Longwood Yesterday - Part 3

As I walked to the conservatory to see the blue poppies, I had to photograph a polonia tree in bud. This is surely the promise of spring to come!




Then on the bank behind the eye of the water, the naturalized bulbs were in bloom!










The only downside of a WONDERFUL time at Longwood yesterday was the fact that I over did it and suffered all night long and most of today with the pain from over doing it! Oh well, IT WAS WORTH IT!!!!!! I do hope that my UK friends and friends who do not live near here enjoy these photos!

Longwood Yesterday - Part 2

Of course, I had to take some photos as I walked through the conservatory. They are getting ready for the Orchid Festival next week.












And then there are my FAVORITE pink roses!

Longwood Yesterday - Part 1

I had never seen blue poppies until yesterday! I had wanted to see them and had asked several friends who volunteer at Longwood to keep their eyes open for them. I was also checking the web to see when to go and see them. Yesterday was a BEAUTIFUL day and so I went over in the afternoon to see them. They are in the conservatory and they are VERY beautiful! I think perhaps they might have been a bit better a day or so earlier as most of them seem to be quite open. I will have to watch for this next year and go earlier to see them.

Teagan's Birthday - Part 2

The evening of Teagan's Birthday last year we celebrated with a pizza party. Her present from Mana (Bonnie & Tom) was bunk beds for her dolls. She put Pinkolicious to sleep on the top bunk.




She received a Leepster from Mom & Dad in the morning and in the evening, she received the earphones to go with it. It took her a while to get used to those ear buds.




Her cake was in the shape of an enormous cupcake --- with pink frosting, of course!




Rhia looks tired but happy.




Iain cuddled with his best friend.

Teagan's Birthday

March 11 was Teagan's 5th birthday. She will start kindergarten next year. So, when I went to pick up the older children for school, I hugged Teagan and wished her HAPPY BIRTHDAY and discussed with mom the possibility of taking her to lunch. On the way to school, I asked the older 3 what she might enjoy for her birthday. They said a princess Leepster game for her new pink Leepster that she had gotten for her birthday that morning or a pink baby doll. Now, I did not know what a Leepster was but I am always up for learning something new. So, after I took the children to school and taught a lesson to Kyle's 4th grade (age 10) class on the ABP's (Assyria, Babylon and Persia), I made a stop at a Toys R Us coming home. I checked out the Leepster games - trying to understand what they were and then went to the doll department. I finally decided on a doll in a pink outfit and then bought a couple of extra pink outfits for the doll. When I got back to the house, Teagan was all dressed up in her very special all pink outfit ready to go to lunch. I gave her the doll and the outfits and she was thrilled. (Her siblings really did know what she wanted!) I took this photo of her outside of the local Perkins. By the way, she named the doll Pinkolicious. She does LOVE pink!!! (Also, note the pile of dirty melting snow in the background.)

We ordered lunch which for Teagan was French toast and bacon. Then the restaurant staff brought her a pink balloon which made her day!

I then had to get a few groceries across the street at the grocery store. Teagan had wanted a lollipop. (I do not know when I last bought lollipops and had no idea where to look for them in the store!) As I looked for them, I spotted a chicken with what I thought were jelly bean eggs. It reminded me of one I had when I was a child. You would load the jelly beans in the bottom and then when you pushed the chicken to sit down, it would lay an egg (jelly bean.) I showed it to Teagan and she said she wanted that and not the lollipop. So, we purchased our items and left the store. I buckled Teagan up in the back seat and we started to take the 10 minute drive home. All of the sudden, I heard Teagan say, "I see a 1, 2, 3 and 4." I had not looked at the back of the package so I did not know what she was talking about. Then she started to repeat, "1,2,3,4 ... 1,2,3,4... " over and over and then all of the sudden she was quiet and she suddenly got very excited and said, "Aunt Helen, I know how it works! You take off its head and put the jelly beans in and then ..." She went on and on. I thought surely she must be mistaken. I NEVER had to take off the chicken's head to put the eggs in. Well, by this time we got back to the house. The minute she got out of the car (she waited very patiently until I opened the door and allowed her to get out) --- she ran in to the house to tell her mother how the chicken worked. AND, SHE WAS RIGHT! Now, I am a science, math educator. I have never seen a child age 5 figure such a thing out on her own! I was so proud of her!!!!!!

I have posted photos of the chicken and the directions so that you can see what she figured out! By the way, I later realized that the chicken I had bought lays bubble gum 'eggs.' I think I need to take some reading lessons from Teagan!

Thursday - Driving the children to school!

It has been 7 weeks since I have seen the children. I was having major withdrawal! And, it has been 13 weeks since I was last able to drive them to school! I was having MAJOR PAINFUL WITHDRAWAL from lack of being with them and loving them and watching them and generally enjoying them. It was just delightful (that word does not seem strong enough!) to be able to meet them at 7 AM yesterday for the 35 minute drive to school.

For those of you who do not know, I usually do Thursdays. I take something for breakfast which they can eat in the car and a small bottle of water for each child. Kyle sits up front and Iain and Rhia in the back. Now the cord from my iphone to the car speaker system does not reach to the back seat so the children request favorite songs and Kyle plays what he wants to play and plays their songs for them as well using my iphone and sending the music through the car speaker system. Kyle decided to try out my camera yesterday and took a photo of himself.



Then Iain requested the "Tornado Song." I have a number of Science Songs by Ron Brown on my iphone and the Tornado Song is a favorite with all. They were all singing along. I was driving so I did not realize what had happened till I saw the photos later. Iain and Rhia used their small water bottles as microphones and acted as if they were on stage singing the song - with all the drama that they could muster up! Kyle caught the antics with the camera on my iphone while the music played and they sang! I am so glad that he did because now I can see what I missed!

Sunrise and Spring - Part 2

As I watched and photographed the sunrise I heard the VERY LOUD cackling of Canada Wild geese flying in V formation north. I could see some in the distance toward the sunrise and others behind me. The V formations were too far away to capture with photographs but I did catch one lone stray as he flew amidst other types of birds over my house. As time progressed, I heard more and more birds joining the chorus and finally the turtle doves brought in a bass tone. The aviary choir became louder and louder as the sun broke through the clouds. Cant. 2:12!







I then had to snap a photo of that crocus that I first noticed yesterday. They are just beginning to pop up.



As I considered what had happened - the single bird and then hundreds (perhaps thousands) of birds had heralded the morning rising of the sun, I thanked God that he sent that lone bird to call my attention to the SPECTACULAR sunrise over the farm and considered the spiritual lessons that could be drawn from all that had happened. Cant. 2:12!!!!!!!

Sunrise and Spring - Part 1

This morning as I was getting up, I heard a a lovely quiet in the country and then, very suddenly, a heard one bird singing SO LOUDLY that I thought it was in my bedroom! I looked around and then pulled up the window shade to see just where that bird was. He was very high in a tree right by my window and then I noticed the beginnings of a SPECTACULAR sunrise! I watched for a few moments and then quickly dressed and grabbed my camera and went downstairs and out on the deck to see if I could capture any of it for my dear friends in the UK who might enjoy it.

March 4, 2010 Vision & Aroma Therapy - Longwood!

I felt the need for therapy - both visual and aroma and that is what spurred my visit to Longwood today. Even at Longwood, the ground is covered with piles of dirty snow!




But, inside the conservatory, things are quite different and the fragrance was well worth the trip!










And even in the Mediterranean climatic room, the blooms were stunning! This was the most walking that I had done since surgery and it was worth the pain!