What's blooming today...

Iris's, poppies, peonies, columbine, weigala shrub ( I have never seen it so full of blooms!) and that beautiful rhododenron!

There are others blooming, and my little seedlings are doing great - I will take some pictures of them and post later.

I pray you are having a good week.

Memorial Day - a tribute to our service men and women, of which my oldest son is one- I am so proud of you Chris!

We take so much for granted, remember those who fought so you can live in a free country - , and thank you to all the spouses, moms, dads, siblings, and children of those who serve, it is a sacrifice to you too, to be seperated from your loved one! Thank you to all who have served and given the ultlimate sacrifice so we can have freedom you are not forgotten!

Caylee did it! Good job!

Here she is all decked out in her cap and gown for Kindergarten graduation!!

Caylee, you are beautiful and we are proud of you!

Irises!!

One of my coworkers gave me these irises a couple years ago, this is the first year they have bloomed and they are gorgeous! Isn't that a great color?

I know some people think us "flower" people are crazy, but they are also the people so wrapped up in what they are doing that they don't take time to notice the beauty around them. Boy are they missing it! God did a GREAT job, and when He finished He said "It is good!" and I agree - it is sooo good. I hope you take time to notice the flowers and trees, the birds doing their spring rituals, the butterflys and go out and enjoy it, it will soon be hot and we will be complaining about that.

We have buffalo knats here again this spring and they are terrible - they are attracted by the carbon dioxide that we and other animals exhale - so they are in your face and they bite everywhere. Last year they killed multitudes of chickens and were harmful to other small animals as they block their airways. For $1.67 at Walmart you can buy a mosquito net that goes over your head, I bought 3, they look a little silly, but it keeps them out of your nose, ears and eyes. They say vanilla repels them, I don't know about that.

Go outside, enjoy - have a good Thursday!

Pictures by the all famous Christopher

Cousins! Tania and her kids! This completes our "blue jeans and white shirt" family pics, too bad Johnny could not have been there to participate! Scroll down and look at all the "blue jean" pics on the left side.

Boy do I have good looking kids and grandkids!!

More family pics to come....

And who could believe that anyone but God could create this?!

Can you tell I am really taken with the Rhodendrums this year, it is such a nice contrast to the hostas too. That is just beautiful!!!

Africa in '09

Well - it appears this is not the time for us to go to Africa. We just could not coordinate dates and times, so..... we will wait. The next time that we could coordinate with the engagement team and the missiorary that would assist us is February of next year. So pray with us for that time, I talked to Marie (the 85 year old woman who went last year) today and she said maybe she would be able to go then! That would be great! I will keep you posted.... until then let's all be a light to the people around us to show forth Christ. You know the world has such a watered down version of Christians, we are supposed to be politically correct, not say Jesus, be willing to water down our faith so that we don't offend anyone, blah blah blah.. Jesus did not water down anything, His goal was to show people who His Father was, the one and ONLY TRUE God, and to let people know there is only ONE way to God - Jesus said "I am the way, the truth and the life, NO ONE comes to the Father, but by Me." That says it all, Jesus's death, burial and ressurection, accepted by faith (not anything we can do), as we confess our sin and trust Him. That is how you get to heaven. Hope you are on your way, if not ask someone who knows Him, they will be eager to share Him with you and tell you what He has done for them. Remember the Sunday School song - This Little Light of Mine - I'm going to let it shine, this little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine! Let's get a real glow going!

I'm done! Here's the tour...

This is the southside of the house, irises, rosebush sundrops, mums, bee balm, blackeyed susans, purple coneflower, gladiolas, and some annual seedlings - marigolds, zinnias , sunflowers and dahlias

The berm out front - south east corner of the lot, purple cone flowers, peonies, butterfly bush, stella d'oro day lilies, russian sage, mums, irises, and I always add the annual lantana - I just love them South west corner of the house, climbing rose bush, lilies, creeping phlox, miniature fox glove and a bit of yarrow, all around a forsythia bush and if you look close you'll see some self-planted hollyhocks against the house

south east corner of the house, a beautiful light pink clematis, phlox, mum, monkshood, blackeyed susan, purple coneflower, pastel yarrow, hydrangea and some annual marigold and dahlia oops added this twice north west corner of the house, creeping phlox, azalea shrub, viburnum shrub, hostas, daylilies and annual impatiens northside, several different hosta, astilbe, fern, variegated solomons seal a forsythia shrub and annual impatiens

