Thank you, Laura... such wonderful sentiments! :-) Our weather has been crazy, too... but we half expected it. Last year, we were already laying out soaker hoses and starting to water...and this year, we've gotten so much rain that we're completely saturated! We're just now able to get in and cut grass, and talk about tall! It's hard on the mowers, I'm sure, but what can you do?! If it's grass, it has to be kept mowed at least semi-regularly... and if it's garden beds, they must be kept weeded or the grasses, thistles and other nasties take over! So, we're darned if we do and darned if we don't! Mother's Day was nice... calls from my kids, and the husband made a nice dinner... while I spent the day relaxing, for the most part. There are certain chores that must be done regardless of what day it is, like cleaning and feeding dogs and other animals, but that's no big deal... I have it down to a science! ;-) I finally got the old guy to help me get photos off my camera, so I thought I'd share a few this morning... Here's a mama and her twins... My very best mouser... I call her Vixen! The next generation of excellent mousers... one of Vixen's 3 little ones... Walking from the shade garden area toward the new rose arbor... A young Peony Tree in the dappled shade garden... notice the rambler rose runners everywhere on the ground! Closeup of the flower from the Peony Tree... Another Peony Tree in the front yard... north side... And this is a Trillium that opened white and is turning a pale pink shade. It's among a patch of purple flowered hybrid Trillium I planted several years ago... you can see the mottled leaves of the hybrid... I didn't plant the white one, though... And finally, the first of the Irises are starting! I hope you enjoyed a walk around the yards with me... stick around as all the roses begin blooming and other perennials begin to color the gardens a wonderful rainbow of scented color! Thanks, Al... I can finally view Youtube, but the monitor I'm using has no sound on board... for a girl with a technological genius as a husband, I'm always the last to get upgraded! Would you believe I'm still using Windows XP?! I desperately need an upgrade to Windows 7, which should be coming shortly... when he has time to upgrade me. :-) It's kind of like being the plumber with the leaky toilet handle that sticks, or the barber that doesn't have time to cut his own hair... when you're in the business, you're last in line! :-) It looks to be another gorgeous day... sunny and hot with strong humidity... I may spend some time weeding and edging today, instead of killing myself cutting grass! Hope everyone has a lovely day! And... Happy Gardening!

Hi Devon, Thank you for sharing your heartfelt hopes and dreams! And know that special people have a way of finding one another when they listen with their heart and follow those dreams. Keep involved with what you love, for love is so much more than glittery Hallmark cards, Whitman candy hearts and pretty bows. Kahlil Gibran has written some very deeply moving essays in "The Prophet" that speak about many things. Some favorites of mine are about Love and Work--two things that gardeners know much about :) The link below is to a great site that has the entire book for download or you can read it online. I have the book in hardcover myself, and have given many copies as gifts over the years. I knew I had found my Beloved when he said it was his favorite book...and he loves digging in the dirt too. And like a good friend, he helped me remember how much I loved tending to plants and things at a time that I forgot about it with gifts of cut roses from his garden. So yes, roses have a special place in my heart too.. @->-- (a virtual rose for you!) Susan Here is a link that might be useful: Kahlil Gibran

We also take Memorial Day seriously. Any family BBQs, visits, take place on Saturday or Sunday so we can honor the Vets Monday. As so many all across America Mystic's parade yesterday was well attended and emotional. My father-in-law was a WWII vet (Navy, Pacific Theater), my Dad tried to join the Navy. His job was deemed to be too important to the War effort so he was rejected. Dad was a Supervisor at Kaiser in Portland, Oregon building Liberty Ships. I've got a large picture of him cutting the ribbon at a launch ceremony and an award he received from The US Defense Department for an idea he had to reduce the time it took to complete a ship. Although my paternal grandfather was too old to enlist, he became a US citizen on Christmas Eve 1941 to show unity with his new country - America. My brother-in-law was a Korean War veteran. Two of Mom's older brothers were WWII vets. The oldest, Harlan, contracted TB in France and died shortly after returning stateside. The next, Virgil, was wounded and blinded in action. I was gifted the US flag that draped his coffin at his Portland, Oregon funeral. Great Grandpa Patterson, a Swedish immigrant, fought under Grant in the Civil War. He passed away while on a VFW convention trip to Oregon. His flag draped coffin was returned home to Iowa by train for burial. Many of my ancestors fought in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. So, Memorial Day is a quiet day of reflection in my family. I have a special photo album for our family's vets that comes out on Memorial Day. Some of the pictures I received from the US War Department. They are really good at helping track down pictures, if you ask. Each Memorial Day, we pick one and visit their grave doing clean-up and maybe planting a daylily if we haven't already. Many of the old graves (Rev. War, War of 1812) are in small off the beaten path cemeteries without full-time maintenance. Sometimes, we've had to dig out their headstones buried for centuries. That's how I learned that Grandpa Runnels was a veteran. After digging up the headstone and washing away the dirt we discovered it read, "Here lies buried the body of Sergt. Samuel Runels who died the 17th of October, 1745". It is only from this inscription that we learned he bore the military title of Sergeant. /tricia

I lost a precious young cat to it as well. In her case it was fast and deadly. She seemed the peak of health and vigor and a week later was fighting to breath. The doc pulled off the fluid around her lungs ( I had no clue it could present itself like that) and he was also amazed tht she was so healthy and robust and had never seen a cat be compromised so quickly from it. It didn't help that this cat, who had never set foot on earth, but raised totally indoors had FLV (mother was a feral born kitten), and that probably set her up with the response from the corona virus. He also gave me the option of steroids and bringing her back in to drain off the fluids to keep her with us as long as possible. I told him to immediately put her out of her misery. I wasn't going to put her through that. Calvinette was about six then, and had just lost her mother from cancer. Very hard to wrap your mind around with it just comes barreling at you with no warning. I remember the posters in the vet's office years ago when there was thought to be a vaccine effective against it, but it's not recommended anymore. FIP is not a virus induced disease in the strict sense of the word, but an immune response to a common, and often minor viral infection. I'm so sorry for your loss. Of course it hurts, a lot. Know that the short life she lived, was a wonderful one and I don't believe that those links of love are really lost through death.