Fathers day in Sicksta Lori’s garden..

Sunday we took a drive to my Sickstas home in Connecticut for a Fathers Day Picnic.

Dad and brother John

Crab claws

The rest of the gang..

A male House Sparrow checks out these digs in my Sickstas Loris garden..

After in and out several times..

He sits on the home..

Was he waiting for a female?

Lori’s Succulent gardens

Love these truck gardens!

Aren't they cool?

I think I must have been having too much fun…there is much more to Loris gardens ..

..next visit I will take more..

Back in Massachusetts~Still awaiting baby!

Bit of there and here..

There..

a week or so ago..walking around the block with Dad I spy these beautiful Clematis growing up a mailbox post.

There…

As Dad and I walk the block we pass by a home with wildflowers growing in a heart shape.

This heart is in the lawn of a recently deceased neighbor..

Dad used to take this mans morning paper from the mailbox and put it in the front door every day.

I think it’s a thank you heart…

There..

Mom and Dads yard..a few posts back I took photos of the Peonies

My mom told me I needed to take a photo of the Mock Orange..

Here it is..

Have you ever had the pleasure of experiencing the scent of a Mock Orange?

 Heavenly! ..

There..

A few more of Mom and Dads Peonies..

Mom wanted me to take photos of the dark pink ones..

These light single flowers are my favorites..

floppy delicate petals..

Here…

As some of you know we are now in Lexington, Ma. awaiting our first grandchild.

I also am taking Doxycycline for a deer tick bite…

Doxy can make you very sun-sensitive. You can get a burn in minutes even when wearing sunblock. Some people taking Doxy have even had their knuckles burned from the sun coming into the car. Also when you take Doxy and go into the heat, it can make your skin very uncomfortable. Please avoid the sun completely when on this med. The burns can be serious and painful.

I can not go out in the sun. I burn very very easily..

So….we walk early in the morning.

I took this photo on one of our morning walks here..

Is it a butterfly?

Humm…

Nope..not a butterfly..

I am pretty bummed I can not go out in the sun.

I burned my toes and nose the few times I was out. I now try to stay indoors. Just a few more days of the Doxy. I am not sure how long after the Doxy I will be sun sensitive.

I am yearning for a nice walk in the sunshine.

Alien invader or bird dropping?

I have a small decorative garden at Mom and Dads..a few flowers and one tomato plant given to me by my Sicksta Adele..

One day a week or so ago I looked at my tomato plant ..

There were a few dark blobs on the plant.

From a distance it  looked like berry bird poop. 

I might have ignored it but for some reason something made me look closer..

Humm..this doesn’t look quite like a bird poop.

I touched it..

Nope..

not bird poo

clavate tortoise beetle

What an odd looking creature.

It was snacking on my tomato plant.

I removed the little alien creatures from my plant whenever I saw them.

I hope they find something other than my tomato to chew on.

Jeff and I are now in Massachusetts, visiting with family and friends and awaiting our first Grandchild.

Here we are...waiting

Here we are settled in for a bit in Jeff's sisters driveway.

This is what we see out of the front window of Homey.
Mega-home...old homes are being torn down and these monsters spring up.

The houses on either side of us are still the original homes.

Large treed lots... Very desirable.
We feel small here.

Yesterday we went into Boston for the Gay Pride Parade.
It was a ton of fun!

We all left the parade bedazzled with beads, ribbons and stickers.

Now we hang out with family and friends and play the waiting game.
Last night we placed bets on date and weight of the baby.
Next stop
Grandma and Grandpa!

Passion for Peonies

The Peonies have started to bloom at Mom and Dads..

Lovely shades of pinks and white..

Some of the peonies in their gardens are transplants from both of my grandmothers gardens.

Symbolic of prosperity, peonies were also said to conceal mischievous nymphs within their petals, earning the meaning of Shame or Bashfulness in the Language of Flowers

 

I had fun with this Peony photo shoot and  took many photos, especially of my favorite one..I think you might notice which one that is.

I found this lovely poem by Mary Oliver about peonies… I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Peonies
Mary Oliver

This morning the green fists of the peonies are getting ready
   to break my heart
      as the sun rises,
         as the sun strokes them with his old, buttery fingers

 

and they open —
   pools of lace,
      white and pink —
         and all day the black ants climb over them,

 

boring their deep and mysterious holes
   into the curls,
      craving the sweet sap,
         taking it away

 

to their dark, underground cities —
   and all day
      under the shifty wind,
         as in a dance to the great wedding,

 

the flowers bend their bright bodies,
   and tip their fragrance to the air,
      and rise,
         their red stems holding

 

all that dampness and recklessness
   gladly and lightly,
      and there it is again —
         beauty the brave, the exemplary,

 

blazing open.
   Do you love this world?
      Do you cherish your humble and silky life?
         Do you adore the green grass, with its terror beneath?

 

Do you also hurry, half-dressed and barefoot, into the garden,
   and softly,
      and exclaiming of their dearness,
         fill your arms with the white and pink flowers,

 

with their honeyed heaviness, their lush trembling,
   their eagerness
      to be wild and perfect for a moment, before they are
         nothing, forever?