For Bod, who asked about my mention of golf balls in the following post.
My niece has just graduated from high school. She is the youngest of my mother’s grandchildren, so Elegante Mother and I made the trip to Indiana to attend the ceremony.
We were seated toward the front of the gymnasium, near the raised area the graduates cross to receive their diplomas. There are a number of dignitaries seated behind a table, a teacher who reads the names of that row of students, the Superintendent of Schools, the President of the Board of Education, and the High School principal. The students shake the hand of each person who is standing, receive the diploma case, and leave the risers. While we were sitting there, I saw a golf ball fly across the floor. I laughed about it, but it was neatly palmed by one of the seniors, and I didn’t think about it any further.
When we got home, I mentioned the golf ball to my niece, and she told us that each of the seniors had carried a golf ball with them into the gym. Somehow, despite the girls wearing incredibly high heels, and the boys having to learn to negotiate stairs in a graduation gown, they managed to get onto the stage, cross to and shake hands with the Superintendent and President of the Board of Education, and accept their diplomas without dropping the golf balls.
The last person they were to shake hands with was the Principal. Apparently, as they shook hands, they palmed the golf ball off on him, and beat it for the stairs! R.L. told me that he must have been on to them, because he would shake hands, get the golf ball, pitch it behind him (I assume into a box), all without giving a hint of what was going on.
Frankly, this was the kind of prank you hope for, rather than something that would impede the progress of the commencement. I went to three of my step-children’s high school graduations, which were out of doors, and beach balls batted from row to row were a popular diversion in that era.
I’m sure there are loads of variations on this story. It was a gentle giggle, something that did no harm, and gave the graduating class something to share at reunions in the future.
Spectacular!
Our trip to Indiana was spectacular!
We had a good trip down. I tried a slightly different route, and we stopped for a meal in Watseka, Illinois. We lucked out and chose an American/Mexican diner for lunch, and received exceptional service. Elegante Mother likes to drink iced black coffee. I don’t know why that seems so odd, but we tend to have a lot of difficulty getting it right. The waitress brought what we wanted in a styrofoam cup, and I asked her if she would pour the contents into a regular glass with more ice and a straw. She did….it was perfect, and she seemed to be right in tune with our needs from then on. We had a great meal, and I made sure the waitress knew it!
We arrived at Frankie’s home around four o’clock, and made our way up the hill, into the house, to sit in the family room which has windows on three sides. We were able to enjoy all the plantings, and the trees, and the deck, and most of all, the family.
Frankie’s oldest daughter was home from college, and she and Frankie were still hip deep in organizing things for the party. The graduate was making the icing for a Texas brownie, and the house smelled wonderful. After dinner we sat together for a bit, catching up, before we headed off to bed early. Frankie had one last project to finish for her daughter and was up until 2:00!
Graduation day bloomed bright and sunny. It was a perfect day. Commencement was brief and to the point, and nicely organized. One hundred and forty young men and women were recognized, and comported themselves with grace (and golf balls for the principal) as they received their diplomas. There were lots of hugs and kisses, and not a few tears. Lots of pictures, too. I hope I’ll be able to explain to Frankie, how to post some of them on her blog, Just My Opinion.
The family pulled together to prepare fruit, veggie, cheese, and salami plates, and assorted nibbles in beautiful array. I confess…..the Texas brownie drew me in several times. The open house ran from four o’clock to well past seven, even though the invitations said 4 to 6. Teachers, church friends, neighbors and schoolmates, all came to celebrate! It was lovely. Elegante Mother and I sat out on the deck and chatted with family, enjoying the perfect day. EM had not had a nap Friday OR Saturday, so while I pushed us back and forth in the glider, she had a little snooze.
When the last of the guests had left, and Frankie’s oldest daughter had said her goodbyes, we sent Frankie off to bed. She deserved some rest! We followed very shortly.
Sunday, we had breakfast together, Frankie’s famous baked French toast casserole! Frankie’s husband had to go off to work. R.L., the graduate, showed me her new computer, and showed me her play lists for her iPod. She introduced me to Michael Buble several years ago, and I, in turn, introduced Elegante Mother to him on he trip to Indiana. R.L. has ALL his CDs!
Frankie made French onion soup for us (It seems it was a French kind of day…) and it was time to go. Neither of us really wanted to leave, but it was going to be a long trip home, so Frankie helped us to pack up and we were on our way.
Elegante Mother was awake the entire way home. I could tell she was saddened when she realize that I was going to return her to her new home. It’s very difficult for me to cope with that separation. Her memory is so short these days, she can not keep in mind why she needs round the clock assistance.
The good of this trip……Mother communicated more. She was happy, and pleased to be among people she remembered and loved. She enjoyed getting out and seeing new things, and we challenged her to be more physically active.
