Second Day of Re-commit to blogging

The big news today is my retirement from the WLI board.  Having served on the board the last 6 years and serving as President this past year has been an honor...and a time commitment. With the government changes forcing WLI to privatize, this year has been challenging to all of the board members. As today was the annual meeting I presided and then installed the new officers. The current bylaws prescribe term limits so I will be off the board now but want to continue to see the privatization through. My serving has been a benefit to Mike when he has encountered problems.

I am celebrating by playing golf this afternoon with Steve.

Another Try

I really enjoy reading my past posts and feel that I need to make the time to continue this blog. There are so many things going on in my life now that I want to record and this seems to be the place to put it down on "paper". So another try.

So some of the events in the future are a trip to the San Juan Islands in Puget Sound in October to visit with Kathy and Enos. A month in Scottsdale this winter to escape the Ohio winter and a transatlantic cruise from Tampa to Barcelona with a week in Southern France for my birthday trip.

The family is doing well. Jessica is still in Boston working for Cyber Ark and Mike is still in Bowling Green working for the county as a custodian. Jesi and AJ are doing well living in the south end of Toledo near the zoo. AJ just celebrated his 10th birthday. Time certainly flies. He is in the fifth grade at Beverly school and enjoys Leggo club, baseball, and golfing. He became a good swimmer this summer and even jumped off the diving board at Belmont.

My gardening skills continue to improve although the heat of this summer along with the deer and rabbit populations caused some stress. Pictures to follow.

Steve is moving slowly into the "Of Counsel" status and is enjoying his extra free time on the golf course. I am very pleased to have his help around the house too. He has become an excellent omelette maker and is becoming very helpful around the kitchen. I still worry about his re-arranging cupboards with his logic but as long as someone know where things are I guess it will be fine.

Thought for today:
Sometimes the best discoveries are the result of simple observations. Take the time...no make the time to slow down and look around yourself.

June 3, 2016

Garden notes need to be here so I can remember where I am planting things. My birdbath circle has lots of new items that I got off the sad rack last fall. I made a video walk through last fall but still need more location pointers for next year. Steve is growing vegetables this year in a small raised garden.

January 2016 Happy New Year

A new year for new beginnings.

Summertime Baseball

AJ is playing baseball again this summer. We went to a game this week and we got to see some good plays. AJ is hitting the ball much better and his fielding skills have improved too. I took this picture from along first baseline and although it was a foul ball you can see his great form. The ball was coming right at me. You can see it in the photo. Unfortunately his team "New York Yankees" has not had a great season.  This evenings game was close but still a loss.😟 

Back to the Gardens

After almost 2 weeks back home the gardens are starting to take shape. There were so many changes I wanted to make this year and starting 3 weeks late into the season has not helped. I spent several days last week just weeding and trying to remember the plants I had put in late last fall. I know I drew a plan with the plants and locations but it could not be found so I was back to looking at the tags I keep and slowly making headway on what plants were emerging from the earth. The peonies are gorgeous and I am happy with their location for now. The Sheffield Daisies are spreading like crazy and I think I will need a specific location for them instead of the 3 separate places I now have them. The front garden is progressing nicely but needs some additional interest. Steve suggested a big rock. One of the Silver Maples has a split in the bark and produced an enormous amount of seeds this year. Not sure if that is a distress call but I think I will get an arborist to take a look at it. I divided Hostas this weekend and replanted around the back deck. I also planted about half of the Zinnia seeds I collected last year. We got over 4 inches of rain in the last 24 hours and that should help as long as it stays nice now. Today the plan is to put some mulch down.

Some views as of this morning.

                                                        Peonies

                                                               Front garden

                                                 Birdbath garden

                                                   Back deck 

                                                         Bedroom deck 

                                    

                                  My goal to have fresh flowers from my garden in my house.