East fence bed, asters, phlox, clematis, russian sage, lilacs, lavendar, daisies, irises, spirea, a white flowering dogwood tree and some hollyhocks

Our poor tree, this bed used to be a shade bed, that is why I put this picture in, this is the result of the icestorm last December, hopefully the tree will survive and I hope the plants will too! Poppies, lungwort, columbine, rhododendrum, astilbe, hosta, monkshood, variegated solomons seal I added this bench to this bed with a lake superior stone path, ladies mantle, hydrangea, hosta, sundrops, blackeyed susans, purple cone flower, obedience plant and a giant 6 ft tall, yellow flowered plant that looks like a chrysanthemum and I don't know the name. I showed you the bed on the east side of the house and the fish fountain bed also on the east side, that's what I have been doing !

A few shots from my garden this morning

Not a bad place for a nap.

All the perenials in this bed with the exception of the bleeding heart were just transplanted last week. I am doing spring cleaning in my flower beds and have filled up many visitor car trunks with the excess. A joy to them and a joy to me. I just can't dig them up and let them die, so I have invited many gardener friends to come and enjoy. A friend up the street literally filled her trunk, back seat, floor boards and passenger seat in her car with: black eyed susans, purple conflower, variegated solomons seal, Missouri primsrose, phlox, coumbine, ferns, asters, astilbe, stella d'oro day lilys, hosta and I am sure others I have forgotten to mention. She has a brand new garden and I think we about filled it!!!

Columbines gone wild, they are spreading like wild fire! And don't those crazy blue bottles look pretty in the sun.

Sensationn lilacs, you trade some of the fragrance for the colors, but it is worth it!

The dew drops on this Ladies Mantle look like diamonds dotting the leafs edge (click on the picture to enlarge it).

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We had a very rainy weekend about 1.5 inches and very chilly, the skies cleared about 7:00pm on Mothers day to give us a little sun, we enjoyed it as we drove to Dairy Queen for ice cream, I was very bad, I a hot fudge oreo brownie earthquake -mmmmmmmm! I have one last flower bed to work on - hopefully I will get it finished today - then I will sit back and watch the show! Hope you have a good Monday - I plan to!

Happy Mothers Day in heaven Mom.

Pictures of my mom and her family 18 years ago I spent my last mother's day with my Mom. She was battling breast cancer, she had a mastectomy about 10 years earlier, had went through chemo and then here it was 10 years later and it returned in her bones. She was staying with my Aunt Marge in Cleveland, Ohio, where she was receiving treatment at Cleveland Clinic. Several of my siblings came from Michigan and we met there to spend the day with her.

I have many memories of my mom, she equipped me with the basics that have stood the test of time....

Mind your own business

Treat other people the way you want to be treated

Work hard (she was a good example)

Endure through the hard times

Family is most important

Looks don't matter

Think the best of people (even if they don't live up to it)

God is real

I would not say I had the closest relationship with my mom, I have 5 siblings and they would all fight to say they did, and it would bee true. My mom and I had a difficult relationship, I always knew she loved me, but many times I thought she did not understand me and was not even sure she liked me, but I knew she loved me, she was a great mom. She had a difficult life, her parents came over from Sicily through Ellis Island as teens. They married in Cleveland Ohio, started a home and had 8 children. 1 died as a toddler, all my moms siblings married Italians and remained in Cleveland. My mom was the baby, her mother died when she was 11 and her father died a couple weeks before her wedding. She married a German, she always said she married him because he threatened suicide if she didn't! She came from a family of screaming Italians, where family was what counted, and children were a blessing......my dad came from an affluent family, his father was an engineer that designed bridges. They were very stoic people and children were to be seen and not heard. You can already guess the problems. Well 6 children and 30+ years later they divorced.

My dad loved the upper peninsula of Michigan, his grandparents had a cabin there and he would spend summers there as a child. His goal was to live there, the problem was there was no way to suppport his family. He never gave up, and we did live there. My moms life was hard.... alot of hard work, a difficult marraige, a long way from her family, but she endured, and in that taught us all valuable lessons.

