Blooms

Way back in the spring, when we were still working with Steve and home once a week or so, I bought some zinnia seeds to plant in my flower beds by the house. I was thinking I'd be home to water them at least once in a while, pull a few weeds, etc. Then around the end of April, after sitting at home for a month with practically no work, we bought the hopper trailer and hit the road long term. The day before we left, while Malcolm was taking a nap, I went out and pulled all the weeds out of the beds by the porch, raked them, and then tossed in my seeds. I figured I had nothing to loose. The seeds won't last un-planted, and at best I might get lucky and get a few that were strong enough to brave the Montana summer without loving hands to tend them.

Around mid-June I when we came home, I discovered that the previous owners must have had sunflowers growing there, and I had a few volunteers that had come up. Pulled a few more weeds, and found tiny zinnias. They were no where near where they needed to be for that time of year.

Came home in July to go to TN, and the zinnias were hanging in there, and I had one sunflower about to open.

Came home this past weekend to find this surprise!

I have beautiful zinnias and 5 sunflowers just as happy as can be! They sure brighten up the place. And there are lots more zinnias that are almost ready to bloom. I wish I were going to be around to see them. They are all so pretty! I just picked a few to enjoy inside for our last couple days at home. I love zinnias. They always remind me of Mom's garden. She's always had a zinnia bed and I think its always been my favorite part of her garden.

Monday doing laundry....always a big job when we come in off the road. My little Paris is always cold, so she LOVES warm laundry. Normally she settles for the laundry basket full of clothes fresh from the dryer, but....

...apparently she was either really cold, or had a sudden brain storm. I had walked away with a shirt to lay it on my ironing board, came back to get another arm load, and when I bent down to scoop it out of the dryer, I found her curled up in it. It was very hard to make her get up and move. I was tempted to just let her stay. But I wanted to finish. Now every time I'm down there doing laundry, even if its putting wet clothes in, she makes sure she pokes her head in to see if its warm. I've had to make her get out a couple times and it just breaks my heart. I finally laid her in the basket of warm clothes, carried it upstairs, and just let her sleep in them. I folded them later, and had to do a little extra ironing, but....it was worth it just to see her so happy.