This is what I see when I look over the balcony off of our bedroom. This is the most glorious tree in all the world. It's a Japanese Ornamental Cherry. I don't remember its exact name. It's name should be The Most Fabulous Cherry Tree in All the World.
If there's a prettier place in the springtime than Georgia, I haven't seen it. I remember driving through the state in 1977 with my new husband as he worked here temporarily. There were baby goats playing together in the fields. And the wisteria! I had never seen it before. Lilac clusters hanging like grapes all the way to the tops of trees. And they smelled like grape Nehi. Do ya'll have Nehi up in Yankeeland; those of you that live north of the Mason-Dixon line?
This week I'm writing from my beloved Fripp Island, SC. I came over late yesterday evening after everyone had gone home. We hosted all our kids except Garrett =-(, their families and in-laws, and our adopted college student.
I spent last night, today, and tonight alone. Sheer bliss. Laurel, her kids, and Darcie will be joining me early tomorrow morning. I'm meeting them at Publix in Beaufort around 10:00 to stock up on groceries. We're having another friend and her children join us mid-week and our husbands will join us for the weekend.
So I'll hopefully be posting every day while I'm here. I spent a lot of time today just cleaning up my computer. More on that later.
Posts have been few and far between lately due to a sudden disgust of dust and stuff. Here are the laundry room before and after pics. I'm now going to go finish my bedroom which I started yesterday morning. Laurel tells me that ten minutes of hard housework is worth one exercise point in Weight Watchers. I earned quite a few of those yesterday. I was flipping the mattress, shaking rugs over the balcony, and dusting down the walls. 
Here's a little known fact: When Superman was a toddler, he wore a red cape AND had a pacifier. Here are the pictures to prove it.
"Most of us spend so much time thinking about where we have been or where we are supposed to be going that we have a hard time recognizing where we actually are. When someone asks us where we want to be in our lives, the last thing that occurs to us is to look down at our feet and say, "Here, I guess, since this is where I am." Taken from An Altar in the World by Barbara Brown Taylor.
The cherry tree is in full leaf now; blossoms are gone. The Mermaid rose on the arbor is beginning to put on its thousands of yellow blooms. It's so heavy that the arbor is about four inches off the ground in the front. We tried straightening it up, but it was useless. I guess when the whole thing comes crashing to the ground, we'll pick up the pieces, cut the rose bush to the ground, and start over. I had no idea that it would get so big. It's even trailing into the cherry tree.
The little table was once painted all white, but rust and birds have done their work. Yes, birds. I kept hearing a strange pecking sound on the balcony. When I looked out, I saw a bluejay peeling off sections of paint! I don't know if he ate them or made his nest waterproof, but he took off almost the whole top. Craziness!
This tiny restaurant is highly recommended by Pat Conroy in his cookbook. He says their shrimp burgers are so good that he used to dream about them while living in Rome, Italy. 
Here's "Aunt Darcie" and her four nephews on Easter Sunday. There were some unhappy faces, because I made them pose BEFORE Sunday dinner. They wanted to eat first and take pictures later. But I know those clothes wouldn't look the same AFTER.
This is what I see when I look over the balcony off of our bedroom. This is the most glorious tree in all the world. It's a Japanese Ornamental Cherry. I don't remember its exact name. It's name should be The Most Fabulous Cherry Tree in All the World. 
