My clematis

This picture of my clematis is actually supposed to go with the next posting. I worked diligently uploading the 12 pictures I took of today's gardens, and this one was the last one. When I was writing about my pictures, I hit the backspace key to space it better, and ended up losing my picture altogether!

Our clematis always thrives and blooms like crazy on the front east corner of the garage. Sometimes I chop some of it off in the spring, but it still grows like crazy. It's name is "Nelly Moser" and we have probably had it for twenty years or so.

Friday's Gardens

My niece, Linda, does a Friday's five each week of the significant things that happened in her household. I always enjoy reading them, and got the idea that I should take weekly pictures of my garden and post them! This Friday is cold and dismal, but nevertheless, I am going to get started on my garden picture project!

Ross got me this beautiful hanging baskent begonia for Mother's Day. Hanging baskets suffer her from excess wind, and only do marginally well, but we can't resist having at least one on our front porch! And, of course, the flag makes a lovely background for all porch pictures!

The pansies in the pot are the first thing I planted this spring, and they are blooming profusely now, and I added verbena (?) to the pot,too.

The porch boxes have not started to overflow yet, but they are growing, too.

About the only thing that shows up in the garden at this distance is last week's grass clippings. I put them between my tomato plants, which I planted five feet apart. Just you wait to see how these plants look in two months!

This is the way the garden looks from my kitchen window, although I took this outside. I really love being able to look out at my garden from the window over the sink.

I have planted several marigolds in the garden, more for color than anything else. Some folks say they help with bugs. Here is a marigold planted near some basil plants.

The bean plants are beginning to peak through. This is after about 10 days.
A tomato plant in the middle of grass clipping mulch. They have new, green life on them.

More bean plants coming through. It doesn't look like much yet, does it? But we gardeners enjoy those very first signs of life.

In the farthest row out of the garden I usually plant sunflowers. This year I planted some moonflowers in with my sunflower seed with the hope that the moonflowers can trail on the sunflowers. We shall see...the sunflower is only barely visible here.
We have lovely lavender irises that grow on the east side of the house. This one is bravely blooming in spite of the fact that I have not gotten this bed cleaned out yet! These are not quite as tall as most irises.

Ross Turns 28

Ross, our youngest son, turned 28 on May 25. We celebrated his birthday a day early since we were having the Reitz family reunion here on his actual birthday. I asked him what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday, and he asked for strawberry shortcake, and he wanted the actual old-fashioned shortcake, so out came the Betty Crocker cookbook and that's what he got! The strawberries were a combination of fresh and frozen, since the PA strawberries are not ripe yet, and the fresh ones from California are maybe not as flavorful as I would like.

He shared his birthday celebration with several of the Reitz cousins who came to play music on the porch that evening. We had lots of fun, and the neighbors even called us the next morning to say that they enjoyed hearing our music!

Ross also got sung to the next day, along with his second cousin, Abby, who turned 24.

Ken and Todd went together and got Ross some kind of tool set, and me, as his mom, got him new T shirts and his favorite candies, peanut M&M's and caramel creams.

I actually downloaded 5 pictures to my blog, and so far I have managed to delete two of them when I tried to space them out. I WILL get the hang of putting pictures on my blog someday. All it takes is practice, right?

Anyways, Ross is our fourth child, and our grand finale. He was born at 6 something in the morning on May 25, which was a Monday in 1981 and also Memorial Day. I remember commenting to a nurse later that morning that it looked like a beautiful day outside, and she said, "Yes, it is a beautiful day to be born!"

Ross joined Roy, 8, Todd, 5, and Jill, about 23 months. What a busy time I had that summer taking care of our family! I don't remember a lot about it except that I felt quite overwhelmed with it all. In August, Roy and Todd would have gone to third and first grade, so likely that relieved my stress somewhat.

I remember thinking that I was not being fair to my baby because I felt I was not devoting the time to him that he deserved. A few years later, Jill went to kindergarten, and then Ross had my exclusive attention during the day until he went to school two years later. When he was finishing tenth grade, Jill got married, and then he was home with us by himself until he got his own apartment in Brookville when he was 21. That lasted for another five years, and he decided to go to Penn State DuBois, and he moved back with us. He has gotten plenty of mothering, and probably more than he ever thought he needed! But he sure didn't get as much in his first months as I would have liked.

He just finished up his second year at Penn State DuBois with his third 4.0. He plans to go to State College in the fall and take his final two years there where he can get more specialized courses in his major of finance. We wish him well and are proud to call him our son!

Finding Buried Treasure

or, in other words, changing the rooms of our house around!

Back in 2000, we built onto the back of our house. We put in a nice new bathroom, a 1/2 bath, and a large room to be a studio for my weaving looms. At the time, we planned that it could be our bedroom when we got old. We put it 36" doorways, and made the 1/2 bath wheelchair accessible. With double windows on both the east and west side of the room, and a cathedral ceiling, it was a lovely, light room to weave. I eventually accumulated 6 looms and WAY TOO MUCH STUFF!

