June has just about gone by

The first month of the summer is almost over.  We are all in the "June routine".  The Muny started and we have season tickets again.  I have managed to persuade Ben and Maggie to go for another year. I think Maggie's likely to bow out before Ben.  The first show was Wizard of Oz, and both Ben and Maggie went.  They loved it.  Ben came with me to see 42nd Street this week, but Maggie had a softball game and chose to go to that rather than the Muny!!!!

Maggie is still going horse riding every Tuesday.  Our new routine has been that Ben and I go to Starbucks after dropping her off.  It's about the only time of the week that we get to spend time together.

June is probably one of the best months for growing in St Louis and we have spent a lot of time with our new garden this year.  Sam's pet hate is the conifer in next door's yard that grows over our driveway.  I had a go at cutting it back the other day.  Unfortunately, once you cut the limbs that are over the driveway, all that is left is the dead underneath!!!!

It has been a good basil growing year so far.  I have already made one big batch of pesto and it's almost time to make another one

This is my version of the Botanical Gardens mint tableau.  I think it's doing pretty well so far

I replanted my coal shuttle as the herbs in it were looking pretty punk

My gazanias are doing really well

I planted these blood flowers, hoping to attract butterflies

This is my June picture of Caduceus on the SLU campus.  Their flowers are doing well

This is my colleague at work.  She SLU left this week.  I had to take the picture of her because I thought her choice of desk was hilarious!!!

Another year older...

Maggie and I are both another year older!!!  Both birthdays slip by without too much notice.  Maggie had softball games on her birthday and my birthday, so we didn't see much of each other.  Maggie wanted to have PF Changs for dinner and watch a movie, so that is what we did.  I didn't finish work until late on my birthday, so Ben and I went to get ice cream and Caroline joined us for a short while.  The kids went to summer school on June 6 for 3 weeks.  It will be over very quickly. 

The days are getting longer with it being June, it is almost light when I go to work.  I took a June picture of Caduceus on my way into work, it's almost light enough to see it!!!!!

Maggie went horse riding on Tuesday and so Ben and I did our usual run to Starbucks.  He's reading his new medicine text book!!!!

Sam bought me this print for my birthday and had it framed.  It's hanging in my office...

He also told me how to hook up his old monitor to my computer, so now I have 2 of them.  I'm so high tech!!!!

Blake (one of my old students) came to see me.  Just a coincidence it was my birthday!!!

Freshman Year at Brentwod High School-Ben

Ben had a really amazing year at Brentwood High School.  He has done so much better than we would ever have guessed.  At the end of the year, his GPA was 3.73 and he had mostly As with one B.  Let's hope he can keep the momentum going.....

And the Summer begins......

Summer break seems to come earlier and earlier each year.  Even with an extra 2 days of school to make up for snow (what snow?), they were still out before Memorial Day.  This is shaping up to be a major pool year.  It's become Ben's latest obsession and they have been there almost every day since it opened.  At least we should get our membership's worth this year!!!!  I think they spend most of their time on the diving board, I wouldn't know because I have dropped them off most days.  Ben is moving into the era of hanging with the chickies.  I think Maggie is somewhat cramping his style though!!!!

Maggie is ALWAYS happy to go to the pool, and she is super-tanned already

We went over to see Jan last week too.  The ramp they have in front of their house is quite spectacular, so I thought it was worthy of a picture!!!!  She is doing fine.  Can't really get around very much though.  She is pretty much confined to bed because of the 7 fractures in her pelvis and can't put any weight on her legs for 8 weeks.  That essentially means both Jan and Julie are tied to the house for almost the whole Summer.

June trip to MBG

Ben and I met Arline at the gardens on Sunday morning.  It was Maggie's birthday, but she had a softball game and so we had to split up.  The gardens have a project going to integrate the parking spaces with green spaces.  They have areas with native plants growing.....

The planters at the front are looking lovely

They had planted some new things in the areas in front of the Linean House.  Arline asked if this means we have to go every week rather than every month!!!!!

Got a much better picture of the sea monsters this week

Took this picture of the raised herb beds so we could figure out how high to build ours

Loved this arrangement of different herbs, so will try to reproduce at home

Nice camellia

Arline's tree

Some of the lilies were still flowering

No idea what these curly things are, but we loved them!!!!

We ate brunch at Cafe Flora rather than Sassafras-much better and more civilized!!!!

This was delicious and way more than I could eat

Arline took a picture of Ben and I

Should I drink it, or pour it on my waffle???!!!!

Found these figs in the Children's Garden

We hadn't been in the Children's Garden in a long time, so took a quick walk through

We also walked through the Kemper Center to see what local gardens "could" look like!!!!

I love this pink yarrow.  Haven't had any since we lived on Boneta

Ben used to play in this water all the time

Spectacular hanging baskets (as usual)

I think I might try planting some astilbe at home

I can never get clematis to grow

We found these kiwi plants.  Actually, we can't believe they are kiwi so we are going to keep our eye on them and make sure they are not actually gooseberries!!!!!

I love these mother-in-law tongues. Always wanted one as a house plant

Found this little succulent in the Africa section.  I had one of these when I was young!!!!  Never seen them in years