Magnolia Sweetness

My mom's magnolia tree has two sister blooms on it right now. There is quite a nice sickly sweet fragrance as you get within a couple of feet of the tree...






The above two pictures are as the blooms were brand new.


The above picture shows day two... (as well as the three following pictures).





The picture above had nectar drips...


And the picture that follows is the new seed pod about two weeks old...


What a magnificent tree...
-- Pictures Taken With & Posted From My iPhone

A Magnolia Tree For Pattie

My mom absolutely adored certain plants and trees. This evergreen magnolia was one of her favorites...



There are a few buds about to open, so I started taking some pictures over the last week or so...


Oh the scent of the bloom... If there was smell Internet... (one day I am sure there will be).


Just lovely!


And how fast the bloom starts to turn brown...


I really hope that the seed pod matures and develops the large red seeds... One of my favorite seed pods!

This tree will go into our garden, planted for and from my mom, by way of my totally amazing husband... She may have booted him off "design island" as far as house decorating decisions go... But I think he has gotten back on because of fulfilling this dream of mine and hers...
Thanks Dave! What a wonderful gift on so many levels...
-- Pictures Taken With & Posted From My iPhone

TriState Bird Rescue and the Oil Spill

As many of you may know I am trying to raise funds to help designate a room at the TriState Bird Rescue here in DE in memory of My Mom Pattie by donations and sales through the My Mom Pattie Etsy shop.

Right now it is the time of year where a lot of birds, especially young birds like this young Blue Jay (photo taken with my bird camera a couple years ago - a not injured bird) are injured or abandoned and need help...

TriState Bird Rescue is heavily involved with efforts to help wildlife affected by the Oil Leak in the Gulf of Mexico, but their website says they are not currently asking for supplies for that effort (this may change as things don't appear to be getting better any time soon). They do need help with supplies for their ongoing programs:

Click HERE to see their wishlist... 

You may be surprised to see some of the things they need and may have something readily available to you... Want their address? Click HERE.

You can always call or email them for more info if you can't find the information you are looking for on their website (very well done by the way!)

Thanks for your efforts with helping out!

A Weird Kinda Birthday

Today is my birthday. I thank my mom for carrying me within her body and giving birth to me on this day, 35 years ago. This is something I have only really come to appreciate now that I have carried and birthed two children from my own body...

I saw her from the road...
That white figure bent over a grave...



I wanted to see her closer. As it is raining in sprinkles there were small droplets of water dripping off of her nose... As if she is greiving with such deep sorrow. I feel for this statue or rather for what she represents. I am familiar with that loss and pain...

I also feel that the loss and pain must subside and life embraced for all that God has given us (no matter what your belief is in, understand that life is a gift).



And I often think when my time is up, where will my body rest? Plant a tree by my grave seems a little... well, that picture shows what can happen. I like the thought though.



I like this graveyard for the way the graves are all like mini gardens. Little too much statuary, but the solar lights are a neat idea.

Put my body in the ground, naturally or by ash. Plant a garden over me... Let my body become part of the earth again to keep in the cycle of life. Don't bind me up with chemicals and a perminent coffin.

My soul will be wandering wherever it goes (I think it goes to your happiest place through being with God). And so far, my happiest place is here, enjoying life: family and friends, nature, music, beauty of so many kinds...

So as I go through this day I will remember my mom and keep her close to my heart.

Oh, and I came by this graveyard (Longwood Graveyard) on my way to Longwood Gardens. I have Chloe with me, but she fell asleep in the car and I didn't have the heart to wake her just yet. Poor dear has a stomach bug that she can't quite shake and has been up at night...

Be thankful for your mom every day! Hopefully she was as human as mine was (with all kinds of imperfections that made her unique)...

-Photos Taken With My iPhone & Posted From My iPhone

Gardenia Gift

It's funny to think of how my mom reached out to touch so many people's lives.

My mother-in-law and my mom got along great and I remember them talking about how much they loved gardenias...

For my wedding, the men wore them (my mom picked them out). My m.i.l. prom flowers: gardenias...

So this year for my partial mother's day/birthday (in about a week) my m.i.l. got me a gardinia plant.


How cool is that!? You should see all the buds on it... And the scent reminds me of being at Longwood Gardens...

I never paid too much attention to the flower before, not really... But now that I have one, I'm smitten... Such regal folds in that blossom...

I get it now. Thanks Mrs. M...
-- Posted From My iPhone

Easter Surprise

Ok, I know that at some point things are going to run out and only memories will remain for as long as they are kept...

Dave brought down a container from the attic marked Easter. I just thought it contained things we had put in one of my mom's tupperware bins, but inside were some things she had bought:

A singing bunny and chick in the egg (she got these almost every holiday, and we used to tease her about it constantly)...


Chloe of course loves it, and plays it constantly...



There were baskets too. The bunny one is my brother Nick's from when he was little. And the others are just ones she has picked up... We are going to use two of them, and the other(s) go to Nick for his little girl Taylor (8 months old now).

And just the other day I let Chloe pick through my box of nailpolish so we could paint her toenails. I suggested some of my personal favorites: blue, purple, green... but she wanted "red". It just so happened that I have my mom's old nail polishes in the box too, and don't you know, Chloe picked out my mom's constant shade of deep pink?



Too funny how much Chloe reminds me of my mom at times...

And I enjoy sharing this stuff so very much - keeping the memories going!

Happy Easter!
-- Posted From My iPhone

The Purple Chocolate

I remember going with my mom to John Wannamakers (a department store no longer) here in Wilmington back in the late 70's. They had a big Winnie The Pooh doll up on swing that you could pull the rope and make him swing and do loops up over the bar that held him if you pulled hard enough.

I vividly remember the images of being pushed through the clothing sections of the store from a stroller point of view, my favorite always being the long silky slips in the women's department... Pushed past the racks of clothing, and up to the glorious candy counter, where everything sat lovely in their trays behind glass. Mom would always get some milk chocolate coconut haystacks - just a few for us to share (I remember getting more than just one). To this day, they remain my very favorite kind of chocolate candy...

And I always think of how happy it used to make her that I would tell her that I vividly remembered those times, and how I enjoyed them...

It's so funny because now I do the same sort of thing with Chloe (as special treats of course).

Chocolate is one of those things that I just adore and enjoy immensely.

And she has become a big fan of chocolate now too...

The other day she asked me for some chocolate. I thought I'd let her try a Tasty Cake Candy Cake (sponge cake with peanut butter covered in chocolate - her dad's favorite). She looked at it, took a small bite warily, then handed it back to me:

No Mommy, I want the purple chocolate...

The "purple chocolate" being a piece of Hershey's Bliss, Milk Chocolate.

I've got to say, I'm impressed... At two years old, my kid knows the difference between so-so chocolate, and the smooth higher quality milk chocolate that I keep for little treats for myself. Even thought the other chocolate candy cake was bigger, she didn't want it. Quality vs Quantity... (that's my girl!)

So in this way, Chloe is getting to know her Grandmom Pattie through little things like this. And I'm sure one day if Chloe has kids of her own, she will be passing this little sweet treat onto them...