Bedtime

J. only wants me to put him to bed at night...........we have a ritual, same song, same prayer.............every night.............tonight Dad wanted to put him to bed and tried to sing the song..........with his own special flavor, prayed the prayer and then tickled J. so much he riled him up and got him laughing to where he couldn't go to sleep.......so,,,,,I had to go in and put him back to bed....

OCD

my yard
my neighbors yard.

I'm sure you are sick of my yard pictures, but I have to show you how my neighbors let their bushes get out of control.............believe it or not, these are the same bushes J. is standing in front of in our yard...........but I prune mine.......heavily. As you can see my OCD issues are in high gear this weekend and I am attacking all our bushes.

Vacation

my day lily's are finally blooming.................below is where I will put the azaleas I am moving.

Today started my vacation. I will take this coming week off and then will do it again later in July................I have several plans for the week, most of which involve working in my yard. I woke up this morning and worked over 7 hours........................I did things I hadn't planned to do............like cut back azaleas that are ancient and overgrown............I thought I was cutting back 2, but as I got closer to the ground, they were really 6.........I am "reclaiming" that land next to the house and am going to move the azaleas underneath a huge tree out front.........I'll put cutting flowers in their spot, which is west facing..........so the best sun I get. Chris took T. to another lacrosse tournament and J. has been with a friend all day...............E. is hiding somewhere with a book so it has been wonderfully quiet here...............a rare thing. Wish I had taken a before picture of these overgrown bushes, but I didn't think of it..........they look horrible now, but that won't last long. As I finished that back breaking job, I started noticing all the other overgrown bushes that I have..............but, I do have other things to do this week other than garden...........like not put on makeup ONCE or any work clothes.....................go to yoga lots...............sew with E., swim with J. and see if it isn't too hot to get T. to go on a hike at Crabtree falls...............we will see..................in the mean time.........I am going to order pizza as I am not cooking tonight either.

The Kid Down the Street

Really, the kid in the white t-shirt, Will, lives down the street................and when he was a senior in high school, I used to give these guys voice lessons..............they have a band called "Sparky's Flaw"................and now they have graduated from college and have signed with some big record label and will open all over the country.........................I hope they make it big!

Cute Girls

Virginia Evening Storm

We keep getting these strange evening storms.........and they leave a wake of damage in their path........the other day the rain was fast and furious and then you could see steam coming off of the parking lots for quite awhile............or maybe it was a type of fog....I'm not sure.....I prefer quiet evenings............without the fear of the pine trees coming down.. I guess I am just happy we are out of last year's drought.

Our Town

The Lawn at The University of Virginia
The Rotunda at The University of Virginia