White Flowered Deciduous Azalea

White Flowered Deciduous Azalea, originally uploaded by Strouthion.

The Perfect Day for Laurie

“It was a perfect day.”

That was Laurie’s answer when I asked her how she liked her Mother’s Day. YEAH!!! That made me feel VERY good J

We didn’t really do anything, which is why I think she said it was perfect.

• Went to church (on time)
• I “made” lunch (Didn’t feel like grilling out in 40-50 MPH winds and rain, so on the way home I ran into Kroger and bought fried chicken, chips, dip, etc.)
• I cleaned up (of course, I didn’t do the dishes until this morning L)
• Laurie napped (a long one, too… as evidenced by the “I-just-woke-up-look” in the picture above J)
• Laurie and Savannah played scrabble
• We watched baseball and golf on TV
• Laurie opened her presents (of course, her favorite gift was the Starbucks gift card J)
• Laurie got to read

It was a perfect day… Happy Mother’s Day, Laurie J

An Act of Kindness in Competitive College Sports

Laurie told me about an amazing story this past week involving a women's college softball playoff game. I had forgotten all about it until tonight while reading through the blogs I subscribe to on Google Reader. John Hampton (senior pastor at First Christian Church in Canton, Ohio) made an entry about the same story in his blog. You can read it here.

Another Reader In The House

Another Reader In The House, originally uploaded by Strouthion.

It was SO awesome to see and hear Savannah read her OWN Bible story tonight.
WOW!!!

Learning Black & White with Savannah

Learning Black & White with Savannah, originally uploaded by Strouthion.

I've been spending time almost every night the last few weeks learning how to better work with digital pictures (if you haven't noticed lately on my blog and on facebook). I've always enjoyed "messing" with pictures, but over the past few months I've been taking it a lot more seriously and going deeper into digital imaging. There is SO much more that I can do (meaning "yes, I can do it". I already had seen things that COULD be done)!!

I've always used Photoshop Elements for my images, but have never known the depth of what could be do with it. I always assumed I needed Photoshop (the complete and expensive software) for what I really wanted to do. But, I've discovered that's far from the truth and especially with the newest version of PE, 6.0. I also purchased a book that was well worth the cost: "The Photoshop Elements 6 Book for Digital Photographers" by Scott Kelby & Matt Kloskowski. This is an excellent book with very helpful walk/talk-thru's and realistic examples.

One photography style I've always enjoyed is black and white. But, I've never been able to produce good black and white images. until now (I think???? Opinions please?).

Savannah loves to be my model when I'm trying different pictures. and of course, Andrew HATES to be a model for me. Which is why you'll usually see more pictures of Savannah. But, every once in awhile I catch him as a willing model.

Anyway. enough for now. I have to be in court tomorrow morning at 9 (for a small fender bender a month ago) and I want to look "well slept." I'm not sure what mother nature will offer tomorrow for work conditions. sounds like rain. Which means I help us get caught up on laundry and work on business books. Oh boy, Oh boy!!

Lovin' the Lilacs

Lovin' the Lilacs, originally uploaded by Strouthion.

Our lilac bush is in bloom, and Laurie is VERY happy. Especially after losing all of the blooms last year due to a late freeze.

It's too bad you can't post the lilac scent with the picture...

Bananas Abound

Bananas Abound, originally uploaded by Strouthion.

My hardy bananas (Musa Basjoo) are putting up a lot of pups this year... a few are too close to our foundation. The pups will all be removed in the next couple of weeks and given to friends who have been wanting to start hardy bananas of their own. (I think I've started something)

Yellow & Red Tulip

Yellow & Red Tulip WEB-MAS.jpg, originally uploaded by Strouthion.

Purple Iris

Purple Iris, originally uploaded by Strouthion.

Current Weather & Tropical Plants

Ok, so I'm sitting here staring outside watching it rain, sleet and snow all at the same time. Pretty amazing, actually... except, I can't work when it's like this. I pretty much wrote off my day early after doing some interior plant maintenance at a local restaurant.

Ok, so a few minutes later... the sun is out. Which makes me a little happier, but... I need more than JUST SUN.... I need it to be 70-80 degrees, too!!

About 10-days ago I placed a few of my tropical plants out on our front porch... Jasmine bush, Allamanda bush, Citrus tree, Chinese evergreen, Little Prince banana. They were loving it until... Saturday morning :'( All did well with the colder weather except for the Allamanda. They stayed outside until early this afternoon. After sitting in a greenhouse at a local garden center completing my massive tropical plant order from Florida and watching/listening to the sleet hit the the top of the greenhouse... I decided I should stop at home and take in the plants. Luckily, our single orange was still hanging on... the kids will be very glad about that (we had two, but... I knocked one off while taking it outside).

Tulips

4-1/2 years ago I planted several tulip bulbs around a few trees for a customer. Tulips planted for other customers have only bloomed one year... usually due to the planting of annuals and tropicals on top of the bulbs (and squirrels). But the tulip bulbs for this particular customer have continued... The first series of blooms occured this past week (one is white with yellow centers and the other is what I call "candy cane") and there should be several more this next week. It's the next series of blooms that I'm really looking forward to see...

What do you see?

The lack of a title for the daffodil picture entered a couple of days ago was intentional, but I thought I would think of something for it by now...

HELP!!

When you look at the picture...

• What do you see first?
• What do you feel when you see this picture?
• What's a good title for this picture?

I know... weird questions. But, I'm having trouble pinpointing a name for this picture.

I've been busy lately (YEAH!!), hence the reason for little to no entries. Pictures will continue to suffice as the entries for awhile. I'm coming up on my annual planting time, which is when it gets REALLY busy for me (YEAH YEAH!!). As always, I'm praying for "perfect weather" over the next few weeks... sunny days at 75-85, a little rain here and there during the early morning hours and no wind.

I had to send notice to all of my customers this week that I was raising my hourly price by $1 (doesn't seem like much, but it will help). The main reason: GAS. Next week I'll start filling up twice a week, which usually lasts through mid-June, which means I'll be spending about $150 a week in gas (at today's prices of $3.59). It has already started to bite into my P&L this year. I've also noticed an increase in the prices of annuals/tropicals at my suppliers due to increased freight cost.

Ok, need to get the kids to school and switch vehicles (Laurie drives the truck to work on Monday/Wednesday). I'm putting in a new hosta bed for one of my weekly customers today... Lots to do over next couple of weeks before annual/tropical planting starts May 1st (YEAH YEAH YEAH!!)