Water and weed

It seems like all I did this week was pull weeds and water!  We have not had decent rain for a couple of weeks and, with everything starting to grow - including stupid WEEDS! - I have spent more time than usual out in the yard/garden.  One happy planting, though, was my Mother's Day dogwood tree!  The kids all donated money and I was able to buy a pink dogwood tree.  The white one I planted last year did not survive the winter and, after consulting this week with the nursery where I got my new one, I probably didn't water it enough in the fall to prepare it for the difficult winter we had.  Notice the little white fencing - that is to keep Linus from peeing on it like he did with the old dogwood (which also probably had an impact upon the demise)

Another happy planting was the replacement raspberries.  The first ones did not fare well at all so Starkes sent us some new ones.  We have great hopes for the new set....

We started out our week with Memorial Day Monday.  Steve and I visited Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery and seeing the thousands upon thousands of flags set next to each gravestone was an impressive sight.

We invited Sam Carpintero and Emily Hughes from church over for hamburgers and s'mores for dinner.  

That Monday evening was the end of a long line of dinner-hostings starting with Wednesday, May 31st when we fed the missionaries.  Elise joined us for dinner on Thursday and Friday.  Elizabeth Crippen came Friday and stayed through Monday morning so she was a guest at our table through Sunday evening when we also had another guest, Kim, from our ward.  Then, Monday with Sam and Emily!  

Wednesday night, as Steve was returning late from youth activities ( they went to Shakespeare in the Park at Forest Park), he was side-rear-ended by a jerk who was racing another car.  Both passed Steve at high speeds and the first car barely managed to avoid a head-on with a vehicle coming the opposite direction.  The second car, though, had to dodge back into his lane behind Steve and didn't quite make it and side swiped our left back bumper.  And, of course, the driver did not stop to exchange insurance.  It is extremely fortunate, though, that there was not a huge crash involving the two cars and Steve.  Below is the damage...the body shop cannot get to the repair until August - I guess because the car is still drivable.

Hot weather has descended upon Saint Louis but Linus still gravitates toward sunny spots in the house to take his naps, like a cat.  I guess his summer haircut is too short...

Sally, on the other hand, likes the cool leather recliner in the TV room...

Emily, Quinn, Larkin, Beckie, Steve and I had a fun adventure Friday morning at the Miniature Museum.  We parked at a nearby tiny park with this interesting monument that had a lot of Bosnian businesses listed on plaques on the sides.  It was likely connected to the Bosnian Chamber of Commerce office across the street.... 

The museum is housed in a rather non-descript building so we expected to be in and out within an hour.  Oh, no!  It is just chock full of miniature displays of all kinds on two floors!  Jaw dropping displays.  By the time we got to the second floor, we had already spent over an hour and Emily and I - both miniature aficionados - were just too overwhelmed to finish looking at everything.  We saw perhaps a third of what was upstairs.  The gift shop was also pretty incredible.  So many miniature things to buy!

Saturday was a temple baptistry day and we drove over to Southerlands afterwards where Steven had joined Joe for some soccer watching.  After a yummy build-your-own sandwich lunch, I gave the kids piano lessons.  

Today, Sunday, after church, I joined some of my fellow cellists from the Civic Orchestra to listen to one of our own, Daniel, play in a recital in Webster Groves.  He played Bach and the last movement of the Dvorak cello concerto.  Three other musicians played on the program, as well - a pianist, a violinist, and a percussionist and all four performers were SPOT ON!  I did not hear a single bad or hesitant note.  Daniel is probably 20 years old and the other three were high school age - around 15.  Their virtuosity was just amazing and the acoustics were brilliant.  

Below is me, Daniel, Jennifer, and Nancy.  Jayne was off visiting with someone at the back of the church. 

 

After I got home and we had dinner, we had Nate and Maddie Victor over for cookies.  A very nice young couple and it was great to get to know them better.

So, I will close with a movie report.  Wednesday evening, while Steve was watching Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, I watched the 2021 musical version of Cinderella,  I enjoyed it.  Thursday night, Steve and I watched Trouble With the Curve and, unlike Mr. Baseball from the previous week, this was a good watch.  And, on Friday and Saturday, we watched two more episodes of Mandalorian.  So fun, especially seeing Jack Black and Christopher Lloyd in episode six.