She was loved by all that knew her, she always had the coffee pot on and always had another place at the table. She had an antique shop and people would come in just to spend time with her, she was a very gracious lady. She would always take up for the underdog. I am sure we would all be surprised to know her many acts of kindness that she did without anyones knowledge, just because it was the right thing to do and she could.

When she was mad you did not want to be near... she smoked all her life and as kids we knew if she was biting the end of her cigarette we were in trouble!!! And she could run, even if she was pregnant, I found that out the hard way! I have a million memories I could share and my siblings maybe will add them to this, but the bottom line was she loved her family.

She died May 29th, 1989 in the intensive care unit at Marquette General Hospital, surrounded by her children. Her last words were "Lord Jesus, this is enough" and she took her last breath and woke up in heaven. I'll see you there Mom - I love you!

The flower beds are filling up!

East fence garden today The seedlings, many are in the ground, and many are in pots, as you can see many are still waiting to be put in their homes, I will start them earlier next year, but it has worked out well for this year. oops I added this picture twice and I can't seem to remove it!

White bleeding heart Spring boquet from my yard; White Dogwood Tree, Crab Apple blossoms, Viburnum (the sweetest smell ever), Sensation Lilacs, variegated Solomons Seal, and Ferns This was about 1 week and 1/2 ago as you can see from the first picture the beds are filling up!

Documents found...

Well yesterday I had a very productive day in my flower beds, I worked outside from 7:00 in the morning until 8:00 at night!! A good way for me to work off my nervous energy. About 4:00 yesterday our documents arrived in Washington DC - I was talking to the Travel Document agent when he checked the mail - and there it was!! Obviously nothing could be done in time for us to leave today. Our flights had to be cancelled, and we will start over again. I will let you know when the new dates are! Our goal was to show forth Christ to the people in those small villages of Africa, that is still our goal, we will do it in the Lord's time.

Africa postponed...

Well it appears we will not leave for Africa tomorrow, our travel documents, including our passports have been lost in the mail - our prayer is they will be returned to us, but at this point it will be too late for our departure tomorrow. I am dissappointed, but I can only believe the Lord has worked this out for us to go at a better date. I will keep you all posted.

What is a friend?

It's a funny thing about friendship, you know, I have some friends that I have had for more than 30 years, that I may not see in years at a time, but when we meet up again it is like we never parted. Other people I would consider a friend and they are distant. My definition of a true friend is someone who loves you, warts and all. They don't change their mind because you make a choice different from theirs, they don't change their mind because you take a different path in life, they don't change their mind because you make a mistake, or you totally blow it, they just love you through it all. That does not mean they condone your wrong doing, or they agree with all your choices, it just means they love you in spite of it all. Our divine example is the love of Christ, we have nothing good in ourselves, we are self centered, selfish, egotistical people, but He chooses to love us no matter what, if we are His friend. Peter was hot tempered and quick to act, Jesus had to clean up after him on occasion when he made a mistake, but Jesus still loved him, Thomas who doubted Jesus and Jesus was just patient with him, and still loved him. Few disciples remained close to Jesus through His trial and crucifixtion, because they were afraid for their lives, but He continued to love them all (except Judas who was not his true friend, but only looking for personal gain). Jesus just loved them, warts and all, different personalities, but He loved them. That's a true friend. I pray in my life my friends will say I was a true friend, and I thank God for my true friends, some of them are my family members, isn't that nice! I hope today as you read this you are encouraged to be a good friend - call a friend today , let them know you are thinking of them and appreciate their friendship.

Happy Birthday Toni Jo!

Happy Birthday Antoinette Josephine Terzaghi or Toni Jo as we call her, she is the little one on the left in the first picture and in the middle on the bottom pic. This is my baby sister, she is 47 years old today! The top picture is me , my older sister Micki, our Mom, Toni and my brother Al, my Oldest sister Sandy and my baby brother John are missing from the picture. The bottom picture is Micki, Toni and me just a couple years ago. We haven't aged toooooooo bad! Toni I pray you have a great day, I love you, Happy Birthday!