Thunderstorms

Memorial Day and thunder storms. Holidays are times for relaxing but when you are retired you relax all the time. Today I cut out a new dress pattern but I wasn't ambitious enough to start sewing. Then I traced the pattern for the quilt hanging over my bed but not ambitious enough to start sewing it. I then worked on my brother's quilt. It isn't due until 2013 but I have a lot to organize. I decided to have another glass of wine and relax some more.

I Love Summer

Yesterday, I sat out on he patio until almost dark doing my counted cross stitch and drinking a glass of white wine. The weather was perfect. I also watched the birds on the feeders. While I was out there we saw the hummingbirds, cardinals, goldfinches, blue jays, titmouse, oriole, mourning doves, house finch, lots of sparrows, grackles and starlings. Hubby finished planting some tomatoes and peppers. Then he sprayed rabbit repellent. The lady who lives behind us ran out to see what he sprayed. She did that the other day when he put fertilizer on the flowers. Every time something in her garden doesn't flourish she insists someone is coming into her backyard and stealing her plants. I think she thinks it's me.

The Annual Master Gardeners Dinner

Last night we went to the Oakland County Master Gardener Award dinner. It is at a lovely hall owned by the Oakland County Parks and Recreation Department. The Hall is lovely, the meal is great, the servers all wear black with white aprons and they all wear white gloves. All during the time before dinner they have a pianist playing for us. The people who attend tend not to dress up but they do wear clean jeans. They also have door prizes, about 5 less than the number of people attending which is well over 200 people. I won a huge hanging basket and Hubby won a bag of worm casings. We both got our "Advanced Master Gardener" certificates.

Manicures

I love a manicure, pedicures are nice too. But when you have a manicure your hands feel so special and you can see them whatever you do. Two weeks ago the Lions Club hosted a Michigan Wine Tasting. I had the job of pouring for one of the wineries. (According to the state license the wineries can't pour.) It was lots of fun and a huge success. Anyway I had my nails done for that. However I had bruised the nail on my pinkie and so it was dark purple. I chose a very dark nail polish to cover it up. Of course two weeks later it was starting to chip and the nail polish removers you buy in the store do not work well. So I decided to get another manicure in a lighter color. I wonder what excuse I can use the next time.

Lunch with Mom

Today Mom and I went out to lunch as we usually do on Wednesdays. I was telling her about a quiz Hubby found on Facebook. It was all about Detroit. I was asking Mom some of the questions because I knew she would know about these things. When I mentioned Bob-lo Island, she said to me, "Did I ever tell you about the time I missed the last boat off the island?" Bob-lo is an island in the Detroit River which had at one time amusement park rides, picnic grounds and a huge dance pavilion. The island belonged to Canada. The only way to reach the island was by a large excursion boat. The ride took about 45 minutes and there was a band, dancing and refreshments on the boat. My own memories of Bob-lo was going on the 10AM boat with my mom, Aunt, Grandma and cousins. We would picnic and play all day and our Dad's would come on the 6PM boat for supper and we would all leave on the last boat at 10PM. By the time I was a kid the pavilion was not used for dances anymore but kids used to roller skate on the wooden dance floor. By the time my kids were old enough to go to Bob-lo the pavilion was used to store equipment. Bob-lo now has condominiums on it and the boat is in dry dock.
Anyway, Mom had gone with her sister and her boyfriend. It was a warm summer night. Mom said she was dancing and having a wonderful time when she heard the low boat whistle and realized the 10PM boat was leaving. Apparently the island was so crowded with people staying late that they had to send another boat to get everybody off. My Aunt and Uncle were on that 10PM boat and were as angry as hornets that little sister had missed the boat. Mom said after she realized she had missed the boat she didn't have as much fun because she knew she was in big trouble.

Flowers

This year our flowers are spectacular. The Climatis by the garage door are breath taking. My Irises are pretty too. This morning we went to the Oakland County Farmer's Market. It was really crowded. We bought tomato, pepper, cucumber and eggplant plants. We also bought some Salvia for the front garden and a Fuscia for the Hummingbirds. I really splurged and bought Gerber Daisies for the raised bed beside the patio. I even bought some Baby Breath and Petunias to put in pots for my container garden. It is 87 degrees today so we won't plant until after Spanish Class tonight.

Lions Silent Children's Dinner

Last Wednesday, Hubby and I went to a benefit dinner for the Beaumont Silent Children Program. The program does speech therapy for children with speaking problems, a lot of children with autism and others. Not only was the dinner great but it was fun to be part of the support team for this good work. We won a door prize of a Dirt Devil small vacuum. We have one already so I will probably donate it to the Lion's garage sale next month.
I have made a resolution to get back to blogging. Sometimes it seems like what I do is not that earthshaking to merit writing about.