Unfortunately (or fortunately which ever way you look at it) the boxer found her owner. I am delighted that she is reunited with her owner although I am sad that she will not be coming home with us.

Despite the fact that I have been doing this job for 15 years I continue to be surprised that people who break the law are unreliable. I know, I am stupid in that respect. Today I was trying to get hold of someone who was charged with No operators licence to see if he had got his license so that we can plead him on Monday, phone is disconnected, a check of his driving record shows he still has not got his license so he is still out there driving with no license. Why do I keep being suprised by criminals being unreliable?

I continue to be amazed by my garden, which, despite the fact I planted it, surprises me every day with its beauty. I know that I have spent an inordinate amount of time choosing plants and carefully placing them, but when the plants bloom when they are supposed to, and mix like they are supposed to, and look so beautiful when they are supposed to I stand there amazed as if it was devine intervention that created it as opposed to me, on my knees, digging in the dirt.

My birds are taking advantage of me. I fill up my 17 feeders one day and when I get back from work the following day the feeders are empty. Now come on now guys, you can't be that hungry this time of year, I suppose more bird food is in order.

Yet again I was asked today "what are you going to do when your boss retires?" I DON'T KNOW. I know that is hard to understand but I really don't know. I am tempted to do something entirely different (as I have said sell plants at Pender Pines), I am extremely fortunate in that I do not have to worry about retirement seeing as I have my preserved pension from the Royal Navy so when it comes to me hitting my social security retirement age I will already have a nice little pension from the Royal Navy, which combined with my social security will result in me actually earning more a month than I do now.

I am really sick of the dogs eating the couch. But you know, whatever.

It looks like I might be getting a new baby, a brindle boxer. My co-worker has a neighbor who found one wandering the neighborhood, no tags, no ID. She put up fliers and stuff to try and locate the owners but no luck so far. If she doesn't find the owner here real soon she will be coming home with me. If she does her name will be Dee Dee or Dani, haven't decided yet. I have not told the husband yet, but then again, you know, whatever. :)

Monday morning my DH kissed me goodbye at 5am and set out to go to work. About 5 mins later he was back, and said "sweetie someone hit my car" I donned my bathrobe (half asleep you understand) put on my slippers and went outside. My DH is the master of the understatement. Someone in a very large truck or SUV had gone off the road (for clarification my car was in the driveway, his was on the edge of the lawn to enable me to go grocery shopping earlier on Sunday). Where was I? Oh yes the large truck or SUV had gone of the road, side swiped my DHs car all the way along, hit the trash can at a high rate of speed, gone across our driveway, taken out four planters, hit the tree at the edge of the driveway, backed up hit the planters again, drove inbetween the tree and the mail box, knocked over and squished more yard art, drove across the entire length of my neighbor's yard, then the next neighbor's yard and eventually got back onto the road and drove off. He left behind his headlights and his turn signal lights. We called the authorities (of course) and Trooper January came out who immediately recognised me (despite the bathrobe, slippers and bed-hair ) He took pictures, measurements and stuff and then was called over by a neighbor across the street whose husband apparently saw the truck immediately after the incident. Later that morning the body shop who had picked up DH's car (it was undriveable the wheels were all smashed in) called to say that there was paint on the car. I came home and got my camera and just for the sake of it I drove around the neighborhood (you will recall that I live on a cul-de-sac, there is no reason for anyone to be on this street unless you live here or are visiting someone who lives here, it is not like a short cut to anywhere) At the bottom of the road in a driveway I noticed a white Jeep Grand Cherokee with smashed in driver's side headlights. Hmmmm thunk I, that seems like a bit of a coincidence. I went to the body shop and sure enough the paint on my DH's car is white. So I called the Highway Patrol office and gave them the info, hopefully they can put two and two together and make this SOB pay (through his insurance of course). I am assuming at this point (it happened at about 4AM) that he was either drunk or fell asleep at the wheel. However I am leaning toward drunk, cause if he had just fallen asleep at the wheel then there would be no reason on earth not to knock on our door and tell us what happened and give us his insurance info. If he was drunk fine, so be it, but do me a favor, after you have sobered up let us know what happened. Needless to say I am furious, not only because my DH's car is about paid off (and if it is written off as the mechanic was hinting due to the axle damage we are just gonna have to start again) but he destroyed my planters and my garden statues, HE DECAPITATED ME LION! (direct quote, as stated by my neighbor, not "he decapitated my lion" but in my finest "I have been woken at five am and I am speaking Lancastrian" he decapitated "me" lion) It was not a good Monday to say the very least. Why can't people simply take responsibility for their actions? My DH and I work hard for what we have, it is not like we can say "okay $500.00 deductible no problem." As it turns out the guy down the street is not the guilty party, Trooper January interviewed him and he was able to show him the repair work he was doing on the vehicle was not as a result of an accident. So we are now stuck with a phantom idiot, and having to buy a new vehicle. I am so upset.

Spring and early summer are the most beautiful in my garden and I am so enjoying its beauties right now. When I wake in the morning I cannot wait to leap out of bed and take a stroll around the beds to see what has burst into bloom that morning, it is like an ever changing painting, that each morning shows a different side. I particularly enjoy the mornings when I wake up early and am lucky enough to catch the dew on the flowers. There is something magical about flowers covered in morning dew.



