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Jackie, thanks for reminding us.   Happy Birthday Sachiko

Sato, I use to have luck with large sunflowers, but once they put a 6 ft. fence up out back they do not grow large.  I had never seen a red one

Shirley, hope you have a better day.  LOvely family

Thank you FlaJean, Shirley and Lindancer...I also emailed the card but like Sato, no reply as yet...

Sato, lovely sunflowers! I have also never seen a red one, but we have lots of the yellow ones here. I believe people like to use them as edgings.

Jackie, such a sweet card for Sachiko and I hope her birthday is a happy one! I was just startled by the Carillion in the park in the next block. It counts out the hours in bell tolls and the half hour in a small bit of music, but it sounds so much louder in summer than in winter! We had, long ago, an air raid siren that used to blow at the noon hour but that hasn't been heard since September 2011.

Shirley, very cute great grands, I also suspected the curly ones were from one family and the darker haired ones from another. I also thought the one older boy looked as if he was very forbearing to be considered part of the younger ones?   

I'm sorry you had car trouble. I've heard many tales from friends about just how expensive they can be. Farrah is sitting on the shelves watching birds outside the balcony screen doors as we are at the treetops. She never sits on the table to look out when the birds are present. I don't know if its predatory instinct or what that makes her hide when they are about as she sits high on the table to look out otherwise.

Hi Gloria!

Bubble, did Illy have a birthday? Those flowers certainly look festive!

I live about a mile and a half from our Fire Department.  Every Wednesday at noon, the station puts out a test of the siren.  Every dog in 2 miles starts howling--I think the siren hurts their ears. 

Late yesterday afternoon, my son who lives in the next town called to tell me to go into the hallway as they'd just had a tornado warning.  We didn't have one here, though, as it went directly south of his home.  No damage was caused in either small city.

Sue

Sue, I thought about you this week.  I got some “Alabama grown” tomatoes at Walmart.  Best tomatoes I’ve had in agesâ€"a good price also.

Bubble!!!! What is the rest of the story with the collage?  Illy & Aviv sure look happy!  So far all I have had to have done to this car is oil change ... so guess I can't begrudge it a new battery after 5 years.  The AC is back to freezing, it wouldn't work even after being jump started, until the new battery was in.  I was afraid I'd have to take it in.  This vehicle came with a 7 year bumper to bumper warranty so is good for now!  I am holding my breath for the other shoe to drop.... been a very expensive year so far!

Went through the flash drives & SD cards by this computer & no sign of the sunflower photos from a few years ago.  Could be they are still on an SD card in a camera. 

Jean, my grocery store said, "local grown" on tomatoes & the sticker said Nebraska.  These are not nearly as good as I hoped, they say they are "beefsteak" but not the flavor I expected.  My father usually grew the Burpee Big Boys but think my brother-in-law planted the beefsteak... guess soil makes a difference.

Sue, glad you had no damage.... we have not been troubled with tornadoes like most springs... at least none that I gathered up my treasures & headed to the basement for.  Such a pain to haul a lot of stuff down but would keep thinking of "one more thing" that would be impossible or hard to replace.

Better go feed cats, they are confused about my schedule today. 

Patricia, the oldest of the great grands is big brother to the girls on each end.... he has been surprisingly good with them.  You know how it is, every extra we have comes with it's own problems, just have to deal with whatever comes, right?  This is not a city to live in without a car, nothing is walking distance unless you can do marathons!  I recall you used to walk a lot, I never could after growing up, still can't walk a lot even after the heart repairs. In my head I still think about driving "the elephant" to Alaska, know it isn't possible but we can dream, can't we?  Life is good, best to think about what we have & can do than dwell on what we don't have.

Bubble...
...your collage is very clever and ingenious how you put it together....
Now I am guessing it was young Aviv's Birthday...or maybe a double celebration...

Angelface ( Patricia ) thank you...

This was Illy's birthday flowers received from her brother in UK! what a great surprise.  Aviv was boasting about his missing teeth, waiting for the new ones to emerge.

Looking at Bubble's collage, with Aviv showing off his missing tooth, next to the  picture in the Random Image was a picture of a  young Shirley, also with a missing tooth.  What a comparison. 

Mary Ann

Shirley was cuter... maybe mischievous?  

Haha..... I'm watching y'all talking about me!  The story behind my toothless photo was I had a number of photos my brother took that day & could not remember why I looked so grouchy & un-smiling.... until I ran across this one & the day was clear as yesterday!  He had been trying to catch me with my mouth open to show those missing teeth (or tooth?)... since I was always smiling & happy, I kept wondering & kind of concerned why the frowns & relieved it wasn't something bad. 

Actually, they were taken shortly before he joined the Air Corp, but I don't think we knew about it at the time.  He went in the last year of the war & spent 9 months in a German POW camp, shot down over the Danube on their 13th mission.  He managed to come in on land & immediately picked up by locals. One lady took his leather gloves & stuffed them in her dress before solders showed up.  Since our grandfather was half German we knew we had relatives somewhere there so was difficult for him, Mother & her father who was still living at the time.... to think of "family" as the cruel people, Nazi party members.

Nice surprise from her brother.... they do that, you know, Bubble, surprise us.  Brothers are so special, each in their own way.  Wish her a Happy Birthday for me.

oh lovely!
Sato, do you also have the habit in Japan to offer those flowers on 1st of May like in Europe?  The florists were imported them in Congo on that date and they were always sold out before the end of the day.

