Week 20

May 17: The roses in the neighborhood are blooming with gusto. So many in so many beautiful colors.
May 18: My special neighbor, Una, gave me this gorgeous rose today. She planted her yellow rose bush in memory of her mother who loved yellow roses. It smells fabulous too.

May 19: Diesel thinks running water is a toy. He loves it when I turn the hose on him; he prefers to drink the water as I'm pouring it in his dish than when it's actually in the dish. This morning it was raining when I let him out. He ran to the edge of the patio and was catching the rain falling off the roof in his mouth. Cracked me up, goofy dog.

May 20: Bear is ready for summer.

May 21: Very excited that I will have hydrangea blooms this year!

May 22: It was backyard movie night tonight. I regret to inform you that none of my pictures turned out so great, but here goes. Diesel loved seeing his friends Seth & Jesse. "Sit wittle Diesel. Lick me Diesel." He's happy to oblige Seth's commands.

"Back to the Future" was the feature movie. No threat of rain this year, though it was a little windy. And a good time was had by all.

May 23: Tried out Linkhaus after Pathways tonight - a new bratwurst place. The Italian - smothered in tomatoes, basil, mozerella & balsamic. Yummy.

Week 19

May 10: Tornado Warning. We had serious weather today. Rotation was spotted about a mile away but luckily nothing came of it. Diesel and I hung out in the basement for awhile with my quickly pulled together stash.

May 11: My summer music theatre season tickets arrived! I love Music Theatre of Wichita and am looking forward to this summer's shows.

May 12: Diesel hanging out in the backyard. Isn't my dog cute?!

May 13: The cottonwood was flying everywhere in the park today and gathered in big clumps beside the trail.

May 15: Amy & Ashlee's birthday party was a lot of fun. The funniest part was 2 yr old Vance meeting Ashlee for the first time. His mind was blown. "You're the wrong Amy!"

May 16: Due to the rain & cold, paint ball was out. So we went to brunch and to see Iron Man 2 for Jen's birthday.

May 17: I made blueberry boy bait for our Pathways game night. It has been much requested since I first made it last year. And yes, "blueberry boy bait" is really the name of the dessert.

Custard, blueberry jammy concoction, meringue

This is what I brought home.

Week 18

May 3: I have let Diesel start sleeping under my bed again. He has to get down on all fours and belly-crawl under there, but he loves it. I tell him "it's nighty-night time" and he heads into my bedroom and crawls under the bed.
May 4: I met up with a girl at College Hill Park. It was a gorgeous evening.

May 5: I used Laurie's avocado salsa recipe for Alina's birthday party potluck; it was big hit.

May 6: Our walk at Sedgwick County Park on a gorgeous late afternoon.

May 7: After 13 years in Wichita, I finally made it to Carriage Crossing Restaurant in Yoder. A friend organized our evening trek there and 20 of us went. Yoder is an Amish community about 45 minutes northwest of here.

It's known for it's amazing down-home cooking. Country-fried steak, mashed potatoes & gravy, and glazed carrots.

And their selection of pies...chocolate peanut butter. I think I ate a week's worth of calories in one meal, but it was delicious.

May 8: I attended a backyard dance party for a friend's birthday...all decked out with disco balls.

May 9: I made some cookies for Diesel to give to Una. She is our special neighbor lady who is a God-send. She comes by every weekday to let him out and play with him after lunch.

Week 17

April 16: My impatiens are growing!
April 27: I climbed up on and walked around on a large airplane part today in these shoes (a big curved section of fuselage made of composite). The guys who were with me were nervous that I was going to fall, but I didn't. It was fun!

April 28: We had major winds today and this huge branch fell out of my tree along with a lot of smaller ones.

April 28: The snowball bush is blooming and laden with these beautiful blooms.

April 29: My clematis are blooming too! Looks like I'll have a lot of blooms this year.

May 1: Jared & Emily got married!

May 2: Tanya & Chris dedicated Jesse today. I visited their church to be there for it.

One of my favorite smells ever - sheets dried on the line.