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Visitor #6800 dropped by this afternoon. She has a familiar ISP and hails from Garden City. So in appreciation for your daily visits, Kay, here is the first of several pictures I took at the Orchid Show at the Botanical Garden back in February. I realized, going through my photo library, that I had promised to post these but I never got around to it. So I'll make a point of adding them to posts that otherwise wouldn't have a picture.
Kay was preceded by several cherished readers today--including the Dixons, Carol in Texas, Cous Debi in Tulsa, and others. Not much news here. The Daffodils are marching on. They took a beating from Thursday's rain that left many of them prostrate, but most of them are finally upright again. I cut a bouquet last night because we were going to have more rain. I took the bouquet to church, but had to remove it from the sanctuary before the service, because our choir's only baritone started sneezing during the rehearsal and feared he would choke up in the service. We put our flowers in the library instead as the centerpiece for coffee hour, and then our pastor took them home to enjoy. Our rain stopped about 3 p.m. and we are supposed to have a milder, warmer week albeit a bit windy. Norm and I are looking forward to visiting our favorite garden center tomorrow to pick out some pansies to brighten the porch and yard. It's almost warm enough to start moving the geraniums outside, but I think I'll wait until after Easter. This week is Spring Break at the university, so our exercise classes won't meet. We are on our own to find some way to burn a few extra calories.
Now, Kay, about those lovely comments you always leave. I've been wondering how the prom party went. When you have time, drop us a line, OK?
Between now and April 21, when I started counting visitors in 2008, I wonder how many visitors Home Stories will have? I'll do my best to post some good news and great pictures, along with an occasional link to something that has touched me. I'm looking forward to discovering who is checking in. Have a good week, everyone!
Today was a bonus day. Originally supposed to be raining, but the storminess is still out west, coming tomorrow. Our favorite neighbor spent the afternoon with us and we had to take her picture. Yesterday she went to the groomer and this sleek, soft, silky Ava is the result. We aren't sure if it's our eyes, or if Ava is getting lighter with every haircut. She started out almost black when Barb adopted her almost two years ago. now she is getting close to "silver" and she is only 2-1/2 years old.
For contrast, this is Ava last Friday, also on a visit while Barb was on a short trip. It's really nice to be able to see her expressive eyes again! Although Barb did note that it's supposed to be a little cooler this weekend and maybe Ava won't be quite the warm blanket she was before her spa visit. 
Because we had some unexpected sunshine, and rain is coming (over an inch predicted) tomorrow, I had to take one more daffodil picture...I hope you are not getting too tired of them. Now that all of the yellow ones are open, the row along the driveway is really quite spectacular. Norm thinks it is because he put bulb food on the bed last spring while the green leaves were still working to store energy in the bulbs. We ran out of it and have been looking for some in vain. That's why today is such a bonus day. This afternoon I had an errand and while driving past Thies Farm, our favorite garden and produce center, I noticed they have opened for the season. The only customer, I went right in and voila--bulb food. Now Norm can apply it as soon as the blooms fade, and we can hope next year's display will at least match this one.
The latter part of last week brought 60-degree days, sunshine and an itch to go outdoors. We also had Ava for a night, and I worked on sewing and quilting projects on Saturday after it got cloudy and cooler. Friday was the peak day of the week.
Cooler than normal temperatures have helped keep our early bulbs, like the purple crocus in the front bed, fresh and lovely. For once, the camera captured the color almost true. In some lights it looks too blue or too reddish, but this is about right.
Out back, the first wave of jonquils took over on Friday as well. These white and yellow blooms are our earliest. The all-yellow ones are starting to show color now and I hope the rains we are having tonight (38 degrees, brr!) don't spoil them.
I have no idea how long the daffodil and jonquil bed has been planted along the driveway. I think we gave the plants some bulb food last spring while the foliage was still green... at least they show no signs of thinning out. We planted some bulbs out front in the planter in our new wall last fall, and they are just now pushing up. These guys along the driveway seem to sprout starting in December!
Our very first sign of spring is this bunch of miniature daffodils on the south side of the house. There is only the one clump, but it gets larger every year. When the late afternoon sun reaches these, they glow like pure gold.
The diminuitive plants are no more than 8 inches tall, and the little flowers are just a bit over an inch across. Every year I say we should lift and divide them, but so far it hasn't happened.
Soon there will be other blooms to enjoy. We have many different varieties of columbine, and they come up in various places, some of them unexpected. But this one seems to be emerging right next to a plant marker, so we must have planted it last year. I can't remember if it is blue or yellow or--??. So I'll wait to be surprised.
