View from the Yard

We were given 6 butterfly bushes last year to plant in Amber's memory.  Three different colors for Amber's parents' yard and three for our yard.  The bushes spent last summer in their original pots as we were just too stuck to do anything.  The babyMomma's yard is a work in progress and with two puppies who like to "garden," the bushes have not been moved to her yard yet.  My hubby did heel in the six bushes in a raised bed the babyMomma had in our yard.  To our delight and amazement, they survived the near neglect of last year and a harsh winter and are blooming!  Dark purple bloomed first, followed by a deep red-violet, and the pale pink is just beginning to bloom.  Yesterdays visitors included a Hummingbird Moth and a Red-spotted Purple Admiral (as far as I can tell).  At first I thought it was a Spicebush Swallowtail, but it didn't really fit the bill.

Wordless Wednesday

First hummer that I've noticed on butterfly bushes given to us last May to remember Amber Skye.  Not the best photos, taken through my living room window....one handed while on the phone

Ten Months

Hard to believe it has been ten months already.  It was a very hard week.  Grandpa and the BabyMomma were very brave in deciding we should go to the Boston Flower Show this year.  The Flower Show had been a big outing for Amber, celebrating the promise of Spring and getting her OUT of the house and not to a doctor appointment!  I was a chicken and didn't want to go, thinking it would be too emotional, but we went continuing the tradition with Charlie.  It was so very crowded on a Friday so that helped keeping emotions in check.  There were a few exhibits that just had Amber's stamp all over them, memories from last year especially.  We talked about her a lot, mostly with smiles on our faces, remembering how much she loved being there.

 One of the exhibits is "Plant Something" which is a nationwide event to motivate people to plant something!!  You get a mystery seed planted in a little cup and register it online to find out what you get.  On May 15th, you plant it outside...or wait till Memorial Day.  May 15th also happens to be MPS Awareness Day!!  We wear purple to spread awareness for the family of diseases of which ML-II is a part.  Last year Amber planted a tomato.  Charlie must have been sleeping or eating, because he didn't plant anything.  The babyMomma was hoping Charlie would get to plant a tomato this year.  When we registered our seed, we found he planted a dwarf Sweet Pea!!!  I think that is just so neat because Amber was very tiny, (wearing 9 months clothing at 3 years 8 months old) and we called her Sweet Pea ....  or Peanut.

Remembering

An idea that came to me over the summer, made a call around the time of Amber's birthday, and this morning on a cold, crisp blue sky November morning....the day after Thanksgiving....the fellow arrived from Leominster Monument Company and proceeded to etch a permanent-ish remembrance into "Strawberry."  Strawberry is a big rock that was excavated from our front yard to make way for a screened in porch the summer the babyMomma was born.  As she and her brother grew, they would play hide and seek around it and hone their jumping and climbing skills.  It was a big deal to get on top of Strawberry without any help!  When we moved out of the trailer and built this house, Strawberry was moved to this small garden area in front of our house.  We've taken pictures of Amber and Charlie on this rock.  I was looking for a more natural look, but we went with black inside the letters as the rock is not as hard as granite and he couldn't go too deep.  Hopefully this will remain for a very long time.....and will motivate hubby and I to reclaim and recreate the garden around it.