Leaving Spring at home....

For a few days last week we left the spring like weather behind and headed for a family get together in Colorado. No spring here yet...but lots and lots of SNOW! This is the house we rented in Breckenridge.
The house was in a very picturesque setting and so convenient to the gondola for those wanting to get to the ski lifts.

The first day we got there it was clear, but the next evening it started to snow quite a bit--and by Friday things were really snow covered.

Hubby and I are not skiers...
..but we sure enjoy taking care of little snow bunnies!
More fun in the snow came from snow mobiles! Have you ever ridden one? It was soooo much fun. I was a little nervous, but it was not hard and the scenery was breathtaking!
Hubby and I go to Colorado almost every year, but only in summer. We have never gone in winter, and we have never seen any snow but Texas snow-- so this trip was quite an experience for us. Not only did we get to be with our kids and grandson, we got to experience the mountains we love so much covered in beautiful white snow. It was hard to say goodbye and come home.
But we left winter behind and came home to "almost Spring" in Texas. More daffs were blooming, the tulips were starting to appear, the pansies looked happy and recovered from our harsh cold spell--spring is certainly on the way.

"Oh I went to a Garden Party...."

Some of you may remember that old Ricky Nelson song! Well, I went to a garden party recently. It was a very special garden party- it was for me! It was a garden party to celebrate.. my retirement! Last Wednesday, June 30th, was my last day to work.

Knowing how I love wildflowers, my work buddies got together and went from fields to backyards picking all kinds of wildflowers for the centerpieces.

I took all the bouquets home and saved as many seeds as I could.

They know me well-their wishes say it all!
I am one of the lucky ones. I have been blessed to have a job I love, and work with the most wonderful people in the world. My last day the department surprised me by wearing t-shirts that said "We love Linda" , "We will miss Linda," and "Happy for you, sad for us." How do you say goodbye to a group of people who have been like family to you for so many years?
We have laughed together, we have cried together. We have shared stories, books and recipes. We have watched our children grow up together.

And throughout the years we have truly cared about each other. I cannot tell you how much I am going to miss all of these work buddies that I think of as family.

But, it's time for me to move on. It is time for a new chapter in my life to start. I am so excited about a new adventure, but I will always remember my family in GISD Technology. I love you guys!

So, what will you do now you ask? Well, right before my last day at work I got a letter in the mail informing me I was accepted into the Dallas County Master Gardener Program...so I am going back to class! I am a little scared, and a little nervous, but a whole lot excited! New chapter in my life--YES!

"Don't cry because it's over...smile, because it happened!"

Doctor Seuss

Wordless Wednesday - Mother's Day Weekend with my favorite daughter

The Wedding is over and The Mexican Marigold Mint is in bloom!

What an absolutely fabulous weekend we had. The weather for the wedding could not have been any better. Everything was decorated for fall...the church, the country club where we had the reception..it was all beautiful! I only have a few pictures right now, but if we get some good family pictures, I will post those later. This is a sweet picture of our Pastor explaining the vows to Jen and Jason.
And a picture of the very happy couple cutting the cake. (and YUM was it good!)




With the exception of the bridal bouquet, all the flowers were fall colors. These are what the bouquets looked like on all the tables at the reception. They were in short round vases with 4 votives surrounding them.(I didn't keep their vases-this is one I had in the garage.) The chocolate brown napkins on the table had a pocket fold with a silk fall leaf and little bag of chocolates tucked inside. I got to bring some of the flowers home. Roses in every fall color filled the vases along with several other things. The florist did an outstanding job.

And, while I was busy with wedding details, my Mexican Marigold Mint started blooming! I bought this as a small plant back in early summer. Just one of those things I wanted to try. I didn't even know it bloomed in fall! It just got taller and taller all summer, and now it has these buttery yellow flowers.
Sorry the close up is so blurry-I wanted you to see the cluster of flowers blooming only at the top.

Mexican Marigold Mint is native to Mexico and Guatemala where its foliage is used for teas, seasoning and medicinal purposes. Herb gardeners in Texas often substitute this plant for French tarragon, which cannot withstand summer heat in Texas.
Although it is a marigold, this plant is not susceptible to spider mites. After becoming established, very little needs to be done to keep Mexican Marigold Mint looking attractive, although growth may be pruned back before June in order to shorten the ultimate height. Mexican Marigold Mint does best in well-drained, sunny locations. The leaves are slender and have notched edges, and the blooms are in clusters of golden-yellow single flowers, appearing from mid-fall till frost. There is a noticeable fragrance of anise associated with the plants.
This plant even survived all the October rain we had! I think this will be one of my fall favorites!

Do you have a favorite fall flower this year?

November

It's November! Can somebody please tell me where October went?? And, while you're at it, can someone please explain what happened to summer!

From time to time I go back and read articles I saved written by the late Jo Northrop who wrote for Country Living magazine many years ago. This is from one of my favorites of her "Simple Country Pleasure" articles about November:

"The exquisite cranberry and chrysanthemum days of November are a gift. We intensely and thankfully absorb them, knowing the inevitability of sudden, bone-chilling cold. Even in clear autumn sunlight, a scarecrow among fallen leaves in a deserted garden looks cold. It is this deepening of the season, the passage toward the end of the year, that gives November a quality that is energy charged."

