Spring In Atlanta

 

Ah for another few days like these

Spring in Atlanta is an amazing time. It is a constant panorama of color, changing week to week. It starts with the camelias,bradford pears,ornamental cherries, daffodils, tulips, iris,azaleas, the assortment of roses, and on into summer. I love the multiple shades of green of the budding trees, the blue sky much like out west before the haze turns it grey, and the temperatures that welcome you outside. Out west, we spent a great deal of time outside, even in the winter with cross-country skiing, etc. In Atlanta, we get spring and fall to be outside. Winter is often rainy and grey, and summer is hot, humid, and buggy. But I have got to say, the colors here are amazing. 

Where Have All the Flowers Gone


 


The funny thing about flowers is that I never grew flowers until I met my present husband. Before that time, I was totally into growing vegetables, useful things that I could feed my family with. I thought that flowers were for the weak, the rich (who had money for flowers), and not for me. I was the practical one, who canned, and picked, and stewed, and jellied. I'm not sure where that came from, because my Grandmother had a wonderful vegetable garden, but had tons of flowers, which she would allow me to pick to bring into the house. We still had to pick beans, compost the tomatoes, pick off the horn worms etc, but she always had the roses, gladiolas, petunias, hollyhocks, and several others, including mint growing right outside the patio door. I spent a year living with my grandmother when my Dad was overseas, so I got really into the gardening scene.

My best garden was in Nevada. Our back yard was big enough to be a small used car lot, so my ex-husband borrowed a tractor, tilled it up, and we planted corn, beans, melons, tomatoes, squash, and even eggplant (which no one would eat). We did have sunflowers which grew to be over 13 feet tall. We had so many squash-butternut, acorn and spagetti, that we couldn't even give them away. I even grew enough pumpkins for each kid (4) to have their own pumpkin to decorate for Halloween.

But it wasn't until I got remarried, and we got our first house together that I started my adventure into flowers, and now, my kids call me a "plantaholic". I have my veggies in the back of the yard, but I've got flowers everywhere else. I've also tried to tie it together to flowers/plants that I have gotten from other people, not just bought ones. I have althea and cannas from my uncle's house who has passed, day lillies and irises from old homesteads that were out in the middle of nowhere(my husband is an archeologist), and several other plants that came from somewhere, so bring their history with them. We also have a wonderful botanical garden in Atlanta so I can go hang out there whenever I can't get enough flowers and plants at home.

Hope you like this small albumn

Happy Wednesday 

  

Those Moments that Stop Your Heart

Today was one of those moments that you absolutely hate, the phone call of disaster. I had been at work a couple of hours when my daughter (the one with the blog) called. She was taking my grandson (along with her other three kids) to the ER. A telivision in the bedroom had fallen on top of him, and he couldn't seem to stand up.

My heart was in my throat, and all I could say was, "I'm on my way". So, I jumped in my car and made the fastest trip up to the ER that I have ever made. I got there to see my grandaughter (almost 9 going on 15) and my grandson (5, going on 5) in the waiting room. The clerk indicated where my daughter was with my grandson(17 months) and his sister (17 months). My granddaughter had just had a bad trip to the doctor(blood tests, etc), so she was in the exam room crying and my grandson was just sitting there looking like no big deal.

I took my granddaughter out to the waiting room with the other two, and we waited about 40 minutes before they took him for X-rays. And, then as usual, another 40 minutes or so (luckily the ER was not busy at all) before the doctor called me back in, to let us all know that it looked like bruising but no breaks. What a relief.

My daughter and her kids have been living with me for the last 15 months. You remember how crazy you were about your kids when they were small (as adults, ah, not so much--just kidding), but I was there with my daughter when the twins were born. I had gone in to be there with my daughter, but after they wrapped the firstborn (the boy) up, they handed him to me (my daughter had a c-section, so was not holding anything at the time) and then, after the girl was born, and wrapped, they handed her to me too. I was sitting there saying, "Heh, I'm here for my daughter". The nurse's response was, "Heh, get used to it Grandma". And ever since that time, I have been enamored of the two. (Of course I love my other two grandchildren-and I was in the delivery room with my daughter when her first son was born), but somehow, having them so close by, watching them grow, being a part of their lives has been magnificent. Even if my house seems small with all these folks, it has been worth it.

So, the week that I was going to start with a WOW, started with a POW.

Happy Monday.

The Power of Words
I should have gotten up and written my thoughts last night when I couldn't go to sleep, but I figured maybe I should sleep on them or not sleep on them as it turned out. Here was the situation. My daughter has a blog, and she is an excellent writer, and she wanted me to read one of her posts. Well, let's just say her posts are much more provocative than mine-heh, somethings are better forgotten. And, some of her posts are things that happened to her as a teenager (I don't know where I was, because I sure didn't know about a lot of the stuff she writes about). Well, one of them made me uncomfortable, and words were said (I hate that it is so much easier to say stupid things when you are upset or angry-why doesn't something just make your mouth stay closed).

Then, because I was upset, mostly with myself, I started in on my husband, who has the same disease of the mouth that I do, and he said some things, and I said some things, and for one of the first times ever, we went to bed somewhat mad at each other. All because of a few words, written on a blog.

Well, I'm learning, gotta realize the past is the past-there is nothing I can do to change it but learn from it, and learn to be the supportive person I want to be. There are just so many buttons that people can push.

One of my other buttons is that when something uncomfortable happens, I want it done with, and go on, FIDO (Forget about it, Drive On). A couple of members of my family seen to want to drag things out, keep dealing with the situation, it drives me crazy. I've been reading some stuff about Tom Peters, and he said at 61 he went to Canyon Ranch and finally really learned to breathe. I guess that's what I need, to stop holding my breath, waiting for the other shoe to fall, stop thinking life is a roller coaster, and just breathe.

So, my goal for this next week is to Breathe, put some WOW in my life, and have some fun. (too bad I have to go to work!)

Nancy