After a messy winter of frequent small snow storms and heavy street salting, our Gracie was ready for a spring bath. It was such a mild day, Norm set up a car wash in our driveway and afterward it looked like we had a new car!This coming week there should be several appointments to keep and my plan is to resume a schedule of genealogy/memoir work on two days, quilting on two days, shopping and errands on one day. Plus we need to get back to our regular exercise schedule, too. We have been kind of lazy since we got back from our Florida trip. (I am blaming it on Daylight-Saving Time, myself!)
Today was Tax Filing Day and once again, TurboTax did all of the heavy lifting and e-filing. Tonight an e-mail arrived saying our federal return has already been accepted and we can expect direct deposit of our refund in about 10 days. How sweet is that! Since I finished at 5 p.m. there was no supper in the works so we went out to eat at Mi Ranchito. Thanks to Daylight-Saving Time, we were home long before dark and I discovered that this afternoon's sun had brought out the first daffodil bloom of 2010.
We also seem to now have resident robins. They are clucking at dusk and singing before sunrise and like this one, trolling the yard for grub (and grubs).
Meanwhile, the tulips are starting to emerge from the mulch out front. Even though conventional wisdom says the bulbs last only a year or two, these just keep on ticking. Time will tell if they have blooms, and what color.
We are beginning to feel the irresistible force of Spring everywhere: in the red maple buds down the street, crocus in many yards, a row of daffodils locked and loaded and ready to burst out in yellow in a day or two, multiple bird songs, and the ever present burrowing of our resident moles. Even if we get colder weather and light snow next week (some long range forecasts say we will) spring is going to just keep on coming. A much more hopeful certainty than the T-word!
As if on cue, not long after I posted the photo of the first creamy crocus... the purple ones showed color. On Thursday these all popped open in the warm sun of another upper 60s day. I think my love affair with these plucky little bulbs (I know, they make some of my friends sneeze--I'm sorry) goes back to childhood. Our next door neighbors, the Bakers, owned a florist shop, and they planted a lot of flowers in their yard that I had never seen. Including crocus. When I was 7, I was totally smitten with them and I continue to be to this day.
I had been itching to straighten and sweep the front porch; it was ankle deep in sycamore fluff, discarded leaves and spider webs. After I got it cleaned up, I brought out two lawn chairs and then Norm and I sat in the warmth of the sun and enjoyed a bowl of ice cream. The first ritual of spring. That goes back to childhood, too. The first warm evening (and I defined warm as anything approaching 55 degrees) I would wart my parents until we would all set off for Glencliff Dairy on East Admiral in Tulsa for an ice cream cone. I was so proud when I was old enough to get a double dip instead of a single. My favorite: butterscotch ripple. Although chocolate will do just fine in a pinch.
Out back, we have a daffodil explosion taking place. When we got home from Florida on the 4th, green leaves were about 2-3 inches high, poking through the mulch all along the bed next to the driveway. I think they have grown almost an inch a day since then and by Wednesday, nice fat flower buds were quite visible. In the late afternoon sun, they almost glowed from within. My mother loved daffodils and had to have King Alfreds --the huge yellow long-trumpet kind-- in her front flower bed at the house I grew up in. Later my parents had a corner lot, and the entire back fence was lined with daffodils of various kinds. One year my dad thinned them out and I asked for some of the bulbs. I've grown my "Tulsa daffodils" ever since, and moved some to this house in 2001. These flowers in the picture, though, are the ones that came with the house. They are a spectacular show all along the driveway--if it doesn't freeze late in the season. I fear they are a little early but for the next 8 days at least we are forecast no colder than 38, so I have hope. In the bird department, some robins are back; the cardinals are singing; a red-winged blackbird seems to like our maple; the goldfinches are starting to molt back to yellow; the wren is singing; and unfortunately, the juncos are still here (I have this superstition that it won't snow after they leave.) The neighborhood cat prowls the yard and unfortunately, she has a heavy look about her that probably means kittens, more mouths to feed. Sigh.
We have closed out a week of appointments including visits to doctor and dentist, a little exercise, a lot of paper sorting in preparation for doing the taxes. Tomorrow we will do some spring cleaning at church, followed by some baking of St. Patrick's Day themed cookies for Sunday coffee hour. I finished reading Zora Neale Thurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God" for our March book club meeting and am starting Greg Mortenson's "Three Cups of Tea" for April. Norm has finished "Tea" and is starting "Their Eyes." We have been watching the "Who do you think you are?" series on NBC and it is making me eager to get back to my 4 great grandmothers story. And it looks like I'm up to 130 friends on FaceBook. For a certifiable introvert, how did that ever happen?
Beware the Ides of March and don't forget...daylight-saving time arriveth!
Kim Bentrott has resumed writing on her blog after taking the month of February off for personal time with family and much-needed rest. There are four new posts starting with March 1, and they all appeared together today on Adventures in Life. Great reading for those of us interested in what happens in Haiti and how the earthquake has affected Americans doing mission there.
