crazy may

Me, Brian and my mom last weekend...yes, all bundled up. We were freezing and couldn't wait to get to our car when this picture was taken. And look at those gray skies. That's how it's been most of this month ~ with a ton of rain. I saw on a news site the other day that last year at this time, 88% of the farmer's crops were planted. This year, only 11%. I feel bad for the farmers, but also for us as consumers. Because you know it's going to hit our pocketbook.

Despite the cold, gloomy weather, the three of us had a good time at an outdoor spring market, then going out to lunch. It was the day before Mother's Day, so this was our "celebration". The actual day of Mother's Day was low-key for me, which is how I like it. We met up with Tim later in the day to have soup and salad at Panera and just sit and talk a bit. I've never been the type of person who likes to get dressed up and go somewhere fancy, especially on a holiday. I think this day is over-rated anyway...and can also be painful for a lot of women. There are those of us, such as myself, who have lost a child, who have lost their mother, who don't have a good relationship with their mother, who haven't been able to have a child, have chosen not to have a child, or even have a toxic relationship with their child.

On the occasional rare day this month that we've had sunshine, I've been going around with my camera taking photos of all the beautiful blooms. These are Benjamin Franklin daffodils in my neighbor-friend's yard.

Her crab apple tree was also budding...and now is in full bloom with gorgeous white flowers. I love how this tree changes like that.

After yesterday's rain, my lilacs burst into bloom. I wish you could smell them!

Bishop's Cap is a woodland plant that loves this cool, damp weather. Aren't those teeny white flowers on it amazing? 

Earlier in the week when we had a day of sunshine, I headed to a nearby nursery to see what plants they had. I came home with most of this mass. (That's lettuce sprouting in the planter.) I'm going to make Tim a planter with the red geraniums and trailing ivy for his apartment balcony. I need to make large pots of flowers for the porch and patio, as well as small pots to tuck here and there. And then I still need to decide what to do with Zippo's memorial garden and a circular garden in the back yard. So this is just a dent. I won't be getting any planting done this weekend because of ~ you guessed it ~ more rain. If we have flowers planted by Memorial Day this year, it'll be a miracle.

Another perk of sunny days...beautiful sunsets on the nearby lake.

And having a glass of wine on the patio in the evening.

Have a great weekend!

full weekend

Ever hear anyone say they were glad it was Monday? Probably not, but that's how I'm feeling today. Granted, I have a busy week ahead of me, but I'm almost glad to be back to my regular routine.

I thought Friday was going to be a good day. We had tree trimmers coming out here to trim our neighbor's trees that overhang both sides of our property. I don't want to get into too many specifics because I don't like to dwell on negative crap, but basically our nasty neighbor to our south had a conniption fit and was threatening both me and the tree trimmers. (We had even sent her a certified letter ahead of time, letting her know what was going to be done - back to her property line. And she signed for the letter, so she knew what was coming.) After the tree trimmers left, I went to the police station and talked to an officer about what was going on, though he said it becomes a civil matter. The whole thing was very stressful.

Enough of that...onto a much better day: Saturday. Brian and I decided to "get the hell out of Dodge" and headed to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. 

We spent a few hours walking around, going in and out of shops, and stopping for lunch. It was cool and windy by the lake in the morning (as evidenced by the waves above and my hair below), but the winds calmed down and the sun came out in the afternoon.

If you walk around on the side streets of the shopping district, you'll find most shops are in beautiful old homes, like this one.

This house wasn't a store - it belongs to the historical society - but I love its cottagey charm.

Look at that porch! I told Brian I want a house in the country like this. 

No. Close. Neighbors. ;-)

We found a new shop where the chalkboard sign outside said, "Like a live etsy shop!" Sounded interesting enough to draw us in. Inside, there were a bunch of different consigned booths. Everything from home decor...

to pottery...

to custom jewelry.

We also wandered into a few antique shops, but most of the stuff was over-priced. We weren't surprised - Lake Geneva is an expensive, touristy town.

I loved this old, hand-stitched double quilt. It was in immaculate condition. The shop owner was kind enough to unfold it for me and let me take photos.

It actually wasn't priced too bad - $145. But I have nowhere to put it. Look at that detail on the underside!

