Graduates and Garden Slave Labor

I'm the proud mama of these two graduates. Cori graduated from University of Colorado (Geology) and Alli graduated from Piedmont High School.



The house is quiet today with just Alli and me here. Papa G took off this morning to fly to Kentucky where Charlotte daughter and hubby are picking him up. They all plan to be Melissa's support team tonight when the docs induce labor! Can't wait for pictures of our newest grandbaby.

Cori daughter left this morning too, back home to Colorado. Sigh. Well, sometimes I cry, and sometimes I might smile a bit too, knowing my girls are all so beautiful and grown. I'm always reminded on Sundays, at our church full of babies and toddlers, that it might just be a blessing to be in this side of child rearing. I'm reminded as all our sweet young mamas and papas at church are gathering infants and toddlers and diaper bags and car seats to get out the door. This morning I simply threw my purse over my shoulder and followed Alli out the door, since she had the keys and drove us home.

It's over WAY too soon, my friends who are right in the middle of all the babyhood and childhood craziness. Don't wish away a single minute.

In preparation for Oklahoma graduation week we were trying hard to tame the grass and weeds that took over while we were gone during Colorado graduation week. Lucky for us, Felicity and Cori turned out to be pretty good gardening slave labor!





With their help we managed to get things pretty spiffy before grad day.

Papa G helped run the BBQ at Cori's grad picnic in Boulder and again for Alli's party here at home.



Less-Extreme but Much Cuter Gardener, Cori is growing a Colorado container garden on her condo patio. I think she's singing to them here!



School ended this last week too. Teachers report one more day on Tuesday, then the office will also be exceptionally quiet for a couple of months.

Life is always either torrential rains or drought, sure enough! Too bad there's not an in-between state, but I enjoyed the insane torrent of activity and plans the last few week. I intend to also enjoy the quiet.

Garden Envy

Cori is home from Colorado for a few days. I can't exactly say home from college because she is a graduate now! This evening we made a project planning trip to Lowe's in Yukon. Love that store. The only place more dangerous at the moment is Sam's Club.

I need a spiritual advisor to walk the aisles of Sam's with me. Garden greed and lust take over. I'm minding my own business, trying to get in, get the chicken and other graduation barbecue fixin's and get out, when I see the gardening aisle out of the corner of my right eye. They have boxes of my favorite perennial flowers for pretty good prices, just the plant roots, ready to bury in my favorite pot. The beautiful, colorful pictures covering the boxes are irresistible. As if I was seriously attempting resistance. Then, around the corner from the big patio pots, as I turn a corner is the most amazing gardening thing I've ever seen! It's an all-in-one raised bed garden built in a lovely redwood eight foot square with a sweet gate on the front and three lined troughs on three sides all bordered by mesh fencing between redwood frames with a tall redwood and mesh trellis on the back side all fully equipped with a watering system so that you can let yourself in the gate and work all three beds from the space in the middle and the bunnies, deer, gophers and Bermuda grass would never bother your beautiful plants. (pause for breath) All for $670. I stopped to admire and touch it. I dug through my purse for a camera which I didn't find. Then dragged myself away to the meat department.

But, about our trip to Lowe's today. I must say, I get much better service in stores when Cori is with me. We had all kinds of help this evening. One guy practically put all the pieces together for us to make a rain barrel. Then another guy gathered all the hardware to make a 4x4 raised bed, shouldered the two 8' boards and manfully carried them to the register and out the door to the van. Suuuweet.

Now we have stuff for two gardeny projects. I'll let you know how it turns out.

By the way, Cori and I hung out in the plumbing aisle quite a while as nice Lowe's man number one ran around gathering the spigot pieces for the rain barrel. Apparently one can buy a 50 pack of One Hole Midget Straps for fairly cheap.

One Down One to Go

Cordelia daughter is an official college grad! We spent four relaxing days in the Denver/Boulder, Colorado area last week in honor of Cori graduating from the University of Colorado with a degree in Geology! Yeah daughter!! I'm one proud mama.

Alexandra daughter will graduate from Piedmont High School on Saturday. Happy and proud of her, I am! Yes, I am!! She will be off to Colorado State way too soon to start her college career.

Also adding the the general smiles is that Felicity daughter got to be in Colorado, and she is, this minute, flying here to Okie from California to be here for graduation number two.

Now we're just waiting for word on that Kentucky baby girl that Melissa daughter is about to share with all of us!

So much good stuff.

Practice for Portland

If you walked out my door right now, you might mistake the atmosphere for something more Pacific Northwest-like. It has been rainy and cool for several days. I swear there is moss growing on the roof. The grass and weeds are growing rampant. Trees and grass are deep green. The lettuce and peas in my garden are very happy. But so are the weeds. By the time it dries we'll have to hire a brush hog to knock it all down!

We're going off to Portland in June for a group family celebration. I'll have to ask my Portland-dwelling brother how in the world he gets the lawn mowed if it rains all the time! How DO you do that little brother?

It was sunny for a few hours today so I was happily considering which part of the yard to mow first, or where to trim first, or which way to set up the garden, etc. But no. It rained off and on all afternoon. It was a pretty, gentle rain, so no complaints, really.

Eight of us women from Journey Fellowship, including Ange and Alli and I spent Friday night down south at a church dorm at Falls Creek. It rained heavily, of course, so we goofed off INDOORS instead of out. But when we were on our way home we stopped briefly to take a group photo looking over the valley and the Arbuckle "Mountains". The wildflowers were amazing!



It's a pleasure just to drive to work these days because the same old road I take every day is lined with wildflowers. I'm hoping some of my Coreopsis and Gaellardia, Butterfly Weed and Echinachea will actually re-seed and grow and bloom again from last year. I check every day! Maybe. Just maybe!

My beautiful blue iris bloomed and are done. The lavender bushes sent bloom stems up two or three inches a day, I think! They should open when we get some sunshine. Pink Calalilies have doubled or tripled again and I can't wait until they mature. The pink is so delicate and the shape of a Calalilly is so graceful. Double knock out roses look like they will open just as soon as they see some sun. My day lillies need to be divided before they are bigger than the rose bushes.

Just thought I'd catch you up on the flower garden.

(Oh and the family is great too. Dogs are good. Work is...work.)