Five on Friday: May 30 2014

1. One of the pitfalls of doing scrapbook pages from another year is that  I (you too?) tend to forget which year this actually is. I was doing some data entry from a spreadsheet to a data base at one of my volunteer jobs and I must have entered three dates before I caught that they were September 2014. Uh...that hasn't happened yet, has it? But for a moment I wondered if this year was 2015 and last fall WAS 2014.  Fortunately, the original mistake wasn't mine! Phew!

2. Do you want to see pretty things for free? How about this magnificent art, now free, from the Met.  Other than the one above, there are downloadable Picassos, ancient art, Rembrandts etc. Apparently, initial demand crashed their site. Apparently, I was asleep for this announcement.

3. Mangoes. I adore them and while I miss the luxury of having a maid present me with a plate of beautiful mango slices, I'm grateful that they are now readily available in Maryland. This was not the case 30 years ago. Some things do remain the same if you have to eat the mango on your own. For me, it's 1. always eating it over the sink and 2. spending endless time getting those pesky fibers from between my front teeth. Time to get more dental floss during the height of mango season.

4. Years ago, I bought a peony plant and planted it as near to the house as I could so I'd see it and enjoy my blossoms. Of course, these stubborn little gems take a while to actually bloom. I think it was close to 5 years. When they did, ugh...I had bought a deep fuschia peony plant.  What I want is a variegated pale pink or white or either of those two colors.  I may finally bite the bullet and buy the kind I want this fall. And then wait....

5. The humidity has returned.  That is a statement, not a complaint but you know what I really mean!

Note the flowers in the Banner

Just a note today that "them's there my peonies " - getting ready to pop. They were in the ground about 3+ years before they appeared as flowers, and darn it , they are not a color I love. Too bad...I'll appreciate what I've got, esp with the long incubation time!! I thought it was time to add a touch of spring to this blog.

I hope I don't miss the flowering with an upcoming trip. The cherry blossom out front bloomed while I was in the 5-day class, and I only saw it coming and going at the ends of the day. Then it rained. Then the ground was covered with matted flowers. Then they dried, and I am still trying to brush them off the bricks and walk.

Mother Nature has a sense of humor!