Last lilacs

For some reason, our lilacs didn't show much this spring.

These are Joe and Mina's. We enjoy them for free.

O liquid and free and tender! 
O wild and loose to my soul--O wondrous singer! 
You only I hear--yet the star holds me, (but will soon depart,) 
Yet the lilac with mastering odor holds me. 

Walt Whitman - When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d

Later on, that same afternoon . . .

". . . now, just take yer french dog and git offa my land."

Thank you, Joe!

A pair of peonies picked by Joe Daly brightened our kitchen countertop today.

Oh yes, American fries from yesterday's boiled red potatoes. . . . with lots of Vidalia onions, fried in olive oil... mmmm.

Twins are ahead by two runs at the moment, two on, one out.  

Live is very good.

Home again, gone again

Sosie and Bill is LA this winter.

Sosie and Bill have returned and are safely home in Sunol, California. They went, among other places, to Alexandria, Egypt. Sosie is heading this way on Tuesday where she will visit, among other places, Alexandria, Minnesota.
We anticipate her arrival at 2 p.m., at which time we expect that the news blackout on the Mideast mission will be lifted.

Syttende Mai

Our head Norwegian hoisted the colors into a snappy breeze this morning to honor Norway's Constitution Day. That's him speeding away in his pickup, he's much too quick for the neighborhood photographer.
Norwegian Constitution Day is the National Day of Norway and is an official national holiday observed on May 17 each year. Among Norwegians, the day is referred to simply as syttende mai (meaning May Seventeenth), Nasjonaldagen (The National Day) or Grunnlovsdagen (The Constitution Day), although the latter is less frequent.

(Source: Wikipedia, of course, not Bud Osmundson, who is an authority on other matters.)

Congratulations. . . we think

Scandinavians aren't given to bragging much, so it's good when someone can do it for them. We're sure this isn't news to the Norwegians out at the Rolfsrud Ranch, but in case you missed it. . .

Oh, what a tangled web. . .

Eventually we got our new rope fence properly installed today, but first it took some intense detangling by the grounds crew.

They persevered, and won the day.

The rope, intended to divide golfers from residents, was delivered to the work site in a neat factory spool, but somehow, it got a little mixed up before it could be threaded through the fence posts.

We've all been there.

Where's Rosemary?

What started out as one little chive bunch, just enough to make sprinkles for scrambled eggs and toast, has taken over the little herb garden.

Oh well, they're better than thistles and they do have a nice onionish fragrance.

Happy Birthday to our nephew Tony

Somewhere in Yuma, Arizona, today there's a birthday boy providing security to the citizens of this southwest border town. Happy Birthday to our nephew, Sheriff's Deputy Tony Brewer. He's pictured here outside a jury room with his late grandmother Florence, Kathleen's mom.