March, April and May are my favorite months, but since March and April galloped by like a herd of wild horses, I will try to give a shortened version of all three months even though we do have  couple weeks of May left.  March was my birthday month and David took the week off and we ate out a lot and took a ride and I did just what I wanted to do which is sew and play with the dogs.   In April we celebrated Easter.  First we went to church where our choir sang a cantata.  The we drove over to Brown Country to eat Easter dinner with family and friends.

Our grandson had two boys from Japan staying with him.  I guess a whole planeload of Japanese students came over and stayed with various families to learn our culture.  Well, those two boys jumped right into the culture.  The attended school with our grandson, went fishing with their Dad, ate out at various restaurants. They said our bacon was way too salty.   And sushi was not the same.  They took part in our annual Easter egg hunt.  We brought 300 eggs and for each egg found the hunters would get a dollar, plus there were eight golden eggs worth five dollars.  The boys thought they were hunting for eggs with candy in them, but, oh, no. When we gave them money they were so surprised.  It was fun to watch them take part in our family tradition.  That afternoon our older grandson and one of the Japanese boys took part in an ice water challenge for some charity.

Waiting for the water to be poured.

And getting drowned. He was such a good sport.  The boys also got a shopping trip to the Ralph Lauren store where David works and they bought some clothes.  Ralph Lauren clothing is much more expensive in their country.

Not sure what the boys are looking at?  It must be something amazing!  They stayed two weeks and our daughter’s family were sad to see them go.  I hope they can come back one day.

Spring sprang almost overnight it seems, but now that we are in May everything is so lush and beautiful.  I am loving the meadow we are creating in our backyard. David spread a bunch more wildflower seeds and If just half of them come up it will be a show.  Here are a few pictures of the blossoms that have appeared in our yard the past few weeks.  Some are already gone and some are still around and I didn’t even get pictures of the peonies which are at their peak right now.

The lilacs were gorgeous as usual and smelled so good.

An azalea in my kitchen garden.

Only one Iris out of several different varieties I have growing.

This is a Weigela shrub we just started last year and this year it was full of blossoms.

It has a cage around it because of dogs.  The pups love to dig.  In a year or two they will be use to it being there and we will take the cage away.

Sprirea. We have this shrub all along the north side of our house.  They were here when we moved in over forty years ago.

The Snowball bushes never disappoint.  They were loaded with flowers and the limbs bent under their weight.

This is a miniature lilac bush.  It was so loaded with blooms and smelled so good.    This is about as big as it will get.

Closeup of the Azalea.

There are lots more plants blooming and we planted Three more new shrubs this year.  Two have white leaves and one is bright yellow.

David and I have been planting and planting. David is becoming a gardener. He is cultivating a rhubarb patch and a strawberry patch, plus he planted a couple of pumpkins I started in the greenhouse.  I made something delicious with the rhubarb.

I don’t usually brag, but this was the best pie I have ever made.  It was so good and David and I enjoyed it for several days.  My next pie might not be as good, but this one, oh my!

We took a drive Sunday.  We had a destination picked, but we take back roads and never made it.  We decided our next drive we would pack a suitcase, just in case, and drive directly to our destination and then drive slowly home on back roads. If we don’t make it home, we will be prepared.   Here are some of the things we saw on our drive.

Roads not taken are our favorite roads.

There was a burnt down house behind these trees.

We got into the Hoosier national forest which goes on forever and drove and drove down this one road and this is what we met.  A bar across the road and we had to turn around. On the way back, we passed several motorcyclists driving the same road and I wanted to warn them the road dead ended, but we drove on.

We came upon this.

A fire tower.  You could climb it if you chose to. David and I chose not.  I can remember the day I could have climbed that with no problem.  Now if I made it to the first level, I would be completely out of breath if not dead.

Someone up in the tower was flying a drone.

Not sure if he was taking our picture, but we took its picture.

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There are a lot of old abandoned homes in southern Indiana.  This looks like a little cabin. I wonder who lived here, why they left and why they didn’t sell the house.

We had a tornado go through last week. In fact, our house was right in the line of the storm that was coming.  We got some wind and a deluge of rain which I was happy for as we had just planted several flowers. But southern Indiana got hit hard and we passed places like this.

Trees down everywhere.

These people were cleaning up their lot from the damage the storm had caused.

People in southern Indiana seem to have a lot of horses.  We saw these and stopped to look.

This one came right up to us and I wished so hard I had a carrot or apple, but I apologized to it for not having anything.  I hate disappointing animals.  I have always loved horses. I was quite horse mad when I was a girl and I did have a horse of my own, and I miss not having one.

It was a nice trip and we stopped for ice cream.  I always said if I reach eighty years old I will eat ice cream every day.  I am getting might close and I am practicing now.

I, of course, am sewing quilts.  I have a plan to sew several patriotic quilts to celebrate our country’s 250th birthday next year.  Here is one I started.

I actually have it all pieced and will be showing it to you.  I call it “Patriotic Chicks.”

I ordered fabric.

And then I ordered more.

Hey, I don’t smoke, drink, get my nails done and haven’t been to the beauty parlor since Covid so I have to spend my money somewhere!  Yes, I have too much fabric if that is possible which I really don’t think people who sew can ever have enough.

I bought one of those elliptical machines where you sit and pedal. It counts each round as a step and I have been doing 10,000 steps or more every day.  I hope it starts to show soon.  I love doing it.  I also have one of those machines that vibrates and shakes you and I use that too and it has helped with the swelling in my legs.  I really wish I could get out and walk like I use to, but ever since I got my pacemaker I get dizzy and weak.  I cannot walk very far which perturbs me to no end. I have had my heart checked every which way, even an MRI and I am going in for a sonogram which I have had before and they found nothing.  I just have a slow heartbeat.  I can’t complain, though. I still can get out and do things and play with the pups and work in my greenhouse and go places to I am blessed.  There are people my age in nursing homes so I am thankful I am still able to stay in my home.

I know this month will breeze by, too and Summer will come and go as fast as it did last year, so I plan to enjoy every day and count my blessings.  I hope you are enjoying your days and feeling blessed.   Will be back again soon, I hope. Bye.