Three on Thursday | Atlanta Botanical Garden.

My mom and I spent the day at the Atlanta Botanical Garden and I had planned to make that today's Three on Thursday post. You know, along the lines of three things I loved, or three new-to-me plants, or three favorite photos ... but the reality of the Garden. in May. on a day when it's warm but not hot, with a cloudy morning that gives way to beautiful white clouds against a bright blue sky. after days of rain. and an incredible special exhibit called (most appropriately) Imaginary Worlds. well.... here's what my photos looked after I went through them

It's a good problem to have, for sure! so here are three of the my favorite parts of today's visit:

First, the Garden ... the hydrangeas are in full bloom (which my mom tells me is because they've loved all our recent rain. I'm glad to know something is thriving) and my mom spied a bright orange daylily that she'd left behind in Florida (a souvenir planting from one of our many visits to Callaway Gardens).

Last year's White Garden planted around that blue and white Chihuly (middle right) has been replaced with zinnias and poppies. The white was beautiful, but the color this year is more my style. I was also surprised at all the varieties and shades of hydrangeas. Beautiful.

Second, Imaginary Worlds. We've both seen a lot of ads for it, but in real life it's even better. There are twelve parts to the exhibit and we saw ten of them. Every single one of them was delightful, but these are my favorites.

This is the first one ... a most fitting beginning! and there's a glimpse of another topiary book resting on its side in the lower left.

The Mammoth.

The Phoenix.

I was surprised he had a really sweet face. the eyes ....

The Shaggy Dog,

with another very sweet face!

The Dragon.

here's a detail shot of his "scales".

Pegasus.

and the Camels.

and third, the chance to experience all of this with my mom, who is now most complimentary of my selfie skills 😀

Linking up with Carole and friends and wishing everyone a Happy Thursday!

Weekending with Sam and Charlie.

Well, whew! and thank goodness for iPhones. This video - 38 of my favorite (video'd) seconds from the 48 hours Sam and Charlie were with us - shows you how much fun we had.

And this morning, as I sorted through all the photos, I noted a few more things:

The boys play really well ... together and on their own. And it was wonderful to see Marc join in, too. (He did not play golf all weekend. thank goodness!) Charlie has grown up a lot in the 13 months since he and I spent Tuesdays together. Some is certainly just his age (he's 3-1/2 now), but I think it's also being a big brother. It suits him.

Meal times are a Big Deal ... these boys love to eat!

Sam's "lovey" is a drill. He carries it everywhere, even to the dinner table!

Not gonna lie - these two moments from Friday evening were most welcome. (especially because Saturday morning arrived before 5 am.)

yep, the drill goes to bed with him, too

It was also nice to see their parents yesterday morning. They all stayed for brunch to celebrate Mother's Day and my mom joined us. Four generations all together is very special (as is getting five smiles on all five faces).

The rest of Sunday was back to typical, with naps, FaceTime with Sara, a little TV and early bedtime.   We were ready for it!

Watercolor Wednesday | Scenes from the Orchard.

We've had a delightful time visiting and catching up. Even the weather was smiling yesterday.

We walked outside in the morning to get Martha a few photos to share on Facebook.

Martha and Mother 

Later in the afternoon, Holly and I ventured out for a long walk through the orchards. so beautiful and peaceful.

We're headed home later this morning (thankfully, not through snow!) - it's been a short, but wonderful, change of scenery.

Happy Wednesday, friends!

Sometimes Mondays.

...bring a change of scenery.

for the record, my mom (riding shotgun 😉) took this photo

the view from our living room

Her friend Martha should be here any minute ... we decided not to wait!

Cheers!

Looking Back | February.

Yep, one more catching up post before I'm ready to move on to March! 

