Much sadness...

My grandmother passed away Sunday, June 29th - 6 weeks after being diagnosed with bladder cancer. I am so glad that my family & I were able to go out to see her before she didn't recognize us anymore. It's still very difficult to talk about, but she's in a much better place and free of pain.

Thank you to all of you who have offered prayers and support. It is all very much appreciated.

Blue Angels

Hubby & I took the kids to see the Blue Angels perform Saturday afternoon at the Huntsville Airshow. We had a picnic lunch before going to the show and watched some of the aircraft do their thing. Unfortunately, we were too busy eating to get any pictures.


Despite the heat (the breeze did help) and the horrible parking, we did enjoy the show. I remember going to airshows growing up and seeing the Thunderbirds and the Blue Angels. It gives me a thrill to see the pilots fly so close together and NOT hit each other. I can't begin to fathom how much training it takes to become so good.


If you look closely, the plane in the lower left isn't quite in formation. Guess we all can't be perfect. It's pretty darn close, though.

All in all, it was a great way to spend the afternoon.

Musings from the Garden (2)

Shasta daisies are one of my favorite flowers. No matter how nasty and hot it gets here in No. AL, they are a breath of fresh air. Like a true Southern Belle.



They are very easy to care for, stay green year round and bloom nonstop 'til October. I deadhead them frequently and use a slow release fertilizer in June.



Early next spring, I plan to divide them up and move some to my new beds in the backyard. The beds need some white flowers, as I've planted mostly reds, pinks and evergreens.

Look what Hubby Caught!

He caught this during an evening expedition to the backyard pond.


And this one...

He caught this after mowing the bank of said pond. **shudder** We think it's a copperhead, but not completely sure since we're not snake experts. Anyone know about snakes?! It had just eaten something when Hubby caught it. It's belly was distended.

I suppose I need to be a little more careful when working in the yard.

Mt. Graham, AZ

This stream is next to a picnic area we stopped at on the way up the mountain.



King of the Mountain!




View from atop Mt.Graham, AZ. As we drove up the mountain, we noticed that the temperature dropped from 93 to 65. It was very pleasant.




Who knew that there would still be snow in Arizona at the end of May?

These are just a few of the pictures we took on our trip

Enjoy!

Making a change

I thought my blog could use an update. What do you think?

Musings from the Garden

In honor of my friend, saintseester, I will post photos from around my garden each week. SS has inspired me with her weekly post: F-F Friday. She's a wonderful photographer, so I'll try not to embarrass her with mine.



A couple of years ago while perusing through my favorite nursery, I saw this daylily and just had to have it. It has a faint, but wonderful fragrance. The only downside is that when I take a cutting to enjoy indoors, the petals weep purple (blood?) liquid onto the counter. Hence, the name Bela Lugosi aka Dracula.

Creature from the Black Lagoon...

I remember seeing that movie on Saturday mornings as a kid and it freaked me out (at first). That 'creature' all slimy and black coming out of the water to get it's next 'victim.' **shudder**

Anyway, we have our own creature or two that make wakes in the water as they swim. Hubby and I are pretty sure it's a HUGE catfish living in the pond behind our house. We were sitting out on the patio last night enjoying the gorgeous June weather and noticed a lot of ripples in the water. We went down to investigate and saw that something big was swimming around in circles making wakes in it's wake (pun intended). So, Hubby gets the fishing rod to see if he can catch it. It bumped the line a few times, but wasn't all that interested in being caught. He did catch a very pregnant catfish, which he released back into the water.

We'll keep watching - maybe it'll make another appearance.

New toy

Thanks to saintseester, I've discovered a new toy - Plurk.com. Come visit me here: http://www.plurk.com/user/azn8tive. It's a lot of fun - kind of like instant messaging.

Now, if I could just figure out how to link it to my blog...

Swimming

Went over to the neighborhood pool today. It's been open since May 15th, but I haven't wanted to go over because it's been over run with children. I've noticed since we've been back that the usage has been minimal. I knew that would happen - just wait until the newness wears off is what I kept telling myself. See...I don't dig crowds especially when they are squealing and running around unsupervised.

Anyway...the kiddos and I wandered over to enjoy the new pool. Man, is it ever nice! I'm quite impressed with the layout and the furniture. The lounge chairs are some of the nicest I've ever seen and comfy, too. I like to go to the pool to lay out and get some sun, not really to swim (much to my kids dismay). So, that's what I did...for an hour before my kids said 'I'm bored.' Not me!

I told them that they could each have a friend over to swim later this week. They will stay at the pool for hours, which is a benefit to me because they are entertained and I can get in some serious sunbathing time.

Side note: Yes, I know that roasting oneself in the sun for hours on end is not good. I do, however, put on lots of sunscreen (not the baby oil I used as a teen) and become toasty brown.

Twitter

What's up with Twitter?! I've made two new updates and it hasn't updated on my blog. Grrr....

Home

We're home from our cross-country trip to AZ. We went to see my grandmother, who was diagnosed with terminal bladder cancer. It was a difficult trip to make, but we wanted to see her before she became very bad.

Will post more later when I'm able to do so without crying.