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. 

Real time blog!

It is late by virtue of real time . We got up at 6AM Netherlands time. Which is midnight Toledo time.  And now it is 8PM and we are ready for bed. The adventure ended with a regular flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. Love being home.  

May 18 Brussels Day 16 of Vacation

We decided that we would explore another section of Brussels before we got the train to Amsterdam today. Our host had told us that there was a flea market area that operated everyday. We walked over to the area and passed several Estate Sale type retail businesses and we thought perhaps that was what our host had meant. But no - we see a square that is filled with merchants with wares all spread out on the ground. A very interesting experience.

We ended our Brussels visit with a lunch and a train ride and a walk passing more of the tortured trees of Europe.

 In Amsterdam now in an airport hotel with a shuttle tomorrow morning to Schipol Airport.  Then home.

May 17, day 15 of vacation and getting down to the end

Another day in Brussels. We decided that with the schedule we have kept for the last two weeks we would just relax in Brussels today. We had a leisurely breakfast and then took off for some shopping and city sight seeing. It was a fun day. Brussels is an amazing city and very much different than yesterday. There were lots of families in the city parks and the shopping squares seemed to be much calmer than yesterday. Steve and I have often ended up in places with unknown-to-us holidays or festivals and it seems our Brussels experience yesterday just adds to that file. We had mussels in Brussels for dinner tonight at a little square near the B and B.

Some of the other sites we saw today.

The Grand Place.

The Royal Palace of Brussels.

St. Micheal and Gudule Cathedral.

The trees that I have been intrigued by all over Europe. Taught to grow in straight lines. 

Steve and I have taken to calling them "tortured trees" 

May 16, day 14 of Vacation

After a typical European light breakfast at the B and B we were off to the Royal Museum of the Fine Arts. The day was overcast so a museum day was the perfect choice. We are very centrally located so it was only about a 10 minute walk. Not crowded, but busy as there is a special Chagall exhibit too. We opted for the 3 museum pass without the Chagall. We started with the old Masters which included art from the period 1400-1600. Very interesting after our experience at the D'Orsay in Paris with the later period impressionists. Both Steve and I are overwhelmed with the amount of knowledge that is required to "know" art. But we enjoyed the masters. From there we went to the Modern Art Museum. This included "protest" art. Not my thing at all. It is very strange what is determined to be museum quality art in this genre. We finished our cultural day with the Magritte Museum which is 3 floors of the life of Rene Magritte, a famous Belgian surrealist artist.

   

Our plan now was to wander down to a Beer Bar that our host had recommended for trying Belgium Beers. We were surprised by the loud music and congregating of people a few blocks from the museum. It seems it is Belgium Gay Pride week and the parade is going past  the street we are walking. This is an experience we are not likely to have anywhere else so we watch. Wow! It is huge with more than 25 large "floats" being pulled by trucks. Everyone is having a great time and there are parties all over the city.  

We finally make it to the beer bar and enjoy a few different selections with a light supper. 

We walked around the city after dinner to a 10 story parking garage that our host has also recommended. From the top you can see most of the city. Amazing free tourist site.