After looking at the newly replanted flower bed for a couple of days, I decided it looked a bit bare.
So while at Costco this morning I found something that was just screaming at me to bring it home. It is not something that I normally would have selected but it was perfect for this area. {it needed some height to it}
The chimes have a very pleasant sound to them too!
We finished up the small flower bed today and although it does not look very exciting in the photos it looks better in person. I am pleased with the way it turned out and when the plants grow and bloom it will look even better.
My favorite part are the two large stones ~ one is purple and the other is a blue-green with quartz pieces in it.
It did not amount to much but Maggie still had a great time {notice the not so appropriate cold weather clothing she has on}
I know what I will be doing............seeing the POLICE on tour!! Yes, you read that correct we are going to see Sting et all LIVE in concert. Tim and I will be taking the boys to see this musical event. I am SO excited I cannot contain myself. {what a great mother's day gift}
Yep, it is Mother's Day here! Mothering Sunday is the fourth Sunday of Lent. Although it's often called Mothers' Day it has no connection with the American holiday of the same name. Most Sundays in the year churchgoers in England worship at their nearest parish or 'daughter church'. Centuries ago it was considered important for people to return to their home or 'mother' church once a year. So each year in the middle of Lent, everyone would visit their 'mother' church - the main church or Cathedral of the area.
Inevitably the return to the 'mother' church became an occasion for family reunions when children who were working away returned home. (It was quite common in those days for children to leave home for work once they were ten years old.) Today it is a day when children give presents, flowers, and home-made cards to their mothers. {similar to the US} 
The food item specially associated with Mothering Sunday is the Simnel cake. A Simnel cake is a fruit cake with two layers of almond paste, one on top and one in the middle. The cake is made with 11 balls of marzipan icing on top representing the 11 disciples. {Judas is not included.} Traditionally, sugar violets would also be added.
Christopher decided it was time to get his hair cut short again. Tim will be SO pleased when he gets home tonight! I will admit I do prefer his hair shorter...isn't he handsome?? 
Now if Andrew would only do the same :-)
When you come into the drive we have this overgrown area of stuff. It has annoyed me for almost two years and late last week finally decided to get rid of it! We all know that I am not a master gardener by any means but ANYTHING is better than THIS.........
I thought I'd share are a few shots of this work in progress. I hope to have it all cleared and ready to re-planted by April 1 {if all goes as planned and the weather cooperates}.
This is how the area looks today ~ getting better but a lot of work still needs to be done! Tim and the boys removed the wood from the brick on the garage.
It is that time again....loads of birthday parties! Maggie attended a party yesterday, she has two today{luckily the girls made it a combined party} and another one next weekend. Maggie thinks it is the best thing that she is going out all over the place ~ it is finally her and not her brothers :-)
I have wanted a chiminea for the back patio since we arrived here and have not found one I liked. We have seen a few but they were SO small{think table top size} so when I saw this fire pit/table I got it! 
It matches the clock I received for my birthday so that was another reason why I HAD to have it :-) When it is not being used, a table top piece(you can see it on the bottom of the stand) goes over the bowl so it can be used as a small table. The boys and Tim have been testing it out this afternoon and seem to be having a good time. 
That is all for now...off to take Maggie to a birthday party.
Since I don't have the privilege of a Smoothie store nearby ~ like someone I know [Diana] I am having to resort to making them myself. Don't get me wrong, they are easy enough to do, but there is just something about having someone else make them and clean up afterwards.
Strawberry, Kiwi and Banana Smoothie
Ingredients: 4 large strawberries, 2 peeled kiwi fruits, 1 peeled banana
1/2 cup yogurt {I like vanilla}, 1 cup skimmed milk.
Directions: Blend the strawberries, kiwi and milk until smooth. Then add the banana and yogurt ~ blend until smooth.
Enjoy!!
One my favorite signs of spring {at our house} is the lambs and they have arrived! The farmer next door has been putting the sheep in the field a few at a time over the past week. While the lambs are very cute {gotta love 'em} they sure are LOUD. At the moment there are only about 20 sheep plus their babies and that number should triple over the next few weeks. I love how they spray the mother and her babies with numbers to identify who belongs to one another!
Associated Press Photo
An elderly woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole, which she carried across her neck. One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water, at the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.
For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.
After 2 years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house."The old woman smiled, "Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house."
Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding.
You've just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.
**photos are from our trip to Amsterdam @ the Kukenhof Gardens in 2005**
