Dandy Lions

When I was 5 years old I remember walking home from kindergarten and picking beautiful flowers for my mother…my mother whom I loved very much. I thought romantically about how her face would light up (perhaps there would be a tear) and she would be overcome at the thoughtful generosity of her, now, favorite child. Somehow, however she seemed slightly underwhelmed by my offering though she did receive it graciously. OK, maybe she had a lot on her mind, there was no tear but she did say thank you. Next day, giving her another chance, same thing. Still, even a little less gracious. By the end of the week My mother bluntly asked me to stop bringing her flowers and explained that they were really weeds.
What????
That simply couldn’t be. They were so beautiful. How could They be weeds! No! Flowers for sure, THEY ARE FLOWERS!!!!!
Fast forward “#!” years and my yard is filled with them. With a special kind of rage that wells up inside, I fight the brave fight to vanquish my lawn from these terrible specimens before they turn white into “wishing flowers” and I have to hire a bio hazard containment team to remove them without spreading seeds.
But this week my own kindergarten boy gathered some up for me which of course I love…and blew some wishes into the wind that WILL obviously come true. In Kindergarten Dandelions are magical.
Perhaps they are flowers after all.

my dandelions from Ian

 

Thumbs are getting greener.

Marigold and herb garden. It took a year to remove those rocks.

We have been trying hard to have a nice yard – that rhymes….but needed some help. Last weekend Melissa (my sister) and Kenyon (her husband) came to the rescue. Melissa is a horticulturalist and Kenyon is a Landscape Architect technician. I wanted their expertise with the shovel to help my impoverished yard become rich and plentiful. So far so good. We (meaning Kenyon and Jon dug out a big L shaped bed in the backyard for my new trees and my old languishing raspberry bushes. I like it. In the front we dug a lovely yellow marigold/herb garden which I seem to be very proud of. It is lovely. Now I need to do something to deal with the grass.

New baby trees and languishing raspberries along the fence.

a lesson in the birds and the bees - how embarrassing!

 

Backyard Goodness.

 

 

Even though it was very windy Yesterday we (meaning me) got out and did some yard work. I am pleased to report that the garden is in and a new Bistro set graces the back deck. I like it outside. I want to feel the sun warm my skin and watch Willow Hill work on her golf swing. More backyard improvements to come. I’m excited.

 

If your shirt’s not Dirty, you’re not doing your job right.

Aah the pleasures of being a Mom this time of year. I’m overdue for my annual hair cut and I was recently told by a Grandmother of adult children that I look older than my age. She may or may not have been kidding but it all hit pretty close to home. So why the haggard look??? Why indeed. I try. I really do, but I have problem skin and unfortunate cow-licks and suffer from a love of all delicious food. I don’t think I’m alone…
But later my Emma shares a joke and sweet Ian hugs me and tenderly wipes his face on my shirt and I realize I have everything I need. It may not be glamorous being me but it’s still awesome…and by the way, Moms, if your shirt’s not dirty, you’re not doing your job right.

 

Day 7 Bye-bye Heaven!

the main building of our Hotel complex

view from the marina

the Ferry to Conneticut

I’m almost sad to write the story of the last day of our vacation. We kept it a little lower down. We talked about it as a family and decided to spend the day with the Hughes. I mean how often to we really get to be with them. Mark had to work so we met Kim and went shopping, lunching, and then picking up Mark at the University. The 8 of us met Lori for Red Mango fro-yo and then went to the seaside/marina to enjoy the rest of the afternoon. Loved it. The kids took their shoes off and dipped in the oceany water. We gathered shells met a friendly swan and went back to Hugheses for French toast supper. AAaahh! I miss it already.

swan in the harbor, where is his trumpet?

boys playing

amazing Jane, chillin in the stroller

new friend

beach comber

 

Day 6 – Easter Kicks!

So our holiday Sunday was Easter Sunday. The kids had “bunny milk” with their cereal and off we went to church. Emma looked lovely in her new dress from H&M and Kim, Mark & the babies were really fun.
The Easter bunny miraculously dropped some things off at the Hughes house for my kids. (thanks Easter Bunny) we coloured eggs and rolled them down the hill (as per tradition) and had an egg hunt with Henry. I met several of Kims friends and liked them all. It’s nice that she has them when she lives so far from family.

 

Day 5 Look Alive!

A great day in New York City. We started with Times Square. Bought Finn McMissile from the Disney store and rode the Ferris Wheel in the Times Square Toys R Us. Then we went to top of the Rock (the observation floors at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.) Ian loved these parts.

For Emma we then did some shopping on 5th Avenue. We started with my favorite Anthropologie and Ended off with Macy’s … we literally shopped ’til I dropped.

We toured St. Patricks Cathedral. Which knocked my socks off.
Then off to South Ferry where we took a ride on the Staten Island Ferry and watched the sun set on the statue of liberty. The ride was relaxing, the view was beautiful and we loved this part. On the way back to the car we saw Trinity church the Bull in the financial district and little Wall Street. Awesome.
Then I successfully hailed a cab and we got a ride back to the parking garage where we left the car. Exhausted but successful.

 

Day 4 Ready for More!

I.Hop for breakfast – ’cause it’s Easter, get it? I Hop??? I knew you would.
We had an awesome drive through long island to Montauk point the closest touristy lighthouse. You have to drive through the Hamptons to get there. Some people’s holiday houses are ridiculous – good for them. The light house was awesome, we combed the beach and found some shells to take back and shopped the gift shop. It was a great day.

 

Day 3 N.Y.C.

So this day was our first big day in the city. We started strong and got out of the house early. Henry was such a good boy in the stroller. Ian did NOT like the Metropolitan Museum of Art but he made it through and we saw a lot of really beautiful works – not the least of which was the Van Gough exhibit. Wonderful.
Outside we got pretzels and bought a couple of cheap items from street vendors and listened to some street performers sing. Fun.
The beginning of central park was also quite excellent. We saw a couple more street performers the string duet was SO good I could have sat down and cried. We saw cleopatra’s needle and belvedere castle. Then we began walking and walking and walking ugh! as we were getting tired Kim suggested a rik-shaw ride powered by buff humans on bicycle…our driver was a lovely Russian who answers to loud whistles and the call of “gnosh” (also extremely loud)…Gnosh may not have even been his name. 🙂 The ride was the best – a relaxing way to tour around central park abd have the sites pointed out to you.
The rest was a bit of a bust because of the shier volume of people….It was SO crowded. We couldn’t get near the carousel, or the zoo. FAO shwartz was an extreme mad house and top of the rock was booked until after 10pm. Aw! 😦 So we finally hit some street vendors and called it a day.
Incidently and uniquely, at least 50 – 60 percent of the crowd consisted of the local Jewish population. They were all dressed up in traditional clothing…a passover celebration??? Probably. It was a neat thing to be in the middle of.
However, we went home a little dejected that night and came back Saturday with a more informed plan.