Flowers in Porland – Page 3

Into Summer

Dear Liza,

**Hollyhocks and day lilies, living together, mass hysteria!**

Now that is is officially summer, our evening walks have moved from six o’clock to more like 7:30. It stays light until nine and it feels silly to waste all that lovely sunlight!

Yesterday evening Auntie Bridgett and I walked around the neighborhood and noticed that the flowers are really exploding. Sweet peas, roses, day lilies and hollyhocks are shooting up out of the ground like the police are after them.

Even the sunflowers are getting tall and majestic. The bees all seem to be prosperous and busy.

We met a new cat, a very friendly young lady with beautiful markings and a tag that declares her to be “The Princess.” She not just allowed, but demanded, that we pet her, squeaking in a very royal voice.

On the way home we passed The Belmont Inn, and stopped in for a few games of Monster Bash, our favorite pinball game. We played together for a few, then went head-to-head. My score of six million made me very proud until Auntie Bridgett whupped me with forty-four million!!! Holy smokes, I need more practice!

Aw, shucks. More pinball….

Love,

Grandma Judy

Seasonal Mysteries

Dear Liza,

I was born in Southern California and, except for three years around when your daddy and Auntie Katie were born, lived in California my whole life. I am used to warm dry summers, slightly damp winters, and trees that mostly stay green all year.

i am also used to crocuses making some sort of sense. Yesterday as we were walking through the neighborhood, looking at houses for sale and heading for the market, I saw these:

These are crocuses sprouting up in front yards! In every other part of the world, crocuses are a spring flower, usually the first spring flower….back east, they come right up through the snow. But here it is, the first day of fall, and up they come.

Maybe they are trying to come up out of the ground so they don’t drown in the rain? Maybe they are as confused as the rest of us about the world in general? Or maybe they are just messing with me…..

Today is chilly but dry, and we are trying to decided what we want to do this weekend. With summer passed, the roses have lost most of their petals and the gardens will rest until spring. There is an Architectural History Museum down by the river that looks interesting, or maybe we will bundle up and walk around downtown. It is going to stay chilly, but no rain is predicted for a whole week!

Take care of yourself, your mommy and daddy.

Love,

Grandma Judy