What a difference a day (or a few days) can make…

Have you noticed how some things can go from really bad to quite lovely in a relatively short time span (with a LOT of hard work and effort, of course)?  Unfortunately, things can return to that totally dreadful state again just as quickly. 

Before:  March/Easter

I’m quite picky about the yard photos I blog, making sure to only post what I want to show, but at Easter the grandkids had a mini egg hunt in the back yard (we already had a real one with extended cousins).  You guessed it, these pictures of the kids having fun were shared on Liz’s blog.  I hadn’t even spent one day cleaning things up and the yard looked pretty sad.  It’s a good thing I think my grands are cute!

The three dead bushes were my failed attempt from last summer to add some winter interest to this corner of the yard.

(In my defense-We live in a four season climate and the yard is mostly ignored during the winter.)

After: May/June

Here’s the same space a month or so later, with a little help from Mother Nature and some faithful perennials.

Before:

The kids were busy opening up their eggs (eating treats) and are totally unaware of the WEEDS behind them.

Again, I was mortified!

After:

 

If there is one lesson life (or motherhood) has taught me, it is to never let myself relax and think things are finished.

A few days ago we had a micro storm and the yard suffered a massive set back.

After/after:

While we were in the deep cleaning business, my husband decided to prune the rest of the trees, so the whole yard was buried under branches and leaves.

Kind of a pity-party day for me!

But…

Thanks to Katie and my husband, it is now tidied up again.

The light at the end of the tunnel: the lopsided side of the tree is going to be home to a new swing.

We had wondered where to put one.

 

Have a wonderful week.

JoAnn

Happy 4th of July!

   source

I hope you have a wonderful 4th of July!

JoAnn

Two funerals and a road trip….

I should probably apologize for my heading-it sounds depressing and somewhat disrespectful, but I’m not going to because both funerals were wonderful celebrations of long lives lived fully and honorably.

My father-in-law, Reed Luke Clegg passed away on June 2, 2015.  He was a month and a half shy of his 97th birthday.

He outlived his sweetheart by three years and had maintained his independence until just the last few days of his life. 

He was still driving his car at age 95.

He was a veteran of World War Two, serving in the Navy in the Pacific.

He loved this country!

If I could sum up his life in a few words, I would have to say he tried to live perfectly.  He did his best with everything he attempted.  Oh, how we will miss him!

You can read his obituary by clicking here.

♥

I’ve often blogged about “Aunt Mardene”.

Mardene Hall was the perfect aunt, living next door to us as we were growing up.  She was selfless and kind.

Everyone loved her!

She passed away on June 13, 2015 (early on the morning of dad’s funeral).

She never married, so we invaded her life and claimed her as our own (sorry cousins).

When our parents got sick and passed away, Mardene held our family together and became grandparent for our children and  their children. 

She loved the outdoors:  gardening, riding her bike, watching sports, enjoying the sunset.

She loved children!

(My grand-niece Karli made this beautiful flower arrangement for Mardene’s bike.  It was perfect!)

Mardene was also independent until the last few days of her life.  We moved her to an assisted living center, but she was only there a few days.  She quietly passed away at age 91.

You can read Mardene’s obituary here.

While we will miss them both, how comforting it is that they are both free from the ailments of aging bodies.  We know we will be reunited with them again some day.

Can you imagine the happy reunions they are experiencing right now?

♥

 

(The family-minus Ovidiu and some of the young grands.)

Since the funerals were back to back our daughter Heidi and family were able to be here for both.  (That is quite a blessing, don’t you agree?)

Her husband had to fly home to work after the first funeral, so I drove Heidi and the kids home to Oregon and then spent a few days with them.

We took two days to drive and had a nice long little road trip.

I didn’t take one single picture.

It has been a busy and draining start to my summer, but I feel very blessed that things worked out the way they did.

Now, if I could just do something about the HEAT!

(104 degrees today.)

JoAnn

 

Saying good-bye.

After record breaking rainfall in May (which meant postponing yard work until June), closing up my classroom for the summer, and trying to catch up at home (neglecting everything because of school) it has been crazy around here.

The last week of school is always a physical and mental endurance test.  Students don’t want to work anymore, it is often too warm in the classroom, and teachers have to sort, organize, and box up everything.

While I enjoyed my students, we were all ready for the change.

I will miss their hugs, cute comments, wonderful stories, and creative art work.

(And the fact that they don’t have a clue how old I am!)

My kind father-in-law passed away right before the school year ended.  His ninety-six (almost ninety-seven) year old body just wore out.  After falling several times, we admitted him to the hospital.  He was then put on Hospice and within a few days he passed away.  We celebrated his funeral on Saturday.  We feel blessed that he was able to go quickly and not suffer for a long time, but we will miss him a lot, especially sharing Sunday dinners with him.

