Old Pics of A Day in DC when the Cherry Trees Were Blooming

NeKee's post on the Cherry Tree's Blooming made me think of these of pictures - Good Times!

These pictures are from when I lived in Maryland after Hurricane Katrina. It was such a pleasant day with the kids. The trees were beautiful even though we just caught the last of their blooming with much of blooms already gone.

Look at this pretty little blossom!

This was by far the prettiest little blossom that we saw all day!
Cute little stinkers!

Watching the boats go by.

I wish I had better pictures of the Cherry trees, but here are a few.

The next few pictures, I just added because I thought NeKee might enjoy them!

Remember Ave was always wanting to climb trees? Well Rayne is here giving him a boost. She felt it in her maternal instincts to mother Ave, and she did a real good job!

Now that Ave was up...up went Ray. This picture makes me think of those old time pictures were everyone posed in front of their vehicles. Notice, Ave even liked his boots at three.
Off for a ride on a beautiful Spring day. Motorcylce Mama!

A Little Break from Taxes....

While hunched over my little desk, piled with papers and an empty coffee cup, and while preparing yet another tax return, my daughter tapped me on the shoulder and asked me if I wanted to go for a little walk in the woods with her.

Well, it didn't take much persuasion, I jumped up, stretched my shoulders out, put on my water boots, turned off Pandora loudly playing blue grass gospel (trust me it really helps me prepare taxes better) and headed out into the glorious sunshine....leaving my work sadly sitting unfinished on my poor miserable little desk. Yes, I admit sometimes, these moments of procrastination are well worth it! ....and I only have two returns left! Whoooo Hooooo!

Off I went for a walk in the woods!

The woods behind my house are so beautiful! I pray with all of heart they never get chopped down or cleared out. Parks, you can see everyday and practically in every community. Forests are so much better! I absolutely love the bramble, brush, dew berries growing wild, the dead branches, leaves--it is all so beautiful to me!!!! I wish I had more pictures to show you, but I didn't take my camera in the woods with me. My camera is also pretty shabby at taking pictures. One of these days, I'm going to get me a good one.

After taking a walk in the woods, I grabbed my camera and took a few pictures of the flowers blooming in the garden. Right now the Gardenias are my favorite. When I open my front door the sweet aroma floats gently in, and I can't help but take a moment to inhale deeply. Love....it.
I really don't know the name of these flowers, but these beautiful red flowers grow like crazy around here!
A beautiful pink rose with a hint of yellow. This rose bush was given to me by a wonderful friend of our family. I really love cutting these roses and putting them on the table.
The Hibiscus are blooming gorgeously. A beautiful Ruby-throated Hummingbird has already discovered it.

Yellow Knockout Roses in my back yard.

Red Knockout Roses in my front yard! These flowers are so easy to grow. They basically take care of their selves. I guess they have to in my garden.
I really like these Cannas. They fill an empty spot so nicely. Gardenias. They smell sooooo good!

And along with the beautiful weather comes....snakes....and......

I wonder what's lurking under that water......

Could it be a snake? Or perhaps a Nutra Rat? Or maybe even a turtle?
Look closely at the picture above! IT'S A GATOR! Second one I've saw this Spring. Believe it or not, I love the alligators. But you can keep the millions of snakes squiggling everywhere. At least it seems that way. Moccasins, none the less.

God had his hand on Kass and the little ones she was watching. While looking for an alligator, she looked down and saw an old grandpa of a water moccasin, fat and big, right by her feet! She stood still and it slithered into the bayou. My brother found it but couldn't get close enough to kill it. He said it was huge!

Anyway, I guess I'll get back over my to poor little desk and do another tax return.

Meanwhile goodbye little gator, slink back under the murky water. Hope to see you again!

A Great Blog Link

My little sister, Gin-gin, emailed me a link to this wonderful blog. I'm going to share it with you. http://amybayliss.com/17-days-of-natural-cleaning/ Thanks Gin-Gin! This blog has so many helpful tips.

I've really enjoyed the little bit that I have read about the natural cleaning products, and I fully intend on trying the soap nut berries really soon! Going chemical free and making your own cleaning products just makes you feel wonderful knowing your doing things to make your family's environment just a little bit healthier, and that your saving money in the process.

Painting by Terri Borison

The painting above was painted by my big sister, Terri Borison. She is a fabulous artist. This particular painting is of a young Los Islenos maiden wearing one of the canary islander's traditional costumes. I hope that you enjoy looking at it as much as I do.

By the way, every year we have a big Los Islenos festival celebrating the canary island people who settled in this area. My children love to attend and always look forward to it. I'll do my best to take some pictures of the festival this year and post for you all to see.

Thought This Was Funny!

