Well there hasn’t been much design going on around here. No estate sales, or antique hunting either. I’m still planting. Gee, that sounds like I’m planting a huge garden. In reality it is just taking me longer to get things done. The wind has been blowing so hard here and we had a casualty on Friday. 50 mile an hour winds took one of the mirrors that hangs over my serving shelf. It took flight, smashing to the floor in a spectacular crash that turned over one of the chairs and landed 15′ away. Guess what! I am now in search of a replacement mirror. Thrift stores here I come.

Yesterday the husband managed to get a couple of trellis’ hung. I have two new Clematis that I am going to try. Last summer I planted 2 Clematis on the west side of the deck. They seem to be happy. I will add one more there today. I also planted a different clematis in the back 40. Not a ton of sun there but I am hopeful.

A lot of time was spent cleaning up tree debris from the previous days winds, and my back is screaming at me today. I still have to get to the front yard and the east side of the house. After doing a lot of transplanting yesterday the backyard is in pretty good shape now.

We went out to our daughters and son in laws for a lovely Mother’s Day dinner last week. There is a small nursery Viaduct Gardens very near her home. She always gets me something from there for Mother’s Day. A gift I always adore. This year we went together and they have expanded there green house. A huge improvement.

I have very fond memories of Viaduct Gardents. I was introduced to this small family owned nursery back in the 70’s by my parents. On Mother’s Day we would always head over to by flats and flats of Geraniums, Impatient’s, and filler plants. The trunk of my dad’s Cadillac would be filled. Geraniums 99 cents. Then the mass planting of hanging baskets and pots would begin. These excursions taught me how to create a basket, how to amend the soil, and how to create a back yard oasis when all people did was throw a picnic table in the back yard, with a coal burning grill (which we still prefer) and those web lawn chairs.

Had a fun excursion down to Nebraska City with a few of my Quester’s friends last week. We have been working on our “State Days” which we will be hosting in October. The theme of the day will be “It Happened in Nebraska”. We met up with the author of the book, Tammy Partsch as she will be speaking at State Days. We had a delightful meeting and wonderful lunch. Lunch was at a place called the Keeping Room and it was yummy. They also have a nice home furnishings shop attached so we were able to do some shopping while we were waiting for Tammy. A pleasant way to spend an afternoon.

I am getting ready to host my Quester’s group next week, for the last meeting until fall. I’m also writing my report so the research has taken considerable time. “Seals or Tax Stamps the Story of 18th Century Bottles.” I will be posting the report after next week if you’re interested. Stay tuned.

Thanks for stopping

Shelley