It was so exciting to get an e-mail from a friend with a link to this article in today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch about Happy Friday!, an outreach of our faith community, Compton Heights Christian Church. You can read the story here: Compton Heights church members bid 'Happy Friday' to passersby.
If you scroll down the page you'll come across a link to a wonderful multimedia segment that goes with it, featuring short interviews and slides and sound. (Or you can just click on the link in the previous sentence.) Norm and I have not yet made it to Happy Friday but this gives us a good idea of how much fun we are missing!
When we came out of church today, the temperature was 70 degrees, and it just smelled like Spring. You know, that damp, warm earth smell. We got home about 3 p.m., changed clothes, and headed to the Whistle Stop in Ferguson for Northern Cross salads and the first Fast Tracks sundaes of the season! It is now turning colder and rain is forecast to start tomorrow and last most of the coming week, but we have had our 15 minutes in the sun and there's no stopping it now. The wrens and cardinals are singing territory songs. The squirrels are frisking. The daffodils are 4 inches high and BUDS are showing on them! No matter what the Weather gods throw our way the next few weeks, Spring is On The Way!
As our Southwest Airlines 737 lifted off from Ft. Myers on Thursday, it was a sparkling clear day and I had a window seat on a geography lesson. But the first landmark I recognized was Doug and Matt's condo community as we flew almost straight over it. Here it is above; their unit is in the building at the end of the lagoon.
I could make out many familiar features below. Here, the Six Mile Cypress slough cuts a green swath through Lee County. We hope to visit the boardwalk and tour the visitor center there next time we are in the neighborhood.
Twin bridges carry US 41 across the wide Caloosa- hatchee River between downtown Ft. Myers and North Ft. Myers. The I-75 bridge is at the top of the picture.
Inland we saw huge truck farms like this one. Growing in these rectangles are all kinds of crops including strawberries, tomatoes, potatoes, and various citrus crops. Recent freezes have damaged some of them.
For a while we were flying mostly up the Gulf Coast. One familiar landmark, seen at left, is Wacca- ssassa Bay. The green area is the Gulf Hammock Wildlife Management Area, or so the map tells me.
We crossed the Florida Panhandle and a corner of Georgia before entering Alabama air space. I'm not sure if these fields were in GA or FL, but their amazing geometry was worth a picture, albeit from 32,000 feet. The haziness proves that even on a clear day, we have smog aloft.
This river was striking even from over 5 miles up. After studying the map, I think it is a portion of the Chatta- hoochee River, which forms the border between Georgia and Alabama. At least I'm calling it that for now. If someone knows better, please let me know. 
Halfway through the flight, the pilot told us we had just passed over Birming- ham, AL. Soon I could see this broad snaky waterway far to the north. Clearly it's a lake formed by damming a river. After checking the maps, this would be Lake Wilson on the Tennessee River in Northern AL.
Still Lake Wilson/ Tennessee River, and a bridge leading to the small town of Elgin, a few miles south of the Tennessee- Alabama border. Of course, borders don't show up on maps; rivers and roads and fields and towns do.
It seemed like only a few minutes before we had crossed Tennessee and a tiny corner of Kentucky and voila-- the confluence of the Ohio and MIssissippi Rivers was below us. Lots of barge traffic on the Ohio and some on the Mississippi as well.
Through history, the Mississippi has changed course many times, leaving horsehoe (make that oxbow--JL3/7/10) lakes like this one behind. I'm sure this one is famous and has a name, but I can't find it on my maps. It's between Charleston and Cape Girardeau, though.
Here we are over The Cape. I think the wooded area along the bend at the top of the picture is the Trail of Tears State Park, which Norm and I visited a couple of years ago.
The bridge connecting St. Mary, MO and Chester, IL. It's the only bridge over the Mississippi between St. Louis and Cape Girardeau. We crossed this a few years back when we visited Ste. Genevieve. This was such a marvelous flight, being able to recognize a lot of landmarks and getting to learn about new ones.
Here's a sight I've seen many times as our plane completed a 90- degree turn on approach to Lambert Field. This is looking north on the MIssissippi, with the Chain of Rocks navigation canal at the far right. Mosenthein Island is in the center. I think I can see a slight curve to the earth on the horizon, can you? Also, some smog-- although the day looked so clear from the ground.
We are really losing altitude quickly now. I can make out the stores in the Buzz Westfall shopping center (formerly known as Northland, to you old-time St. Louisans) as well as the Glen Echo country club gold course.
Several years ago the airport bought out a large area of the towns of Berkeley and Kinloch for noise abatement and expansion. The shadow of our plane races across the empty lots, marked off by the deserted streets. We are seconds from touching down on the runway, back home after our wonderful Florida vacation.
Yesterday afternoon after we got home, I was checking the front yard and lo, there was a crocus in bloom! Today when I got the mail there were four. These guys are the first to emerge from their well mulched bed, but it looks like there will be many more. It was a great welcome home committee.
