April 30

You can probably guess whats been happening here today. More rain! It has been raining almost nonstop all day long.

This was the view out of the window of my car when I came home from work.

April 29

Aren't these pretty little flowers? They are called Grecian Windflowers and are growing on the side of our yard near a wooded area. Each flower is only about 1 inch across, but they fill an area about 2 1/2 feet long. We started with just a small section, but they are self seeding so a few more come up every year.

April 28

The sun is shining again, but things are pretty wet. There are flood warnings out and lots of people have water in their basements. This is the state property I often walk on. This area near the river was dry but is now covered in water. It does look pretty though! I noticed that some of the trees near us are getting a tinge of green, and I think the leaves are about to pop open!
Sunshine is predicted again for tomorrow, and after that more rain.

April 27

It's been another day of funny weather today, with the sky alternating between some sunshine, to looking like it's about to rain 5 minutes later. This is how the sky looked for a while when I was out walking. I thought the sun shining through the clouds was beautiful. I made it home without getting wet!

April 26

The rain that started yesterday has continued. It rained all afternoon and night. I went for a walk after church this morning and took this picture of one of our neighbors yards so you could get an idea of the water around here. This is usually just a green lawn.

Shortly after I came home it started raining again and continued most of the afternoon. This weather is supposed to continue tomorrow. It could get messy!

April 25

I thought I would take you with me on my walk this morning. The weathermen had predicted rain for us this afternoon. There were storms on the other side of Lake Michigan and they were coming in our direction. I decided that if I wanted to get in a walk today, I better do it right away. When I had been walking for about 20 minutes this is what things looked like:

As I was taking the picture above it started to sprinkle, but I thought I would keep going. A few drips won't melt me! Within 5 minutes it was starting to really rain and my dear husband showed up in his truck to rescue me. We came home and it stopped, but within 20 minutes it was doing this:

It got very dark and windy with torrential downpours! After about 30 minutes, it cleared up and I was able to go out and take this picture of our Lady's Mantle which is starting to come up nicely:



As I type this, we have gone through several more cycles of sun and rain. It makes for an interesting day!

April 24

We have been so blessed with beautiful weather lately. Today it made it to 80 degrees! Although there are no leaves on the trees yet, things are really starting to get green around here.

This is a picture of the state property I like to walk on. This is an area close to a large river that floods and freezes in the winter. Here is a picture that is in the same area in March. Now the water has dried up and everything is getting green. It is beautiful in Winter and Spring.

I love looking at the beauty God has created in this world!

April 23

What a day I had today! Every Thursday I do rounds with the Dr. This week our Dr is on vacation, so someone else took his place. That always makes things a little more difficult. Then another Dr came in to do a few hours worth of work. I knew then, that I would be working late! I got out about 6pm after starting at 7am.

So - I took the easy way out for my photo today. It's another gorgeous day, so I just walked out to the road and took a picture. I always talk about my walks and I thought you might like to see my road and where I usually go. Way down at the end of the road is state property that goes to the river. It makes such a pretty place to walk.

April 22

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood - even the horses are happy! I went for my walk quite early this morning. There is a farm that boards horses, down the road from our house and I was lucky enough to be walking by when they let the horses out of the barn. They all came running in a row and then trotted around the field, with their tails and manes flying. I think they were as happy to be out in the sunshine as I was.

I had a doctors appointment later in the morning and was able to go for lunch with a friend and do some shopping afterward. What a nice day!

April 21

It's another cold rainy day, but at least it's not snow! It was a good day to get some work done in the house, including cleaning the carpet in our family room. My husband works at the hardware store in our town where they have a large rental department, so he brought the cleaner home last night. I returned it this afternoon, and as I left their parking lot, I noticed how nice the side of the lawn and garden section looked. It was a pretty sight, even in the rain!

*In answer to a question - the brown patches are ornamental grasses that will grow later.

April 20

All the beautiful weather we had last week has come to an end! It is 36 degrees here and the weathermen are predicting some of that white stuff tonight! It isn't supposed to be more than a dusting, but still - I'm not ready to see it again!

However, things happening in my yard do remind me that spring is coming. This is a macro shot of our forsythia, captured during a brief moment when the sun tried to shine. It's so nice to look in the backyard and see this splash of yellow!

April 19

I had a really busy day today. I had to work all day. I left work at 3 and stopped at my church for a informational meeting. The meeting went a little long, so I ended up running home and picking up my hubby to go to a Bible study group. It's now a little after 9 and I haven't been home since 6:30 this morning! You will understand why I am pulling out a picture from a few weeks ago!

This old piece of equipment is sitting in the side yard of a house a few miles away from us. I'm not sure what it does, but it's interesting, so I thought I would share!

April 18

It's another beautiful day here. When I got out of work the temperature was 73 degrees and the sky was a brilliant blue without a cloud to be seen.

There are no leaves on the trees yet, but on my walk I saw this tree that was being covered with another type of leaves. I thought the ivy covered tree looked pretty against the blue sky.

April 17

It was another beautiful day today with a high temp of 70 degrees. It's my weekend to work so I had today off. I have 2 sisters, and we've made it a habit to see each other on Friday if we can. One sister was working, but my sister Cheri was free so we went out for lunch today. We went to one of our favorite places, where they serve great sandwiches. Doesn't that look good?

April 16

It's another beautiful day here. I went for a walk after I came home from work and was happy to see this pussy willow not too far from my house. We had one of these plants when I was a kid and I've always liked them.

