Redbud trees…

The crabapple tree…

The dogwood tree…

Violets…

Dutchman’s Breeches…

The ground cover is green…

the bleeding hearts are pink…

The daffodils are about done but there are little spring beauties everywhere. (Those are the little white blooms near the ground.)

The pachysandra has yellow blooms…

And I didn’t even get shots of the trilliums or the adderstongues.  The may apples are up but not blooming yet.  The Sweet Williams are just beginning.  And no sign of the  jack-in-the-pulpits – yet!

Rog was so rushed at home getting ready for church, the breakfast & prepping lunch stuff that he had to shave in the kitchen while scrambling the eggs & baking the cinnamon rolls.  (Note:  He says he did not shave directly over the food!)

Linsey & Colin came over for lunch…

We had ham, mashed potatoes, asparagus, corn, Rhodes rolls & strawberry shortcake.

We had another guest for Easter…

At least it was just a garter snake.  Hope, he doesn’t take up residence in the front yard.  I don’t want him startling me every time I go out.

Linsey clipped some of the daffodils to take home for a bouquet.

Happy Easter!

Rog prepping food in the kitchen…

The non-Seder appropriate desserts…

Some of the guests…

Brock with his funny light up mouth thingy…I thought he had light up braces at first!

Bob & Bonnie Marshall…

Matt & Angela & Candy Ross…

The Ngassi family…

Hope & Peyton…

Rog teaching…

Cleaning up…

Dayenu

Saturday morning Uncle Warren’s ashes were buried on his farm along the Nine Mile Lane west of Virden.

Eventually, I think they will place a marker stone along the edge of the field.

While we were pulled over to the side of the road, one of the cousins’ noticed that Susan’s van had a flat tire.

If you’re going to have a flat, the place to have it is just down the road from one of your cousin’s machine shed/workshops & for him to have two sons who just jump in & help.  That’s Gary’s son Brian in the photo.  He & his older brother Adam & their dad got Susan all taken care of.

We took Brenden & drove down to Girard to pick up some of the local BBQ spice made at Cherry’s Grocery.  There we ran into my cousin Jennifer, picking up things they needed for the dinner.  So we went back to her mom’s house, Aunt Wanda’s.  (It was her dad whose ashes had just been buried.)

I warmed up the Dirty Rice I had made in the microwave while they finished their salads.

The dinner was held at the Virden Community Hall & shortly after we arrived, Rob & Mona & Jake & mom arrived.

It’s the start of their spring break, so they brought mom down for the reunion.  They’ll go on for some vacation time in Tennessee & mom will ride home with Susan.  Susan & Brenden will take her back to MN next week & spend Brenden’s spring break at mom’s house.

I wasn’t a very good photographer this weekend – I just have a few poor shots from the dinner…

Kim Carney Rhodes & Wes’ wife Cathy in line.  Wes & Cathy’s baby is due around the same time as Chris & Heidi’s baby.

Taren & Jennifer are sitting across the table from Uncle Ronald & his great grandson, Charlie who is Kirby’s son – her baby is due in June or July. Her sister, Abby has Aubrie & new baby Addie.  Aubrie came with grandma Sandy.

Kim’s son, Riley (above) & Kai had a big time riding around the tables on this tractor & on a trike – surprisingly no one got run over!

Hopefully, we’ll get to go again next year!

The hyacinth…

and the daffodil blooms won’t be far behind.

in Just-

spring       when the world is mud-

luscious the little

lame balloonman

whistles       far       and wee

and eddieandbill come

running from marbles and

piracies and it’s

spring

when the world is puddle-wonderful

the queer

old balloonman whistles

far       and       wee

and bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

it’s

spring

and

the

goat-footed

balloonMan       whistles

far

and

wee

e.e. cummings

We almost dined at Bleu – which would have been my first time – but fearing that Bleu’s menu might be a bit too adventuresome for our tastebuds  – I proposed we go to Room 38 where I’ve also never been – but it was on the brain ’cause it was one of the many restaurants offering premiums during the KBIA fund drive.

Room 38 is across from the Courthouse….

The restaurant inside is a rectangle as is the menu…

as are some of their plates…

This was Donna’s plate…

TURKEY, BRIE AND SWEET RED PEPPERS TOPPED WITH A SWEET HONEY MUSTARD SAUCE  with a side of grilled asparagus.

Connie’s  ASIAN SESAME GRILLED CHICKEN Salad was served on a square plate and consisted of MIXED GREENS, CHOPPED CARROTS, SWEET RED PEPPERS, MANDARIN ORANGES, GRILLED CHICKEN BREAST, AND FRIED WONTON STRIPS, SERVED WITH OUR ASIAN SESAME DRESSING.

Mine was rectangular….

