and I learn a little more every day. I want to thank those of you who have participated and who have helped me since the very beginning in identifying various flowers. You have all made my time here very much a fun part of my week.

TODAY’S FLOWER’S was created by our good friend Luiz Santilli Jr.

You can find beautiful and unusual flowers from all over the world by clicking here.

Camera Critters

Thanks to KaHolly I now know that this lovely little thing is a male Spangled Skimmer. I do love identifying what I take photos of and am always very grateful to our blogging friends who help out. Thank you KaHolly. She has a wonderful blog which you can find here.

I am really glad I got this photo as I don't usually have much success with dragonflies. I was just very lucky this one decided to stay for a while, at least long enough for me to get him in focus. There were lots of them flying around.

Camera Critters is a wonderful meme created by Misty Dawn. Thank you Misty!

You can find other critter photos by clicking here.