Potatoes

  I went out today after the rain storm to see how the potatoes looked like after a good rain.

This is how the potato containers looked Apr 6th.

This is how they look today April 27th.

These are the white potatoes.

These are the yellow.  They are still coming through the soil.

Hopefully we will be eating potatoes next month.  (Baby potatoes).

Flowers in the spring and more to come I hope

The weather has been so nice the last few days.  I went outside to get the mail and noticed that some of our flowers had bloomed out.  I couldn't help myself I had to grab my camera.

The Iris are just starting to bloom.

As you can see the snapdragons are starting to bloom. They are just full of blossoms

Dad's side of the garden.

My side of the garden.  I got smart this year and put down some mulch and it looks lots better.

The Azaleas on Dad's side.

Aren't they pretty?

The rose tree is full of blooms and starting to blossom also. Hopefully it will bloom all year (at least until Dec) like last year.

I can hardly wait until every flower is in full bloom.  My peonies are getting ready and I can hardly wait.  This is the first time I have been able to raise peonies.

Grandpa has posted some new posts.

Stevie's Spring Program

Yesterday afternoon Grandpa and I went to Stevie's Spring program.  It was very good.

This is just before they got started.

The song they are singing is the Hello Song.

Oh my Aunt Came back (Song)  and Stevie is a monkey.

Trudy getting ready to tell the story of the 3rd grades songs. They sounded great also.

We went in the afternoon when the 2nd and 3rd grades put their program on  for the rest of the school.  That way we didn't have to fight the crowd or find a good parking space.

That evening I took Baxter to Waldorf for his piano lesson and also Zane and Noah so they could play computer games with their cousin McKay.

New Sofa

Our new sofa was delivered today.  We bought it a month ago and then had to wait until today.

It has a vibrator on each end and you can see in the middle drink cup holders.  Oh Dear.

I think dad and I will both enjoy this sofa.  Although he loves his chair.

Saving or Losing Face

Does any one know where the saying Saving face or Losing face comes from????

Love to hear your ideas or the real answer if you know.

Garden Fair Sotterley Plantation

Yesterday Sid and I took Zane, Noah and Stevie to the Sotterley Plantation.  It was built in 1703, which proceeds George Washington's Mt Vernon Plantation.  The event was the Second Annual Garden Fair. We started out by going to the corn crib.

This picture was taken in the back of the corn crib.  The fellow was showing how to make a wagon tire.Since we were the only ones with children at this spot Zane was picked to show how to form the iron into a ring.

I just couldn't resist taking a picture of this grand old tree.  I love the big trees here in Maryland.  This was on the upper slope of where we flew our kite when the wind was blowing.

We had brought our own kite but left it in the car because we didn't know whether we could fly it here.  This is a picture of Sid and the kids flying the kites that were there for the public to fly.  Then Zane and Noah went back to the car and got our kite.

This the back side of the Sotterley Plantation.

This is the backyard of the mansion and you can see some kites.  There is a path on right side of the picture that goes down to the Patuxent River.

The boys are back with the kite and Grandpa is getting it up in the air.  It flew a little but then the wind went down so we went and did other things until the wind came back up.

Stevie had to show us the necessary (outhouse).  It was quite a ways from the mansion.  They had the corn cobs inside that were used and then as we went through the mansion the woman told us when they ran out of corn cobs they used oyster shells.  Oh I'm glad I live today with indoor plumbing and soft paper.

Grandpa and Noah try to figure out the time.  They decided it was off by an hour or so.  We found out during the tour of the mansion that it was set to Boston time.

This couple was roaming the grounds and I asked if I could take their picture. Can't you just imagine back in the 1800's people walking the grounds, in the gardens and playing croquet dressed like this.

This is a picture of the Sotterley Mansion.

They had a petting zoo with Shetland ponies, mules, sheep with their babies, goats and babies, different cattle all in these little pens. One Holstein cow was so big I don't see how she could stand up much less turn around.

Then we all went and had a nurious lunch of Kettle corn and either lemonade or water.

After the tour we went and looked at the slave cabin. It was built about the 1830's. It sure wasn't very big to have 17 slaves live there.

Then Zane, Noah, Stevie and I walked down the path to the Patuxent River and on the way we saw this bald eagle in this tree next to her nest.  Zane had remembered that the nest was there and we were looking for it.  Grandpa had stayed behind.

This is the view at the end of the path.

I had to take a picture of this unique tree root.

On our way back up the path we saw Grandpa flying the big kite. and Zane and the others cut across the field to Grandpa.

The mansion coming up the trail.  Zane is already at the gate to where Grandpa was.

We all took a turn at flying the kite. The kite must have been up a 1000 feet, at least all the string was off the reel.  There was a great wind then.

Then we went and played croquet.  We had a great time.  There was a young girl sitting there, she was overseeing making sure everyone got to play so I asked her to take some pictures.  She did a great job and these are just  few pictures.

This is a one room school house that the boys went to.  We found out that the girls stayed home and learned to sew,  do needle work and learn how to run a home.

Then it was off to Lowe's, then a stop at Burger King and home.

When we got home we found Tina and McKay visiting with Trudy and Baxter.  Tina had stopped at Popeye's and bought some chicken, mashed potatoes and cole slaw.  It was just a great day enjoyed by all.