Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary, How Does Your Garden Grow?

Not very well, with water restrictions! We've had weeks of weather in the high 90s, 100s with no rain, so now Ovilla, like so many other Texas cities, has imposed Level 1 water restrictions, which means that we can use our sprinkler system two days a week, BUT, if we're willing to stand and hold a hose, we can water anytime before 10:00 a.m. and after 6:00 p.m. I'm not willing to stand and hold a hose on our 1 1/2 acres, but I certainly water all the new landscaping with a hose whenever I can. As promised, the landscaper did send his crew back to plant some grass in areas that were torn up, and it seems to be staying alive. Here are some recent pictures of the landscaping that seems to be doing okay even in this heat. And the lovely hose reel is staying out front until (if) the water restrictions are lifted!

Jessica and Michael's Bridal Shower and Wedding

In April, I helped with a wedding shower brunch for Scott’s niece Jessica from Fort Worth. It was a couples’ shower and everyone had a great time. Below are some photos from the shower.

Last Saturday night (May 7), we attended the wedding of Scott’s niece Jessica to Michael Shaw. The wedding ceremony and reception were held at a hotel in downtown Fort Worth. Everything was PERFECT.

The Landscaping Project is Almost Finished!

This year we decided our big home improvement project would be the front landscaping. We hired a landscaper to do the complete job -- tear out the old shrubs and plant whatever he thought would work best, although I did request Japanese red maples and a dogwood. The project has been going on for a couple months now, but at last we are done (except for the lighting). Hope it all survives the hot Texas summer! Below are some slideshows of the "before" and the "after."

LOOK MOM, NO . . . .

Look Mom, no cane! It's taken me a lot longer than I anticipated, but I've been walking without the cane for about a week now. Every night, Scott and I make a lap around the neighborhood (and in this heat, that's no easy feat). I still have a bit of a limp, which will hopefully go away as the knee heals. But, still, the biggest thrill of all is having a straight leg.

Hope everyone had a peaceful Memorial Day!

And we're walking . . . .

Happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers reading this blog today. The photo of the amaryllis is one of several red ones blooming in our front flower bed right now.

As a special tribute to my mother, I'm attaching a little video fresh off the camera. As most of you know, I had a complicated total knee replacement on March 24. Complications were the result of a fractured tibia 8 1/2 years ago, the removal of some of the screws from that 2001 surgery and the removal of part of the plate that came in contact with the new knee. The second photo was taken two weeks ago at my first post-surgery doctor's appointment. Rehab is slow and until this past Friday, I still walked the way I did the past 8 1/2 years with my right knee coming close to my left knee and my right leg hitting the ground at about a 10 degree angle. I had a revelation this past Friday night, however, when I realized that my new knee could "pop" out to the right and my leg could hit the ground much straighter. Now, I'm working on getting more comfortable with this new straight walk. I had in-home therapy for four weeks, then daily out-patient 2-hour therapy sessions for the past two weeks, and tomorrow I begin four weeks of 2-hour therapy sessions three times a week. Hopefully, in another couple weeks, I relinquish my death grip on the cane. Thanks to all of you for your thoughts, prayers, get well cards and gifts. Hope to see you all soon without the cane!

"Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow"

For all you friends and family snowed in on the East Coast, in the Pittsburgh area or in South Bend, these photos won't mean much to you. But for us Texans whose counties don't have snow plows or salt trucks, it's been a unique day and tomorrow's commute to work should be pretty exciting too. Most of us don't even own a snow shovel or carry an ice scraper in our cars -- but luckily I drive a Subaru and Scott has a 4-wheel drive Honda Ridgeline. It's 9:30 p.m. and the snow is still coming down. At 5 p.m., it measured 7 inches; and at 10:00 p.m., we had 9 1/4 inches, and it's still coming down. Must go find my gloves, hat and boots!

"On a Bicycle Built for Two"

Our neighbors, Mitzi and Richard Cook, were testing out their son's old bicycle built for two. I even got a test drive around the cul de sac. Here's a little video of Mitzi and Richard on the bicycle.

