thanks for the memories

The MAD variety show closed yesterday. Such a relief, but also a bit of sadness. The performances went very well. I remembered the words to the chorus songs, (and so did most of the chorus) so I felt good about our numbers. I'm a bit sad because, with two exceptions, I only see the MAD members when we are involved in a show. I will miss the others. There is such a wonderful feeling of excitement and friendship during the rehearsals and the run of the show. It's always a let-down when it's over. Still, I'm glad to be done with those extra rehearsals. I'll be mentally singing the music for a week or so and then it will gradually fade. It was great fun, but now I can get on with the other joys of my life!

For those who do not live in Maryland/Delaware, here's a weather report. After a lovely, hot weekend, we are due for rain the next four days. Sounds like last week, doesn't it? The only good thing is that it's been nice on weekends. I remember when I was working how discouraging I found it when the nice days were during the week and the rain on weekends. Still, I think we could manage very nicely with only one or two days of rain per week. Temperature-wise, I think summer has finally hit us. It is still moderately cool at night, but temps will be in the 80s all week. I guess the A/C will run pretty steadily from now until September.

Of course, all this rain has been wonderful for the gardens. My lilies are coming into bloom now. I actually have two colors of orange lilies blooming out front. Somehow, the shorter ones got further back than I intended, but they can still be seen. I pruned my flowering plum tree Saturday. Tried to get open up the center part. I still need to take off some height, but that requires the BIG ladder, which lives in the basement. It's a bit of a chore to carry it up the stairs and out the door, but I will have to do that this week. I'm hoping with fewer branches, the tree won't be as apt to fall over in the next wind/rain storm we have. However, I am leaving the braces and poles up, because I'll probably need them.

Here are some photos. You see that the lilies are two different colors. The hostas, ferns and caladium grow in my back yard - almost all shade.

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