We have been home from Florida since 3:30 p.m. but we keep looking for a certain small poodle who steals our hearts every time we spend time with him. Sam, we miss you, too!
Our flight was 'uneventful' as they say. It was so clear I could make out parts of the Tennessee River and various lakes, as well as the confluence of the Ohio and the Mississippi rivers. I took a lot of pictures and if any of them are legible, will try to post tomorrow. Right now, I'm ready to go to bed.
Tuesday started off stormy, but by mid-day the bad weather had moved to the east and the sun started breaking through the clouds. After lunch at Panera (St. Louis Bread Company to those back home) we set out for Pine Island, which lies north of Sanibel/ Captiva between the mainland and the Gulf of Mexico.
Pineland is the modern name for a site now on the National Register of Historic Places. It encom- passes what remains of a huge complex that was the home of the Calusa Indians for more than 15 centuries. The shell mounds have been excavated and studies of the artifacts continue at the Randall Research Center. The 200-acre complex is on the western shore of Pine Island, facing Pine Island Sound.
Interpretive signs appear all along the Calusa Heritage Trail that is 7/10 of a mile in length and easy to walk. We were amazed not only by the history of the place, but by much of the vegetation. These huge gumbo-limbo trees surrounded one of the highest mounds, where the home of the chief is believed to have been built.
On our walk we also came upon a large example of a strangler fig, although we have seen these many other places in Southwest Florida as well. The tree is a parasite and sends its roots down from the top of the host plant.
For mid westerners, it is a treat to find a wild red flower blooming in early March, anywhere. But I looked in vain in the Audubon guide to find the name of this one.
The top of another residential mound gave us a good view of Pine Island Sound. It was raining lightly and we debated whether to continue on the trail or go back to the car. Since it was a warm rain, and there was one very large umbrella for the four of us, we pressed on.
Light moving across the sound gave us a clue the rain would end soon. The Calusa were not farmers, but fishermen. Their society was healthy and they produced painted and sculpted wooden artwork that is considered among the best in North America. Having come from Oklahoma and familiar with the Five Tribes, I learned a lot at this site about a tribe I had never heard of before.
In addition to vegetation we saw interesting bird life. I'm used to seeing a solitary ibis feeding here and there along waterways down here. But this little flock was checking out something in the grass while one lone ibis stood sentinel in a tree 50 feet above them.
The Calusa were also engineers. They build a system of canals that once connected Pine Island Sound with waters on the eastern side of the island, facing Cape Coral. Canals were used to channel water and make it possible to build on dry land, much as subdivisions are still built in Florida today.
The Spanish discovered the Calusa when they conquered Florida. They tried without success to convert them to the Catholic faith. Eventually disease and war took a toll on this once powerful people. By the late 1700s and into the 1800s, white settlers moved in and started farming. A few citrus trees and trees like this starfruit are reminders of that era. As development continued, efforts were made to purchase part of the ancient site and turn it into the study and preservation site that it is today. An admission donation of $7, $5 for seniors or children, is requested.
As we walked along the trail, we were conscious of bird cries, and also saw a large bird swooping around. Several nest platforms had been put up, and we saw Mrs. Osprey in this one. She scolded us as we went past.
Soon we were being scolded from another direction, and we spied Mr. Osprey high in a tree, with his lunch. We hope he shared some of it with Mrs. O, but we aren't sure. He was also unhappy that we had disturbed his meal and scolded us as well.
Across the road from the Calusa Heritage Center is Tarpon Lodge and Restaurant. It has been here since 1926 and is open daily. We stopped in for a drink and to relax before heading back to Ft. Myers and some delicious homemade whole grain spinach and feta pizza that Doug made for supper.
Today (Wednesday) we thought we might go to the Cypress Slough, but it was a little too windy and cool for the boardwalk and Norm's allergies seem to be acting up a bit. So we went to a quilt shop instead: Quilter's Hangout in North Ft. Myers. It is definitely worth the trip. Over 6000 bolts of fabric, classes, and lots of free advice. I bought only 1-1/2 yards of a print that caught my eye for a gypsy bag, and some thread, and a few other notions. If I had an extra suitcase and an unlimited bank account, I would have gotten more. Tonight we went out to dinner at Crave, great home-style food with a gourmet touch, and then had ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery. Now I'm finishing up this blog and getting ready to pack a little before going to bed. Tomorrow we say farewell to the relatively warm and sunny southland and head home.
Visitor #6800 dropped by this afternoon. She has a familiar ISP and hails from Garden City. So in appreciation for your daily visits, Kay, here is the first of several pictures I took at the Orchid Show at the Botanical Garden back in February. I realized, going through my photo library, that I had promised to post these but I never got around to it. So I'll make a point of adding them to posts that otherwise wouldn't have a picture.
