Jean. What a beautiful creeper plant. I have never seen it before. We can grow nice phlox around here. Some that shade. My favourite.  All this rain has made my Hosta grow way to big.  Grew really fast this spring. Need thinning out bad.

I've gone back & back and never did get to a place I posted last.... but recognized posts & photos so just forgot to post, I guess.    Sorry for not keeping up.  Doesn't get any better than this, photos from Alaska to beaches of Israel and lots in between.  Thank you all for the gorgeous photos.

Are the little blue flowers considered a "wild flower" in some areas?  Reason I ask is the park department planted wild flowers on the hill behind these houses a few years ago, thinking it would save them from mowing.  Wrong!  Only a few grew to bloom, most were overtaken by the weeds.  Weeds got so tall it was a fire hazard and at the time, these houses all had wood roofs.  Anyway, blue is my favorite color so when I noticed a blue wildflower I tried my best to save it from the mowers... failed, but if I remember, it looked a lot like your photo, Jean. 

Jack, I love trees of all kinds but have never seen one like that.  Doubt if it could tolerate the Kansas winds.  Does it smell when in this stage?  I have a mimosa coming back from a root of the tree that was in that spot about 6 years ago.  I loved it but Cas was sure it caused mildew on the top of the Rialta because it was parked near, not really under but shaded by it.  No reason not to let it grow since the new RV parks on the other side of the driveway.  I really hated to see that tree cut down, it smelled so good when blooming.  My gr-mother had a huge mimosa near the driveway at her house.... so fond memories. 

Patricia, my brother-in-law called me twice from Alaska this past week.  I think this is about his 5th or 6th trip.... with a different friend this time.  He has some very good friends that include him in their trips, they share expenses and he'd never go alone so a good thing for all of them.  One group of friends fly into Anchorage & they rent a big RV to "mosey" around in.  They also rent a place for a couple months in FL during the winter.... invite him down for fishing.  He had a battle with cancer about 10-15 years ago and we didn't think he would survive so am really happy to see him enjoying life.  Thanks for sharing the photos & info, maybe I'll get there my next life.   

Mary Ann, I hoped to get vinca vine to grow here, when we lived in Leawood, KS we had a big deck on the main level that had vinca under.... just outside the windows on the next level down (4 levels).... I never had vinca before and loved it.  Can't get it to grow here.  I've given up planting (except trees & I keep moving them around).  I have pink or rose columbine, blue cornflowers, yellow Japanese iris, tiger lilies, gold coreopsis, mums, yucca plant and some other flowers that grow where they please, reseed themselves or multiply and I've decided not to fight what wants to grow.  Last year the birds planted cane in the middle of yucca plants that I paid to have dug out the year before... grew back double as many & then the cane grew taller than my house.  I chopped & chopped to get the cane down & this year I am going to cut the blooms off about half way (they are shooting up right now) of the yucca & put that poison on it that goes to the root to kill the plants.  I hope it will get to the cane & kill, too. It is in the patch of ground between the driveway and sidewalk to the front door & is a jungle already.  I've got to get control....  This ground has Bermuda grass and a ground ivy that is impossible to get rid of.  Some people had had their whole yards dug up, put plant killer on & reseeded in the fall with fescue only to have the other grasses take over again in a few years.  Not worth the mud one whole summer to have it only last nice for 2 summers.  I don't like yard work (that is an understatement!)

I just looked out the sliding door & it is dark!  I'd better check on cats.  They are pleased to have the pool full again, they think it is just for them, a big bowl of water! 

Lloyd and Tisie...I have found if I post early on Sunday morning, before the new week's picture is put up, my post just disappears. So keep that in mind Lloyd when you post at three or four in the morning.

There may be a method of finding your post, but I don't know what it is.

Time for me to say Goodnight and get myself ready for book and bed. Have a Blessed sleep and a happy tomorrow. I love you all.

My upstairs neighbor has two dogs he keeps on his front terrace  overlooking the street.  Whenever someone walks his dog along the pavement or even across the street, these animals bark furiously even after the intruder is gone.

Two days ago an inquisitive crow  landed on the tree in front of the terrace and started answering the dogs. He "called", the dogs answered back and fort for maybe 20 minutes.  It was so funny!

yesterday the crow was back, calling.  But the dogs were not home and the bird was very disappointed. He kept calling and looking, bending its head left and right. He got quite close and so I managed to take a nice picture.

I'll wait and see if he comes back today
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Shirley the fringe tree has a sweet aroma when in bloom.  Surprised any tree can survive the high winds you experience.

Bubble, cute story.   Mimi will bark at passer byes or a neighbor coming down to visit.  I will bring her in after a few minutes of barking.   Good neighbors, all claim her barking does not bother them, but still do not want to irritate them.   Never heard Mimi having a conversation with a bird.

I have heard of Blackbirds imitating sounds...There was once a newspaper story of a regular Blackbird in the heart of London, who got so used to the sounds of sirens whizzing past, that it picked the sounds up, and was often heard mimicking them....whether fire-engines, ambulances or police cars...I have also heard of Blackbirds mimicking a barking dog...I have yet to come across a Crow doing the same...

