Friends and Flowers

Hello my friends!  We had a lovely weekend full of fun, friends, flowers and sunshine.  My blog friend Betsy who lives in Spokane WA missed us Portland area blog friends so she and her husband Dennis drove here and we met up for dinner at Tad's Chicken 'n Dumplins.  The cast of characters are from left, Becky, Betsy, Gracie, then Phil, Dennis, me and Dayle.  It was fun, we all had stories to tell, getting to know each other better and enjoying a wonderful dinner.  

It was such a lovely day, sunny and warm, that they had all the windows opened up.  Gracie asked where the open air dining was and we said, this is it!  She said, I thought the windows were clean!  :-)  

I asked someone who was waiting for a table outside to take our photo by the neon sign.  :-)  It's a favorite diner for locals and one side of the neon kept going out, leaving "Tad's Chic Dump".  When they fixed it the locals complained as the pet name for the place was now the "Chic Dump".  So they un-fixed it and the back side of the sign remains this way, the other side is fully lit.  :-)

I've been meaning to show you my new shoes.  I've worn Ecco sandals for years and love them - then my favorite shoe store sent out a sales circular and they had these fun multicolor sandals, called the Anniversary Yucatan edition.  I called my store, Shoe Mill, and they had sold out immediately.  But they called another store which had one last pair in my size and got them brought over and I love them!   Each part of the shoe is a different colored leather. Would you wear such colorful shoes?

We had moved my red hibiscus and it had NOT been happy and had ceased blooming.  So, we put it back in it's regular place by the window and it's been telling us how happy it is by blooming.. there were 3 blooms on it at one time yesterday.  

Yesterday afternoon I walked around the yard to see how the flowers were doing.  The yellow Azalea is blooming, the white Lilac still looking lovely, the white Azalea below it opening up and to continue the "white garden" theme in this spot, the pretty little Star of Bethlehem were blooming along with border (where Dayle didn't mow them).  :-)  The Irises you see coming up here are a gift from Kathy, another blog friend whom we visited last year.  I hope they bloom this first year!

This is my best year for the Star of Bethlehem, obviously they self-seed very well.

I'm happy the hard rain we had a few days ago didn't ruin the Lilacs.. that has happened in the past.  But they have such a short bloom life.. so fleeting.  You have to bury your nose in them several times a day before they are gone.

The yellow Azaleas are actually fragrant, did you know that?

The Pink Rosebud Azalea is opening up more.. funny.. this one has no aroma.

Big double white yummy white Lilac.  As I read the story of how this variety was created in the book I'm reading "Where Lilacs Still Bloom" it makes me appreciate this flower even more.

This tightly furled Iris may be open today.. what do you think?  I will check later.

The Coral Bells are at their finest right now.. this photo doesn't even show how brilliantly coral pink/red they are.

The apple tree is covered with flowers against a blue sky.  Have I told you how happy I am that winter is over?  :-)

The Lily-of-the-Valley was finally bloomed out enough to pick, so I got a nice bouquet of them and placed them in the cute little milk glass hobnail vase that my friend Shirley gave me as an early birthday gift.  Sweet!  The little bird.. I'll tell you about in a minute.  I wish you could smell these little darlings!

Have you ever smelled these?  They are quite memorable.

Taci could not make the dinner on Saturday due to a family commitment, so an impromptu lunch was pulled together yesterday before Betsy and Dennis headed back home.  :-)

Some fun gifts were exchanged.  Taci is crocheting a rock for each of her friends for their birthdays.. the one in the center was my special gift.  She also gave me a bottle of scent, some handmade soap, and two little facecloths.  Betsy gave me a skein of cotton in a favorite color, a cute little bird and a neat double-pointed needle keeper she made for when you're doing socks, so the needles don't slip out!  Gracie knitted a washcloth for each of us.  :-)

Betsy crocheted up a little flower pin for each of us, I promptly put mine on my blouse.  Thanks, ladies!

Dayle even told me that Becky had slipped him a birthday surprise bag unbeknownst to me and she gave me a neat little stained glass ball which you can put in your garden and it has a solar panel on top.. I will put it out today and look forward to see it glowing in the garden at night.  She also gave me a packet of poppy seeds!  Thanks, Becky!

And I had to show you Buddy.. he'd gotten VERY shaggy and we finally got him in to the groomer.  He looks much neater now.  :-)

Dayle has been preparing our trailer for our trip to the beach for my birthday.  He is off today filling propane bottles, getting his truck washed and doing many other errands so we'll be ready to go on Thursday.  I hope this good weather continues for our week at the beach!  But even if it rains we have a good time down there.  I'm sending you wishes for a wonderful week.  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)