Amy Wannabe

I was just walking around the yard yesterday and saw this beautiful swallowtail butterfly.  I ran in and got my camera and started shooting away.

It loved these coneflowers even though the butterfly bush was close by.  It would flutter away, then come back, letting me get lots of pictures from different angles.

Poor thing has a piece of his left wing tip missing.

Golden Rain Tree

In driving along the Schuylkill Expressway a number of years ago, I noticed a tree in bloom with pretty yellow flowers.  Whenever I see a tree or flowering bush I've never noticed before, I can't rest until I discover what it is.  It was strikingly beautiful along the Schuylkill River - a welcome sight in the midst of all the congestion and traffic of the city.

In my investigation, I found out that it's a golden rain tree.  Details about the tree include:

 Goldenraintree (Koelreuteria paniculata)

• Fast-growing tree
• Tough and durable tree: tolerates air pollution and drought
• Adapts to many soil types
• Late-blooming yellow flowers
• Grows 30' to 40' with 35' spread

 

I just had to have one of these beautiful trees.  I sent to the National Arbor Foundation and bought 3 trees for $1.00.  Actually, what I bought were 3 tiny sticks.  I planted them with care and tenderly watched over them.  Andy was somewhat skeptical of what I saw in these sticks and was impatient with how slowly they were growing.  I admit, they were growing very slowly and over the years, we had to get rid of 2 of them because they were in the way of progress.  (We put in a sidewalk and garden and I adopted his impatient attitude.)  But I insisted that I had to keep this one tree because I had high hopes of future beauty.

The tree that was left was getting taller, but I confess I was beginning to wonder if it would ever bloom.  So imagine my delight when I recently looked out my kitchen window and saw glints of gold on the top of the tree!  I was so happy...my baby was in bloom.
  

An interesting twist to this saga is that in spite of Andy's making fun of me and my insistence on keeping this rain tree, he is the first one to notice that it was blooming this year and encouraged me to look out the window at the tree.

I admit my tree has a long way to go to look like a full grown rain tree.  But I now have hope that someday it will.

Another Birthday

Aiden’s birthday was in April but because of my classes and Andy’s illness, we weren’t able to have him over.  But finally we were able to schedule it and make it work for yesterday.

I left work early on Monday to pick him up and bring him to our house.  He had a list of things he wanted to do with us:

*  barbeque chicken pizza for dinner and ice cream for dessert!

* watch a movie (we chose Wizard of Oz)

* read lots of books

* ride bikes at the church

* play games (we played Rummy-O and Tri-Ominoes)

We did a few other things that weren’t on his list.  He shot the BB gun with Andy.  Andy made up a target and they had a lot of fun aiming to see how close they could get to the center circle, as well as to the edge of the target.

We also took Aiden over to Amico Island Park and enjoyed hiking along the Delaware River shore line and on the trails.  We went early in the morning before the sun got too hot.  We had been at this particular park twice before, but both those times had been in the winter.  It looked so different this time.  Everything was so lush and green and beautiful.

I realize this is a very bad picture but it just goes to prove how lousy I am with the camera.  I mistakenly hit the video button on this one.  Then I couldn't figure out how to get just the picture because that's all I wanted.  I finally was able to print the picture, then I scanned it, so this is a second or third step picture.  Sigh!

I had to have the picture because it gives a good feel for the beach we were able to walk along.

After lunch we were able to watch another movie, this time The Cat From Outer Space, before delivering him back to his family.  We must have worn him out because he fell asleep in the car on the way home.   

 We stayed for dinner with the family and enjoyed all the other kids before heading back to just the two of us again.

Because of having so many grandkids, it’s hard to get to know them when they’re all together.  It’s a special treat to be able to have them over one at a time to “spoil” them and zero all our attention on just him/her.

We’re very thankful for Aiden.  He's a delightful young man.

A New Dress

Weddings are usually the only time I ever wear a dress.  But all my dresses are out dated, in my mind at least.  So since we had a wedding the end of June, I felt the need to go shopping.  This is not something I enjoy, mainly because it’s very hard to find something in my size.  Well, I admit size isn’t the only issue.  And I also admit that I’m pretty picky.  But after all, my modus operandi is that if you’re going to spend money, you should make sure you don’t regret it later.  So my criteria???

1.     It needs to be modest.

2.    It shouldn’t look frumpy or old-lady-ish.

3.    It needs to be “my” color.

4.    It needs to be a decent price.

 So about a month ago, off I went prepared to come home with nothing to look through my closet to see if anything I already owned could possibly work.

Lo and behold!  After several stores, I found THE dress.  It was comfortable, dressy, pretty, my color, not frumpy and best of all – only $30.00.  Huh?  I couldn’t believe it.  It had been marked down several times, obviously.