Timing is Everything

Boy I timed that just right – I dare anyone to do better next Halloween.  I watched Halloween 1, 2 and 20 tonight because it is, of course, Halloween.  It is five minutes before midnight – the official end to Halloween and the last movie is just to the point where she is about to cut Michael’s head off so it will end at the same time the holiday does.  Pretty cool huh?

Halloween use to be my favorite holiday because people got dressed up silly and made fools of themselves in a good way.  Now I am more into Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Thanksgiving because I have so much to be thankful for and Christmas because it is a reminder of Jesus’s birth, death and resurrection. 

This year we are all going down to my youngest sister’s house for Thanksgiving.  We have never been to her house for any holiday so this will be the first, hopefully, of many.  From the sounds of it, there will be quite the crowd as our family continues to grow by leaps and bounds.  I say the more the merrier myself.

It is my hope and prayer that I am able to have one of the holidays next year which basically means settled in somewhere that has room for folks.  I know not everyone would come like they are going to Wanda’s but I don’t mind.  It is her big day to play hostess to us all and I know she is really looking forward to it.  Heck, maybe she’ll do Thanksgiving next year and I can do Christmas.  But a lot has to happen before that can be a reality.  I’m not worried about it – all in God’s time.

I just realized I’m hungry because I haven’t eaten anything since having lunch with my sister at 11am.  No wonder my stomach is growling away.  I meant to go get Chinese food but got busy with other stuff.  Hope everyone has a happy Saturday!

Flowers

I remember when I was very little that my grandmother had a bunch of flower bushes in her yard.  Some were rose bushes and some were, I believe, petunias.  I won’t swear to the last one but I do know the flowers were big and smelled wonderful.

When we would go outside to play, grandma would remind us that the flowers were off limits – we weren’t to pick them and certainly not play in the flower beds.  It seemed like such a waste of flowers to me because no one hardly ever went out in the yard to actually enjoy them.  So they made the yard look pretty, who cared? Grandma was down on a gravel road so no one drove by to appreciate the work she put into them.  I liked to pick one now and then just because she told me not to – yep, I was that kind of child.

Mom kept up the flower beds once Grandma was unable to do so.  I would help her pull weeds, plant trees and trim back the bushes – I think that is where my love of gardening came from.  So many things, if we think back, can be associated with our upbringing. 

When down at the condo I tried so many different flower combinations but could never find the perfect one.  Either the spots were too shady in front or too sunny in back.  The sun would burn anything I put back there while the front would stunt the growth from lack of sun.  It was a no win situation. 

Here in Iowa, I hope to have a place eventually where I can plant a big garden to work in.  Most of it will be for veggies but a section of it will be for flowers.  I want ones that I can arrange inside to bring the outdoors in.   Yes, green plants do that too but fresh cut flowers smell so good.  Though grandma had roses, I doubt I would go for that – I’ve never cared for them much…probably because everyone else raved about them.  It is a lot like diamonds – I have never been impressed with them, give me a ruby, emerald, garnet, aquamarine, or that yellowish stone in a silver setting any day…anyway, I’m getting away from my subject.

I use to buy fresh cut flowers from Publix (like Hy Vee) every week or so.  They had some nice arrangements or you could buy flowers individually to make your own concoction.  Cut flowers up here in Iowa are so much more expensive than down in Florida.  I suppose that is because Florida can grow them year round whereas Iowa ships them in during cooler months.  It kind of is a bummer not to have a fresh bouquet of flowers each week.  Florida had more exotic flowers too.

Maybe I’ll have a greenhouse someday….