For my part….I have some more memories to squirrel away. I’ll be able to see my Mother interacting with Frankie’s family, and sharing memories we thought she had lost. I’ll be able to remember seeing Frankie’s family together. As the girls go off to college, that will happen less frequently. R.L. is the last of EM’s grandchildren to graduate from high school. It’s a blessing that we were able to make the trip.
And…next year, two of EM’s GREAT-grandchildren graduate from college. I hope we’ll be able to build more happy memories.
The trip was wonderful. No….it was SPECTACULAR!
Road Trip
Friday morning, I’m going to collect Elegante Mother and we are taking a road trip. We’re going to Indiana to see EM’s youngest grandchild graduate from high school. I’ve been running errands today to try to clear the path so that we can get on the road by 10:00 a.m.
I’ll need to get to her condo early so that I can pack a bag for her, and be sure she is comfortably dressed for the ride. I expect the trip to take at least four hours
I have a waiver to type, and plants to water, clothes and dishes to wash. I want to leave the house in reasonably tidy shape. Second Son is going to keep an eye on my old feline buddy, Edward Scissorhands. I’m sure he will do just fine without me.
When we return, I hope to get the last of the planting done, and some more weeding. Wish me luck and a safe journey!
The Herb Garden
I’ve been working in the herb garden this Spring. I want to renovate the northwest arm of the raised beds, and I need Dear Husband’s help to get new chat down in the walkways.
I was a sloth Memorial Day morning. I was sitting in my chair in the kitchen, reading, when Dear Husband walked in. Usually I don’t see him until late in the afternoon, and it was 11:00 a.m. Apparently, with the front coming through, he had endured a difficult night on the boat in the harbor, and felt enough was enough. I gave him some tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich, and let him get his land legs back a bit.
After lunch, I headed out to get my gardening done. I watered, and then started working on the east walkway, trying to remove weeds, and getting lambs ears ready to transplant. Wouldn’t you know it….as soon as I started working on the weeds it started to rain.
This is as far as I got:
Everything looks robust. I could start harvesting oregano next week, and I’ll give the chives a crew cut and let them grow back. I can only hope that the bunnies decide that something other than my parsley tastes good!
Tulips
We have a terrible time keeping tulips growing here. We have a colony of chipmunks who think we put them out to provide gourmet meals for the darned critters! Seventeen years or so ago, Elegante Mother, Dear Husband and I made a trip to Holland, Michigan with Frankie and her family, for the Tulip Fest. We bought tons of tulip bulbs to decorate our (fairly) new gardens, and within two years, not a bulb was left! (Picture me pouting, here.)
At any rate, we managed to get some tulip blossoms this year, so I thought I’d share them before they disappeared. It the first picture below, the one yellow tulip is not a sport; rather I think it is the only tulip left of a dozen yellow tulips from the previous year.
I believe the short tulips in front are called “Angelique.” They have been with us for a couple of years. I keep waiting for them to disappear, but they may not be tasty to the chippies.
And these are the Darwin tulips, the only tulip we have ever found that rodents don’t disturb. These tulips are one of the earliest flowers to bloom in my gardens, beating out many of the daffodils. The color looks to be in the pink range here, but in full bloom, on a warm day, they tend to be more of a hot orangey-red.
Daffodils
Elegante Mother and I have always loved the many varieties of daffodils and jonquils that are available to gardeners these days. Each year we tried to add a dozen of a new variety, so they bloom throughout our gardens. It’s really difficult to choose a favorite, but I love the early white Ice Follies, and those with apricot trumpets.
These pictures show a few of the bulbs that bloomed this year.
Early Iris
Iris are classified as Early Spring, Mid-Spring, or Late Spring bloomers. Most of the Iris I grow fall into the Early to Mid-Spring range. They started opening here last week, thanks to a warm spell, and about half of them are open now.
In the photo below, the pink iris were the second to open this year. Behind, and to the right you might be able to see the white iris with the dark raspberry edges that was the first to bloom, and to the left, out over the sidewalk is a purple iris.
The iris in the picture below did amazingly well to bloom this year, because they were disturbed when I was dividing iris last year. The tall yellow iris would be classified as an early spring flower, while the bronze at the bottom of the picture and the very dark iris at the center right are just opening their first blooms.
I think this iris might be ‘Rare Wine.’ It was the most vigorous bloomer of all my iris, and I divided it last year, and shared it with friends. Unfortunately, it took me a long time to get my iris back into the ground, so I might have lost some. I’m pleased to see that this iris persevered and made it through the winter. (Please disregard the weeds.
I’m planning a special party for them next week! 😉 )
Silly Bird!
I have an office with two windows. Under the windows there are two lateral files, and siting on the file cabinets is a Wheelwriter typewriter. Edward Scissorhands, my old cat, has taken to sleeping on the typewriter. It’s covered with a quilted cover, and sits in a sunny spot in the morning. I can kinda understand his choice.
This spring, we have had a rufous sided towhee visiting at the window. This little bird thinks he can see his competition in the window, so there’s lots of posturing, and pecking at the glass, and flying up parallel to the window pane.
