Batter Up!

This baseball season started out rough...new manager, new coaches, new league...new kids. But things are looking up!

IRON MOOSE AWARD

Week 1 Award: ANDREW H.

Individual Achievment Award given in order to recognize TEAM members who possess and exhibit the following qualities on and off the field of play.

+ATTITUDE
+WORK ETHIC
RESPECT FOR OTHERS
DISCIPLINE
SELF CONTROL
IMPECABILITY
TENACITY
MINDFULNESS
SACRIFICE

Chickens @ 2 Weeks

Do you think she'll grow into her feet???

Flower Power

Yesterday I drove past a flower shop and noticed the pile of boxes by their back door. Boxes their flowers came in from their wholesaler. It gave me a twinge of nostalgia because I remembered how fun it was to get our deliveries. We couldn't wait to open those boxes to see the beautiful flowers and see if our wholesale guy had included any surprises. Then we'd clean the flowers...strip roses of their thorns and take away any extra foliage that could shorten the flowers' life. THEN we'd get to start designing arrangements for our coolers. I loved working at the flower shop!! And I still miss it. I know a civilian shop wouldn't be the same as our walk-in shop at the military base and I console myself with that thought.

But guess what was on my kitchen counter when I got home yesterday???? This beautiful arrangement!! I had seen the flower boxes in another town. I hadn't said a word about it to my hubby. But when I got home, there were flowers just for me! For no particular reason! Just Because! And that's the best reason of all!

At times flowers make me sad....they remind me of another time and another place. And sometimes flowers make me very happy! Not usually in the same day, though. Guess that's part of their power!

DC and Back

This past weekend, the kids and I hit the road again. This time to visit our Nation's Capitol. As well as my Aunt Darlene & Glenn and Shannon and her family. My aunt was our tour guide since she's lived/worked in the area for a very long time. Shannon and her family met up with us Saturday morning and off we went! This was our first glimpse of the capitol.

The Cherry Trees were in full bloom!

This is a beautiful marble statue at the Smithsonian National Gallery of Art.

The Hope Diamond at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

The kids and I in front of the Washington Monument

We don't leave home without our knitting!

Arlington National Cemetary

The Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers

View from the Lincoln Memorial

The Lincoln Memorial was one of the kids' favorite sites

Another favorite was the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. We had found a Veterans bracelet in our attic when we bought our house. So, we looked up his name on the Wall and did a pencil etching of it.

Sunday morning, before heading back to WV, we stopped at Krispy Kreme.

We all enjoyed watching the donuts being made. But not as much as we enjoyed eating them on the ride home!

Hung Out to Dry

Recently, I won one of these really cool vintage clothespin aprons from an on-line drawing (oodlesandoodles.typepad.com). It's just waiting for me to embroider it. Last night I bought a pack of wooden clothespins. They're waiting to go in the great big pocket of the new/vintage apron.

This morning, someone totally unrelated to the apron, sent me this poem! I love it!

THE CLOTHES LINE

A clothesline was a news forecast

To neighbors passing by.

There were no secrets you could keep

When clothes were hung to dry.

It also was a friendly link

For neighbors always knew

If company had stopped on by

To spend a night or two.

For then you'd see the fancy sheets

And towels upon the line;

You'd see the company table cloths

With intricate design.

The line announced a baby's birth

To folks who lived inside

As brand new infant clothes were hung

So carefully with pride.

The ages of the children could

So readily be known

By watching how the sizes changed

You'd know how much they'd grown.

It also told when illness struck,

As extra sheets were hung;

Then nightclothes, and a bathrobe, too,

Haphazardly were strung.

It said, "Gone on vacation now"

When lines hung limp and bare.

It told, "We're back!" when full lines sagged

With not an inch to spare.

New folks in town were scorned upon

If wash was dingy gray,

As neighbors raised their brows,

And looked the other way.

But clotheslines now are of the past

For dryers make work less.

Now what goes on inside a home

Is anybody's guess.

I really miss that way of life.

It was a friendly sign

When neighbors knew each other best

By what hung on the line!

The Chickens are Here!!!

Proud Papa aka Crazy Chicken Man

All but one of the 25 Partridge Rocks made it safe and sound.

April Showers bring....

RAINBOWS!