Bubble, we don't have the same habit in Japan. But I thought the photo gives us COOLNESS in the humid weather like these days.

Lillies of the Valley have always been my favorite flower!  My dad and I used to plant them along one side of the front porch and with my daddy's touch, they bloomed well.  I could see them whenever I went in or out. 

In Girl Scouts we sang a song...

White coral bells upon a slender stalk,
Lillies of the Valley deck my garden walk.
Oh how I wish that I might hear them ring.
That will happen only when the fairies sing.

I never did hear them ring but I always imagine it in my mind. Thank you SATO for rush of lovely memories of my youth.

JaneS, thank you so much for your posting. The Girl Scouts song was a good song, wasn't it?

SATO, it was a good song and I still sing it to myself around the house.  It made a good song for helping to put babies to sleep, too.  Thank you so much for all the lovely photos!  You are a very talented person!

Lovely Illy of the Valley Sato.
Jane my Dad and I also liked them and when in bloom I would pick 6 -7 stalks and bring them into Mom and she would put them in a small glass in the window of the kitchen sink. Love the smell!!!

Jack, Golden girl just hasn't got the strength to go up so I am lifting her up ..at times she can make it into the van and other times I help. Thank you for telling my how you got your Golden in. 

Sato, another beautiful flower photo, I now know Janes song, and all your flower photos give us pleasure.

Amy it is good to know that Golden Girl still wants her trips and you are able to take her along. 

The Brownie troop and Girl Scout troops I belonged to sang "White Coral Bells" also.  I remembered all the words from that first verse and just sang a solo here in my computer room!  My last dog died a few years ago so I didn't have anyone to sing along with me.

Sue

Sato, a lovely photo, you are such a master at delicate flowers!

Jane, thank you! I'd never heard of that song, and I was a Girl Scout for some years! Our troop locally paid attention to canning, preserving, cooking and outside survival skills, (We once slept overnight in tents in a leader's backyard at 30 below for our wilderness badge). We also spent two weeks each summer at Girl Scout Camp at Harding Lake.

Lily of the Valley grows wild here as does irises and chocolate lilies. We have a type of peony that grows wild, but I'm not familiar with it other than the wild ones helped to jumpstart a new Alaskan export some years back. There is also a type of wild orchid called a lady slipper. I need to get back with my camera to the refuge to see if I can find some.

Patricia ,that chocolate lily must me spectacular!! I sure hope you can capture a photo to share.

Jack, as long as I am able to lift her she will go with us. She loves going for rides and when I am out in the garden she runs..well sort of..rather a hobble but she knows there are peas and beans that will fly over the fence for her.

Amy that is good to hear, she has the spirit and it makes it all worthwhile .

In the meantime;

https://www.google.com/search?q=alaskan+wildflowers&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiIr5TG1LjcAhVLHTQIHRnEArIQsAR6BAgFEAE&biw=1366&bih=635

Chocolate lilies

https://alaskaphotographics.photoshelter.com/image/I0000xYHwH3ZHNdQ

"Alaska may be the ‘land of the midnight sun’ but those short summers and cold winters hardly seem compatible with orchids. Yet with over 30 species, Alaska has 10 times the native orchids found on the Hawaiian Islands, home to just 3 native orchids."

https://www.google.com/search?biw=1366&bih=635&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=YZhXW8GVF8SR0PEP0eaI4AI&q=alaskan+wildflowers+orchids&oq=alaskan+wildflowers+orchids&gs_l=img.3...172325.181062.0.181904.9.9.0.0.0.0.206.1341.0j8j1.9.0....0...1c.1.64.img..0.1.203...0j35i39k1j0i10i24k1.0.D3Qz-7pcw2k

On my way home this evening I caught this family next door to me.  They were moving so had to do a quick one with the I phone.   Now off to the park with Mimi.  

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Nice shot of the Lily of the Valley, Sato.  I have some along my sidewalk to the front door & have not had good results taking photos of them.  They did not bloom much this spring, we went from winter to hot summer and I think they like cooler weather. 

Great links, Patricia... I saved them to look again & again. I can imagine how beautiful to see them spread out over a wilderness.  Colorado also has pretty mountain wild flowers, just have to be there at the right time! Kansas has very colorful fields of sunflowers!

So what's your guess, Jack, Mama has last years baby and this year twins?  Or do they adopt another kid if something happens to it's mother?  The Canada geese here would take over other babies & the natural parents would follow along as they moved up & down the river.  So sad to watch because the dominate pair wouldn't allow the other parents to get near their babies.  One year (I have photos) one pair had at least 4 or 5 other sets of babies, different sizes so no question.... back when I was feeding them & the whole clan would come to eat.  Great photo!  Since the deer are living among cars very likely one could have been an orphan.

Shirley  I do not even guess.  You are an expert, I just watch and enjoy.   Went to the park, no photos.  A young boy loved Mimi, I did not notice he had a piece of pizza in his hand.  Mimi helped herself to it, he just laughed.  A young girl asked if she might walk Mimi on the leash.  I agreed, but Mimi would take 3 steps then back to me.  Refused to leave my side.

Sato, thanks for posting,  Lily of the Valley was my mothers favorite flower.  Years ago I went to a yard sale and they had purple Lily of the Valley, they had them in a berry basket, so I bought them.  They have now taken over my garden

JeanS, Amy, Jack, Sue, Angel, Shirley, Lindancer, thank you so much for your comments.  I enjoyed all of your stories about that flower. Interesting.