Marjie…what a beautiful family, and I know you’ve got a lot more…..

Halley Belated Mother’s Day to everyone. Just as Rred mentioned for inclusion. It takes a village, people.

Haha…..get it?

Duckie, you are so creative! How in the world do you keep coming up with such great ideas?

jay, I totally agree. IMO it's so different from 20-25 years ago. The "me, me, me" and entitlement. And social media fuels it.

I've been through several power outages, some 10-14 days. We dealt with it and lived. We actually had some fun with it. I remember we were cooking eggs, bacon and coffee on our grill. Our neighbor came over because he smelled it and couldn't believe it.

Remember when we laughed when older people complained that the world was going to H? Now we're complaining. Because it is. Not that it wasn't during the last generation, it's just that we seem to be accelerating in the H direction. A few things are better, like TV and civil rights. It feels like most things are in the never-coming-back dwindle, like nature preservation and product quality. I work with younger people and a shadow hangs over them. I hope that humanity gets it together, however that is.

My irises are optimistic and so shall I be!

stryker: Wow! Just Wow! Vincent Van G would be so inclined to grab a paint brush!

Kcooz, coffee on a grill? Interesting. Jay, you are on to something. We know way too much in that we know all about catastrophes everywhere and think about them all the time - or some people do. At the same time, social media has dumbest down to where I only know two phone numbers - mine and my husband's. Do not know phone numbers for anybody else at all.

Coffee on grill is a great adventure. If it tasted good I would be surprised, but that's not even the point. The point is that you take what life gives you and are not overwhelmed by it. You make a joke of it or you try to change it or you laugh at it or you simply are glad that you are with those you love as you go through it together, whether it is good or bad.

jay is right, and so is stryker. I can come up with quite a few reasons but like rred, I'll stop here.

The irises are an impressionist's dream, I agree, especially with the colours of the other flowers surrounding them.

I went to Bostons MFA yesterday with my old college roommate, we spent the most time in the impressionist room. They have quite a few Monet’s.

Ladma, I’d be doing the same. When hubby and I went to the art institute in Chicago I got to see my favorite Renoir in real life. A cheap, framed print hangs in the computer room/office. Got a coffee mug so I could wake up with it and everyone knew it was mine….hands off!

Come to think of it, my parents gripped about similar but especially the cost of things, and we’re doing the same.

There was another reason I wanted a fire pit and OB made it doable. If I ever ran out of gas for the grill there’s an attachment to slap a cooking grill on the pit. I’ve watched him use it a few times so I know how it’s done.

Last night I pulled the lawn tractor into the shed with nobody around….feeling empowered. Next time it needs cut I can do it myself. Dad wouldn’t let me cut the grass growing up…. I think I drove a little too fast. Push mowed when I lived on my own where I ran with it so as not to run out of gas when it was almost done. I still have that push mower.

Marjie, the same with phone numbers. I have the kids’ written down and stuck in my wallet.

Yeah, people are overwhelmed. I’ve stayed away from the news, and FB pretty much, since hubby passed. I let other people tell me the news, personal or otherwise. Never been happier.

Yep, I can’t watch the news. I always wind up say, “ WTH?” My mom would always say, “ I’ve lived too long, I don’t understand this world.”

Today is a VERY WINDY morning. Our deck chairs have blown around to the of our deck. I was afraid they would blow over the railing. I made OH go out and bring them to the corner for safety. We have lost 3 tables in the past. One crashed my friend’s sunroof of her van parked 8 floors below.😜 So I get paranoid when this wind is over 20 mph. Right now it’s 30 with gusts of 40 mph.

Glassy, bungee cord them to the railings. Jay, in Maine, we had so much flooding this winter , and high wind wind events. People without power in freezing conditions. Federal disasters declared. But not a lot of whining. I think it is accepted as a fact of life…and people who don’t want to deal move south!

GLS I didn't hear about any storms coming your way but I I only watch the Nightly News and sometimes I'm busy when I'm doing that like cooking still when I rather be at the table eating that can happen but you probably keep tabs on the forecast better to know about some storms especially since you don't like it too windy

Back to the lake to pick up the boat and the Mother's Day gift my daughter ordered me (and we weren't here to accept delivery for.)

