Day #253 It's Raining Thistle Seeds in the Living Room!

Remember blowing dandelion seeds all across the lawn when you were a kid?

I certainly have enough dandelions in my yard for both the bees (when the yellow flowers bloom) and the grandchildren (when the seed heads form).

But this year, as I’ve told you, I’ve had some thistle plants crop up in convenient places (i.e. NOT where I walk). Check back through the blog entries for pictures of the bright purple blossoms (Day 226--May 26th and Day #231--May 31st) if you missed them the first time.

As the blossoms go to seed, I bring the stalks inside. Naturally, as they dry out, they pop open. That was a real winner when the grandkids were here last week. They pulled seeds out of the thistle heads, collected them in plastic containers, and . . .

 

 

   threw

       them

             into

                      the

                            air!

Despite the fact that we’d spread a sheet over the rug,

 

those seeds went everywhere.

(c) 2011 Fran Stewart

(c) 2011 Fran Stewart

They looked like stars in the sunlight slanting through the skylights.


And look at them here on Savannah and Aiden’s hair!



BEEattitude for Day # 253:
       Blessed are the Grannies, for they shall open brave worlds for their grandchildren.

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Day #181 Grandma's Irises

My father’s mother was a Mississippi farm wife. One of the most poignant memories of my childhood is my watching her on her knees, wearing an old blue faded sunbonnet, weeding her iris garden. I wanted so much to help her, but she was not the sort of grandmother to encourage anyone to poach on her precious time alone with her flowers.



Grandma Stewart's Irises



Long after her death, I visited my Aunt Mary, who had taken some of the irises from her mother’s garden and planted them at her own place in Tennessee, where they had multiplied into enormous beds of deep purple, light lavender, and multi-colored wonder. Aunt Mary gave some of each color to me, and I planted them at my house in Suwannee. Then, when I moved to my current house, I lugged irises along with me, leaving plenty for the enjoyment of the people who’d bought my house.

Yesterday I was out in the front yard, filling the bird feeder, and I saw that several of Grandma’s irises had shot up those distinctive tall stems, topped with furled buds. This is what some of them looked like the spring after I moved into this house. Now these particular ones have pink dianthus growing around their feet

I hope my bees will enjoy them as much as I do when they finally bloom again this year.

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

       My grandchildren, who are always welcome to share my joys.    

Day #163 Puns at the Soccer Game

I can't think of anything stupendous to write about, so I'm going to tell you about what happened last Saturday on the sidelines of my grandson’s soccer game.

My co-grandparents and I stood there cheering until Bill Martin, known to all the grandkids as Paw-Paw, said he had to ask me a question. “Sure,” I said. He glanced apologetically at his wife and asked, “Do bees poop?”

Now, this was a logical question coming from someone who is a family doctor (intestinal information fascinates docs) and also from someone who doesn’t read my blog. He came from the hospital to the soccer game. He’s always caring for a patient. He founded (and is the head doc at) the Hope Clinic in Lawrenceville. How could he possibly find time to read blog posts?

So, he didn’t know about my blog entry #86 (January 6, 2011) where I explain about cleansing flights. If you missed that one, you might want to look it up.

At any rate, we stood there making bee-poop jokes and missed the last three goals of the game. As the final whistle blew, I said, “Whoops! We haven’t been watching!”—at which point Bill said, “Guess you’ll give us all a stinging reprimand.”

It went on from there, but I'll save the rest of the puns for another--when I can remember what they were. The good thing about not recalling punchlines is that every joke I hear seems brand new to me, since I can't remember what's coming.

BEEattitude for Day # 163:

       Blessed are the grandparents, for they shall have grand-fun in life.

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

       The morning glory I planted next to Faye, who grows near the corner of my deck. Yes, of course I name my trees.

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