I flew down to Texas last weekend because I couldn't go spring break.
Mom's list of "things to do" had gotten longer in the intervening days.
Good Friday was hot and sunny. A cold snap turned the weekend into a
raining, drizzling, chilly mess. No one in Texas would dare complain
about rain, so I made the best of it sloshing through mud in Rio's lot.
On Mom's to do list was to rearrange her mantel. She had seen a picture in a magazine and wanted hers arranged like that and had picked out the pictures, and my job was to find the rest of the items that would make it look similar to the magazine photo. It was kind of fun, digging through her cabinets, drawers, chests, and scoping out all the rooms to find things to make it balance. She likes it, and Sis and I agreed it was waaaaaaaaaay better than before with her 1990s' "home decor" that we have been slowly trying to tone down and simplify.
Sis and I had to stop for a few groceries after she picked me up at the airport, and I had picked up a bouquet of roses for Mom. While out getting groceries Saturday, I picked up an Easter flower arrangement for Dad's room. He does not get out of bed on the weekend any more. Sis always decorates for the season and any reason she can come up with. She said it keeps them engaged and they like it. I brought them in and said I could not let my sister out-do me on all the rabbits, and Dad laughed at that. It is true, she has rabbits on the place mats, rabbits on the buffet, rabbits on the potholders hanging by the stove, rabbits on the hand towels..... But, I think she is right about engagement-- Dad commented every day and then some about his pretty flowers, and how many more had opened up during the night.
She hasn't had time to put out spring flowers, so I picked up a couple while at the store to help get started in the transition. I got one re-potted, but then it started raining so I couldn't put it on the deck, and ran out of potting soil--I was not well-prepared, was I?
I have no idea what these little red and purple flowers are called, and I don't recall ever having seen them before, but I was enamored of them, so into the basket they went. Horse feed and treats for Rio was the early morning Saturday chore as the feed store closes at noon. I love going into the local feed store! You just back up to the dock, get out and tell them what you want, and then go inside and tell them what you got and pay for it. A feed store smells like no other place, and their chocolate lab is always right there by the counter, looking as beautiful as ever. I always tell him cousin Kate says hello.
Dad was in a super good mood all weekend, and Mom was in a bit of an upswing as well, so it was one of the best visits in a while. Mom is in the process of going through her photos to make a photo collage (one of the things on her list for a long time now) so we spent a lot of time looking through them and picking out which ones to put where. That of course always entails talking about what you were doing at that particular time the photograph was taken. It is literally like watching your life pass before your eyes.
And then, before you knew it, we were heading back to the airport and I was home right in time for pine pollen season. Life is so sweet.
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