I think it must have won “Best Dessert” at some point in Inside Columbia magazine’s Best of Columbia voting one year.

It’s pretty (& price-y).  It’s probably a more authentic gooey butter cake than the recipe I use but I prefer the version with the cream cheese topping.

This is Heidi with her cousins, Karen & Karla who hosted the shower.  There was a cute cake…

Place cards for the grandmas-to-be & great-grandmas…

There were games…one of which involved identifying the contents of a “dirty” diaper.

The diapers held various melted chocolate candies which you had to identify by smell &/0r look.  This is Linsey telling me she’s not going to pose for a photo smelling a diaper…

There were presents, of course….Great-grandma Jane sent A Child’s Garden of Verses…

Linsey prepared bag of post-birth necessities…soaking salts & a lactation book among them…

A cute dress from Heidi’s sister-in-law, Kim…

A child totin’ backpack from her mom & dad and a car seat from us…

Grandma (?!) Debbie, Heidi & Grandma Judy…

Recently I stumbled across the Polish word for grandmother – Babcia.  It’s pronounced Bob-cha.  Sharing that with Rog reminded him that he used to call one of his grandmas – Boo-sha…which according to something else I read on the internet appears to be the Chicago Polish dialect for grandma.  So now, occasionally, Roger calls me Boo-sha.

After the shower, Chris & Heidi & Linsey & I went to eat a Barbosa’s…

The Mexican restaurant where Chris & Heidi had their first date (at least I thought I understood them to say that.)  There are two locations of Barbosa’s  in St. Joe…we chose the Barbosa’s Castillo location.  It’s in an old mansion near downtown St. Joe.

After lunch, I handed over to Chris & Heidi a box of Chris’ babyhood that I had kept until the time he had his first child.  One item in the box was the little outfit he wore home from the hospital in April of 1980….

He’s grown a bit since then!

It was more than a bit awkward to get on (& off) and a bit scary at first ’cause there’s nothing really to hang onto.  But after riding awhile with Tess at a walk, I got more comfortable & liked it.  Riding bareback seemed really good for developing balance.  We tried trotting just a bit. (I’m still not real comfortable with trotting when I’m in a regular saddle.)

Phoenix, Deb’s other Quarter horse decided to take a rest while Tess & I were working.

I guess that first grader (who had a lesson right before me) wore her out.  Deb said in this position a horse is most vulnerable to predators but Phoenix let me walk up to her & give her a horse treat while she was laying down.

Other barn news…Deb has her first two boarders – a pair of Haflingers.

I don’t know much about the Haflinger breed so I just googled for info…

Haflingers are apparently on the shorter side (as horses go),  are tough hardworkers from the Tyrolian mountains of Austria with white blonde manes.

This is Brandy, the mama horse…

This is her son, Aftershock…

Well…his mouth & nose anyway.

Midas, the Tennesse Walker was all muddy from rolling in the fields…

Misty, the Percheron was muddy, too.

Here’s Deb and Phoenix – up from her nap…

And Tess with the big green ball to which she kept returning to nose along  while I was on her back. 

I’ll be back out there next Sunday afternoon.  Looking forward to it!

But before we lost the sunshine, we took the new car out for a drive.

We took a right out of Gateway South & headed down to McBaine and continued down the road to the Missouri Champion Bur Oak.

This tree comes in a close second as national champ, too.  It has a circumference of 287 feet, is 90 feet tall and has a limb spread of 130 feet.  It is estimated to be 350 years old and it’s only about 7  or 8 miles from where we live.

We drove on down to Grocery Branch Road and just felt our way back to Gillespie Bridge Road, to Chapel Hill, Scott, Vawter School Road & Sinclair back to Rt K and home.

And if I had the suitable facilities & had been pre-approved, I would have wanted one.

They weren’t very big, so they seemed like just the right size for our backyard.  ‘Course horses are herd animals…so you’d probably need to get two.  But it wasn’t really the horses that turned out to be the big temptation. (Like they could be – with not enough funds to divert in an equine direction.)  It was this little guy I wanted to bring home.

He’s an Australian Shepherd and he & four of his siblings were for sale.  Apparently, lots of horse people also have Australian Shepherds, so the young couple that had the puppies came to the adoption to hang out & tempt people. And boy, was I tempted.  I probably spent and hour & a half with the couple & their friends who had come along to wrangle the puppies.

We sometimes talk about a second dog… a pet for Molly or a dog that would bond with Rog & be “his” dog.  I thought this puppy could be his dog and we love Ruby, Linsey & Colin’s Australian Shepherd.

There were 7 in the litter & four are still available.  The little brown one was the only one of the seven not to have the merle coats of the parents.  The puppies sure got a lot of attention.

They would like to have $300 – but they would take less for a good home.  I have her phone number if you want an Aussie.