Sunday, May 12 "Mother's Day"

Lily's family birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. May 7

Luke's new cast!

Since my last post, several events of note have occurred.  During Lily's birthday party, Luke fell off the back of Lily's car and broke his elbow so you will notice he had a splint on during the Chuck E Cheese party.  They went to a pediatric orthopedic doctor to have that confirmed and to get a more permanent cast.  Hopefully, it may come off before we leave for Sweden.  Matt's grandfather, who just turned 93, passed away Sunday evening. Condolences to his family.

Andy and I have been frantically trying to get our yard under control.  I can't believe how tall the grass  got in the 6 days that we were gone. We did get the grass mowed, finally and the fish pond got cleaned Friday morning.  Yesterday I got one of my flower beds mulched and today Andy sprayed the grass in the sidewalk.  We are getting there.

Although it was rather cold for a Mother's Day, the sun did make an appearance and I have some lovely birds showing up at my feeders this year.  I have several Baltimore Orioles that have been busily eating the oranges that I offer and they have been seen sipping from my humming bird feeders as well.  The hummers are back as well as a few of our barn swallows.  Not as many as usual so I am hoping they will be getting here soon and something hasn't happened to them.  I also have a pair of young rose-breasted grosbeaks visiting my feeder.  It would be nice if they would stay to nest here.  I visited my mom today and we walked over to see Dad who is in the memory unit next door.  Mom seemed pretty good but her short term memory is almost non-existent. 

Male Baltimore Oriole

Male Rose-breasted grosbeak

Male Red-winged blackbird

The male and female (right) orioles

Male grosbeak (left), female on the right

Mother's Day is a day of reflection for those of us whose children are grown.  I couldn't help but notice how quiet the house was today, especially since we just spent several days with Trish and her house is only quiet after both kids have fallen asleep.  Some may reflect on mothers and grandmothers that have passed on leaving pleasant memories in their place.  I was thinking today about how Dad and I would always walk back to the woods on Mother's Day and would pick wild flowers to take up to Mom.  But the real treat would be if we found some morels (mushrooms) to place in the center of the bouquet.  Now that was a tasty treat to be sure! HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Andy with his mom, last week

My mom, 4 generations