The Steven J. Noto Memorial Flood

In April 2006, my nephew Steve came to visit us and it rained/flooded the entire weekend. This past weekend has been a replay of that weekend. It started raining non-stop on Friday evening and it's still coming down -- and it's just not a nice little sprinkle -- it's a flood. And in honor of Steve, whose birthday just happens to be today, I'm entitling this blog "The Steven J. Noto Memorial Flood." Happy Birthday, kiddo!

Playing with Food

Kelly Noto told me about these cute little "hamburger" dessert items that a friend of hers made for a Fourth of July party. I finally had the opportunity of making some for my neighbor Mitzi's birthday dinner. I did the baking and Scott did the decorating, and we were pleasantly surprised how cute these little hamburgers and fries came out. The hamburger bun was a yellow cupcake (made from a box mix, cut in half); the hamburger was a brownie (made from a box mix and cut in a circle) and the fries were sugar cookies (make from Betty Crocker's bag mix and cut in strips). I also had a chance to try out another dessert recipe that I cut out of the newspaper years ago -- and it was a whole lot easier and a big hit. Glad I bought those martini glasses at the Pier One after-Christmas sale. Here's some photos of the desserts and the birthday honoree.

Yes, We Have No Tomatoes.

One of my father's gardening goals was to pick a ripe tomato from his garden by the Fourth of July. Well, with less than two weeks until the Fourth, I just don't see that happening for us. Admittedly, we were very late in getting our Topsy Turvy tomato planted, and the first one didn't make it. This is our second one and we're happy to see that we have 3 yellow blossoms. Still a very strange looking way to grow a tomato, but time will tell. We're hoping for a ripe tomato by Labor Day.

Quack, Quack

It was a rainy day here in Big D yesterday. When the rain finally subsided, Scott went to check out the water level in the creek and discovered we had two visitors -- a pair of mallard ducks were having a great time in the creek in our backyard. So that was the big news from Ovilla, Texas, this past weekend. I'm also attaching a couple photos of some blooming plants in our yard. The weather was absolutely perfect today, but I know those 100+ temperatures are right around the corner.

The King Has Left the Building

With only two weeks left on the King Tut exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art, Scott and I joined our friends, Kay and Ivan Wilson, on Saturday, May 9, on a tour of the "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" exhibit. Unfortunately, the King Tut mask shown on the attached brochure was not a part of the exhibit, but there were lots of other artifacts on display. And there were still crowds. The King Tut exhibit has been here for several months but this past weekend was the last, and the King has now left the building. Kay and Ivan were in town celebrating their 26th anniversary, and it was nice to see them. We enjoyed celebrating with them at a nice dinner at Jasper's in Plano on Saturday night and for breakfast on Saturday before they headed back to Elgin, Texas.

LOOK AT OUR NEW . . . .

CEDAR FENCE, not the two-week old Corvette (that belonged to a friend who was visiting). The termites finally destroyed a lot of the previous owner's split rail fence, so we decided it was time for a new split rail fence and supposedly, termites do not eat cedar.

Our neighbors have done some beautiful landscaping in their front yard. I've attached a short slideshow of that as well.

Easter in South Bend

I had a wonderful time in South Bend, Indiana, on April 11 - 14. Of course, the weather could have been a little (make that, a whole lot) warmer. On Saturday, I attended a baby shower for my niece Lorri Schetgen from Charlotte, North Carolina. She had planned a "sugar and spice" themed baby shower as she is expecting a baby girl in early July. I hand carried two dozen sugar cookies decorated like baby carriages as part of the guests' favors. Her other Aunt (Janet) provided the other half of the favor -- two bottles of spices (Italian seasoning and sage) representing two of the favorite spices of Lorri and her husband Aaron.

I blog, you blog, we all blog . . . .

Inspired by Kelly, Steve and Sarah, I thought I would give this blogging thing a test, so here goes nothing. I'm only adding two pictures taken a week ago before the cold snap.