My deck garden is doing fine! I have strawberries in one earth box and beautiful lettuce in the other. I'm gonna pick enough lettuce to make me a salad tomorrow. My chives are blooming. They never have in the two years I've had them, but I figure that in order to reseed, they have to bloom sometime. And the dill is coming up! I also have a beautiful azalea in a pot on the deck that is in full bloom.

In the yard the hosta is thriving and Mr.Lincoln produced his first bloom this week. George is full of buds and Tami is trying to make buds.(These are all roses)

A couple of years ago, Teresa gave me a lil bunch of some kind of viney looking stuff and I stuck it beside the house where I have four o'clocks and petunias. This year it's so thick that it's taken over the whole side and moved out into the yard. I can't even find a four o'clock it's so thick. I think I'm gonna pull up about 9/10s of it so the other things will have a chance. My day lilies are coming up, but slowly. I don't really know when or how they are supposed to appear and to bloom, but they are trying. I've got a couple of empty planters out back and I hope to go to the Community Market this weekend and buy something to fill them. Oh, I also have a couple of empty ones out front, too. Maybe the plant lady will be there and I can get something pretty.

Yesterday about 4:20, Susan called me from downtown and asked if I knew what was burning. Seems the Union St. bridge was closed and there was a lot of black smoke billowing.

At about the same time, the radio had a special announcement that the old long mill buildings were burning. They also announced that the bridge was closed to traffic and warned everybody to stay away from that area.

I went out to my deck and the sky was dark with smoke and it was really rolling up as far as I could see. I heard sirens that went on and on and a few minutes later they had pictures on the local TV station.

The buildings that were burning were the ones that were being demolished that the Historical Society were trying to save. The judge just last week turned down a plea that the buildings be saved. Said that he was afraid some kids would go into the buildings and get hurt.

The fire went on and on; they evacuated Short St., Farrar St. and Highland Ct. and closed off Henry Rd. and even with the rain we had last night, firemen stayed on all night putting out random fires that sprung up. The last I heard today was that both buildings had finally collapsed.

What I'm still wondering is if the mill building that we could see from Aunt Frances' house that had the date 1897 on the side is still there. I asked Doug today, but he couldn't remember. So I guess I'm gonna have to go down to the end of the street to see.

I started this about 1000 words ago, and somehow lost what I'd written. Don't know what happened, but it disappeared. Anyway, I was telling how Doug went with me to a yard sale and I think I embarrassed him cause I told a guy that I didn't pay a dollar for yardsale paperbacks. And, it had already been read! Also about the good buys you can find at church sales if you get there early enough. I found 2 skirts for my friend, shirts and shorts for Coby and quilted purses and Gurley candles; all for a quarter each.

Sat. evening Bobby and Teresa invited me to their house for Mother's Day supper and Sunday I went to Linda's house for dinner that Leanna cooked all by her self. Both meals were delicious. And I even got doggy bags!

This was a Mother's Day for flowers. Emily brought me a pot of daisies that can be planted outside or repotted. Tami sent a humongous pot of mixed flowers.....petunias, begonias, verbena, geraniums and that lil green plant I wrote about earlier. I'm gonna put everything but the verbena in boxes and/or pots and plant the verbena outside. But I'm gonna enjoy it for a few days before I plant and repot. I might have to buy some more pots. I have to check and see what I have. Tami said she'd take the viney thing. She could put it on the bank behind her house and it would take over by next year. It's pretty, just really fast moving. Keister and Abby came by with a beautiful hibiscus and a pot to replant that in. I went ahead and repotted cause it was cloudy and I figured it would be a good day to do it.

Last year in the late spring or early summer, Fara sent me a topsy turvey tomato planter. Well, Bobby gave me three tomato plants Sat. and I remembered that I had that thing, so I got it and read the instructions. It sounded pretty simple so I got my dirt and put the 'mater plant in the fabric sleeve and anchored it with the soft plastic thingy and hung the planter up on a plant holder I had on my deck so I could fill it with dirt. I'm dipping the dirt out of the bag with a jar and all of a sudden the plant holder came out of the post and made a terrific noise falling. The tomato didn't break, tho, so I finished putting the dirt and fertilizer in it and got the big hook that you were supposed to hang it on and Chris, the guy next door, came over with his drill and put the hook in for me and hung the planter up under the deck. It's really neat looking and I can water it from the deck. I hope it won't attract the attention of kids who pass thru my yard sometimes. I'll let you know later how it does. And, speaking of tomatoes, I ordered a tomato tree that's supposed to get 8 feet tall and produce 2 pound tomatoes until frost. That ought to be some good eatin'.

Tommy and Chad went to bed fairly early last night, so before I'd even finished my coffee, they were both up. Raring to go! I had decided to go to a couple of yardsales that advertised books and they decided they wanted to go with me. We got to the first one and she had a lot of books, but when I asked how much she smiled sweetly and said, "Only a dollar for paperbacks and $2 for the hardbacks." Needless to say, I didn't buy any from her. When I got to the other one, either she had sold them at the going yardsale price or she didn't have any to begin with. Cause I didn't see any. I didn't spend a penny at yardsales today!