The one thing I ended up purchasing was this hand-crocheted runner. I'll show you the whole thing another time. This is just a teaser photo. Isn't it lovely? The shop was running a 15% off Mother's Day deal, so I got a great price on it.

One of our favorite stores in Lake Geneva was this bookstore - The Breadloaf Bookshop. It used to be in a beautiful old white house on a corner across from the lake. We thought it had gone out of business several years ago, as when we were up there one time, the shop was gone. Imagine our delight when we were walking around and spied this door on the side of a used-to-be church building!

It was smaller than the old store, but still interesting to look around. Though we didn't get much of a chance because the shop owner was way too chatty. Perhaps that's why we were the only ones in there! 

I bought a book just to get the shop owner occupied with a transaction instead of nonstop chatter, though I do like supporting independent bookshops. We were then able to make our hasty exit.

When we'd had enough of Lake Geneva, we got in the car and headed a little further north to check out The Elegant Farmer.

Inside the store, we ended up getting some food items and then we checked out the greenhouse. I wasn't ready to purchase annuals just yet, but we did get some herbs for our herb garden, tomato plants and Kentucky pole bean plants.

Sunday was a gorgeous day. My wonderful husband worked out in the yard for eight hours. He dug out more garden space, dug out invasive plants, dug out weeds, trimmed bushes, and planted a peony bush, Bluebells, and the Celadine Poppy and Bishop's Cap plants I got at the native plant sale last week. Tim weeded the herb garden and planted sage, oregano and parsley. Good thing I have my guys - I still can't crouch all the way down nor kneel just yet. (Still healing from meniscus surgery.)

You can see the peony plant in the foreground; then my clematis (which is so healthy and growing like crazy!) and the newly dug garden space. We'll plant the tomatoes and pole beans there.

Brian got the ladder out of the garage and set it up in its usual spot; then I planted basil and dill in pots and put them on the ladder, along with a pot of pansies and the vintage metal carrier that I got at the antique shop last week.

This isn't the complete look with the ladder, but it's a start.

Bishop's Cap...

Celadine Poppy...

We had a pretty little visitor on the patio, too.

Of course, it was also Mother's Day - one of those holidays I have mixed emotions about, especially with the loss of Phil even more apparent. For dinner,  Brian barbequed bratwurst that we had gotten in Wisconsin, plus a grill basket of mixed veggies. This gift was in the card from Tim. Isn't that great? I can't wait to work with him on a header design for my blog.

The one mishap during the day was when I slammed my pinky toe into the leg of a nightstand. I can't tell you how many times I've smashed my toes on furniture, but this time was different...soon after my klutzy encounter, I noticed the toe was really swollen. I iced it, but a few hours later, it started turning purple on the inside and outside of the toe. I have a feeling I fractured it. 

Happy Monday, indeed! 

joy, pride, sorrow ~ all part of weekend celebrations

What a joyous occasion we celebrated Saturday evening: Tim's BFA Art Show!

Tim had three of his photography pieces in the show. Here's his artist statement.

Tim had framed his work with glass, so I apologize for the glare. I wish you could see these pieces in person. My phone camera doesn't even begin to capture the beauty in his amazing work.

To say that I am proud of my son is an understatement. He is talented, smart, hard-working, and most of all, a truly genuine, loving young man. He has overcome some major life obstacles in pursuing his degree. I'll talk more about that next week after his graduation ceremony.

And then Sunday was Mother's Day. I have mixed emotions about this day. While I am grateful to still have my mother on this earth, and I'm a mother myself, Mother's Day is always hard for those of us who have lost a child.

I'm not a big fan of these kinds of holidays anyway. I think they put a lot of pressure and expectation on both sides. 

Yesterday afternoon, out of the blue, I received a private message from a friend in Canada whom I rarely speak to. She's had a messy life and isn't online much. But somehow - on Mother's Day - she thought of me. And took the time to send me a private message to tell me so. I was so touched. She was the only one - besides one of my best friends - that took the time and effort to contact me yesterday.

Backing up a little, on Friday Brian had said that he wanted to go out and pick up a little something for me for Mother's Day. Knowing the chain stores in this area, I told him to please not waste his money on some last-minute piece of cheap jewelry from one of those places. He asked why not and I told him things like that don't mean anything to me. (There's the expectations thing on the other end...men know that their wife and/or mother expect a gift, so they think going out at the last minute and buying something frivolous gives them brownie points.) I hinted that I liked plants and flowers. We'd been talking about sprucing up the area in front of our neighbor's fence - as talked about in my May 2nd post, in case you missed it. A couple of you had suggested a trellis and I had nixed that idea at first because I thought a trellis would have to lean against our neighbor's fence. 

