St. Patrick's Day Done

 Above is my Astrid and her kicking foot for soccer!  She is thinking these feet are for running and kicking.  The RHS Cyclones beat Conway last night and she used that foot to kick.  When soccer is tied at the end of play you have a kick off.  Five from each team kick with only the goalie guarding.  Astrid made her goal.  Cyclones won 5-4.  I am glad to see them get a win.

 Ingrid's Tech Volleyball is almost over.  They play this weekend I think.  This is her team yesterday with hats on to practice!

 I went to the Russellville Library Monday and I found a few books to read.  First, I read about the Unabomber's brother and the story of him turning Ted in to the FBI.  Actually, his wife first suspected that Ted was the person planting bombs.  She had David read the Manifesto that Ted had published.  It was hard for him to decide that this killer was his brother.  But over time he came to the conclusion that Ted was the bomber.  He compared phases his brother used in letters to him and his family and to phrases in the writings that were published.  He tried to investigate to see if his brother could have been in the bombing locations.  When he was convinced, he reached out to Ted thinking he would go and visit and see if his thought was supported by the visit.  His brother wrote him to never contact him again and not to come to see him.  David did not tell Ted anything about what he was fearing.  He just wrote and said he missed him and would like to visit.  When he turned his brother in, he received a million dollars from the U. S. Government.  They promised to keep his name secret.  It leaked the first day.  The families' life became a nightmare.  David then began a fight for his brother's life.  He did not want him to be executed. The family was Polish.  Both sides of the family came to America from Poland a generation earlier (his grandparents).   Ted has never had anymore contact with his family.  But his life was spared and he is still alive today.  I think he was born in 1942.  He has been a happier person in prison.  He can read, correspond, study, exercise, has food provided.  Since, he was always the type that did not want to associate with others, the solitude is something he can "live with".  I really liked the book.  Making a moral decision about someone we love is so hard.  David made his decision because he was sure more people would die and he felt a responsibility to do what he did.

The next book is "Naked Strangers".  Fleta read it and I am going to.  It is about a paramedic and how over time you lose much of the empathy in situations that are bad if you endure them over and over.  Fleta liked it and I am going to read it, but I have started the book below.  The author is compared to Rick Bragg, who I really like so I am reading it now.  It does sort of remind me of Rick Bragg's writhing.

 The white Jonquils  are blooming.  I think Larry's Mom probably got them from a client when she worked with home health.  She liked her job helping the elderly clients.  They gave her flowers, bushes, etc. and she planted them here in Galla Meadow.  I am going to move this when the tops start to die.  But aren't they lovely.

 Took this photo of the renters two horses.  They are both friendly.  The red horse is a half grown colt.  Her name is Crystal.    The pinto is a Welsh.

 I am hoping Amy can tell me what this is.  This is another plant Ethel got from a client.  I like it and Sister Patsy told me what is was but I have tried to search back and can't find her answer.  I think the name starts with an A and is a four or five letter word.  It sort of grows like a Hosta but is not that.  It loves the shade and will have a white cupped bloom in the summer late.

 I call these Blue Bells.  Ethel set them out and they have spread all over the yard.  They are very small and delicate but so pleasing.

 My Grandma Gaddy hens and chickens survived another winter.  The cold is hard on them and I am always afraid they will all freeze out.  My friend Kay gave me the pot.  I requested it once when I saw it at her house empty against a shed.  She did not let me have it until she broke.  She glued it back together and then gave it to me.  it is still special!   Grandma Gaddy could really grow the hens and chickens.  I recall her showing me her patch at the house on Harrison Hill.  I always think of her when I look at them.  I think of Grandma Powell when I see Geraniums.   She had several and took them inside in the winter and returned them to her big front porch each spring.  I can still see the bright red ones so clearly.  I may buy me one this year.

 I have been working on the fence row by the house.  It is full of black berry briers and every kind of weed and brush.  It was lots of Wild Cherry trees.  I am leaving a few Red Buds.  They don't grow very big.  The Blue Birds do not like a nasty fence row and i want them to build nests in all my houses.

 Blue bird house near a Red Bud in the fence row.