Irises in bloom

I wanted to share some photos of the irises that are blooming this week, they're just getting started here.  The weekend was sunny and glorious, a bit on the humid side for those of us who were roofing.  Cory and Scott finished the back half of the barn roof and have ordered more shingles for the front portion.  This will require building a more elaborate scaffolding to protect the Mother's Day Azaleas from damage.

We had a nice picnic with friends who just put in a lovely pool in their backyard, a bit warmer than the lake would be for swimming.  They have bluebirds nesting in their field, so they were fun to watch, such a brilliant blue coloring.

Cory is working for his grandfather tomorrow on his native plant collection at the arboretum.  And he has a house painting job lined up with the Alben's for later in June.  Scott has planted lots of seeds in the "meadow garden", so hopefully it will be more fruitful than last summer.

OK, so I haven't figured out how to place the photos where I want them, but at least they are included.  You will see photos of the poppies, the bathroom project and the roofing project and the iris.   Haven't sorted out how the photo labeling process works either, but we'll keep at it.

I want to try to post our book selection for the next year:

TITLE	AUTHOR
“Strength in What Remains”	Tracy Kidder
“Little Bee”	Chris Cleave
“Gone with the Wind”	Margaret Mitchell
“Isaac’s Storm”	Erik Larson
“Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”	Rebecca Skloot
“Too Close to the Falls”	Catherine Gildiner
“Zookeeper’s Wife: A War Story”	Diane Ackerman
“What the Dog Saw”	Malcolm Gladwell
“Unless”	Carol Shields
“Cleopatra – A Life”	Stacy Schiff
Select books	xxxxxxxx
“Singular Woman”	Janny Scott

Flowers

Hepatica

 The Year in Flowers



We are just finishing up the first frenzy of blooming flowers in the yard- Hepatica and Colts Foot lead the wildflower season  and the first batch of azaleas and early rhododendrons have peaked and gone.  The white (Alba) azaleas are the first out - looking a lot like cotton in the woods in the twilight - followed by the PJM's, then Silver Pink, Olga, and the Korean's. We decided to try to capture every flower at Miller Road this year and put together a DVD that captures them all - there are way more flowering things in this yard than I would have guessed - here you will only see a small sample. My dad put in many PJM and Olga's and cloned many of the Korean's so they tend to dominate the landscape wide view, but the intersticies are loaded with a variety of other shrubs, bulbs, and perennials.  Long gone are the trout lilies, glory in the snow, bloodroot, daffodils, epidiumium, shad and dutchmans britches. The trilliums and lungwort are on their last legs, but the bleeding hearts are persisting valiantly. Our field of lily the valley is in full bloom - coinciding with the first wave of mosquitos - the broad leaf rhododendrons cannot be far behind.

Azalea Alba

Olga

PJM

Wendy to K!

 Spring has sprung out here in Kalamazoo, although most days you wouldn't know it with all the cold and rainy weather. Fortunately, Mom brought some sunshine and warmth with her when she came out for my dance recital last week. She got in later than expected on Thursday due to weather complications and being the savvy woman she is, hitched a ride with a K College student who was picking up prospective students at the Kalamazoo airport. My boss said "What a K mom thing to do!" All three performances went really well, and it was wonderful to have Mom here. We had some wonderful meals downtown and she cooked food for me and Allyson, my roommate, which is always nice :) On Friday, one of the nicest days, we had the good fortune to stumble upon baby sheep on the quad! A kind mom had brought the newborns to campus so that her daughter who had been unable to go home for Easter could see them. The one I am holding is called "Lion" his twin is named "Dandy", they are inseparable, and most adorable.

 I was in four dances this year. I choreographed one, and co-choreographed another one for the Junior class. We did a medley of songs that were popular around the world during our time abroad, and it turned out really well. Good fun was had by all. The picture below is from the dance Dwight, my boyfriend's housemate, choreographed. You'll notice how he kindly chose thick sweaters as the costume...I almost had a heat stroke wearing it and trying to dance under hot lights. After the show ended Mom came and stayed with me and Allyson in our apartment. She bravely put up with our slovenly ways and took out our trash and recycling, did our dishes as well as hung up my clothing. Old habits die hard, but do not go unappreciated. Her last night here we went out to our favorite restaurant, Food Dance, which has a selection of locally grown food and is most delicious. Zak and Allyson came along and we stuffed ourselves happily. The next morning I dropped Mom off at the airport and then got back to the grind of school work. Who knew there was so much work in college? I don't think my university in Chile got the message.

Wishing you all a warm and happy Mother's day. Thinking of you always.

Mother's Day 2011

This will be a site that you can check out what's happening at our houses.  The kids will be able to contribute text and photos as well.  We'll try to update weekly on Mondays.  Despite the cool weather the flowers are blooming.  We have new fruit trees in the "orchard", a dwarf apple and a peach.  Next year we'll be adding a couple of pear trees.  Be on the look out for Luna and Larry's Coconut Bliss ice "cream" made from coconut milk without soy or cow's milk.  The shower area is being insulated in preparation for tub placement and tiling (right after we order the tile).  Looking forward to dinner with Jude and friends on Saturday.  Two more weeks to finish up my Breast Cancer course.  Scott and Cory finish up next week.  Working on plans for a trip to the Lake District in September for Scott and I. Much excitement at our house on Sunday when an English Sparrow emptied the birdhouse of it's nest and Bluebird egg!  While Scott was scaring off the sparrow with his beebe gun (who knew he had one?) a wren moved in and the Bluebird was left without recourse.  Cory reports that he got an 81 on his exam last week, 31 points higher than class average!  Probably won't be any news from him until he emerges from finals week.
Happy Mother's Day!