Today, I'm looking back at February through the lens of my daily photos:

I've already shared most of these photos here or on Instagram, but I'm still surprised by the story all 28 photos tell together - what a month! The trip to Mexico over the last week was planned, but I had no idea Marc would be such a willing participant in the photos! Then there were the little boys - breakfast on the 11th, followed by two whole days with little Sam on the 14th and 15th. First signs of spring ... and an amaryllis that looks just as lovely when the blooms fade (the 5th) as when they're just beginning (the 10th). 

That "just beginning" bud managed to hold off blooming until we were home and I've enjoyed watching it unfold over the past few days. Its first blossom was a most welcome sight this morning.

One photo I haven't shared here is from the 8th - my mom at her new front door:

We had a mini photoshoot that afternoon so she had a "new home" photo to share with her friends. I'm delighted with the photo (smiles, sunshine, forsythia wreath!), but mostly having my mom so close ... and getting settled. I fully expect her to be a regular feature in these monthly collages going forward - what a blessing!

There was also one part of my February that I purposely omitted from the collage. The 10 day #tblmindbodypilates challenge was something I wanted to accomplish, but I knew it would mostly happen while we were away. and of course I knew I'd want to have vacation photos fill those daily spots. I did take a daily photo to mark each workout (doubling up on days 5 & 6 when we were traveling) and made a mini-collage. 

Pilates with a beach view is definitely more fun than pilates in my living room - but The Balanced Life works great in both places! (although I'm not sure Holly would agree 😉)

And that's a wrap!

Cheers, February - you were wonderful ... but I'm ready to welcome March!

Mother's Day.

Holly and I arrived safely home this afternoon; we did not travel the newly-reopened I-85, but the traffic on the other highways seemed to be responding favorably to having that thoroughfare back in business!

I have a few more stories to tell about the rest of our time in Florida, but for today, how about a quick re-cap of Mother's Day. At this point in my life, it is especially dear to me that I got to spend the day with my mom. We finished up the last to-do on her List (2016 taxes!) yesterday morning and celebrated that accomplishment with lunch out at one of our favorite places. Of course we had to "cheers" 

and then I'm so glad I remembered to ask the hostess to take our photo!

The only downside to being in Florida yesterday was that I did not get to see my favorite little guys in person. Katie made it a little better - she FaceTimed twice - first with Sam

and then with Charlie.

We spent the rest of the afternoon watching sports (bowling, baseball and golf ) and working the Sunday crossword (which we finished). Along the way, I also managed to finish all of Clue #4 on Thistle Rambles! One of Mother's friends joined us for happy hour and the day ended with more Yahtzee - and Mother's third time rolling a Yahtzee of ones!

I lost track of how many Yahtzee she rolled overall. We played every night I was there - maybe 20 games total? and I'm guessing she had about that many Yahtzees!! (Happy Mother's Day, right?!)

It was a wonderful day. Happy (belated) Mother's Day to each of you!

Throwback Thursday | Zucchini Fritters.

Remember back a few months when we shared favorite foods our mom's used to make? One of mine was zucchini fritters:

Mother had a vegetable garden when we lived in New Jersey (my high school and college years). Of course she grew zucchini and of course there was too much. I remember an entire meal of zucchini fritters...just us...one summer when I was home from college. (that might be the closest we came to a popcorn meal :-)

I managed to find a few photos of that garden from the summer of 1981 (I was home after finishing my sophomore year of college). Of course it's just in the background - the real photo is of my brother (aged 16) and my mom playing a game that was kind of like tetherball, but with a tennis ball and raquets (we loved that game!)

To give you a better idea of this suburban garden's size, here's another view across the back of the yard - more garden (and another view of my mom, which I captioned "mom in action" on the back - seriously!)

Early on in last week's visit, I mentioned how much I'd loved those fritters and asked if we might recreate that memorable dinner. Mother happily obliged.

They were just as delicious as I remember.

Here's the recipe from my file, copied 30+ years ago.

The only change I noted when Mother made these last week was that she used a lot less oil. I'm not sure I'd go so far as to say they're "healthy", but for a once-a-summer treat, they're most definitely worth it!