prayers for the family...

Mary passed away last evening around supper time...

from cancer...

she was so amazing...

a grade school teacher here...

friend to all...

cheery...

upbeat...

helpful to anyone who needed it...

an inspiration of what we all should be...

her pain is gone...

taken away...

but her family's just started...

and her friends...

her past students...

their battle cry was MARY STRONG...

so, if you could take a moment and whisper that phrase...

God will know who you are talking about and will take care of the rest...

she was diagnosed about 18 months ago...

I think...

she was here, with her husband, Bob...

picking persimmons...

I gave them all we had...

she was having trouble with her knee...

known of us even thought of cancer...

she was a runner...

we thought injury...

the last time I saw her...

she was bringing some things in for the toy drive at the fire station...

and she hugged me with all that was in her...

and SHE blessed me...

and told me for my loving and giving heart...

she touched everyone...

she touched us all...

she will be missed...

and remembered...

beautiful, cooler days...

Craig's day off and we worked on the jungle...

got this area done...

and we are talking of moving the fire pit later...

DH and I planted the rose bush and some of the coleus here the other night...

I have sedum blushing...

(they usually do that in late summer/fall)

we will be thinning more beds out as blooms fade...

the velvet purples are so pretty...

this thing really loved the thunderstorms...

it just keeps exploding in color...

I had the best day of the year so far...

I got a lot done and was able to do so much...

a little stiff this morning, but not bad...

got another area in mind to work on...

and I think we will be caught up...

;o)

the willow circle...

got this done over the weekend...

black mulch...

made from recycle black rubber...

no termites, no rot (will last forever), no splinters...

and it looks good...

with the flowers...

its a win, win...

 eventually, we have decided...

to go one more row of blocks up...

to keep the debris from the mower from going into the center...

another thing crossed off our list for now!

productive weekend...

cone flowers are blooming...

and we have just one more day of hot before we are in the upper 70s for a couple of days...

I was able to work really well both days...

there is still much to do, but we are getting there...

these will soon be leaving...

it has been discussed...

they should have been in the trash this morning...

but...

we ran out of time...

the rose of Sharon is budding and will soon be blooming, too...

day lilies are going on now...

got all of these planted...

loved playing here...

and the names are...

Hilga and Hanz...

the last 2 of these...

and the rain yesterday evening took the petals down...

Hanz in the morning light...

not crowing, but we are working on that...

and these characters decided it was time to explore and escaped from the kennel...

so now they are in one that opens from the top...

it will take them another week or so to figure that out...

meanwhile, mom can still get in and out when needed...

3 are adopted so far and haven't posted them yet...

2 got back to the rescue when they are ready and that leaves just one...

;o)

DH had another birthday and we had a great drive last night in the rain...

it poured at times and when it was almost done, or so we thought...

we headed out to look at the clouds and sunset...

saw some cows and some baby raccoons playing in a creek...

;o)

and no camera!

figures...

some days it doesn't pay to be married to me...

this is what I posted on facebook this morning...

at least its not the one with him in the shower...

;o)

with soap in his eyes...

Happy Birthday, old man...

ya know I love you...

;o)