My mom's grandma's peonies are beginning to bloom now. And her lilies-of-the-valley. Hi Mom!

I just spent an hour washing the grunge off my polywood rockers. They still looked terrible. Mr got out the power washer, and in 5 minutes, they looked amazing. Power wash next year!
I winter overed a few geraniums, I just put them outside last week, to harden them off. Today is 80 and sunny, and a few of them got sunburned. Do I just trim them back, fertilized and pray?

I would!

Yes, on the geraniums.

I cut mine back to stumps with very few leaves on them. They are recovering nicely, and beginning to show signs of new growth already! It's only been a couple weeks. I did fertilize them with some MiracleGro spikes before I put them outside, and I only hardened them off for a few days. Survival of the fittest for me. If they croak I have time to replace them still.

These are my Bolton Geranuims, that are an antique variety, that you can only get from the historical society sale, the Saturday after Mother’s Day, so I have 4 days to decide!

I can’t remember if I told you guys I lost my 20 year old evergreen clematis. Covered two arbors, 18+ feet long. The ice storm we had killed it. Today our garden helper Simon came and cut it down. Filled OH’s pickup truck heaping, plus two city yard debris carts. Now to refurb the arbors and plant anew.

Those are so pretty RRed. I got that color of peonies from OH’s mom, and planted them at the patio home in MO.

NWDuck, that is quite the evergreen clematis!

Yes, move down south, and get a whole other kind of storms!🥵💨🌬🌩⛈🌊🌫🌪🌈

Duckie, that is just heartbreaking... what a loss. (hugs) I know how that feels.

At least you didn't need one of those rollaway bins, like Jenna Phipps has had to order... LOL

I went and picked up the Mother's Day plant my daughter ordered me. It's a hoya. Wish me luck. I've killed two so far in my life. I don't have a real spot for them in wintertime. Maybe downstairs where the geraniums lived? It'll be fine here this summer tho. It's the pink painted one in the right side planter, next to the Chinese money plant that I am trying to keep alive, and the new baby spider plant I picked up off the table from my aunt's celebration of life.

What really caught my eye there today, tho, was this swiss cheese philodendron. ROFL

Had to have her, too.

She is luscious. LOL I named her Lois.

I also got some spireas to put in the "fern" bed of the Tree House. I was successful with one tester one two years ago, so I am gonna try a few more in there. The deer haven't decimated the one yet, so... I couldn't decide what I wanted, so I got one each of three different varietals... And two starts of "Flame Grass" for helping to hide the utility boxes here...

Duckie, that so sad about your clematis! My perennial one struggles, I think rabbits nibble on it.
Rred,
Deer don’t touch my spireas, yours might be safe

137,000 comments. Really? At this point who cares?

I care.

Me too.

I care too Missy Bee!

Ugly personalities don’t belong here!

Well, here's someone who doesn't get how this 10 year thread evolved. Mores the pity.

Missy Bee, that’s amazing, isn’t it? And so much of it has had to do with renovating and/or redecorating existing homes, making changes and improvements in the landscapes and gardens of these homes, finding the plusses in new locations after a move, and just supporting online friends who are trying to make their homes and family activities the best they can be. Kind of what Houzz.com was intended to be all along. 🪴

Luscious Lois, great! She is going to live inside, no?

Sorry about the clematis, duckie. The house must look and feel a bit barren without it.

I don’t know much about evergreen clematis in the NW, but around here they will grow back from the roots. Hoyas like good light and drainage….and those long, leafless tendrils are flower stalks. Their flower looks far too pretty to belong to the plant! Do you have enough light in your new bathroom for Phil, Rred?she would look so cool in there. Spirea can be invasive, I spend quite a bit of time removing them from my woods. In descending order of nuisance at my house, Japanese knotweed, oriental bittersweet, multiflora rose, Russian olive, comfrey, then spirea. It does not choke others, it does not hurt me….
Speaking of Jenna Phipps, my 19 year old niece is also obsessed. I could not think of a better “real” role model. But also, it makes us “hip” and “cool”, right?
Missy Bee, we all have free will, if this thread does not interest you, don’t click on it. But leaving a comment, even a negative one, just makes it look even better!