When my daughter was about a year and a half whe had a regular early morning conversation with a crow in the tree outside her bedroom window.   

I have talked to some old crows in my life, but bet they told people they were talking to an old goat.

Just kidding.  Are you able to kid anymore?

I sure hope it's still OK to kid a friend!  And get kidded back, of course.   

Bubbles, such a good clear photo of the crow.  I saw a TV special about crows and they are very intelligent.

Jack, I don't think there are any PC rules about animals and/or birds - thank goodness!  Yes, we can kid, but we have to watch who we kid - big brother may be watching!  Or to be "politically correct", big sister, also.

Mary Ann

I have enjoyed watching crows ever since we bought this house.  They are real characters.  One winter we had a number of crows that mingled with the Canada geese that came begging.  One crow was such a tease, it would hop on a goose's back & ride it until the goose would fluff it's feathers & bounce it off.  Would jump right on another one.  We had one that sounded like a person gargling... was around all winter.  Great shot, Bubble.  We raised a bluejay that barked like the dog next door.  My daughter brought it to me when it fell out of it's nest in a tall tree at her baby sitter's house.  It lived for 7 years & thought it was people.  Hope your crow returns. 

June, I think it was over in the Soda Shoppe that Lloyd was wondering what happened to his post.  I have also noticed that my late night posts rarely get a comment when "morning comes too soon".... cause "our girls" are on their toes & switch pages on us.   

My power was out when I got home while ago, couldn't get in the house.  I have 2 locks on the front door & we never did get the one on the massive handle "re-drilled" or whatever they do when you don't have keys.  The garage doors are too heavy to lift without power & gates, etc. are all secured with locks that I don't carry keys for.   Now I need to go set all clocks, hate that job!

I just did a dumb thing, took a photo of Tom (cat) laying on his back as usual, but curled so cute.  Notice on the camera about the shot going to the hard drive..... I checked & sure enough, left the SD card in the laptop.  I have no idea how to get that photo off the hard drive & onto the computer. Woe is me for being so dim-witted!  

I went down to the old computer with Vista, planning to re-install Paint Shop Pro and for whatever reason, PSP came up & I played with it for a while.  Resized a photo of the wisteria that bloomed not long ago.  It really was quite an unusual sight so high in a
"scrub elm tree". 

EDIT: What am I doing wrong, "it" won't let me pick a photo in MY Gallery in here... only gives the option to pick a photo from my computer desktop.  NOT what I always did before.  

try 'save image as'... maybe that will help?

If you need to post something here, you can send to me and I'll do it with pleasure.

Shirley, you should not be using the "Attachment" feature to choose from your Gallery.  That should only be used for your computer or another offsite.  For a Gallery photo, go to your gallery and choose directly, using copy/paste for either of the codes supplied.

TaDA!!!  Thank you Jeanne Lee..... I remember you telling me that before.     Memory is not what it used to be.   

Thanks, Bubble, for the offer.  Been thinking about you & wanting to tell you that our local weatherman just retired this week and he & wife plan to spend time in Israel doing some kind of volunteer work.  His name is Dave Freeman, in case you hear of him.  If not for these cats I would love to make the trip.... Think I should just appreciate what I do have in my life and not always wishing for more. Did your crow come back?  How about a little food for it?   Crows are scavengers so will eat anything (from what I hear).

I need to organize my photos in my gallery.   It tells me I have 4 photos but have lots of other images.... need to see if I can put them in different folders or something.  Maybe leave things alone & be satisfied that PSP is working on the other computer & have started up the little 12" XP to see if it will open on it.  Never know what to expect. 

Shirl, I heard of two Dave Freeman here,   from South Africa.  Where exactly will yours go?  If they want to volunteer, the best is to contact "Esra", the organization of English speaking immigrants.  They have a branch in almost every big town and do a lot of excellent work with their volunteers.  They also have a online magazine if they want to check it.

The crow is back almost daily.  I found out it is a juvenile. The day after, as he tried to attract the dog attention, he lost his balance and was hanging precariously with one leg on the branch while calling piteously. An adult crow came to the rescue: landed on the branch and gave him a push so that the crowlet was upright again.  It was hilarious to see how the juvenile got scolded and then the parent flew away again.  Such a pity I did not have a good view for the camera with the many leaves/needles in the way.

Bubble, here's a clip of where Dave & wife plan to go:  "Haifa, Israel, to serve at the Bahai World Center. All three of our kids went there and served a year of volunteer service, and we saw what it meant to them.”   He has won nice awards for his work, Cas would call him "bobble head" because when we had severe weather to talk about, he would "get with it" & his head would be pointing as his hand would point on the map just where to expect a tornado or hail. 

I always loved history and you are sitting right in the middle of amazing ground..... so glad to have computers to see what we only read about as kids.  You have shown us more of the REAL Israel than all the books ever could. 

