Good Friday

I can't believe it is Good Friday already. Where has the time gone? And it definitely is a going to be a good Friday. It is beautiful outside. This is my kind of weather. I spent about an hour outdoors weeding my flowerbeds and didn't even break a sweat. Yeah, my whole smother the weeds with mulch thing isn't going to work. If it was something that I was wanting to grow that got covered with three inches of mulch it would already be dead. Something I'm trying to kill and it shoots right through. My new strategy is to brush back the mulch and weed the section that shoots out through the mulch. We'll see how that goes.

Tomorrow night I am going to hang out with some of my best friends and their families. We are going to go through old pictures and reminisce about younger days. :-) Mostly, we are going to laugh at how ridiculous we looked. What were we thinking back then?!? So now I'm going through my cookbooks to figure out what in the world I want to cook. Everything looks soooooo good.

Spring has sprung

SPRING IS HERE!!!!

After returning home from camping Friday night, I was up bright and early Saturday morning to participate in the Run Wild event hosted by MSU. I ran my second 5K (the first was the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure last October) and beat my previous time by more than 2 minutes, coming in at 37:20. It may not be a great time, but I am proud of myself. I'm planning to run the Natchez Trace 5K later this month. I will actually train for that one, so maybe I will beat my time again. After the race I went shopping for supplies for my flower garden, ate lunch with Cyrena and Katrina, and then headed home to unload the camper and start on improving the yard.

With the arrival of spring it is time to get in the yard. I've always wanted to have a beautiful yard with tons of flowers. I'm a perennial type of gal though. I like to plant things with the idea that they will come back. Sometimes that doesn't happen, because I'm still a newbie with a brown thumb. Last year I did very little to my beds and I can tell this year. The weeds have taken over. Can you smother grass with mulch? I'm trying my best to do that, because I got tired of trying to get it all out of the beds.

This ivy may not seem like much, but it is the prized possession in my yard this year. I've never had luck with ivy, but this little guy is a survivor! I will have to be sure to tell Mamaw thanks for some hardy ivy.

My success with the ivy gave me the idea to try my had with azaleas again. I have never been able to keep them alive in my yard. Maybe this little guy and his friend will survive me.

When Nanny and I went to Oxford a week and a half ago there were so many houses that had beautiful phlox growing. I just had to have my own!!! I choose a purple hue to complement my irises.

These irises are in the bed I have next to the road. They are very hardy and multiply quickly. I also have them in other locations around my yard and have shared them with others. Be prepared to receive some of these in the future if you are a friend who shares a passion for flowers.

Okay, my irises do well, but these are just absolutely GORGEOUS. The blooms are so much larger than mine. It's a shock, but true...these beauties belong to Scott's grandma instead of me. They did not flower last year, but they are definitely going to show off this year. May have to steal some bulbs from these when they are ready to divide.

Relaxation

This past week we took a much needed vacation. We went camping at Lake Lamar Bruce with my parents, Timothy and his family, and a couple who is friends with my parents. It was very pretty and relaxing. I wish it would have been a little warmer, but at least I got some time away from everything. Everyone had a good time, but I would almost bet Gracie had the best.

Almost everyone braved the cold weather to fish. Mom and Dad are on their way out in this pic.

Gracie tried her best, with no luck, to call the ducks so she could pet them.

But her favorite guest was domestic and loved a good petting. She requested this picture be taken, and wanted to take my picture with the dog. I passed.

She rode her bike on the "bridges" every chance she got. Out of the seven piers there was only one she was not allowed to go on, because it had no rails. On one of our "bridge" expeditions she exclaimed that she was "SO HAPPY!" She was having a ball.



She got to blow bubbles with her new bubble gun, but she had more fun popping them.

Riding her bike, again, with Uncle Scott by her side. Even though he was making her go back to the camper for not listening to us, she didn't seem to mind. Can't get her spirits down!

We had lots of wildlife to admire while we were away. Below are a few of our wild neighbors.

None of us were really sure what type of duck this was, or if it was a duck. He had to be the inspiration for the ugly duckling. I felt bad for the poor thing. He would try to hang with the mallards and they would not have it. At least he had to female companions with him.

This is one of his companions. Apparently, she felt right at home on my parent's Mallard camper. I couldn't resist taking a picture from this angle.

This male goose decided he needed a bath while his females soaked up the sun.

These mallards pretty much stayed around our campsite. They enjoyed eating crackers, and even dined on a little popcorn.

I hated to see the week come to an end. Now it is back to real life and responsibilities.