Green Things

Happy St.Patrick's Day...

I know it's not a Leprechaun...but it is...Green!

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A green dragon...
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that my daughter Annette made for

a summer reading program at the local library where she works.

There's a lamp shade...

a large trash can with wheels...for mobility

and other strange objects I can't remember...
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under all that paper mache!
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She's very talented in many different artistic ways!
She also keeps me supplied with library books!

This is us "Several" years ago flying a kite in the field!
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Four leaf clovers are associated with March 17th...right?

Plus...they're green!
...or at least most are...


This little plastic box contains a few...
found over 25 years ago...they are not green!



For my birthday back in 1999...

Annette gave me a nature journal...



I jotted down notes about the different birds or
animals I saw and the timing of their return each year. .


I kept track of the greening of the field and
flowering of the trees and plants!

Little by little... it became the keeper of
4 leaf clovers the grandchildren...I...and others found.






Remember.....if we hadn't found...picked...and

and saved them...


this bunny would have eaten them!


Click to enlarge...there may be some there yet to find....


...in all that green....


...but I doubt it...




because my journal has 58 pages of 4 leaf clovers!






These are...




just...




a few...





Eventually...I had to start another journal...

As soon as it greens up and Spring fully arrives...

I'm sure more will be found...picked...and saved.

As you can easily see...Katie finds the most!

~

I'll end with another look at the...jolly green dragon...

"Leprechaun Substitute"

Back Down The Drive

This morning's 7:05 sunrise was tinted lavender...like a hint of Spring.
Plus, warmer temperatures are predicted for a few days.....
which means more comfortable walks for me and our grandchildren.

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All 9 of our grandchildren live within walking distance;

some just take a little hike and cross a creek to get here.....

while others can come down this easier path to our home.
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Yes, that's a cemetery adjacent to our driveway.....

that they have to pass by.....on their way here.

It's an early 1800's cemetery.

Sometimes they don't even make it here.....

.....but end up in the field chasing butterflies like Amanda!
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This is granddaughter Katie and great niece Alicia

helping granddaughter Alivia, their cousin, down the drive.
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They gather here in the summer and sometimes play a game of corn hole .

That's Nick, Katie, Nathan, and Tori (not a grandchild...but Katie's cousin).
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Katie and Nick
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Most are all teenagers now,

except for Andrew and Dylan...

but when younger they all

had fun in this small pool.....

and often ended up on the back porch

......eating s'mores.....like Dylan here with

Jacob (another cousin, but not a grandchild).....

and sometimes they could be convinced that reviewing

some school work, with Grant's help.....could be fun!

I enjoy all of them coming to gramma's for

warm summer time fun, being all together .....
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or for cold winter time snowball fights.....
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or like Katie and Tori.....

to play monopoly... with Alivia looking on.....
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They can come and camp out in my living room anytime,
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or just for quick little visits...like Dustin.....

before they go.....back down the drive.
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Deer.....not grandchidren.....

going back down the drive!!!

Like Sunshine

This morning started off as a bitterly cold, dreary day,

but gradually brightened with sunshine, as the day progressed.

Sometime after 12:00 noon, my day got even brighter,

when my granddaughter Amanda stopped for a visit.

Amanda is in her second year of college, copy editor of her

college newspaper, and very good at creative writing.

Her creativity started at a young age.

This is the innocent young child.....

that wrote poems making fun of her gramma's cake!

Later in her young life she graduated to pulling

very creative pranks.

Late one night without my knowing it, she stole an

old stone squirrel from my flower garden.

I started receiving ransom notes through the mail,

along with pictures

of the threatened

and tortured squirrel!

Even though knowing,

that I thought it very funny,

she never let on,

so I was convinced it had been done by

my older grandson Dustin.

This went on for about a week and then Amanda slipped up...

she sent a photo with her baby sister at the bat!

Then the squirrel mysteriously reappeared one day-

^

.....covered in band-aids!

Amanda

Before leaving, Amanda mentioned she had finished reading

"Prodigal Summer"- so I gave her my copy

of "The Shack" to take home.

Amanda's visits are like sunshine.

and then.....

It wasn't an hour later and I had another visitor

to brighten my day. My granddaughter Katie came by.

Remember she is our expert confetti maker.

Katie is a sophomore in high school and has a babysitting

job right after school, but today it was canceled, so I benefited.

Katie is a sweet, bubbly, happy, young teenage girl.....

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.......just don't get in her way when she's mad or driving!

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Sunday is her birthday!

Katie

Katie is like sunshine to me too!

~

Then-

Later my daughter Annette stopped by

to give me a book, so now I'm reading "Paper Daughter"

by M.Elaine Mar.

Annette is sunshine in my life too!

~

Discovering Snakes

Did you see where the Nature journal reported scientists have recovered fossils from a 60-million-year-old South American snake from a Cerrejon coal mine in Colombia. Researchers estimated that it weighed 2,500 pounds, measured 42.7 feet, and was so wide it would have reached up to a person's hips. They named it Titanoboa Cerrejonensis. This is an artist's rendition of what it might look like.

We have some small discoveries ourselves here on the property-

and some not so small-

He needs a close up

Some are very easy to spot on the bare ground-

or in the autumn leaves.





Sometimes they can be found sunning themselves.
Here's Grant, our resident nature guide, with cousins

Andrew and Dylan, discovering a snake doing just that!
Can you spot it? Click for a larger view.

Here are some closeups.

The grandchildren seem pretty brave when it comes to dealing
with snakes, but if they discovered anything bigger than this-





I think this is what we would see.......
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They really aren't as high as they appear to be -
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Cousins - Katie, Grant, Nathan, and Nick - standing
Andrew and Dylan - still up a tree!

Disclaimer (this picture was taken a few years ago - they are now older)

Don't want any grandkids upset with gramma!