Friday, June 11, 2010

Mom’s flowers

I stopped at my mom’s house a few weeks ago to see what she had blooming.

Johnny Jump-ups.   These cuties are all over in her garden.   I love their little faces. 

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I think these yellow Lady Slippers were dug up by my brother when he was clearing land to build his house, they were relocated to my mom’s  garden in the woods.

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This Fern Leaf Peony plants had lots of blooms.  The color of the blooms and texture of the leaves reminds me of Christmas.

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Chives have a pretty light purple flower.

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When I was growing up,  we had a huge chive plant under the water faucet on the outside of our house.   I was sent outside many times to pick chives for my mom when she was making dinner.  They were often added to potatoes.      I have my own plants now and use them in my dinners too.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Evening Clouds

After work tonight, Jay and I sat on the deck for conversation and drinks. It was sunny and calm.

Very shortly, the weather changed. Dark clouds came from the west. The wind started blowing. Hard.

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As the dark clouds passed over to the east, fluffy white clouds and sunshine were waiting in the west.

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In a few minutes they were in the east and the world was calm and sunny again.

I love weather. Except for snow, and cold, and ice.

I love summer weather. It's restless, like me.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Poison Ivy

I’m blaming this little creature for my poison ivy.

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When we were camping, PD, knocked over his food.   This little critter came out of the woods to pick up the pieces.

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PD was not pleased.

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He looked all over for the scavenger.

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He ran through the woods, until his tie-out wouldn’t reach any further.   He ran right through the poison ivy after the little squirrel.

I’m susceptible to poison ivy and I know what it looks like so I stayed away from it.   I didn’t go untangle PD’s tie-out from the brush after he chased he squirrel.   I made Jay do that.   He doesn’t get poison ivy.

All weekend though, PD spent time on my lap.   We cuddled.   He likes to snuggle up to me and I like it too.

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I was trying to get some sun so my tops were low cut and short sleeved.  This  likely explains the poison ivy on my arms and chest.

I think that when PD ran through the woods, he got the poison ivy oils on his fur and then gave it to me.      But I love my PD too much to blame him for my itchy misery.

So I’m blaming this guy.

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Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Camping

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Last weekend, Jay and I took our first camping trip of the season. We stayed at a MN State Forest Campground.

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We took our kayaks out on the lake.

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I ate roasted marshmallows. Just two. The others caught on fire and then fell into the fire as I was trying to hold the marshmallow stick and the camera at the same time.

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I listened to the loons. When you are in a kayak, the loons sometimes get fairly close. They pop up from under the water and surprise you.

I like this picture. It says Minnesota to me. Fishermen in the background, trees, water, and loons

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One of the best things about this camping trip is that the campsite we stayed at was pretty close to my mom’s house, within ten miles. So I called her up and said, ‘Hey mom, we’re camping this weekend, do you want to come out for coffee in the morning?” She said, “Oh, that sounds nice.” “Great,” I said, “bring the coffee” And she did. Two thermoses appeared each morning. I guess she’s heard what I’m like if I don’t get coffee in the morning.

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It was a perfect weekend for camping. Minnesota summers are the best.