Brian called me from the garden center and asked how I'd like a trellis for the fence area! I laughed and told him a couple of my blogger friends had suggested that. He said he found a metal trellis that was curved. It wouldn't have to lean against the fence. He also picked out a couple of clematis plants. 

I hope these plants do well. I tried growing clematis years ago and it died. This area gets at least six hours of sun every day, plus I've been watering. Rain is moving in tonight and into tomorrow, so no watering from me will be needed.

On Saturday evening before Tim's art show, the three of us met up for dinner with my mom, sister and brother-in-law. I gave my mom her Mother's Day gift then, since I wasn't seeing her on Sunday. Like me, Mom loves succulents and pretty dishes and pottery for use as planters. So I made her a pretty arrangement.

 I lucked out in finding the vintage planter in my newest favorite shop. 

A weekend full of emotions, high and low. Today's a new day and I'm taking time to breathe and find peace in the stillness after the flurry of weekend activity. How about you?

a beautiful home ~ and a quiet Mother's Day

 Yesterday afternoon I drove into Chicago to attend my VFF's (Very First Friend ~ we met when were were barely 4 years old!) girlfriend's dinner. I left my house a little early so that I could do some shopping and sight-seeing in the city, but traffic going down there was worse than anticipated, so I didn't end up with much time to look around. Driving down Clark St. in this certain section of Chicago, I saw so many stores that I would've loved to browse in. I found a parking space, got out of my car, and it was like my head was on a swivel. So many cool looking stores and cafes on corners and good smells coming out of restaurants. This area is definitely on my day trip list. I only had time to go into one store - a huge resale shop where I found some great treasures! I'll save that for another post.

In the meantime, I wanted to share some of my friend's house with you. I've talked about Cin on my blog before and showed some photos of her house, but each time I visit there are different vignettes depending on the season. I love her house. It's warm, inviting, beautiful and charming. Just like she is. By the way, Cin is a professional poet. If you're interested in taking a look at her web site and what she does, click here.

 How I would love to have windows like this in my house! Look closely at the arrangement on the buffet. Cin incorporated her son's Lego creations into the vignette. :-)

The table is beautifully set for our dinner. More details in this room I love: the original light fixture and the built-in china cabinet (little bit showing on the left).

Part of the charming kitchen. There's a chalkboard wall to the right with the door to the basement and then a recessed nook where the fridge is.

Open shelving on the kitchen wall...

Standing in the kitchen looking the other way... great space for Cin's little guy to play while she's preparing a meal. I love the brick floor and the wood ceiling. 

 

It was a quiet day here for Mother's Day. Brian doesn't cook, so instead of making me breakfast, he went to Panera to get me an egg souffle. He texted me to let me know the line was out the door! Poor guy waited in that long line only to find out that the souffles were all gone. He was off to work a couple of hours after that. Tim had to work today too, so the day was spent by myself. It was cold and rainy and just generally yucky today, so I took a long, hot bath, did some yoga, read a little bit, did housework and puttered and organized, then treated myself to Chinese food for dinner. Haven't had that in ages. It was really good, but my tummy felt yucky afterwards. I'm not used to eating heavy, greasy food. After my stomach was settled a bit, I took a walk around my neighborhood for some fresh air and exercise. I also called my mama to wish her a Happy Mother's Day and to have a chat. We'll be seeing her in person later this week.

Mother's Day is hard for a lot of people...for those who have lost a child, such as myself; or have lost their mom; or for those who have lost their wife/mother of their children. A male friend of mine who lost his 36-year old wife about eight years ago to cancer, posted on Facebook yesterday that he hates Mother's Day. When his wife died, she left behind their six small children. On top of it, he also lost his mother to suicide many years ago. So I can totally understand why he feels the way he does. If you're so inclined, click here to read a wonderful article ~ "For Those Who Hurt on Mother's Day".

My beautiful boys...Philip Thomas (forever 21...you can read my dedication to Phil at the top of my page) and Timothy David.