An interesting way to discard your clothing. Ave sheds his clothing this way. He always has either a pair of pajama pants underneath if it's winter or a pair of shorts if it's summer. So, where ever he is when he wants to get comfortable he can--hotel lobby (ask Betsy about this), car, cousin's house--you name it. Anyway, we thought it was funny. He was tired from school and just wanted to crawl in bed and listen to an audio story. Hence the pants and shoes on the floor. It still looks like he is in these pants.

Grieving Over Football?

"Unsuspecting debilitating grief" is the way this morning's radio talk show host described his reaction to the Saint's loss on Saturday. Unbelievable....GRIEF OVER A FOOTBALL GAME?????

Tears in the eyes....anger.....depression....these are real feelings that people have after their favorite ball team looses. Pitiful if you ask me. It's almost hard to believe that normal rational thinking people can get so upset over a silly game.

It is a game! I can think of a lot more things to grieve about. How about putting all that grief and effort into something that really matters. Weep over an abused child, or a teenager addicted to drugs, or a loved one with cancer, or the death of someone special......but please don't place so much importance on a STUPID GAME.

The Holidays!

The Holidays went way too fast for me! First of all I didn't get to shop until the Tuesday before Christmas - and my sister and her family didn't get to stay nearly long enough, and the fun visiting with family and friends just went by in a blurrrr......next year, I'm really gonna do my best to be prepared for it. Anyway this is what has been happening in the last month.
Yes, I know the living room furniture is arranged strangely in my mom and dad's house. This is to accommodate the many children we have running around. We shove all the furniture out of the way so that we have more room to hang out. This picture captures a few of the children and grandchildren lounging around talking, and waiting patiently for paw-paw to hand out the gifts. We always have a Christmas get together a few days before Christmas to visit and exchange gifts.
This year at our Christmas Party, one of my sisters brought all the stuff to make Chinese dumplings.....they were a hit. She always shows me up!!!!! Grrrrr!!! The only problem was she couldn't cook them as fast as everyone of was eating them. Kass gave her a hand. Mind you, we had plenty of other other delicious stuff to eat as well. If you want to be a hit at the next party, try making these....here is the link http://plainoldkristi.blogspot.com/2011/10/pork-dumplings.html. Also, please note the video at the bottom. It explains just how popular these little dumplings were! Of course, much of it was just being silly together. I promise you we really aren't greedy little pigs! We just couldn't help ourselves!
Oh course, we went one night to Celebration in the Oaks-a family tradition. If you look close enough you can see Ave trying his best to stick his head in the alligator's mouth.
We also had our annual Christmas get together at Aunt Sharon's house which is always so much fun. Above is a picture of one of the Department 56 village houses that she gets us each year. My collection is the Alpine Village. I think I have about ten or so now. Aren't they pretty!

This time of the year always brings about the duck hunters. This handsome little duck hunter showed up at my front door with his trophies. I hear duck gumbo is so good. I'm still waiting on someone to make me some. Ave and Mil-mil (above) have also spent quite a bit of time outdoors cooking hot cocoa over a fire. For some reason they say it's much better over a fire outside. I don't know...I'll have to try it one of these days.

Lemons are always available this time of the year as well. My mom's lemon tree did so well. Her lemons make the puny little lemons from the store look so pitiful! So, we have been eating lots of lemony stuff this month! A very easy lemon pie recipe is: 1 can of condensed milk, about 1/2 cup of lemon juice, 1 small container of cool whip, and 1 graham cracker pie shell. Mix the first three ingredients together, pour into graham cracker pie shell, and refrigerate for 1 or 2 hours before serving. So easy and yummy, too. My mother in-law really likes in because it has no eggs in it. Ave's gingerbread house from the church's Christmas party gingerbread making contest. I still think he should have won first! Just kidding-plainoldkristi's bunch are the bomb!
Ave's been studying healthy eating habits in school this past month. He made his own lunch on this particular day. He dug around in the fridge and this is what he came up with - the arrangement and all. Doesn't he have a prideful look on his face. We were eating hamburgers that day and he scorned our eating habits. Believe it or not, he said his lunch was great and ate every bite of it. The cup has vegetable juice in it. Whit helping Ave with his house.

Snoopy even seemed to enjoy the holidays. He is wearing a cute little outfit I picked up at Hudson's Salvage Store for only $1.80. I didn't think he would like it, but I think he actually felt quite handsome in it.

For New Years, we celebrated in the usual wonderful way (I wouldn't want it any other way)--at church with family and friends. We do communion, wash feet (just as Jesus washed the disciples feet), have a party afterwards (yummy soups, sandwiches, and desserts made by the ladies), and run outside in the church yard at midnight to cheer the New Year in! I've also posted a video of the New Year's Fireworks in our part of the country. Nothing professional, just a bunch of people celebrating, once again, a new beginning. I must admit it does get a bit out of hand around here.

Happy 2012 everyone! I hope all of you have a safe, happy, healthy, prosperous, and blessed New Year!