Blooms Everywhere

Yesterday was such a wonderful day. From the moment I walked out the door, it was beautiful. I wish I could bottle the smell that weighs heavily in the air. It is that of honeysuckle and that dreadful privet bush that grows wild and rampant. It is a pest, but in the spring it smells straight from Heaven and is quite pretty with it's white blooms weighing down the bush limbs.....

I finished up my kitchen cabinets completely.

Now onto the other rooms in my house. We used to have people over quite frequently, until I became so down on my home looking like a tornado blew through all the time. No matter how I cleaned, it didn't last more than a day. I want to have friends over again, laughter in my kitchen, games in my den and to do that without utter embarrassment will require work. My hope is to have some friends over, like the Sanchez's, the Oddo's, as well as Scottie's, John's & John's families.

After I finished up painting, I went and picked up my friend Janet's daughter from school. She has missed over 2 weeks of school and continues to have problems. The doctors think it is gastritis. Please pray for her recovery. After I dropped her off at her home, I went and met Charnita at Ashley Furniture. For over a week now we have talked about getting together so I can hear a first hand account of the Bon Jovi concert she saw last Thursday night. She was so sweet and brought me back a t-shirt. I love it! It is exactlyu like the one she got herself. You can see it on her blog.

I was so touched that she had thought of me. We had a wonderful lunch at the O'Carr's, located inside the store. O'Carr's has been in business since 1975, originally opening in Homewood. It started as a nice cream parlor and progressed into a deli/restaurant.

The food is a sight for the eyes. Their motto is "Eat by Color". Their dishes , each and everyone, is prepared fresh and with an air of art put into each meal. They say that they "strive to make every meal a celebration". I celebrated because I ordered the cheese plate $6.60. I did say cheese! It comes with a scoop of cream cheese and olive with a variety of cheeses (port wine, Havarti dill, Swiss, smoked cheddar, smoked Gouda) an apple wedge, a couple carrot slices, and 2 slices of nut bread (which I later dropped by my parents so they could have for breakfast in the morning) and an assortment of crackers.

Charnita ordered the chicken salad and fruit $7.55. It was seasonal fruit with a scoop of chicken salad and an assortment of crackers. She said she liked the chicken salad because it didn't have "green stuff" in it. Charnita's children came with her. They are both as cute as a button. It was great to catch up with Charnita. We had much to talk about.

From there I dropped by my parents house to give them the nut bread and a cake dish that my mother had given me last week. Again, the smell in the air. Her front entry is encased by a large confederate jasmine. The smell is one that will stop you in your tracks to just breath it all in. I have found that with the jasmine variety that the smell is much more profuse. The Confederate jasmine has little white opened blooms on it...

There is also Carolina Jasmine that is most often seen in very early Spring and the yellow blooms on it more resemble a bell shape. I don't think it is as fragrant as the Confederate variety. I recommend you purchase a small container of it. It doesn't cost much, and it grows like mad. But the fragrance it worth every cent, Though the blooms and fragrance only last about 2 weeks. It just is one of those things that smell like the old south to me. My parents trained theirs to grow over the entry by using a small gauged wire. Every year there are at least one or two birds that make their homes in it and sit on their eggs. I don't blame them. This rosebush is at my parents neighbor's house. Again, how beautiful. Can't you almost smell the flowers just looking at it?

With all this talk about flowers blooming, When I got home, I took out these little envelopes that were at the reception of the wedding we went to last weekend. They told us our table number, but also inside was a small surprise, this

The purple paper heart has 12 different flower variety of seeds pressed into it. You plant the paper and seeds such as will come from it. I love the idea. I always refer to marriage as a garden, where you must constantly tend to it for if not, like a garden it will not flourish, it will be overcome with weeds. Pull the weeds, do not allow them to root. And so, these seeds I will plant in my garden outside and every year when the perennials bloom I will think of that lovely wedding in Indiana of Julie and Steve. What a beautiful thing. Love grows indeed!