Five years on

Next week marks the fifth anniversary of Bill's passing.

William Henry Schauer

December 28, 1943-July 5, 2007

Has it been five years really?

Over the past five years I have gone through a lot.  Trials and tribulations.  There had been a lot of tears and frustration, anger and sadness.  And emptiness.  Then gradually I realized that to get out of the void I had to take the first step.  

It was a great leap of faith.

And I found joy.  I found that there is love to be had.  That you don't lose anything by loving and allowing yourself to be loved again.  

I found happiness.  Once again.

I was happy once.  Very happy.

I am happy again.  Very happy.

And I'd like to think that Bill is up there watching.
And I'd like to think that he likes what he sees.


One thing I know for sure:  I am one damned lucky woman!
And I would not have changed a thing.

A picture paints a thousand words

And a new Nikon 3100 can capture all of them!

Once again the hydrangeas are in full bloom at my house.  They seem to do well every other year and this year they are exceptionally gorgeous.

Hydrangeas are fun to grow.  They are like litmus paper.  The colors of the flowers depend on the acidity of the soil.  Acidic soil turns them blue while alkaline soils turn them pink.  If you have pH-neutral soil you will get purple-hued hydrangeas.

Another fun factoid about hydrangeas is that they have individual feeder roots that feed each stem.  Therefore you can "customize" your blooms by adding peat (for blue) or lime (for pink) near the roots you want.  I had fun doing that earlier this spring.

The results are I have blue hydrangeas.

And pink hydrangeas.

And those in between

The mophead hydrangeas are showy, but I do like the open, flat-head kind as well.

You can't have enough!

Not in my yard

These are the "baby hydrangeas"  They flowers are tiny and very close together. 

Together they form a tight mophead, almost a bouquet on its own!

I know, I know, gratuitous pictures.  But who doesn't like hydrangeas?

The new Runty

I  had the Volvo for eight years and it had been a very good car.  It was the first car that I picked on my own and drove it just about solely for the duration.

But it is eight years old, over 100,000 miles and was giving me grief.  Not to mention costlier to maintain each time I took it to the shop.

It's time to say goodbye.

Meet the spanking new Runty!

Of course it's blue.  What did you expect?

Loved

That I am, and I am so grateful.

I was in training all afternoon this week.  And that made it a 12-hours day week.  At the end of each day I was so glad to get on the road back home so I was quite surprised when Carl asked if I went back to the office after training Tuesday afternoon.  Of course not.  I could not wait to get home.

Wednesday morning I walked in to the office at five a.m. and understood why he asked.

This was on my desk.

These were inside:

One dozen blue roses.  Blue roses.

Came with their own blue vase.

And the note:

How can you be more loved?

Senior Moment...

Well, my birthday is coming up in a week.

 Let's not discuss the number, but this picture tells all about the very first "senior moment" in history...

Now we know what actually happened to the dinosaurs.

Pride and Joy

My grandchildren. I am so proud of them...

Ingrid, Faith, Nate, Elsa and Grace.

Spring has sprung!

Life is renewed once again.

Flowers are blooming around the yard.  But I am really excited about this:

We planted asparagus last year.  We bought two-year-old roots and let them grow all summer without picking any.  Now is their third year and we can pick!  Yesterday was the first harvest.

Three whole spears!  Hey, that is a great start.  If I pick 3-5 spears every day we should have plenty by the end of the week.  And then some!

Even the Easter Bunny has come by!

Things are looking nice on Maury Road.