Rain, rain go away...

It's been a little while since I posted. I think it has rained since that time. Hopefully it will let up soon, I'd like to be outside!

However, I've been busy! And not the kind of busy that leads to procrastination and then me updating my blog because, "I will never be able to concentrate until I do!" (or so I tell myself).

Last weekend Charlie's parents and his brother and sister-in-law came to visit. We hadn't seen them in quite some time, so it was good to see them again. I am always at a loss of what to do with then when they're here. I know that sounds bad, but it's true. I feel like I have to entertain them the entire time, and they are not easy to entertain. It is easy when my parents come to visit, because I know that even if we don't do anything but sit around, it will be fun. If all I do is sit around with my mother-in-law one of the two of us might not survive the weekend. Better to keep busy.

In that spirit, despite the fact that it was raining (it has been raining for two weeks straight it seems like), we had enough of a break from the rain Saturday morning to go to the zoo for a bit. The Columbus Zoo is quite the experience. The best zoo in the country last year. And I hadn't been in forever, so it was time to go again.

Everyone was very impressed with the flamingos

A little fuzzy, but they LOVED the reptile house:)

This one stayed right there and looked at us. Until some lady came by and started yelling, "Hey there monkey! HEY! HEY!!!" Very annoying.

The animals were all so active because it wasn't too hot out!

Even the giant turtle was moving. It looks like he's fallen and he can't get up, but he was very slowly moving.

Fuzzy again, but a BABY GORILLA!

Sleepy kangaroo

I learned that koala bears sleep 22 hrs per day. That must be the life.

And the Lorakeets!

It was a good time. It started to rain and rain hard before we got to the lions or the giraffes, but that is OK, we'll have to go back another time.

We also celebrated Joe's birthday, Kelly brought a cake along and we sang happy birthday.

Being prepared like usual, I did not have birthday candles, so we used tea lights. However, we could not get 29 tea lights on the cake, so 4 had to do.

On Sunday, after they left, it was nice out, so Charlie and I decided to go for a walk around the Village since we had a small break from the rain. Good thing I brought my trusty camera! I saw an Egret, yes an EGRET on the top of someone's HOUSE! I have seen them in the water when I run by the river, but never this far from shore! Watching it fly was amazing! I just hope he could find his way back to the water...

This past week has been a pretty busy one as well. On Monday I didn't have to drive to Dayton because we had a guest lecturer that afternoon at Children's, so I had the morning off! I went to our condo and cleaned it from top to bottom. We were supposed to do it together on Sunday, but we forgot, and besides, Charlie's back would not have held up. My back was killing me by the end with all of the sweeping and mopping and bending and stooping. Anyways, it is clean now. It was gross though. I have half a mind to charge our old tenants for the cleaning. It was nasty. I also went to the gym that morning, so I was SORE on Tuesday!

Yesterday I went to yoga, for the first time in probably over a year. I decided I wanted to start going again. It is such a good workout - the stretching is amazing and, literally, every muscle in my body hurts today. My feet, my hands, my breathing muscles, everything. And it is a good way to release stress. Worth the $15, though I still think that's a lot of $$ for a yoga class.

Today I had lectures in the morning, and I didn't have to go to Dayton for the afternoon again, this time because Dr. Adam's wife broke her arm and he had to go to the doctor with her. So that is not so good for her, but good for me! The sun was shining for the first time in what seemed like FOREVER, so I went to Home Depot and bought plants. Lots and lots of plants. Shrubs, perennials of all sorts, just anything that looked good. Then I came home and finished the edging in the front and planted all the plants I bought. I'm still a bit torn about whether or not to do two rows of stones for edging or just one, but one will do for now.

I had already put some wildflower seeds in the front, along with some geranium roots, daylilies and there was already some cone flowers growing, sedum, and two other things that I bought last year but have no earthly idea what they are. Today I added a lilac bush and a rhododendron. I didn't take a picture of that, because it doesn't really look like anything yet.

On the side here I had already planted some monkshood and crocismia in between my peonies (I hope the crocismia gets enough sun. And I hope the squirrels just dug around and did not steal my bulbs, we'll find out). Four hostas were already out there, I added three more hostas today, as well as some foxglove, coral bells, lily turf and yarrow. This side yard is sort of part sun, however my peonies, which usually like full sun, so really well here, so I took a few chances, we'll see how things do. Like my friend Sireesha said, you might as well try. I feel like plants are a bit more hardy than I sometimes give them credit for.

I planted some bleeding heart and astilbe in the back last weekend, which is already starting to poke its little head through the soil. The backyard is difficult, because I think it may be all been paved, and then they filled it in and made a backyard. Which I'm glad they did, but the soil sucks, and it is rocky like two inches down and just crappy for growing things. I transplanted some extra dirt from the front to the back, for the planting I did so far. I want to add some hydrangeas. I'm going to have to raise the bed if I'm going to do that though, so we'll see how enthusiastic I feel about it later.

Now, I've cleaned the house and gotten everything ready for another weekend of visitors, this time my parents! So excited to see them!

Before I go, another picture of my dogwood. Such a pretty color of pink, I love it.

"How people choose to treat you is their path. How you react is yours."

This was on my daily inspiration card in yoga last night. So true.