Mom's Garden Gems

Tonight we stopped by to capture Mom's Garden Gems in photos. 

Mom's poppies and irises have blossomed and look gorgeous. She set up her pond and got it working today all by herself. Dad would be proud of her. Mom has been diligently working on her garden bit-by-bit over the past few weeks. I think her efforts have been totally worth it. Mom's garden looks amazing. 

I enjoyed taking photos of Mom's Garden Gems tonight. I hope they brighten your day too. 😊 

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Flowers for Mothers' Day

Our son left for Kenora last weekend to spend the summer fighting wild fires. Before he left, he bought me Flowers for Mothers' Day. 

I found this on the mantle along with a hand-written note last Friday when I got home from work. It was sweet of him to think of me with all the other things he had to prepare for his summer away. 

  

Thank you for buying me Flowers for Mothers' Day. I love this white Fuji Spider Mum paired with purple irises ... perfect choice.

In case you're wondering, our son has been sending regular updates from Kenora this week. He loves where he's staying (a cottage on a lake with three other young men) and loves that he gets to work fighting wildfires. 

I found a video series online called "Playing With Fire". My son tells me he knows some of the people in the videos. They are his coworkers. 

About Playing With Fire:

"Drought and climate change have turned Canada’s forests into fire bombs that go off every summer. In Ontario alone, there are over 1000 blazes each year. Even with new technology, the essential weapon in the fight against fires is the initial attack crews. These firefighters are ready at a moment’s notice to protect our forests, our communities and our lives. Playing With Fire is the story of two northwestern Ontario crews, one in Kenora and the other in Sioux Lookout."

As you can imagine, I will be sending lots of 'stay safe' wishes his way.

I am truly happy for him and looking forward to hearing all about his adventures. It's bound to be an exciting summer. 

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Pot People and Magnolias

Both inspired smiles this week.

Our neighbour made some Pot People to adorn his bench. They're so cute and cheerful, I couldn't resist sharing. I smile every time I pass by now.

I love our magnolia tree, especially when it blossoms like it did this week. I asked my husband to take photos one morning. I was worried a pending thunderstorm might wipe out the blossoms before I got home. 

I had to laugh when my husband sent me his photos this morning. This is our magnolia tree. Can you see it? 

I do love his closeups though.

Luckily our neighbour captured our magnolia in full bloom a couple days later and sent me these photos this morning. That's what I was expecting. 

I love her closeups too. Magnolias are beautiful for such a short time.

I also love the contrast from just six weeks ago. It's truly amazing.

Pot People and Magnolias - two things to inspire smiles this week.

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Mothers' Day Weekend

This was a perfect weekend to celebrate Mothers' Day. With such warm and sunny weather, I asked my SO (Significant Other) to take some garden shots on Saturday. Our magnolia tree is in full bloom and beautiful. Who doesn't love magnolias?

We have flowers blooming along the back wall of our house as well. I love the white Flox. It's such a pretty tiny flower. 

I also love this purple Pasque Flower. It's so intricate and colourful with lacy green leaves. 

Our garden is relatively small but I thoroughly enjoy the few flowers and herbs we grow. I say "we" but really I mean my SO. My gardening enthusiasm ends with the enjoying part. It's my SO who takes care of planting and maintenance. 

He was extra busy planting pots and cleaning the pool this weekend. He added some green by planting basil and removed other green by adding five 10 L jugs of chlorine to the pool over the past few days. The pool looks quite inviting although much too cold for me.

"We" also planted sage and parsley (no photo) and our garden is already full of tarragon, oregano, mint and chives. I love using fresh herbs from our garden all summer long.

On Sunday to celebrate Mothers' Day, we gave my Mom a bouquet of white roses, crochet dish cloths and a card. My favourite pattern for crochet dish cloths can be found here. I like to add a single crochet border to this pattern to give a clean finished look.

In my recent clutter clearing efforts, I found this card from 1972 made when I was almost 9 years old. I thought the verse was funny so I wrote an updated version and gave it to my Mom along with the original. 

Clutter clearing trick - scan paper items so you no longer have to keep the original. You'll save the memory without the clutter. I plan to do more of that to cut down on stored photos and various keepsakes.

I took my Mom to Starbuck's in Byron where we enjoyed cappuccino on the patio then spent some time chatting in my parents' back garden before heading over to my In-Law's for lunch. Lunch was delicious and it was great to get everybody together again. Our son who recently got a part-time job was working but we did manage to save him some apple pie.

After lunch my SO and I had massages booked for 3:00 and 4:30 p.m. which was exactly what we both needed. Me for my shoulder injury and my SO from doing so much extra work around the garden and pool. 

With the timing of massages and extra jobs to be done at home, we missed our son's first soccer game of the season.  Luckily our parents went and our son was happy to report a win which was very exciting and a great start to his season.

My SO also planted Tuberous Begonias in a pot which sits in the corner of our patio. We loved these flowers last year as they were full of blooms all summer long and into the fall. We also love the ambiance provided by colourful light sticks in this pot all year round.

Sitting outside enjoying a glass of wine at the end of the day. A weekend full of simple pleasures.

Then to top it off, our son finally took the time to check his email and discovered he has been accepted at both Carlton University and University of Guelph in Computer Sciences. He had already been accepted at Brock University back in February. Now he has a decision to make. How great is that? He is looking forward to the next step after high school but also thoroughly enjoying himself right now.

I'm so excited for him and looking forward to the inevitable changes this year. I wonder what it will be like to have him out of the house in September? I wonder if I will finally be able to sleep through the night? The house is going to be so quiet. I haven't decided if that is a good thing or bad thing but I'm leaning towards good.

I hope you all enjoyed your Mothers' Day weekend including the ups and downs and everything in between because that is what life is like with kids or without.