Computer fried.

My laptop died last week. Fortunately it is still under warranty. I sent it in for repair on Monday. They said it could take up to two weeks. Aaaaarrrrrgggghhhh!! I feel lost without it. I am using the husband's I-pad, but saying I hate it is an understatement. I was going to post some pictures of my garden but I can't seem to do it from here.
Hope to be back in the saddle by next week. Don't think I could last much longer.

She would have been 43 today

Instead, she celebrated her first birthday in heaven.
I went to bed last night terrified for today. I expected to be a basket case.
Instead, I kept busy today and did not dwell.
I had a moment when I was in the garage and a chair I had recovered for her is in there.
I did sit in it and spent a few moments feeling sorry for me and shed a few tears.
Happy Birthday sweet daughter of mine.  I miss you so much, but I am so thankful you are not in pain.
I am so happy you got to spend this birthday with Grandma and Aunt Meg.

Africa revisited.

I am going back in a year.

They beg us to not forget them.

Looking West from Tanzania into the Democratic Republic of Congo.  Across Lake Tanganika

I am not looking for sympathy

Just wondering.
Does it ever quit hurting?

Today was such a beautiful sunny day

I spent the day out in my tiny yard, getting it cleaned up and ready for summer flowers. 

I hung my hummingbird feeder up and had several visitors.  I tried to take a picture of one, but they did not totally trust me, yet, and flew away as soon as they saw me.

Earlier I posted a picture of my weeping willow that Stan had cut back to almost nothing last fall.

Lucky for him, it is getting leaves and will probably be just fine.

I started a branch from a tree my uncle had planted about 60 years ago.

My wisteria has a few flower buds on it.  I am a bit worried because the main older tree does not seem to be blooming.  It has not bloomed for a couple of years. I cut it way back last year hoping that would help. It had a few flowers last year but I cannot see any on it this year. These flowers are on a younger shoot of the tree.

I love using galvanized buckets for my hanging gardens. I only have two and want to buy three more for this summer. I got the two I have ready to receive flowers for the summer.

I started another project. I will have to show you once it is finished.  Won't try to explain.

My white clematis is loaded with bloom.  Making up for not  blooming at all last summer.

Mama Robin is on her nest.  You can see her tail poking up from her nest, it looks like it is touching the branch above it.

Three sweet little eggs.

I found this in my yard

Remember last week when I posted that Spring was finally finding it's to the beautiful Puget Sound area?

I posted a picture of my pretty Cherry tree in the back corner of my yard. If you look closely, you can see the two 4x4"s in the ground and the one that goes across the top, covered by the branches of the Cherry tree. This is where I go to relax during the summer. It is my swing.

Today was a nice sunny day and I though I would go sit on my swing for a while and enjoy the warm. As I got close to the swing, I was dive bombed by a Robin.  Looking up to see why she acted so startled, I saw this nest on the cross bar of my swing.

I had to wait for Stan to come home and set a ladder for me so I could get up and get the picture of the inside of the nest.  I have declared the swing off limits to the kids until this little family hatches and moves out.
We are very excited to follow the progression from eggs to birds.
Is anyone else nurturing/hosting a little family in their yard?

Every once in the while a Thrift Shop trip ends in a great score.

Which is how I feel about this box I found at Value Village today. It has all of these drawers that are lined with a felt type fabric.

The top compartment is about 2 to 2 1/2 inches deep and also lined with the felt.

You can see that the outside of it is kind of splattered with paint.  The top is too.  Stan thinks I should be able to take it off with little damage with a razor blade. I really do not want to refinish it. I would like to keep the finish that is on it.

You can see that it also has a door that covers the drawers that locks.

When the door is opened, it slides under the bottom drawer and completely out of sight.

It is going into my sewing room. Perfect place to put all of my sewing tools that seem to be so tempting to little hands.  Found my good ginghers the other day with a straight pin wedged between the blades and a big nick in the blade.  I am thinking the top compartment will work well for my thread.
I have aabsolutely no idea what it's original use was. Do you have an idea?