Happy Birthday Grandma Harmon!

Elizabeth Thomas Shaw Harmon, known to many as Bessie, was born today in 1892. I don't have a digital picture of Grandma handy but did want to recognize her birthday. This is a picture of the sugar bowl that was a wedding present to her parents. In this picture it is on a doily her mother, Elizabeth Thomas Shaw made. The sugar bowl is something she probably grew up using. Guess it wasn't in the large tub of dishes she was carrying between the dining room and kitchen and dropped. Her comment over the broken dishes, "Thank goodness they weren't washed!" Apparently doing dishes was not a favorite chore. For awhile she succeeded in avoiding doing the dishes by visiting the outhouse - until her Grandma caught on and made sure it didn't happen again.

I had always known Grandma Harmon as a very refined, gracious woman. That is until her mother came to visit us for several weeks in the fall of 1962. Grandma Shaw told us stories that have entertained generations. From trying to convince the Indians mud was a very effective soap for hand washing to fleeing from the dentist's office raising her hands high over her head, "Minnie (her older sister) saved my life! Minnie saved my life!" There were the baby buggy (occupied by infants) races - of course always sedately walked in front of the home. One lunch time when asked to fix a bite to eat for her mother and grandmother, Grandma did just that. When she called them in for lunch they found a bite of bread on each plate! At Grandma's viewing the night before her funeral one of her teenage friends told me the story of how Bessie did her best to embarrass this friend when she was the queen of a parade. One of my favorite stories is how as a newly-wed, her brother-in-law challenged her to an Indian wrestling match. Grandma demurred saying she hadn't brought any pants. Then she went home and practiced with her brothers. The next time this brother-in-law challenged her she accepted - and promptly flipped him. And who doesn't enjoy the story of her scheme to get her father to re-hitch the horses and head back into town to get her some chocolates - the only thing that would make her feel better.

Grandma certainly had a sense of humor and enjoyed life. She was also compassionate and charitable. When she was in her 50's she volunteered to take care of her younger brother's infant son when his wife died in childbirth. She took care of Larry for several years and made sure to send letters and pictures to his father (Byron) so he could be part of his son's growing up. Later when her parents needed more care than they could provide for themselves, Grandma brought them to her home and lovingly cared for them. Grandma served for many years in Relief Society and was a faithful temple attender. Towards the end of my freshman year at BYU I was a little concerned about going home for the summer and having to give up my "freedom" I had enjoyed while living away from home. I asked her advice and she gave good counsel.

Grandma was my escort when I received my endowments. When Grandma passed away in 1984 Mother chose to buy new temple clothing to bury her mother in and gave me Grandma's temple clothing. They washed up beautifully and I have enjoyed using them for many years. They were what she wore when she was my escort and in a sense Grandma came to the temple with me every time I went.

Happy Birthday Grandma! I look forward to being with you again.

And Today

A three man crew came this evening and cut up our tree. It took them about 2 and a half hours. They did clean up nicely and even blew all the leaves I had so carefully put out 2 weeks ago as mulch into the pile. They were going to haul the wood away but had underestimated the volume of the tree. So Richard and his trusty pick-up will get to do that.

This is what remains of our tree.

(Pictures aren't great since they finished up just as the daylight was finishing up.)

And this is where it was.

Now to decide what tree to plant and figure out the damage to the roof.

Lightning Strike?

This is what our front yard looked like in January.

This is what it looks like today.

A thunderstorm came thru San Antonio last night and apparently lightning struck our beautiful Chinese Pistache tree. Though it is hard to believe it didn't wake either Richard or me. Richard remembers the storm; I slept thru it.

A section of the tree landed on our roof appearing to have only damaged shingles with no structural damage














A close-up of the tree trunk.














The view from our front door.



















There ARE stairs under there.

We will miss our beautiful tree, the shade it provided, and the gorgeous fall color - even if it didn't arrive until November. Maybe the deer aren't so bad. (They came through again last Saturday/Sunday. Enjoyed the geranium blossoms - had waited long enough for a nice selection - and our newly planted impatiens.)

BIG Flowers - and a pretty basket

There are five blooms on the Hardy Hibiscus this morning - thought you might enjoy. Per Dennis' suggestion I've included one with a measuring tape so you can better visualize the size.

Also including a couple of pictures of a tropical hibiscus so you can compare.

And last but not least - my pretty hanging basket of petunias. The plant is much happier in its new pot - my oh my does it like water!

A BIG Flower

We woke up Thursday morning to this gorgeous flower on our back patio. It is a hardy hibiscus (as opposed to a tropical hibiscus). Other names for the plant are swamp mallow, rose mallow and dinner-plate hibiscus. The blossoms only last a day but it is a prolific bloomer and there are lots of buds on the plant. It's a bit hard to tell in this picture but the blossom is about 8" in diameter. The petals have the texture of crepe paper. In past years we have had blossoms that approach 12 inches. In looking up the plant to make sure I had the correct name I learned that it really is a wet-lands/marsh plant. Therefore it wants LOTS more water than I have been giving it. We did transplant it to a bigger pot this year so maybe I can better keep up with it's water requirements.

Doesn't This Look Good?

Our garden is coming along. While the regular tomatoes are still getting bigger our cherry tomato plant alread has some ripe tomatoes. I took a picture and then picked. We've already enjoyed some beans. The sugar snap peas were good. We enjoyed some and froze the rest for stir fry later this year.






We've had a small picking of green beans. Blossoms promise more.
Last Monday for FHE we planted another row of green beans where the peas were. In this picture you can see the first row behind the bell pepper.

And the bell pepper plants now have baby peppers on them. This one looks a lot bigger than it really is.



Along with beans we planted cucumbers around empty tomato cages and they are already coming up. If you look closly you can see the dirt lifted in the background where we should see bean seedlings in a day or so. We also planted zuchinni squash and cantalope. The zuchinni is also making an appearance.

A Handful of Blossoms

In spite of the warm temperatures my sweet peas produce sporadic blossoms. This is encouraging. I'll try planting earlier next season.











My geraniums are recovering. Perhaps it is about time for the deer to come around again?




This determined little snapdragon is a gift from nature - no human put it there. It is growing within inches of the curb in the front yard and causes many walkers to pause and appreciate.