So I asked the boys if they wanted me to take them home or if they wanted to go to FoodLion and then I'd go to Old Dutch later. They said they'd go with me if I'd buy them some Lunchables. Luckily, they were on special today. So, before we go into FL, I went to Dollar General. They went looking at toys and came back with pirate mustaches and beards. I said they could have them, but nothing else. I got what I had gone in for and headed to FL. On the way, they opened and put on their beards and mustaches. Looked kinda cute, too.

Once inside, they spied a coconut in the shell and wanted one. I like coconut, too, so I said OK. I was calmly pushing my buggy up the canned veggie aisle and there they were. They'd put a few plastic jars of something down on the floor and was using the coconut as a bowling ball. I put a stop to that right then and for the rest of our trip, they were very nice and well behaved. Except they nearly caused a lil black girl to wreck her car when she looked over and saw them walking into the pet store with their hairy faces! She screeched and nearly hit a parked car. Then she stopped and had a good laugh.

When we got home they spent a good portion of the afternoon working on getting the meat out of the coconut. Then they had to check on the three snakes they had in a big bucket out back. Now they're at the Festival in the Park with Emily and Rebecca. I hope when they get home they'll be tired enough to conk out early.

I had heard thru the grapevine that Cindy might come up Sunday, so while the kids were gone, I got a head start on my Sunday dinner. I made a broccoli casserole except for the topping (I'll do that right before I put it in to cook). I'm thawing my wings and legs so I can make hot wings tomorrow, and I'm gonna make my salad dressing when I get off the computer. If I make the salad and tea tonight, it'll disappear before morning, so I'll wait on that. However, I just read Cindy's journal and I think she's sorta holing up in her apartment for the weekend being lazy. Don't blame her, wish I could. But that won't happen for a couple of weeks.

Monday, Douglas and I took Tommy and Chad to Dan Daniels park to the Veteran's Memorial. I'd never been there, but had wanted to for a long time. I guess I mainly wanted to see how the bricks were laid out. It was pretty neat, actually. It went from the war of 1812 to the Iraq war and all the veteran's names were in alphabetical order.

There was a TV crew there from channel 13 filming for the 6 o'clock news. I sorta walked way around them so I wouldn't get filmed and Tommy and Chad dodged them for a while, but when I saw the news; there was Tommy and Chad. Tommy had his camera up taking a picture of the curved wall and Chad was standing there watching.

While I was watching the news I started trying to remember all my kin that had been in wars and/or the service. I never knew him, of course, but my G'pa Craig's Daddy was in the Civil War. Then G'pa Whitt, my father in law was in WW1. My Dad was in the Navy and he had 3 brothers who were in the Army. I've been told that two of his brothers served as guards at The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Two of my brothers were in the Army and one is buried at Arlington National Cemetery and my two brothers in law were in the Navy.And Boots was in the Army during WW2, stationed in the Philipines and Guadalcanal, actually during some fighting with the Japanese. I had about 11 cousins who were in service; some in WW2 and some in Korea. One in Korea was a prisoner of war for a long time until he escaped and one was killed.

My brother was in Viet Nam as were a couple of cousins and now Lisa's son, who would be my great nephew, I think, is in the Air Force,and my cousin Gussie has a grandson who is in Afganistan right now and my nephew was in the Navy for a good while. I think he served as a medic.

There were probably some more that I didn't remember, but if I did I hope they'll forgive me. I thank you all for what you did in service to our country.

It's not noon yet and I've already checked my deck garden,and picked some strawberries,checked the pots and plants outside and cut a bunch of viney things and small trees from around Fara and Tami(rosebushes). George is sorta on the wall at the parking lot so the guy next door keeps the weeds away from him. I've also made four trips to the dumpster, cooked breakfast for and changed Coby twice and put him down for his morning nap. Picked up stuff and put it either away or in the trash and washed and dried a load of clothes.

I'm hoping to go to yard sales tomorrow and find some books. I'm down to my last one and it's by John Saul and he writes weird ones that I can't get in to. I've tried reading Manhatten Hunt Club, (this is the third time I've tried to read it), but I just can't. So, I have to find some tomorrow. Bobby is off and I think Doug is too, so I'll have somebody to go with.

Oh, I mentioned a few writings back that I'd planted my tomato in the topsy turvy planter. Well, it's growing like crazy. It's planted upside down, hanging out of the bottom, but it has curved up around the base of the planter and is trying to be upright. It's real healthy looking and sturdy. Which brings me to the 3-- 8 foot tomato trees I ordered on May 7. They are supposed to get 8 feet tall and have 2 pound tomatoes. HA!! I spent extra money to have them sent express speedy delivery. They finally came Wed., exactly three weeks after I ordered them and the regular mail person brought them. Postage spent was 79 cents. Today I got an invoice in the mail and it said $5.95 price of plants, $5.95 shipping and handling. They weren't even handled properly. They came in a lil narrow cardboard box and when I opened it, dirt fell out everywhere and then the little dried up plants tumbled out. I planted them and one is dead as a door nail already and the other one looks pretty bad. I took one to my friend Margaret, but haven't inquired about it yet. What a crock! I'm gonna e mail the company when I get done with this.

Well, it's noon now and I have to go wash dishes and find something to drink. Have a great day!