My sweet Aunt Mardene had been living alone and was quite independent, but a week ago she suffered some mini strokes (we think), so we moved her to an assisted living home.  We fixed up her room and had it so cozy and comfortable.  Within a few days she also passed away. 

We are planning another funeral. 

She leaves behind a void in many lives, too.  She never married, but has loved, cared for, and supported three generations of nieces and nephews.

We flipped around our summer travel plans and daughter Heidi and family flew here instead of our going there.  I will soon be driving them back to Oregon.  We have enjoyed catching up with their children and don’t look forward to having to say good-bye to them.

We feel  blessed that both Mardene and Ken’s dad were able to be with us as long as they were (187 years combined), and that they were in pretty good health until the very end, but it has been surreal losing them both within a week of each other.

Even though we know they are now free from physical limitations and pain, and are reunited with loved ones who had gone before,

it is never easy saying good-bye.

We will miss them!

JoAnn

P.S.  The yard is getting prettier now with Day lilies blooming, the Daisies starting to open up, some annuals planted for color, and little Zinnia sprouts popping up.

Now, if I could only stay ahead of the weeds!

 

Last weekend we, like many of you, spent a lot of time visiting local cemeteries to honor our loved ones whom we miss.  We always put pretty flowers on the graves.  (Is that the custom where you live, too?)  The weather was wet and cool, with scattered showers throughout the day.  Our umbrellas hardly had a chance to dry out between stops.

All the rain we’ve had certainly made things beautiful and green, and the sky was quite magnificent with dark, brooding clouds mixed in with patches of clear blue.  Every time we thought the sun would triumph, those heavy clouds just pushed forward like hungry students at lunch time.  (Yes, we’ve been working on writing with metaphors at school.)

I always have a sense of gratitude for those people we call family and friends: Pioneers, hard working farmers, craftsmen, and teachers.  They remind me of what is (or should be) important in life.

The cemetery above is located in beautiful Heber City, Utah, about forty-five minutes from Salt Lake City.  The Clegg pioneers settled in this beautiful valley, nestled against the back side of Mount Timpanogos.  We love to visit there.

Not only was the scenery delightful, but we felt a closeness to those we have lost, kind of like a small connection of Heaven on Earth!

Have a wonderful weekend.

P.S.  Five more days of school….I think I can, I think I can….

The garden has a gate

Yesterday my husband hung this new gate on our fence.

(He built it.)

The good news is that it will help contain little grandchildren.  The bad news is that now the rest of the fence needs a new coat of paint to match it.

I wish I could say that all the yard work was done, but there is always so much to do.  We have had a lot of rain, which has made it difficult to work outside.  I have a lot of perennials that had to be cut back and thinned out since they tend to take over a space.  You can see a dead pile of discarded flowers  in the corner of the photo (oops).

The raspberry patch is starting to take off, too.

(This rain has been wonderful for the plants!)

The rose bushes are starting to get pretty.

Don’t you love it when things start to come back to life?

Other news….

Somebody just turned three!

 

Happy Birthday  Miss Olivia!

Great job at the dance recital Brookie and Maddie!

Good luck Joshua with your T-ball!

More news coming…..

JoAnn

 

Rainy day geraniums…and an unusual cinco de mayo party

I’ve been so looking forward to having a Saturday.

I had big plans to work in the yard.

Three flats of pink and red geraniums are waiting for a new home.

 

(Intermountain Farmers’ Mothers’ Day sale- 12 flowers for $12.99.)

It looks like I won’t be digging in the dirt today.

It’s raining outside.

Everything is wet.

I usually like the rain.

(I just needed a few dry hours.)

Oh, well.  The moisture is necessary and it’s a bonus that things are pretty and green because of all the rain.

It will just take me a little time to refocus my mind and make new plans for the day.

*     *     *     *     *     *

We had an unusual cinco de mayo party.

We love borrowing traditions from other cultures and incorporating them in to our lives.  Many of my students share these traditions with me at school and I love that!

With gluten free objectives and  post surgery diet restrictions, our menu was less spicy and fun than it normally would have been.

(I hate to admit that we had grilled hamburgers and potato salad.)

But…

We did have some killer homemade guacamole dip and fresh salsa!

And a LOT of fun.

The kids had fun with the piñata.

We even had a tortilla toss.

Robbie cheated and toasted his tortilla (cheaters never prosper), but the winner was Karl, who’s tortilla went up over the house and landed in the front yard!

(Please imagine red and pink geraniums in that flower bed.)

It has been a great start to the month of May.

I have four more weeks of school left and then summer vacation will be here.

Many reasons to celebrate!

Hope you have a great Mother’s Day weekend!

JoAnn

P.S.  Did you know that I completely forgot to change my calendar for the entire month of April?