When the cat discovers the bird is there, he goes into instant hunting mode. I’ve been worried that he’s going to hurt his nose on the screen, and yesterday I had to move a geranium that has been grown in that window, lest he break off the branches.
My brother has a cardinal that is in love with his own image in the right rear-view mirror of one of his trucks. I’ve heard of other birds who couldn’t be persuaded that it was just a reflection.
If this little bird isn’t careful, Ed will find him one day, and that will be the end of the posturing.
Ticked!
I’m very ticked! I have been listening to WGN radio all my life. It’s a monster station out of Chicago that blows away all the competition with it’s wattage, and it has ridden on the top of the ratings for most of that time. My favorite announcer was, and always will be Bob Collins. Unfortunately, we lost him in a light plane crash, and I suspect the the WGN ratings have been in a tail spin ever since.
I was really ticked when they canceled the Farm Show at noon, a number of years ago. I wrote a letter of protest at the time and got a canned response about the fact that they needed to address the new ratings system, and they had to provide programming that pleased those who live in Chicago and the collar counties around the city. Unfortunately, WGN has SO MUCH power that it reaches all the farmland in surrounding states, not just counties, and basically they felt all those people could go hang. I got what little I knew about the farm market from WGN, so I was set adrift, too.
Then, the trend was toward men who had stand up comedy background. I adjusted to Steve Cochran, but I thought it was the last straw when Gary Meyer (Mayer, Meier…..however you spell his name) was hired for the 1:00 slot. I figured I could listen to books on tape or CDs while I worked in the office,
Well…I was wrong about it being the last straw. That came yesterday morning when “The Girls” announced that the radio station was changing their programming, and that I was listening to their last show. I am so ticked! “The Girls,” or Kathy and Judy (Kathy O’Malley and Judy Markey) have been sharing the microphone at the 9:00 a.m. hour for twenty years. They are of an age where they may have wanted to consider retiring, but the station took that option away from them. What’s worse, the station doesn’t have anyone hired for that spot. There was NO warning it was going to happen, and when I went to the Website to comment, I discovered it has been totally revamped. There was a ‘kiss off’ note saying that The Girls last show was yesterday. They gave an address for the station e-mail, and when I got the last “Girlfriend Gram.” I found addresses for both the women.
It takes a fair amount to get me to write a letter of complaint, but this succeeded. I understand demographics. I understand that what stations charge for their ad time is based on ratings, but rather than buck the system, WGN has let itself be cowed and now will sound just like all the other stations in town. It used to be a really big deal to be invited to work for WGN. I doubt it will be such a big deal in the future.
I expect to listen to the local classical music station a lot more now. I might tune in to the college jazz station. CDs, and cassette tapes of books will fill my day. I’m so sorry to loose a lifelong friend this way, but I think it’s time we went our separate ways.
Goodbye WGN Radio, and best of luck, Kathy and Judy!
Green Grows My Garden…
And purple and lavender and pink and yellow and gold….
I was working in my veggie garden this morning. I planted two well established tomato plants, one a Celebrity, and the other is a cherry tomato. I planted four tiny yellow pear tomato plants, and two Better Boys. I have one more cherry tomato plant to put into that bed. I’ve got cages around all but the Better Boys so far. I planted four bush-style pickle cucumbers. Does anyone know if they need to be caged for support?
I watered everything I planted and all the plants waiting to be planted, and the containers that I wintered over. I even watered the plants I put in two weeks ago under the window at the front of the house. The only thing I missed was the parsley plants the rabbits have been enjoying.
I had a chance to see all the weeding that STILL needs to be done, so that I can plant the annuals in the front gardens. I need DH’s help in the herb garden to move one timber into place, and then I can finish planting in the herb garden. I have tomato plants left over, and I’m giving some thought to growing them in containers. I HATE to throw things away, but it might be the better choice,given that the chipmunks have a colony and have invited ALL their relatives for the summer along the front sidewalk. They’ll probably burrow into the pots and kill off the plants.
I thought we’d have a pretty poor iris display this year, but it’s coming along nicely. I was in the midst of dividing my absolute favorite iris when Mother had a seizure. I found homes for most of them with friends and family, but I think mine were out of the ground too long. I’ll have to see how they do. Right now I have one iris that is yellow, another than is a delicate pink, one very ruffled one that is white with a raspberry edge on the petals. I think several dark ones will open later in the season.
I have an azalea, a hydrangea, two buddleias, a Russian sage, and a miniature lilac to plant, and I think the rhubarb that wintered over is going to become part of an ornamental garden! I also need to pick up potting soil and refill the containers for the sidewalk, so I can get them planted.
MY peonies are astonishing. I didn’t protect them with compost last fall, and I haven’t fed them, but the temperatures and the rain must have been just right because they have more buds than I can ever remember seeing!
So, with the exception of a bad knee holding me back from weeding, I’d say we’re moving right along with the gardens. I hope you’re having the same good luck!