This month is the time of reckoning. After selling all the looms but the two I want to keep, we have decided to move our bedroom downstairs. We don't feel old yet, but I was no longer having much luck in selling my rugs, so, as Ross said, "When the horse is dead, get off of it!" We ordered new bedroom furniture from Lindberg Furniture last month, and while we are waiting for it to come, I am working hard at changing things in this house!

In addition to changing the function of the former studio, we are changing three upstairs rooms around. One is now a sewing/weaving room, and the other two will have different furniture in them. One bedroom is set up the way our plans are and we are sleeping there until our furniture comes. My sewing room is making progress, but the other room--oh, dear!

Ken put rods in our closet on Saturday, and we can soon move into that. We anxiously await the arrival of our furniture. Finding new homes for things has been very interesting, and the numerous racks I have that have held fabric, and lots of etc. are moving to new places and functions. I moved one into my laundry room this morning, and then worked a while sorting through stuff there!

So, change is rippling through our house. I can envision how I want it, but it seems to be taking a lot of work to get from point A to point B! When I was sorting through my sewing fabric, I was hit with a wave of inspiration, so doing some sewing will be my reward for accomplishing this move! BTW, I am NOT taking pictures of the work in progress!! I don't want to remember it!

Other recent news is that I found out I did not get the receptionist job at Lee-Simpson. The interview seemed promising, but the longer the time went on the more I figured I did not get the job. I received a very nice letter in the mail on Saturday.

Ross finished up his second year of college last week with a 4.0, his third one! Now his GPA is up to 3.99. Next year at main campus, it will be more challenging but he is looking forward to it! Ross also went to Sheila Lindberg's (his cousin) graduation at main campus on Saturday. She will be getting married next month, so that means that not only are Glenn and Anna's girls through college but they will all soon be married!

Another piece of news with a twinge of sadness and happiness for me is that son Todd has bought Dorothy Jane Thomas' Mercury Cougar. He is thrilled with it and drove it out here on Saturday. I got a little tearful seeing it in our driveway, remembering how much DJ loved to drive and how much she liked her cars. Like a lot of maiden ladies, she enjoyed having a nice car. Back in the 70's or so she had a couple of classy Mustangs. She took wonderful care of her car. Todd got the car records with it, of course, and she kept track of every bit of maintenance, and every bit of gas she put in it including the price per gallon and the date! Wow, what an awesome lady she was!

There was frost warning last night and another is predicted for tonight, so my plans to put in the garden are on hold until at least tomorrow. This week we are also getting ready for the Reitz family reunion, which will be here on Monday, May 25.

Gotta go get some lunch so I can continue the treasure hunt!

Heidi Turns Ten!

Hey, how did all this happen? Can it really be that I have been a grandmother for ten years? The candles and these two pictures say that yes, we have had a beautiful granddaughter for ten years now. Heidi turned 10 on May 2, and was here for her birthday.

My digital pictures do not go back to Heidi's birth, but I picked out a few pictures of her from the beginning of my digital/computer days.

I am posing here with Heidi last year on Thanksgiving.

Heidi is the first one on the left with Kirsten, Laura, Shane, and Abby

Yes, our grandchildren swing in trees on occasion!

Heidi, proudly going to her first piano recital. She did great! Unfortunately, her teacher got old and can no longer teach, so Heidi is enjoying playing the flute now.

Heidi helping me cook in my kitchen. She is standing on a stool, which is not in the picture! Now at 10 years old she can even cook meals at home to help her folks.

And, of course, this proud Grandma must teach her grandchildren about sewing. This is a large tote bag that Heidi made here at about age 7.

I couldn't figure out how to turn this picture after I uploaded it!! This was taken when Heidi was six.
And this was the sweet little girl at age 4 or 5.

Yes, it is wonderful being a grandma. We are now looking for our 6th grandchild, a boy, in August. Our hearts have expanded with love for each one.

When Heidi was born, my sister Ruth sent me a card to congratulate me on my new status. I have taped it into the album of the first baby pictures of Heidi because it was so special to me.

The Magic of Grandparents

There is a special kind of love

within a grandparent's heart

That helps grandparents understand

their grandkids from the start.

It starts the day a grandchild's born,

then magically it grows...

Soon, anything a grandchild needs,

a grandparent somehow knows!

That's why grandkids love grandparents

and why they think it's grand

To be a part of the magic

only grandparents understand!

Heidi was born on May 2, 1999, on the very date that she was due! (Later I would hound Jill that finally she did something when she was supposed to!) Jill had had false labor a couple of times in the last couple of weeks prior.

