The Peony Pictures

It's time to post the peony pictures. I've chosen just 10% of the ones I took. :) Perhaps you will see why their beauty captures me so entirely.

It's been a very full two weeks around here. We've had a wedding, funeral, several long hospitalizations of church members, an impromptu baby shower at the hospital, and the birth of a precious little preemie! 

 

We've also had such lovely weather -- no a/c, just the windows open and the temps have stayed below 80 for this week.

We have a mother bunny who has taken up residence in our front yard. It's so fun for Laura! All day yesterday she was watching the bunny who doesn't seem to be afraid of Laura playing in the front.

 
 I made a lot of headway in my perennial garden last week. I pulled out half of what was in there it seemed. Now I can move a few things around and work toward the goal of having a garden with different things blooming at different times.

I have lots of books and wool things I want to talk about so one of these days I need to write a post on that. Every night I want to sit and work on some crochet or knitting but I never get around to pulling out new project things during the day!

The kids are working on 4h projects. Andrew and I have a lot of genealogy projects to get organized and Rachel is busy planning a week's worth of menus that she has to execute.

I spent most of the day shopping for clothes on Saturday -- Goodwill and Salvation Army were 50% off and that makes a huge difference. I also tried some garage sales. I've been disappointed with garage sales in recent years. I think people are hanging onto things longer and charging more when they do get rid of stuff. But I do have some fun things to show when the right post comes along.

Michael and I attended the new parent orientation at Rachel's high school last night. Boy, I hope we can manage to get Rach to school on time everyday!!! It will be strange having a school schedule that can't be messed with!

I'm hoping to find some time to re-do my mantel soon -- for summer. I did change it over for spring (and never posted it here). It's funny how things like this are -- they take time and emotional energy to create and yet they also provide emotional energy once they are done.

We are off to the Children's Museum today to see the Terra Cotta Warriors traveling exhibit. We haven't been to the museum in several years so it will be a treat.

My laundry is looming again. So is the ironing. It's terrible when there is hardly a shirt for Michael to be found each day. I am teaching Rachel to do her own laundry, but in the fall I'll lose her help on folding. :( Guess I'll have to train James too.

It's another season of doctor appointments and I always forget how much time they take!

I did get my eyes checked yesterday and now I need to go find time to get new lenses. But I can't wait because mine have been scratched for nearly a year and it's going to be a treat to have clear vision!!!!

Have you been noticing how incredible these peonies are?? I just can't get over how beautifully they are constructed and the amount of the petals involved. See that light pink one below? It is my favorite variety. It is so huge and the petals almost glow with light.

I have a few green glass vases and I think they are some of the nicest to put flowers in:

I did my monthly shop at Trader Joe's yesterday so now I need to do a bit of baking -- I would like to find time to make banana bread, pumpkin bread, and/or zucchini bread twice a week so that the kids can eat it for breakfast and snacks. (Using almond flour, coconut flour, coconut oil, and honey -- lots of nutrition.)

Look at the side view of this peony!!!!

It's overcast today and maybe will rain. The garden is thriving under this weather and the roses, even though they were severely hurt by the winter, are growing back and blooming again. I certainly won't have the abundance of roses that I had of peonies but I'll take photos.

And now I better go pack some lunches!