Friday, April 27, 2007

Wacky Friday!!!

Up at 7 AM to finish the wacky-do for Anna; of course Lindsay had to have hers done, too:

Haley was too ill for school but she does have some wacky hair; it just didn't photograph very well. I figure for all of this hair-sectioning, twisting and binding, I get to have some fun. Poor Noodle:

He's a good sport, but I think this photo reveals his struggle to understand how such a sweet dog could be treated so badly... you'll note he's grown a good bit (its that healthy diet of batteries and wallets...) and he's also been clipped way down for the warmer weather. I miss his dreadlocks... Those planters also reveal my plans for the weekend: planting of annual flowers, tomatoes, watermelon and peppers.

Reminiscing
There's been a lot of that here recently and I suppose that's what you should expect as Beth's birthday approaches. My family (minus father on remote assignment in Alaska) lived in little house on North Sherman Drive in Indianapolis in 1976 - 1977. I have so many fond memories of that year: an abundance of cousins and Aunties, baby Lyman (Chip, as he was called in the early days) lying like a little lump on our living room floor, climbing roses along our back fence that seemed hundreds of yards long, Cousin Carol Jean having a challenging third pregnancy with Paul, those two big boys keeping her on her toes all the while, cool Sundays spent in Aunt Mary and Uncle Don's house (we had no air conditioning on Sherman Dr.). I also remember that on the south side of that house, there was a flower bed absolutely choking with lillies-of-the-valley.
My great-grandmother had tons of them, too, around her house in Woodruff Place. I absolutely love them. My MIL made a gift of some plants my first Mother's Day. They died and I was very sad. Last year, I happened upon a bunch lying on someone's desk at work; I asked from where they had come and another co-worker told me she had grown them and that she desperately needed to seperate them and find homes. Ahhhh....

With something very close to glee, I planted them in three places: around Beth's tree, on the east side of my house and in the back yard. As I was painting the girls hair on the deck today I noticed that the latter clump have not only pushed their way up, but there are actually flower buds on them. I could almost cry I am so happy to have my own LOVs. Very sentimental, eh?

I tried very hard to duplicate the roses on the fence from Sherman Dr as well. Unfortunately, not only did we have the very common mold issues but this region is just full of damn Japanese beetles that ate them. I threw in the towel, dug them up and replaced with more hearty, easier care flowering shrubs.
This is not a pointless meander down memory lane, actually. This weekend is to be full of gardening kinds of things. On Tuesday, MIL, Lindsay and myself spent a beautiful morning on the edges of town in garden center picking out annuals and vegetables to plunk in the ground. The nurseries were full of beautiful things, the first shopping rush having not yet happened. Oh my, the damage to budget done... please note these unintended purchases:



Magnolia Jane




I mentioned these recently; I've spent so many springtimes wishing for one of these of my own---and how odd it is to find yourself having grown into a person that longs for their own trees.... Last year I almost purchased one but the nursery I shopped had only fairly large ones. Besides the difficulty of digging a hole to accomodate a large root system there's also cost. They were all in excess of $200 which I just wasn't up for. So I found a much better price on Tuesday and bought one.


There will be one other tree going in this weekend---actually more of a shrub but quite large. Mary bought a Royal Purple Smokebush.

I've often lamented the lack of mature trees in new-construction neighborhoods. After a decade, the trees put in by the developers have grown impressively and make the community very lovely. But its also VERY nice to be able to choose trees for personal reasons. These two join several others:
Southern Magnolia (traditional) in honor of Haley's first birthday
Kanzan Cherry in honor of Anna's first birthday
Royal Star Magnolia in honor of Lindsay's first birthday
Pink Dogwood, in memory of Beth; planted on the first birthday thereafter
The first birthday trees were a joyful way of celebrating the important event. We always made that the central activity of the party and each of the girls really do seem to delight in watching their own trees' growth and blossoming... even planting Beth's tree was lovely. Her family came to help and serendipity also brought us Lyman to share in the moment and work...
Big Happenings
No music again today; I have to run to put in place a rather large surprise for my family. News later.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

How lovely....When you are here in June I have LOV with "roots" to Grandma Dillard and Mary Walker. I could share.....

cousin Carol Jean

KHM said...

ABSOLUTELY!!! Thanks!