This weekend all sorts of flowers were blooming for me, and I was delighted that yet again my perennials were returning. The baptista (aka Red neck lupines) that I purchased from Plant Delights many years ago is just getting bigger and better (which reminds me, if you are in the market for some serious plant shopping, ie, incredibly healthy and wonderfully robust plants that cost more than the big box stores but are worth every penny then go to www.plantdelights.com you will not regret it)



In addition to everything else my Dover Beach bearded iris bloomed this weekend. As you can see from the picture it is named after the famous white cliffs of dover, with the white above and the blue (of the sea) below. Of course you know I bought this one simply for its name but it has been a very reliable iris for me when many of them are so unreliable.



and in a moment of pure joy, the first of my asiatic lilies bloomed this weekend, I cannot tell you how much I am salivating to see the rest of them, the pinks, the polka dots, the stargazers, the casa blanca, oh I can just smell them now



When I wake up in the morning and wander out into my garden and see these beauties then I know without a doubt that life is good, there is nothing better, and the best part is that I cannot wait for tomorrow. :)

Today was a good day, no strike that, today was a great day. It is Strawberry Festival weekend for more info about that go to http://www.ncstrawberryfestival.com. Last night was encounters and the jazz band played and were absolutely wonderful. So wonderful in fact that certain members of the audience emptied their pockets and came up with $300.00 for the band to go to dinner afterwards. (More about that later, this is more important). This morning was concert band festival and as usual I was in the chorus classroom getting my stuff ready to do the scores and record the results on the various trophies. I glanced at the program to see what order things needed to be in and I saw a name of one of the band directors. Josh Griffin. When I first met Josh he was an eighth grader who's ambition was to be in the band. He was a trombone player and when he rested his trombone on its end it was bigger than he was. My husband tells the story of Josh sitting opposite him in his office wearing a Marching Vikings hat (at that time) the hat swamped him, and I think the top of his head probably came up to my husband's mid section. Josh was still recovering from a traumatic brain injury (I do not remember the details) and the scar on his forehead was still very vivid at that time. As can be imagined his parents were very protective of him, and wanted to make sure that he was going to be safe in the band. Well the following semester Josh joined the band, with his trombone bigger than he was. He was always a hugger, and every time I went to visit I would get a hug. As it was, and as will happen Josh grew. Despite his injury he grew and grew, at one point I accused his parents of putting fertilizer in his shoes. One evening at Strawberry Encounters while the Jazz Band were playing as it happens I asked his Dad what Josh wanted to do when he graduated college (NCU) and his face crinkled into a smile. "Well he wanted to go to NCU and become a physical therapist, but now he just wants to go to ECU and be Mr. Nick" Last year Josh graduated ECU (Mr. Nick's alma marta) with a batchelors in music education and immediately went to work as the director of bands at Greene Central High School in Snow Hill, NC. They had never been to a concert band festival before so naturally Josh chose the Strawberry Festival to bring his band. When he arrived this morning he approached me and gave me as usual a huge hug, not a "hi how are you nice to see you" kind of hug but a hug that said to me "I did it, I am here." I felt a lump in my throat. Despite my tabulating and reporting duties I made sure that I snuck into the auditorium for the performance of Josh's band. I was so proud I was fit to burst. Seeing Josh up there, in front of his own band, HIS band, his band that played so well just about had me fit to be tied. I wiped a tear from my eye after the performance and stood up, whereupon his Dad approached me and hugged me, at which point I have to admit I lost it and cried like a baby. Okay you are saying, why are you crying? Because normally I never see the end result. Normally Nick's kids go off to college and do their thing and graduate from college and do their thing and other than occasional visits I never see the end result of all of Nick's hard work. Today it was there, in front of a band at the West Columbus High School auditorium, in front of his own band, tall, strong, in charge. He chose music that Nick would have chosen, he conducted just like Nick conducts, it was like watching a mirror image, and through the parade he wore his black suit, with blue shirt (matching his band's colors) despite the temperatures (if my band has to be in uniform then so will I = Mr. Nick.) The culmination of all the driving hours, all the gas money, all the motel rooms, all the time spent apart, all of the missed vacation, missed trips, missed family moments was up there on that stage in front of his own band and in that moment I saw it, it was worth it. Every moment we spent apart was worth it, every dime we spent on gas and motel rooms was worth it, every evening spent planning and plotting half-time shows was worth it, cause there he was, the product of my husband's hard work. I see it now, whatever we have to do (for instance he has been gone since Sunday, I saw him for the first time in a week on Friday evening at Encounters) whatever we have to do is worth it cause the end result can be Josh, Josh who's trombone was bigger than he was, Josh who wore the hat that didn't fit, Josh who followed in his footsteps and succeeded. As it turns out Josh's band placed third in the parade, behind a huge band from PA and Whiteville High School (another big band), it was the icing on the cake. This is my husband's legacy, it is his opus, his children are the notes and rhythms of his greatest composition. And yes I am crying as I type, this has been a great day.

Here's a shot of West Columbus High School band in the parade.



Here is Josh's band, Greene Central High School



Here is a close up, with Josh at the helm



And the proudest shot, Nick and his protege with his trophies..... I am going to print this one large and it is going in the band room.