A Delightful Visit!

A couple of Sundays ago we had a lovely surprise visit from my niece, Karen Green, from California.  Karen is the daughter of my eldest brother, Jack.  Jack passed away about two years ago, and I had only seen Karen one other time about nine years ago when she came to visit her son, Stirling, while he was studying at Butler University.

Stirling and his wife, Sabrina, also came along for the visit.  This was our first time to meet them, and they are such a charming couple.  They both studied ballet at Butler and went on to perform professionally in Maryland.  They have now moved to Carmel, Indiana where Sabrina works as a ballet teacher, and Stirling is an automotive journalist.  They are also busy trying to establish a new professional troupe in Indianapolis.

Karen in a talented artist and published writer.  She was on a trip from CA to NYC  where she will be having another gallery showing and finishing a new book.

I shared pictures of her relatives.  Karen had not had much contact with her Dad.  She is very interested now in his pictures which I gave to her to keep.  Randy, Rod, Janie, and Taylor all were here for the afternoon, and were able to meet their cousins.

What a delightful afternoon!

A Wonderful Gift

This week we received our monthly gift from the "Fruit of the Month" Club, our Christmas gift from Randy and Elaine.

Every month has brought a delicious box full of a different kind of fruit: grapefruit twice, pears twice, and now strawberries.  They have all been quite delicious, but the strawberries are quite spectacular, large, sweet, and juicy.  We have had strawberry shortcake with every meal:  angel food cake topped with vanilla ice cream and strawberries.

Thanks to Randy and Elaine for a gift that keeps on bringing pleasure.

Our Little Slice of Heaven

I told Don the other day that I wasn't too worried about heaven because I have already been there....sort of.
When I sit in my very own special reclining porch chair and look north, this is what I see.
And you can see that Don has been busy enjoying and working in our yard.  He has made it very beautiful this spring.

The surprise flower bed has been busy surprising us with whatever decides to pop up.  And the neighborhood bird population entertains us with jolly pool parties.  They are so funny when they are bathing.

Don has cleared out all the old shrubs from in front of the porch and planted new shrubs and added flowering pots.  He has decided on pink this year, and informed the "kids" to buy me pink flowers for Mothers Day.  He believes in getting things organized!

I have already received one pink potted flower from Randy and Elaine.  He brought it when he came last Sunday from Cincinnati. AND he hadn't even gotten the message from Dad.  He just made a lucky guess at what color to buy.  It IS a beautiful planter.  I love it.

Lilacs happen to be one of my favorite flowers.  These are miniature lilac bushes which were here when we bought our house.  They were tiny, tiny when we moved in, but have grown nicely over the years.  Ahhh...
love the fragrance.

Our goose "came here to roost"  the summer that a pair of real Canadian geese decided to make our yard their home.  We enjoyed watching them, but didn't enjoy the mess they made.  Don couldn't stop laughing when Mr. Goose chased me back into the house!  I wasn't about to mess with that guy.  That next week Taylor and Don came riding back home on the riding lawn mower with the plaster goose.  They found it in someone's trash.  They thought I needed her to remember my scary goose moment.

We feel so fortunate that we get to live here in this beautiful spot, and with a lovely porch from which to enjoy our slice of heaven.

Getting To Know You

This Sunday we had a surprise visit from my niece, Karen.  Karen is the daughter of my oldest brother, Jack.
Jack passed away about a year and a half ago, and he had lived in California since the 1961.  I had not seen him in all that time.  I did see Karen when she was a tiny baby, right before they left for California.

She is a charming girl, and we all loved getting to know her.  She was here visiting her son and daughter-in-law who just this year bought a house in Carmel, Indiana.  They came along for the visit on Sunday, so we
were very happy to meet this adorable couple, and to know that we have new relatives living so close by.

Stirling and Sabrina are both professional ballet dancers.  They graduated from Butler University and danced professionally with the Maryland Ballet Dance Troupe.  Since moving to Carmel, Sabrina is teaching at the "Performers Edge" Dance school, and Stirling is a Automobile Journalist, driving and writing about cars.
They are working to create a professional ballet company in Indianapolis.
Randy, Rod, Aunt Jane, Taylor, Don and I thoroughly enjoyed the day, and we are thrilled to know these relatives.  We can't wait until we can all get together again.