Jo Northrop was legally blind; however, I think she "saw" the seasons better than anyone else and described them so vividly. Through her writings I can see that scarecrow standing in the now empty garden, and I can feel the sudden chill of the north wind. And the passage toward the end of the year is certainly exciting-(thoughts of spring flowers-whoo-hoo!) And, for us, this November is very "energy charged." Our daughter's wedding is next Saturday--so I will be away from blogging for a week or so getting ready for the big day. (I think it was just yesterday I was driving her to dance lessons! )

Happy November everyone! I wish you all cool and crisp cranberry and chrysanthemum days!

Fall at the Arboretum

It has been so rainy in the Dallas area, I have had a hard time finding a Saturday to go to the Arboretum. Even though today was cloudy and pretty chilly, it was a great day to tour some of the gardens.

It is fall, and the trial gardens are full of plants showing off their fall colors. It was so wet, I just stayed on the walkway and didn't venture over like I usually do. Looks like most things did really well this past year. They will be planting bulbs and pansies pretty soon I think.
The cute little thatched roof house is still transformed into Hansel and Gretel's house. The plants on either side of the walkway look like they are about ready to stop blooming, but they have been spectacular this past year. I love the cottage look this area has.

This is one of the ponds. I think it looks great! It won't be long before the lilies and poppies will stop blooming. In the winter, the ponds look cold and lonely, but the minute warm weather returns, the pond comes back to life.
This is one of the beds around the grassy meadow. This time of year the Arboretum beds are full of coleus (my favorite!) and ornamental grasses. The colors are normally very striking-this cloudy day does not do justice to their brilliance.
And, Cindee, I took this picture just for you! These hens and chicks were really big!
Can you tell it's getting about time for Halloween? woooooo...

And of course, we saw lots and lots of pumpkins!

They lined the walkways..

There were pumpkins to buy..

There was even a pumpkin house!
But we had the cutest pumpkin there!

Guess what we've got???

No....it's not a new tree





And it's not a new flower....






It's a new baby-- our first grandchild! Our oldest son and his wife are the proud parents of a brand new baby boy.


Grammy Lin and Papa Bert would like to introduce you to Adam Thomas. Say hello to everyone Adam!

A busy weekend..and an award!

I spent a very busy, but very happy weekend. My daughter was in town..with her fiance!!!
They met in grad school at UVA and have dated about 3 years now. He took her to Boston on a snowy weekend in late January. As they walked down a very pretty street, with snow falling all around , he got down on one knee and proposed. How romantic!! Of course, her daddy knew this was going to happened...but he kept the secret so I could be surprised. They have decided to get married in Dallas, so we spent the weekend looking at reception sites. And today (sniff, sniff) she tried on wedding dresses. My mother went with us.... 3 generations together experiencing a very special moment.

And, I received an award from Debbi at Aunt Debbi's Garden! Thank you Debbi--you put the finishing touch on a wonderful weekend. All I have to do is tell 6 things that make me happy:

1. My wonderful husband

2. Hearing my kids laughter when they are all together

3. Planting a seed, and watching it turn into a beautiful flower

4. Camping high up in the Rocky Mountains

5. Taking my Mother to the Arboretum

6. And of course, the sight of my beautiful daughter walking out of the dressing room in a wedding dress.

So tell me...what things make YOU happy???

January Joy

Several years ago (5 to be exact) my oldest son was diagnosed with a rare form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. It is bad enough to hear news of this terrible disease striking anyone, but to hear one of your children has it is devastating. But my son was ready to fight this head on. We were so blessed that it was caught early, but because this was an aggressive cancer the treatment was aggressive. Instead of going every other week for a four hour chemo treatment, he went every other week for a 5 day treatment. He wore a backpack that had the chemo in it and dispensed it through my son's port. Every month for 6 months he went in and got a terrible, painful shot in his spine so the cancer would not spread to his brain. Because of what he does for a living, he was able to work from home..and I don't think he ever missed a day of work except for the 2 times he was in the hospital. Every time I called to check on him and asked how he was doing he always said, "I'm OK!" Along with his sweet and caring wife, he fought hard. We are always so proud of good grades and home runs, but the pride I felt watching my son endure this illness and fight this battle was incredible.

So here we are, 5 years down the road. His latest PET scan was all clear, so now we go from using "in remission" to "cured!" He will still have to visit the doctor once a year-for the rest of his life-and be watchful as we all do, but he is a SURVIVOR!!!

He's home!

Wow, three weeks have gone by fast! My son returned from Australia tonight. He was tired from the long journey home, but elated from the memories and experience of the trip down under.

Allie is glad her daddy is back.

Meet Allie!

We went to Lubbock on Friday and packed up my youngest son to move him back to Dallas. He has graduated from law school, taken the BAR, and is now taking a much deserved three week vacation to Australia! So....for the next three weeks we will have a house guest.

Meet Allie...our grand dog. She is a one year old Golden Retriever. She is pretty excited to be here.


She likes our backyard even if it is small, but much prefers the front yard with more room to run.












She promises to be a good girl while we are at work and take a nap on the cool kitchen floor.

I'm sure she would love to help me water the plants, feed the fish and deadhead flowers! As long as she has time to chase birds and squirrels.

She brought lots of toys to play with so we are going to have a good time these next three weeks with Allie Girl!

The Best Mother's Day Weekend!

Thank you Texas Tech for having graduation on Mother's Day weekend! My daughter from DC and my son and his wife from Arlington joined my husband and me in Lubbock to celebrate our youngest son's graduation from Tech Law School. What a wonderful time to have all my children together---we had an incredible weekend! We played with Allie the precious "puppy", toured the Law School, visited 2 wineries, ate fantastic food , and celebrated. I am truly blessed to have such intelligent, loving, caring and talented children. What a perfect weekend to celebrate such a special event!