What A Gal!

One of the hanging planters our Princess put together for us. I guess I should wash the pot - I did not realize how dirty it was until I looked at the picture!

Yesterday Trucker mowed a lady's yard for her. I knew who she was, but did not know her personally. She had been watering and weeding her flowers for four hours when we got there yesterday, so she was ready for a break. It was enjoyable to spend a little time with her and get to know her better. She is eighty-six years old and still living on her own, drives her own car and keeps up three flower gardens plus several potted plants in her yard. Her lupines were gorgeous; dark purple with the flowering part of the stalk at 22 1/2 inches long! I did not think of it until just now, I should have taken a picture of it with my cell and shared it with the rest of you. Too late now.

Not only is she a gardener, but oh my goodness, you should see the crafts! She showed me three Sunbonnet Sue quilts she is working on for her great-granddaughters. Sunbonnet Sue's dresses are made out of flour sack material. Not replica material, but the real deal flour sack material! She had some laying around so she figured this was a good time to use it up. Sunbonnet Sue's bonnets are made out of some fabric that Ella bought at a Ben Franklin store that went out of business in the '50's! The '50's! How organized is that? She still had material from fifty years ago, knew where it was and that it would be perfect for the quilts she was now working on. And to know where her flour sack material was - when did they quit using flowered flour sack material?

She had an oil painting set up that she is working on, too. She said she is getting disgusted with the painting because she cannot get it to turn out the way she has it pictured in her mind. The painting is of the ocean, a close up of one of the waves before it crashes over on itself. She cannot quite get the swell of the wave the way she wants it. She thinks she has eight or nine layers of paint on parts of the print!

Quite a sense of humor she has, too. I was looking at her family pictures hanging on her wall. She brought over her wedding picture to show me. While looking at the picture, I told her she was a beautiful woman. She laughed and told me, "I wasn't always fat you know!"

When Trucker was done mowing her lawn, she asked him if she could get on his schedule to be mowed on a regular basis. I am already looking forward to the next time he has to mow Ella's yard.