WHAT A GREAT MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND!

What a great Memorial Day weekend!  Wow!

First, I drove to Columbus to see my son, Jason, for his birthday.  Then I came home and bought all the flowers and mulch I would need to beautiful my yard.

My grandson, Beau's graduation was this weekend.  What a wonderful young man he has turned out to be.  I'm so proud of him!  He graduated with Honors and is on his way to Muskingum University in the fall.

I didn't pick up a lot of trash this weekend, but that's how it works when there's a lot to do.  I'll get back on track tomorrow.

I have picked up 621,668 pieces of trash so far, including 553 nails, bolts and screws, and I've swept up 959 piles of broken glass.  I'm on track to reach my one million piece goal by Spring.  Summer didn't work, because so much picking was causing injuries to my hand.  My team of volunteers didn't work either.  They are all doing their best, but it's not going to be enough to reach one million pieces by the end of summer.

My t-shirts are being printed.  I'm going with a lime-green, V-neck, ladies-cut, sports material.  I don't wear round neck t-shirts, so I didn't want to pass them out.  I won't be giving any away to men, but with the exception of my friend, Tom, it's usually the ladies who jump up and help me, so it should be okay.

I shopped for hours getting just the right flowers for my yard.  It's so hard to envision what they will look like when they are big and bloomy.  I hauled everything home.

Then I turned the soil, pulled the weeds, trimmed the bushes, pruned the trees, dug the holes, planted the flowers, mulched, mowed and swept. 

Yes, I know I have three days to do everything, but I always forget how much I'm going to hurt the next day, and the day after that!

I mulched all my daylilies in my back yard, and I think Stella is happy.

Then I planned my little flower bed by my back door.  There used to be two humongous bushes here, and I cut them down, leaving two ugly stumps.  Every summer, I get out my saw and cut off a little more.  Eventually, they'll be gone, but in the meantime, the flowers will grow up and cover the stumps.

I planted a flower garden here last year, and I did it all wrong.  The red flowers that look like flames need to be a border.  They were so pretty last summer, but you couldn't see them very well.

I absolutely LOVE getting up early and coming outside to water my flowers every morning.  The birds are singing, and it's such a flowery paradise!

I planned on planting red geraniums between my Hostas in the front of my house, but they are so expensive.  I decided to wait.  Good thing!  They came back so full this year, there's no room. 

I was able to mulch between them and that keeps the weeds down and highlights the different colors.

I picked up 1,566 pieces of trash today before the rain, and I met a lovely woman grilling ribs.  The smell caused me to go from a trash picker to a searcher of Memorial Day food!  I bought ribs from Buehler's and a cheeseburger from Dairy Queen.  Yum!

I hope you had a wonderful holiday!  The weather was perfect for traveling, parties and trips to the cemeteries.

Summer is here at last!