Springing to Life

After an unusually cold and l-o-n-g winter, spring is certainly welcome in my backyard. The blossoms may be a tad bit overdue, but things are finally springing to life! It has been worth the wait. I think that the flowers appear more vibrant this year. Maybe they really are more colorful and plentiful, or perhaps this is a case where absence made the heart grow fonder, so things just look better than normal. Whatever the reason, I'm thrilled!

Last spring, all of the blooms on the Ranger peach tree got nipped by a late freeze. We ended up with no fruit on our tree. This year's crop looks promising. We should have a bountiful supply of peaches sometime in June.

 The Texas Redbud is in its full glory.

"For behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land." -Song of Solomon 2:11-12

 We spied these "Crazytunias" at Home Depot and simply had to buy one.

The Coral Bark Japanese Maple tree literally leafed out overnight.

Our weather has been somewhat bipolar over the past few weeks. This graphic shows just how extreme the extremes were earlier this month. I am ready for a few weeks of 70º temps.

Thanks to my two lawn boys, the lawn has been scalped, aerated, and fertilized. Now all we have to do is add water and sunshine, then wait for the Bermuda to turn green.

I'm quite certain that our trash guys just loved finding 40-some gigantic bags of grass clipping by the curb. At least we were considerate and spread it out over three collection days.

March showers bring beautiful rainbows to our backyard.

This awesome cloud just begged to be photographed. 

 Texas Mountain Laurel blossoms smell just like grape Kool-Aid.

Yes, spring is definitely in the air... my allergies just confirmed that.

Achoooo!

On a Roll

It was a perfect day for a bike ride. Although Millie's friends had never ridden a tandem before, they quickly learned how to balance and work together. There was much laughter as they wobbled down the street on their maiden voyage. I'm happy to report that there were no collisions or skinned knees.

After this crew worked up an appetite rolling along on bicycles, the silliness escalated as they rolled out pizza dough for personal pizzas.

I love having a house full of good friends and giggles!

All Smiles

Now you see 'em...

...now you don't.

The tin grin is no longer "in."

Lions, and Tigers, and Lemurs... Oh, My!

Jemima and Bartholomew look rather majestic just "lion" around in their natural habitat. 

Although our Maine Coons are big kitties, we had the opportunity to go see some REALLY big cats at the Center for Animal Research and Education in Bridgeport, TX.

 Look at dat face!

CARE is the home to about forty big cats and a troop of ring-tailed lemurs. Many of these animals have been rescued from private owners who cannot provide adequate care for such exotic pets. We happened to visit on feeding day (which is about every fourth day), so we got to see one lion feasting on "leg o' horse." Yummy.

We got to feed the lemurs frozen grapes. Thankfully, they're herbivores, so there is less mess when they dine.

We had no idea that there was such a place like this in our own backyard. We will definitely be back sometime soon.

Trippin' With Grandpa

All three Smithlings had spring break during the same week, despite going to three different schools. They traveled, along with their grandpa, to the Pacific Northwest to visit AJ and Mark.

 And they're off from Love to PDX!

The second day they were in Washington state, they made a trip into Portland to get doughnuts. (And they also had a request by our resident book lover to go to Powell's Books.)

 Voodoo Doughnuts has something for everyone -- including a vegan offering!

 The crew got up early one morning to do some daytrippin' to the Emerald City.

 Hello, Seattle and flying fish.

No trip to Seattle is complete without getting beverages at the original Starbucks on Pike Street...

 ...or going up to the top of the Space Needle.

And what did I do while my kids were off having fun with their granddad and auntie?

I cleaned carpets and upholstery. 

Yes, I lead a glamorous life.

Rags to Riches

One of my spring cleaning projects has been to organize the linen closet. There is a treasure trove of handwork from Mr. Smith's side of the family -- specifically the maternal side -- that takes up several shelves. When my mother-in-law passed away nearly four years ago, we inherited twenty-some quilts to add to the six or seven that we already had been given.

When our Smithlings were very young, their grandmother made sure that each one had a quilt of their own from her collection. We have used these quilts a lot! The edges are frayed, and some of the pieces are missing, but how blessed we have been to be able to get all wrapped up (quite literally) in family history. I firmly believe that quilts get more beautiful with years of use.

Practically every colorful quilt is made from old clothing and rags. Several of the family heirlooms were stitched together in the late 1800s and early 1900s. They are still rich in color, yet the fabric is very fragile. There is much love quilted into these works of Americana art. A few of the pieces have blue and red ribbons attached to them from the Garfield County Fair. Yep, these are prize-winning creations!

Many years ago, my dear mother-in-law wrote notes containing the details of when, where, and who made each item. I am so grateful for that, as it makes it a lot easier to be the keeper of the family history when it's already labeled. These yellowed strips of paper are carefully safety pinned to the corner of each quilt.

I am certain that we have at least one quilt representing each decade from 1890 to sometime in the 1970s. A few of the quilts are ones that Mr. Smith remembers helping with. As a young boy, he would go over to his grandmother's house after school where she would have him cut out scraps of gingham and calico. Grandma Krueger must've seen that her grandson had the engineering knack at an early age. I'm sure his squares and triangles were oh, so precise!

As I was folding and organizing the quilts, I decided to take pictures of my favorites to share here. I hope you enjoy peeking into my linen closet. (FYI, there are no skeletons in THIS closet.)

The More, The Merrier

We enjoyed have multiple visitors the first week in March. Millie Girl's friend Mak spent the entire week with us, my daddy came for a visit midweek, and Mr. Smith's brother and his wife came into town for the weekend. I guess it's a good thing that we have plenty o' room. :-)

We enjoyed eating out together, visiting, and playing lots of games.

These two are smiling because they ALWAYS win when they team up. And they don't cheat. It's really not fair...

Millie and Mak are fierce competitors, but they just couldn't quite win at Nertz a.k.a. Nerts, Hell, Pounce, Peanuts, Racing Demon, or Squinch. Was the deck stacked against them? Hmmmm.

Millie thought that her grandpa needed a frilly scarf as an accessory for fun and games. He is a good sport, AND he wears it well.

These brothers may have had different mothers, and there might be 18 years between them, yet they still have sooo much in common. They have similar mannerisms, and they share the robust "Smith" laugh. It is a pleasure to see the two of them together, after so many years of only corresponding by a once-a-year letter. They share a special bond, indeed!