Presenting: HandmadeBySandi

In honor of Memorial Day, I decided to choose these two patriotic items from our Etsy Blogger of the Month: HandmadeBySandi. She has quite an interesting variety of items in her shop at http://HandmadeBySandi.etsy.com Her items range from jewelry to adorable baby washcloths to many delightful crocheted items which, as a fellow crocheter, I can tell you are artfully done. Congratulations, Sandi, for being the Etsy blogger of the month, and for having a birthday this month as well! I have only one important question for her: Is that candy included with the bowl????

New Perennial Garden

My wonderful daughters provided the first perennials for our new backyard garden as a gift for Mother's Day: seven gorgeous columbines, three of which you see here. The garden idea was the result of our adding an addition to the house last winter. Our contractor backfilled around the addition and built us a small raised area shown below.
Today we selected and purchased the rest of the plants and tomorrow is planting day. Because it is a sunny area, we tried to choose flowers with color who love the sun, including black eyed susans, shasta daisies, salvia, blanket flower, and pinks. Check back tomorrow and throughout our summer growing season for for the completed project!

M.........other's Day Camping

For quite a while now, Mother's Day Weekend has always meant camping with my older daughter and son-in-law. Their tent camper is roomy and comfortable. This year will be extra special because my younger daughter and sil will be visiting from Boston, and will join us. It should be extra interesting with our latest weather forecast. I took this picture of the camper last weekend which was gorgeous and warm. This weekend we're slated for rain and cold with possible snow! Good thing it has a heater. Can you say "games" instead of "hiking" and "chili" instead of "hamburgers?" No matter what, we'll have a glorious time!!!

T.........he Gift

On Saturday morning a slim volume arrived in the mail, a gift from a former student. I had known that something was in the works, but the result was one of the most precious gifts I have ever received. It is a copy of the doctoral thesis in philosophy written by a very fine young man that I had the privilege to teach more than 15 years ago. As you can see, the dedication claims that it is partly my fault! However, I'm accepting none of the praise or blame because even the title is daunting: Spacetime Gaps and the Persistence of Objects Through Time. It will take much thought and study on my part to even begin to understand it! He was even so gracious as to mention me in his thank you section. I've always felt that teachers want their students to surpass them and he has truly proved this theory. Thank you, Tom.

You may also be interested in checking out the charitable organization that he helped found and for whom he works: www.gamersforhumanity.org a most useful and valuable group that fills a unique niche in the world of charity.