First my heartfelt thanks to Anita for her warm and caring comment. It meant the world to me. Much I don't remember back then, and either I or the paper got the detail wrong about the bed/machine. Bernadine had a younger sister, I remember, thought her name was Brenda, didn't sound right, maybe it was Glenda. I have thought over the years what a terrible ordeal it would have been for the family, the caring, the moving to CA and the constant sorrow and stress. I know what it is to lose a child, lost my son in December 2012 under vastly different circumstances, and I will never get over it. It was fourth grade, the fall of 1950. The family moved to Davenport from Buffalo or Linwood, and Bernadine may have started a little late that year. February 1951 was still fourth grade, and I don't think Bernadine returned to school after that Valentine's Day I mentioned in one of my posts. Then was the unsuccessful surgery in Iowa City. Bernadine would have been in a coma for at least six years before she died. There are probably still some here who remember her. It is painful to think that so much has been learned and new diagnostic methods that she could be saved were it to happen now as they are able to save to many heart patients. It was a blessing for Anita to be born the year after her death, and she was no doubt much welcomed and loved, but no child can ever replace another. So thank you again Anita for responding to my old post. And hope I didn't say anything wrong or offensive. About the roses. I had my own website and had an html page full of my "finds" where I found most of them, and how they looked after I got them rooted. The best I can do is post them to my flickr photo stream. Some you can kind of figure out but most will be a jumble. See if this link works to my flickr account. There should be 29 or so rose photos. I tried some months back to upload a couple photos to houzz and failed. I used to be able to do it with ease but not since they changed the format of the site. https://www.flickr.com/photos/44652973@N04/

What a wonderful first day of spring. Yeah, ground was a bit on the muddy side but the sunshine felt great this afternoon. I left work an hour early, rushed home to put my play clothes on and sowed some larkspur, poppies, feverfew, tickseed and planted some daylilies and hostas. And that possible snow we were suppose to get Sunday is only going to be rain tomorrow afternoon....I guess that's why they call them "weather guessers". Hope everyone else had an enjoyable first day of spring! Pam

That was great! Such good dancers, and such an entertaining assortment of music and styles - thank you!

Awesome how it’s changing colors. I love surprises!