So far,we haven’t had to deal with knotweed, but bittersweet and now, garlic mustard are the worse offenders. Beauty bush spews out babies like crazy, but they are easy to pull.

The calm after the storm!

We never had a problem with our Golden Spirea. And we just cut it back about every 3-5 yrs like we did the lilacs and other woody shrubs.

Stunning colour on that fern leaf peony. Yum!

Hummers are slowly arriving. Jays are cranking up. Bugs are increasing. News…nope…I get a newspaper and that is enough.

Purchased my summer container plants though I cannot put them out. If you snooze you lose around here. The stuff flies off the shelves.

Missy Bee…ummm…obviously, everyone here, cares. But if this isn’t your cup of tea, feel free to move on.

Yeah. What they all said up there.

It took me a while to even feel like I could say anything, so thanks for chiming in, you all.

Keep on truckin'. That's my motto. Serves me pretty well, mostly. It applies here.

Otherhalf has Lyme disease again. Doxycycline and stay out of the woods. This time, doctor's orders.

It's raining. I have been cleaning blinds and windows. The nitty gritty of keeping a house... Somebody's gotta do it.

NW I second that comment about the clematis. I would be very surprised if it doesn’t come back from the roots.

My clematis would totally come back if cut back. It may not bloom, but that is a great root system in there, and it will claw itself back to life if given time. Sort of like me. LOL

The philo, Lois, will certainly love the spa bath at home, which will be her new home when summer is over. The hoya will no doubt succumb to winter blahs, unless I invest in a grow light/shelf system. I have no luck with those plants but I'm willing to try again.

Time for a clematis joke. It's worth repeating, imo. LOL

OMG Dying laughing.

Jenn's new video dropped today, as usual on Wednesday. Tonight I managed to get OH hooked, He saw the first episode, the second episode, skipped to the pool, and on to today's. This pair has sort of supernatural physical powers. The work they do is backbreaking, in my view.

Sitting here laughing out loud. This is the best sports story in a long time... scroll down for the video - and scroll further for the 'ending'. 😄🦝

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/raccoon-field-stops-play-mls-014643620.html

Lol… that’s probably auto correct? Looks like the kind of thing it would do.
Look at this vintage number. It’s a Tonka that is circa 1994. I’m giving it away on the buy nothing Facebook site. I posted that I’m not giving it away to the first person who wants it; they have to tell me what they’re going to do with it. Currently the winner is a woman with two little girls age 3 and five and they run a construction business. Her husband is certified to work with big machinery like excavators… and he’s going to train his girls when they get old enough. And of course because their dad runs big machines the two little girls are seriously into it. The mom is going to re-paint the Tonka. You probably think I’m nuts… but I’ve had a hard time giving this up. It’s sat around in my garage for years as part of the beach toys. Works fine, amazingly.

LOL Jay! That raccoon was hauling! Poor thing... I sort of felt sorry for it. Then I wondered how they dealt with it after trapping it under the trash can. I have questions!

The Tonka is very much loved and will continue to get loved, Lia. New paint will be amazing! I hope she sends you photos! :)

LOL, I thought I was the only one that felt sorry for the raccoon. Poor thing had no where to go.

You all are going to think I have nothing to do except find things that make me laugh on the internet today. That's OK. Laughing is good. Here's a photo I just saw of the British royals from an occasion today followed by someone's comment. The comment made me smile...

The comment:

"Reminds me when Carol Burnett ripped down the curtains in the gone with the wind skit in the 70s".

😊

Omg lol Jay, I so remember that. The green curtains and the rod was still in!!!! 😂We used to laugh at that show so hard!!! And Sorrryyyy!!!! 😆

“ I saw them in the window, and I I just had to have them” or something like that. It was a classic.

Jay, that’s what I thought too when I saw that picture…😆