My Sunday

My good friend Gail called me last week and asked if I wanted to go on a 'Water Garden' tour in the Kansas City area. It sounded wonderful and it was! We toured gardens all over the greater Kansas City area and got a lot of great ideas. So many people opened their homes and shared their visions with the public. Below are just a few of the places we saw - enjoy!

This one was a tiny suburban back yard off of a busy road. These home owners had planted tons of bamboo and created a huge water fall over stone. It was surrounded with plants, flowers and statues. You could not hear any road noise. It was a tropical paradise in KC.

This one was an example of a 'good woman'. You could see her touch in the stunning flowers and statuary. She had one of the most beautiful garden benches I have ever seen. You could see her husband's in the train tracks with broken cars, the 'semi-hidden' piles of train stuff etc. etc. There were trains running all over the place and you will see a picture of what looks like Aphrodite towering over a Swiss village. They also had a mama peacock with three babies. I had never seen baby peacocks before. In the picture below you can see one of them hotfooting it into the grasses. The whole thing made for quite an unusual display.

Beautiful Flowers

I think this is a hibiscus - the color was so soft.
I think this is called Plumera

Gorgeous lotus blossom

Look at the size of this flower!!

This zinnia patch reminds me of my Grandma Wescott's flower garden.

The zinnia was almost electric in color.

A butterfly bush doing exactly what it is supposed to do.

Can anybody identify the plant below?

The canna lilys were really beautiful this year - guess I should have planted some!

Performing Koi

You won't believe this fish!! This water feature had a huge plastic globe on legs with an opening in the bottom. It works by filling the globe with water and the fish can swim up in the globe and 'look around'. This fish was the largest in the pond and his favorite thing to do when people are there is to swim around and around the globe 'people watching'. As soon as we walked away you could see him looking around a few times and then sliding down and out the opening. The conversation in the background is around where you can find or purchase the globe.

Water Garden Tour

OK - here is a still shot of the 'performing koi'. I would have had trouble believing it if I hadn't seen it.

This was one of our favorite yards. It was a fairly new housing development but the builders saved what seems to be the majority of the huge trees. The house we were looking at backed up to another group of houses but there was a beautiful glen area between the two.

Their water feature was a 'creek' running over beautiful rocks from the deck down to the circle firepit. There was a rock bridge over it. This shot was taken from the deck level looking down.

This picture was taken from the fire pit looking toward the steps and going across the bridge.

Here I am looking up the creek from the base.

These next pictures are of an incredible house with tons of creativity. It was a basic two story house with dormers. The front porch was added and done beautifully. The owner was from Hawaii so there were lots of touches from the island. He and his wife had done all the work themselves.


The following are just shots of the beauty, creativity and humor around the property.

There is a huge water feature in the back.

They were able to purchase a 'box' of off a semi and turn it into a garden shed. See the window? That is simply a window with fabric glued on the inside and attached to the shed.

The parting view at the end of the drive is a 'door'. Notice the keys hanging on the doorknob and the ladders holding up either side.

Happy Birthday Mom!!

My mom was born on the fourth of July so she really can claim a national holiday for herself. She turned 79 this year and we celebrated at my sister, Dana's, house in Lee's Summit. My other sister, Ginny, was there along with her son Neal, his wife Theresa and their adorable little girls, Madison and Brooke. Dana's daughter, Jessica, and son, Jake, were also there. Below is a shot of Mom with two of her great-grandchildren.
I was taking the pictures and Brooke hadn't seen me for a while so there was to be no smiling or frivolity!! From the look on her face you would think she had seen a news flash about me moments before we arrived. She warmed up tho when we compared our denim capris.

Madison led the Happy Birthday chorus - several times as a matter of fact. Can you tell she is the oldest?We decided against the actual use of 79 candles and went with a representation. The important part was the chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. No other flavors were allowed.

I love this picture of Mom!
Mom got some really neat gifts including a beautiful new hanger for her plants and a star gazing tool to help her determine which formations she is seeing.

Neal & Theresa are making a Brooke sandwich - she is pretending not to be amused.

Mom had several energetic helpers when it came to gift opening. It was such a treat to see all the generations together. Happy Birthday Mom - we love you!

Moonwalking Grandma

I guess 79 is the new 49! Mom has offered to teach us how to moonwalk. I love Dana's commentary in the background! Madison was showing us her ballet positions on the other side of the room. Hmmm, Great-Grandma moonwalking and her four year old great-granddaughter performing ballet positions. Something seem a little odd to you??

Seth's final game of 09

Seth played his final game for 2009 in Polo, Mo. His team had done great and made it into the tournaments. Unfortunately the season ended with a shut-out.

Seth warming up

Mr. Blue Eyes

Seth at bat - the pitcher was one of the best we've seen. Very, Very fast!

Waiting in the outfield

As you can see Noah was really stressing over this game!

Summer Evening

Haying season is going strong. We've had enough dry and enough heat to get some nutrients in the hay. It was pretty wet for a while. The wildflowers have been beautiful so I took the camera and the dogs up to our northwest 'pasture' and took some shots at sunset.

Good thing too since this was all cut and baled within a few days! Notice the sunset colors across the top edge.

Just so you know - farm dogs come in all shapes and sizes!