We went to Franklin special meetings that day, and had company for supper--Dan Helenek, Charles Kramer, and Karen Cleveland. We kept waiting for a call, and nothing came. I decided to call them before we went to bed to see if anything was happening yet, and, NO ANSWER! I called Marilyn, Leigh's mother, and she told me that yes, Leigh and Jill had gone to the hospital.

Jill had given me phone numbers for her midwife and the clinic in the hospital, so I decided to try the hospital number to see if they had indeed admitted her this time.

The hospital put my call through and I heard someone say, "Pick up the phone, Jill, it's for you". I can't remember what I said, but she said, "Hello, Grandma!" Here she was, talking on the phone just a few minutes after Heidi had been born! She has the time record from our phone bill and could tell you how close after Heidi's birth that I had called! Wow, wow, wow!! We did not know ahead of time that it was a girl, so that was part of the thrill, too.

I arranged to go up the next morning. It is a 3 1/2 hour trip. Ken had just started a new job, and did not get up to see Heidi until the next Saturday. I wanted to get some pink roses for Jill and Heidi, but when I got to the florist, they said the pink ones weren't very nice and wanted to substitute some peach ones instead. I would have preferred nice pink ones, but I suppose they made it right somehow. Off I went, and often on that trip, I said to myself, "Go, granny, go!"

I had arranged to go to Marilyn's house, and she was to take me to the hospital, since I really didn't know the way. Being so excited, I was sure glad to have her drive the last leg of the journey. She had already been there in the morning, I think.

I remember starting to tear up as soon as I saw the sign over the door that said
"First Impressions Birthing Center" and then went in to find my brand-new granddaughter, Heidi. Such a myriad of wonderful emotions came over me!

I spent a few days with Jill when they got home from the hospital, and how wonderful it was to have a share in Jill's first experience of motherhood. Heidi was born on a Sunday night, and was in Bible study on Wednesday night, and did fine!

It is good to bring back some of these grand memories, and share them! And this is our dear Heidi, taken the day after her 10th birthday!

15 Reasons to Be Happy in My Life

This was a facebook exercise that I decided to cut-and-paste into my blog.

1. The fellowship of God and the people who love Him.
2. My health problems are few and far between and minor!
3. I have a husband who is a good provider and a joy to live with.
4. I live in USA where we are FREE!
5. I don't have any relationship problems with anyone that I know of.
6. Our four children seem happy and productive.
7. Our home is comfortable and we have no reason or desire to move!
8. Our five grandchildren are healthy and happy and we have good relationships with them.
9. I am happy to have good eyesight and a driver's license. My 5 brothers and sisters do not have that!
10. I am happy to be able to buy groceries whenever and whatever I want or need! (For a number of years we had to wait til payday!)
11. I have no major regrets in my life. Lots of minor ones, but nothing major!
12. I have achieved my dream of lots of sewing machines and lots of fabric!
13. I have a beautiful kitchen--another dream fulfilled.
14. I have family, in-laws, and friends who care about me.
15. I love to make people smile or laugh, and that makes me happy, too!

15 Reasons to Be Happy This Week or Counting My Blessings

This was a facebook entry that I decided to cut and paste into my blog:

1. The winter is past and we can see spring emerging in fits and starts! We had several days of no- coat weather, and things are getting greener and greener!
2. Meetings at Newry were indeed special. The hymns we sang were especially rich to me.
3. I was happy to see and hear Judy O'Connell last Sunday after nearly losing her to liver disease last year.
4. I was happy Ken's trip to the ER on Sunday afternoon showed nothing wrong except low potassium. I was doubly glad he did not get hurt worse when he passed out. It makes me realize how precious he is to me!
5. I was glad for friends who helped last Sunday--Neila Gray, Dave and Mary Bolt, Rochelle Herr, Bob Burk, and Glenn and Anna.
6. We were happy to have a visit with Dave Thayer and his sister Lois on Monday.
7. I was happy to be at Dorothy Jane's funeral and think of her hanging up her shield of faith in victory.
8. I was happy to celebrate the anniversary of Ken's safe return from VN on Thursday. Once again I felt deep appreciation for my husband!
9. I was happy to get called to go for an interview next Thursday for a receptionist job at an engineering firm in DuBois. What are my chances? Who knows, but at least I got called!!
10. I am happy to be looking forward to a visit from Jill and the grandchildren, and hopefully Leigh, this weekend.
11. I am happy because Saturday is Heidi's 10 birthday, and I have been enjoying the blessed state of grandmotherhood for nearly 10 years!
12. I am happy that today's gentle rain is soaking into my freshly tilled garden. It will soften it nicely for the next tilling!
13. I was happy to take my 94-year-old mother-in-law to her hearing aid dr. and had fun doing it! She is such a character!
14. Today is Ross' last day of classes for his third semester, and I am happy that he has done so well with his college studies.
15. I am happy to be at 15! I knew I would have more than 5 for this week, but it was hard to come up with 15 important ones!