Weekend Highlights

This weekend was packed with places we HAD to go and things we HAD to do!  I had planned to go to an auction on Saturday morning, but I blew it off.  I worked at home instead.  Saturday afternoon, The Husband and Ruby and I worked the afternoon shift at the Greyhounds Rock booth at the Lake of the Woods Dog Festival.  Immediately as the festival ended, we packed up our things, hit the road to deliver Ruby home, and we set off again ... to the NPC Max Muscle Virginia Classic where our Daughter #3 was competing.

She works SO hard, following a strict diet and exercise program, to get into shape to compete.  It paid off, because she placed FIRST in her class!!  Way to go, Sweetie ... your dad and I are very, VERY proud of you!

Sunday was one of those days where I had to hit my marks all day long.  First up ... breakfast at IHOP with Daughter #3 (a no-holds-barred breakfast off her diet to celebrate her win the previous night) and Daughter #1 and her family.  Caleb is almost 8 months old now, and everything he touches goes straight into his mouth.

While we were at breakfast, a customer stopped by the house to pick up a replacement rose that I left for her ... the one she bought last year was accidently mis-tagged.  (No questions asked, she got the correct replacement ... that's how we do things around here.)  When I got home, I saw that she had brought me two BEAUTIFUL peony flowers.  I love peonies as much as I love roses.  This one is Kopper Kettle Itoh ... the copper/apricot color with subtle stripes is gorgeous, and it smells HEAVENLY.  Note to self:  must see about adding some Itoh peonies to the garden next year.

At 1:00, Ruby and I went to spend an hour at HealthSouth, our hospital's rehabilitation facility, for the second part of her therapy dog test.  The objective is for us to interract with patients and their families in the presence of a therapy dog evaluator.  As we expected, Ruby loved all the people, sitting politely to be petted and loving all the attention.

Here is our group, after we finished our visit.  This is a great group of dogs and humans!  Notice TJ, our Greyhounds Rock spokes-dog, in the center ... his human Kim is our evaluator.

I finished the day with a few hours of shopping with Daughter #3.  Her new body-building body doesn't fit into her jeans, and she is on the hunt for ones that DO fit.  Our first stop was Goodwill, at her suggestion, and she scored a pair of jeans that we can alter to fit her perfectly!  I bought a dress for myself and some Waverly curtains that will most likely end up as chair seats.

This week will be a blur.  I have the plant sale at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday ... the photo they use on their plant sale page is one of me ... I was surprised to see it because I don't know when it was taken.  Hartwood Roses is opening for the season on Sunday, May 6.  (More on this in a day or two.  Follow Hartwood Roses on Facebook for the latest info first.)  I have LOTS to do to prepare for both of these events ... so I should turn off the computer and get to it. 

A Random Sort of Weekend

Like most weekends around here, this one was full of random things that aren't very interesting by themselves.  When gathered together like this, I think you can see that it makes for a really fun few days.

On Friday, I had lunch and went shopping with a friend.  I'm on the hunt for a cardigan sweater -- one I can wear with practically everything and use instead of a jacket.  Sweaters are super hot right now, so you would think that finding one I like would be easy ... WRONG!  Everything is too trendy and we didn't find a single one that I wanted to take home.  I did find these babies, though ...

Leopard/Rose print rubber cowboy boots ... the only pair in the store ... on the clearance shelf ... $20!  I'm not sure there's any way to make me much happier for $20.  I wore them to dinner on Friday, and all day yesterday.  Aren't they great with jeans?

One day, I'll get the nerve to wear my jeans tucked into the boots.  For now, having them peeking out at the bottom is perfect!

Let's go from beautiful boots to something that is perfectly hideous.  This was what I saw while I was sitting in the drive-through at McDonalds ( medium Caramel Mocha, please).  As if red or black dyed mulch isn't bad enough ... now they have ORANGE.  The contrast between the sickeningly orange mulch and the yellow-toned shrubs was more than I could stand.  Who thinks this is stuff up?

The herbicide that I sprayed on the area that will become my Labyrinth Garden is doing its thing.  The grass and weeds in that area are looking pretty sickly.  I should be able to lay paths and edging later this week.  I may spray another coat on the areas that will become the rose beds ... just to be sure everything is dead.

The same day I sprayed the Labyrinth, I also sprayed the edge of my English Rose Garden ... being especially careful to keep the chemical well away from the roses themselves.

Weeds are still a bit of a problem, though some of them are lovely, and we really ARE making progress in eliminating them.  How can I get too upset by these white asters (though they are huge and everywhere) when the flowers are so irresistable to butterflies?  At one point while I was standing there watching them, there were FOUR Monarch butterflies on this one weed at the same time!

We had a Greyhounds Rock meeting this weekend.  Our "Take a Bite Out of Canine Cancer" event is four weeks away, and there are a thousand details still to be dealt with.  (and there's still time to register to attend.)

Taylor and Quinn are standing at the door, watching the neighborhood children play in the cul-de-sac.

I'm so glad that so many of you enjoyed my series about my visit to Hollywood Cemetery last week.  I had no idea that it would take four posts to show you my one afternoon's worth of sights.  If you missed any of the posts, here is a list of links:

Carved in Stone (cemetery monuments and sculptures)

Rockin' the Red Roses

In the Pink, and Yellow, and White

The Circle of Life