April Flowers bring May Showers

Before April is only a distant memory, I thought I'd upload a few photos of the lovely flowering trees and bushes we enjoyed this spring. The dogwood above, complete with a bee on a blossom, was captured by our friend Mike with his new Nikon. It was growing at Powder Valley Nature Center, a field trip I still need to post about.

The lilac we trans- planted 8 years ago from Ferguson was full of blooms this year as well. The only problem with it is its proximity to the cable and phone lines over head. Not to mention the power line farther up. We are going to have to trim it back, which I hate to do since it will reduce flowering next year.

We have two azaleas, one in front of the porch on the west side and one around the corner on the north side. This one, in front, always blooms first. I've found that a good dose of Miracid when it first buds helps the blossoms, as well as another dose or two during the summer. That's a tricky proposition, since planted next to it is a lovely blue hydrangea that prefers alkaline soil. We'll have to see how well it does later in the summer.

We are still keeping Ava, who has settled in like this is home. This evening Norm was planting some hardy perennials we bought at the Market, and I was sweeping up the Oak tree trash from spent flowers (lots of acorns this year, probably). I went inside to check on Ava and found her nested in front of Norm's recliner on his lap robe, watching The Biggest Loser on TV. But I couldn't get her to tell me how it all came out!

Doug is working on some journal articles and staying in Edwardsville. His sister-in-law, Michelle, continues to struggle with challenges following Lily's birth and subsequent surgeries. This coming weekend we will house sit for our friends Mike and Sandy as they travel to Chicago to see John and Kim and Heather and Corey. Heather is still in the hospital and working on keeping the baby from coming early. Sarah Jane is improving at Children's hospital here, much to the relief of her parents Sandy and Dave, but has a long recovery ahead. Elaine, wife of Norm's cousin Joe, is continuing her chemo in Tulsa every three weeks, making the round trip from her home in Virginia. So our prayer list is still quite long!