It's not too green here yet, but with the daffodils and pussy willows here, leaves can't be far behind!

April 15

What a beautiful day we had today. After several cold and rainy days, the warmth and sunshine were welcome. I had today off and didn't accomplish anything great; just the normal things like laundry and making supper.

I enjoyed a nice long walk today. I went to the state property near us and enjoyed walking to the river, wandering in the peaceful woods which were calm and quiet except for the birds singing.

April 14

It's a rainy day here, so I was looking around the house for something to take ther picture for today of. I thought these little totems would be a good subject. Andy brought them back for us from Korea. He said they are a common thing to see in Korea.

April 13

As I drove into work this morning I was enjoying the beautiful sky. There was just a hint of pink edging the dark and it held the promise of a beautiful sunrise. It was still quite dark when I arrived at work at 6:40 but about 10 minutes later, I was greeted by this scene when I stepped out to the parking lot. This was about all we saw of the sun today - the rest of the day was cloudy and cold.

"From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised." Psalm 113:3

April 12

I was blessed to have this weekend off and was able to go to church this morning. Because I work every other weekend, I have missed many Easter services in the past and am always happy when I am able to attend. Our oldest daughter and her husband surprised us and joined us at our service this morning instead of going to their own. It's always nice to have them with us.
This art work was done by our worship leader and was hanging on the side of our worship center. I thought it was a good picture for today, reminding us of what Easter is really about!

April 11

I stopped in the flower store where my daughter works today to pick up a few things and was surprised to be given a corsage to wear to church tomorrow and a centerpiece for our Easter table. This is a picture of the cheery centerpiece. She said that's the benefit I get from having a daughter who is a florist! I like this benefit!

April 10

It's another sunny day here, but with a chilly wind. When I went for my walk this afternoon I saw these cheerful daffodils were blooming. The property they are on was owned by an elderly man who passed away a few years ago. He loved to work outside and spent a lot of time working on the wooded area next to his home. He made trails through the woods and planted lots of bulbs and different bushes. He would be happy to see that his daffodils are still blooming!

April 9

What a beautiful day we had today! The sun shone all day and the temperature made it to the mid 50's! I had to work a long day today and had to satisfy myself with just looking out at the nice weather.
The birds were busy today too. This picture was taken out of one of the residents windows. This bird feeder was a flurry of activity and for a while was swinging a bit because so many birds were coming and going. It's fun to see the many types of birds that stop by for a meal!

April 8

This is our cat, Cleo. She was sleeping in her little bed and I thought the pattern of the bed looked kind of neat next to her fur.

April 7

This is a picture of a building that is in downtown Grand Rapids, which is about 20 miles from our home. It's a renovated warehouse which now holds 4 floors of different attractions; restaurants, a comedy club, a dinner theatre and live music. The name of this building is The B.O.B., which stands for big old building. We ate there once and it was fun because of the choice of restaurants, but what I really enjoyed was looking at the architecture. It's a neat old building!

April 6

I did a little fabric shopping today. We redid our kitchen and finished it last fall. It looks great except I've never done anything about window treatments. I do have blinds up but want some valances on top. I haven't been able to find anything in the right colors that's already made so I'm going to try and make some. I bought material and a pattern so we'll see how they turn out!
The fabric I bought isn't in this picture - I just liked the way this rack looked.

April 5

This has been my weekend to work. Sometimes I wish I didn't have to work weekends. I hate missing church and it makes it hard to get away, but there are good things about working the weekend too. It is almost always much calmer. There are fewer people around - no management or office staff. Somehow it seems that the residents are calmer too. This allows us to spend more time with them. This aide and resident were sitting together and when I asked if I could take their picture, this is the pose I got. Don't you think that's sweet? It's some of these residents that make me love my job!

April 4

Our daughter Heather has been working on re-doing her bedroom. New paint and new bedding was easy. She also wanted a few new pieces of furniture, but being a poor college student she doesn't have a lot of money. Dad to the rescue! My hubby is really quite a talented woodworker and has a separate building devoted to all his tools with space to build. He built her a ladder bookcase and this cute little nightstand. Heather is happy and Dad enjoyed doing it!

April 3

Not a lovely picture, I know. There is a point to it though!
We had to bring Andy to the airport bright and early. We left our house at 3:15 am this morning. It was raining like crazy, so not a great drive. We said our good bye's and headed for home. I drove home so Bob could try and nap in the car as he had to go to work. I was at a light,waiting to turn left when I realized that the truck that was coming from the crossroad was going to hit me. There were no other cars on the road so I started backing up, but he still ended up bumping into the front of our van. He said his brakes locked up. However - and this is the point of the picture - there was no damage. Thankfully he hit the bumper and not the side of the car! We then headed home with no further incidents. Andy had an hour delay, but made his connection and is now safely in Colorado!

April 2

Heather, Andy, Laura, Aaron
It's time for Andy to leave again. We had our married daughter and her husband here for supper and to enjoy one more evening together. We had a fun evening and tomorrow will start early. We have to leave the house at 3:15 to get Andy to the airport. He's off to Colorado, which is an easier place to send him off to than Korea! It sure was great to have him here for a while!

April 1

Bob's Mom and step dad had supper with us tonight and spent a little time with Andy. They spend the winter in Florida and came back early so they could see him before he leaves. Do you see the look on Andy's face? That says "Mom, do you really have to take another picture?"