Flowers that make missing loved ones a lot less difficult

The first Siberian

All the pretty little Siberians, blowing in the sweet summer breeze

Black Magic

Blooms six, seven & eight

The first Cream & Sugar

The largest of my Bearded Irises

The ninth & final Black Magic

I know I griped a lot during the winter about the cold and so on… now if I could only take that and combine it with the sweltering conditions currently moving its way through the Not-So-Great-White-North!

I haven’t been able to leave my house for a couple of days. My car has air conditioning but it also uses a lot more gas if I use it. Which, combined with the gas prices… well, you get the picture. Day before yesterday we hit 94 degrees with a heat index of 99 because of the 91% humidity!

See… that’s the reason I didn’t want to move to Florida! Oh wait… I’m not in Florida!

Cripes.

I’m surviving. The new windows that were put in a year ago have paid for themselves and then some. I paid an average of $26 less a month in heating costs. I expect the same will be reflected in the ac costs this summer. I also am able to use most of my energy usage in the off peak hours.

Guess it’s a perk of not sleeping during the night. I wash clothes, dishes and run the ac mostly during the night. The other day though I had my ac on through the day. A rarity. Mostly because the humidity makes my breathing incredibly difficult.

On the flip side… I wake up breathing so that’s so much better than the alternative! I have finally finished up the last of the 50th wedding anniversary invitations and all that jazz. My Aunt is very happy with the end result. My Uncle was thrilled when he saw his parents wedding picture on the invite. I was so happy to surprise him with that!

So now all we have to do is wait until the big day and have a great time! I’m thinking that won’t be a problem! The whole family is stoked for it. My Mom’s side of the family hasn’t been together in awhile and a celebration of 50 years sure is a lot better than the usual venues of saying good-bye to yet another family member, as has happened in the past.

My irises were spectacular this year and I was thrilled. I couldn’t help but wonder if it was Grandma saying hello. Mom’s 8th Celestial Birthday was last week. I can’t believe it’s been that long. Some days it feels like it was last week. Nine months from now it will be Grandma’s 9th. How did that happen?!

I guess when you love someone so deeply and completely, your heart tries to convince you they are still near, and you never stop missing them. You just forget the days and years because you only remember the happiness and love you shared with them.

Am I sad? Yes, there are some days that are worse than others. If I’m alive 20 years from now, I doubt it will feel any different. Love never dies… it just becomes another form of beauty. I look at my flowers, the humming birds zipping about my yard, by Dad’s… I firmly believe it’s Mom‘s way of telling us she is in a better realm.

Of course the flowers? The flowers are definitely in Grandma’s hands! She could grow a flawless rose that she stuck in an old coffee can and set out by the porch! No joke! She had the touch, no doubt about it. This year my Black Magic iris had 9 blooms! Nine! Phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal. Thanks Grandma… you given me the opportunity to at least look like I know what I’m doing!

The lilies are on the verge of bursting forth. My Tiger Lilies have already opened with tons of pods, the Oriental lilies are close behind as the day lilies are getting ready to commence blooming any day now. With this weather, I’ve done something I never did before. I watered! Which is of course why it rained most of the day. Go figure.

But even so, it was a lovely, all day soaker rain that we really needed. Especially the area farmers. It means the next farmers market on the square should have some awesome vegetables this coming weekend. I about killed myself with fresh strawberries. Gees O’ Pete’s… those things are like the old potato chips commercial… you just can’t eat just one! What can I say? Every now and again it doesn’t hurt to get lots of sweet tasting fiber to cleanse your system out!

Well, it’s been a long day and I’m ready to crash, I thought I’d share some flower pictures. As the lilies begin to open I’ll be posting them too. What I’m really excited about is the area of plants that I planted from seeds from my Alaska trips.

They’re really filling in and are very pretty and beautiful shades of green. I just wish I knew what they are going to turn out to be! I had the seed packets pasted on sticks in the beds. But the howling winds we had in the early spring blew them away. Ah, what the heck… I love surprises!

Be well my friends!