May Flower Photos

Still May 15!

Of course I wandered out to the front yard to check on green and growing things there!  Below is my main garden, which sits in the middle of the yard, to the right of my house if you're looking at it.  The green leafy "bush" in the front is my oregano plant.  I'd get to harvest this soon, and I was so excited to be able to have my own oregano, since last year was the "transplant" year from back yard to front, and this poor plant was almost dead throughout the year.

This orange flower was given to me by a friend, and I have no idea what it is.  But it's so pretty!  Because it's orange, I'll probably transplant it over to my other front garden, where red, orange, and yellow things grow.

In this same garden, in the back, grows my sage plant!  I can't wait to try some fried sage leaves this year!

On to my porch garden--and I'm sorry I didn't get any wide-angle pictures today!  Here are the close-ups.

Coral bells "marmalade."

Blooms from my green coral bells.

Siberian bugloss, brunnera, showing it's pretty periwinkle flowers.

More to come soon!


Back to life,
Christine

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Mid-May Garden Tour

May 15.

Exactly mid-May, and it was still cold in Chicagoland.  I would be waiting a few more days to plant.  I walked my mulched garden walkways and saw that some weeds had popped up, growing in the decaying mulch with the help of spring rains.  I thanked the Lord He had given me the opportunity to make those walkways!  There were just a few weeds here and there, and because I had laid down landscape fabric, the weeds' roots were very shallow.  Gentle pulling brought up the entire weed, and within five minutes my pathway weeding was done.  You can see the pile(s) of weeds in the photo below.

Now on to the tour!  A check of my strawberry plants revealed tons and tons of blossoms!  Future strawberries!  Last year we picked a small bowl (maybe a quart).  This year promised to be a bumper year!

My two rhubarb plants were doing fantastic, too.  I knew I'd be able to harvest some of that for making preserves!

Above, in front of the rhubarb, you can see purple onions popping up!  These sprung up from last year--I thought I had pulled all those onions, but apparently there were some still in the ground.  These would have to be transplanted to make room for what would eventually be planted here:  squash!

In the corner of my garlic bed, the chives had already budded and were getting ready to blossom.

Here and there, I spotted fungi.  This was on the side of one of the raised beds.

Finally, here's my garden overview.  Our pool may not be functional for much this year, but the pool deck is my vantage point of choice for photographing my garden overviews!

Back to life,
Christine

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From Ceremonies to Celebration

May 11.

What a whirlwind weekend--from an almost-four-hour drive down to Macomb with a packed Suburban (Mom and Dad came with us), to two special ceremonies for Jacob, to the long drive home, then to bed and up early for church, and one last big celebration for Jacob!  We figured we'd get it all done in one weekend; plus, it was the only weekend my parents would be in town and able to come celebrate with us.

Due to our current financial situation, we invited a small group of friends to celebrate with us.

Dad and Jacob's friend Caleb work a crossword together.

Fernando talks with my brother Jeff.

Two cakes!

Somehow, smart phones appear at every celebration...!

My mom put together a yummy hot sandwich for our potluck meal.

Fernando, the dedicated Grillmaster.

Jacob, with brothers, friends, and a photobomber (yeah, he's a friend, too!).

For he's a jolly good fellow!

Back to life,
Christine

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Graduation!

May 10.

A beautiful day dawned, and we were ready to greet it, because our son was graduating!

Our hotel was in Galesburg, about 45 minutes away from campus.  (We booked the rooms in January, not realizing that there were no hotels with open rooms in Macomb!  Note to self--for future graduations, book a year in advance!!)

Purple and gold flags greeted us on the main road into the university.

We drove over to the CSC building, where Jacob had spent the night with buddies.

We had taken him to Wal-Mart to purchase a pair of nice jeans to wear under his robe.  Yesterday at the Honors Convocation, he wore shorts under the robe and it was awkward (at least there were others who did the same thing!).

We arrived at the fieldhouse over an hour early to secure good seats, which were first-come, first-served.  We packed sandwiches for lunch, and ate those in rotation as we waited for the 1:00 p.m. ceremony to begin.

Fernando got hold of my camera when I went out to the car to eat my own lunch, and he captured a shot or two.  :)

Jacob kept texting me names of friends who were graduating, and asked if I could try to get pictures of them crossing the stage.  I had ten names written on the back of my hand!

Finally, the ceremony began!

The below is my favorite picture from the ceremony!  After the graduates walked in and found their places, they remained standing until all the graduates had done the same.  Everyone was looking around, texting even, chatting, but Jacob found us, found me, and I snapped the shot.  Perfect!

Graduates were asked to stand for their achievements, and Jacob stood when it was time to honor those graduating magna cum laude.

Crossing the stage, shaking hands!

Happy graduate!

Moving the tassel.

The celebratory young man in the picture below is Jacob's friend Corey.  He was excited, to say the least!

Jacob found us after the ceremony, and Fernando tackled him in joy.  The young lady in the picture below is Jacob's friend Rebekah, who came to watch her friends graduate.

Posing with Grandpa and Grandma.

Congratulations, son!

Back to life,
Christine

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