Too bad you couldn't get a video of the crow baby needing help, Jack knows how to size them to post, probably would have gone viral in minutes. Dad & his brothers had a pet crow, lived outside but stayed near them... stole his gr-mother's thimble, glasses, etc & she would blame the boys until they found Jim Crow's hiding place.   

Jack also lives in the heart of US history, I would love to just hop in the RV and spend a year or so seeing the US.  Guess it would take longer than that to see the Northeast, on to Alaska and south to enjoy the spring blooms in the desert.  Too bad this RV doesn't seem to stay well very long and I'd hate to spend all my time sitting in a repair shop.  Seems nothing is made to last so will be content to do what I can around here (within 550 miles either direction). 

I've got to quit loading food & supplies in the RV, frig & freezer nearly full and don't have the last minute fresh stuff bought yet.  I will have to take some things out before time to go (not for a couple weeks yet).  I made fruit ice last week & had to store it in the freezer in the RV as the big freezer in my basement was full & the "side by side" frig/ freezer running over.  Expect the big container of fruit ice will disappear over this holiday.  I just put my flag out, hope it doesn't get too windy.

Plan to go to the Farmer's  Market this morning to see if anyone brings fresh fruit & veggies from the south or CA.  Don't think any of the gardens in this area are producing yet.  

Shirley.  A friend and I decided to also take a trip (Only using a 27ft trailer with a big jeep behind.) It was a plan I had had since coming to the US). as both working we decided would take 3 month.  You had better plan a year at least as we ended up taking 7 months and only covered most of the Western states. From Canadian border to Mexican border. All the states in between. Some area you do one day and many you end up a week.  Missed a lot of places . Now would like to just do the places we went through, liked but did not stop.  I have done most of the states over the years but never done the North Eastern States. Have done that side of Canada and lots of New York, Boston all between Illinois

You are driving a large Moter Home. This would make it slower. So much fun doing it and taking time. You would need someone along with you. I don't have family other than 2 girls who were then married.  Was lucky to get another person who wanted to do it.  I would sure jump on a chance to do it again. Taking longer time. 

Bubble, Crows can be very easily tamed. If you were to talk to him from your balcony you could invite a new companion into your life. He showed his friendship by speaking to the dogs. I would love to see you get him tamed.

Shirley, when you think American History, you can't leave out my area.  Fort Ticonderoga, Fort William McHenry, Lake Champlain, Saratoga, etc...  the days of the French and Indian Wars as well as the Revolution.  Also we were part of the Underground Railroad for escaping slaves and John Brown's memorial is in the Lake Placid aea.  And the cabin where President Grant died is also in my county.   

Jeanne Lee, I never have "pin pointed" where you live, remember it is east that's where brain stops.  I do recall Lynn Franz showing the old cemeteries & places where he lives... and you are right, all the eastern states have so much history.  Who was it that went to visit you one time, on the train?  Seems long ago, didn't you get injured during the visit?  I know I didn't dream it........

Shirley, I'm afraid you did dream that visit.  No one has ever visited me by train and I have never been injured during anyone's visit - in fact no visitors at all.  Maybe someone else will read your post and have the answer.   

Jeanne Lee, I can't think of anyone else .... someone living in the historic east US and visitor gave an hour by hour train trip that I loved.  Been a long time ago & too many people missing, may have been in the Senior Net days.  My brain is a blank today, my son has a 10:00 am appointment to take his dog to be put to sleep.  We are all mourning with him.  Besides that, I'm trying to get all my insurances taken care of, all come due in early July & I am beyond busy June & July.  Got the house & car taken care of but RV  and Roadside help can't seem to come up with an amount until "within the month" due... so you never have time to compare with other companies!!!  Cas had good reason for separate policies on RV & car.... and car & house... and the roadside assistance, and I've just carried them on.  If I don't call & take care ahead they don't give me the reduced price (which is about half what comes out with the paperwork).  I am frustrated & not at all patient this morning. 

Shirley, I can't imagine who it could have been.  I think, though, it must have been in the more southern area of the east coast, or possibly something in New England.  The historic sites here in northern New York are accessible mostly by road, not train.       

It sounds to me as if it was Pat on some of her earlier journeys between Canada and the Northeast.

Pat did post some pictures on Facebook of her travels to and from Virginia, but she always drove, never traveled by train, and she never did get to visit me.

I wasn't considering her going by train or visiting you, Jeanne. What I thought of was Pat's many posts, not only of her European adventures but also of her trips between Canada and the US prior to her second marriage.

Seems to me the lady making the train trip was someone that did graphics & may have been from the Missouri discussion.  At the time I was amazed that she traveled alone, think she had a husband (stayed home)....and the lady playing host had some kind of accident. It wasn't Pat, think she quit posting shortly after that adventure. 

I've been hauling stuff to the RV & am now going to need to spend time cleaning it out!!  The kids keep giving me camping stuff for every birthday, Christmas, Mother's Day.... and I could outfit a store!  Still a while before we go but trying to be organized this time.  The son riding with me is the one born neat.... nothing ever out of place & throws away anything not used at the moment.... and then buys again when he wished he hadn't thrown away.  The other son takes after me, saves & saves to the clutter stage.