Visit to Brenham

I went to Brenham last week to see my mother for a late Mother's Day.  I helped with a couple of projects around her house and took her to lunch.  During the course of the day she "zingered" me a few times.  But I tried to look past all of that so we could have a nice visit.  And for the most part, we did.

 We spent a lot of time outside.  She had to show me her new chickens, her garden, and a nest of birds in one of her oleander bushes.

 I tried to zoom in to get a picture of them, but all I ended up with was fuzz.  They stopped bobbing around for food when they realized we were not their mama!

Although, maybe that's a beak sticking up?

 We went to a couple of plant places searching for petunias to put in the planter boxes hanging on the chicken house.  These are called Wave Petunias - they will trail down the sides of the planter boxes and make the chicken house look sweet.

 And admired the pretty cactus plants - there were so many to choose from!

 She bought a couple of them for a cute terra cotta pot that sits on her deck.

 I cleaned up some empty pots she had and added some lantana that one of my other sisters brought her.  I pulled weeds around this row of bricks, swept them, then spaced the pots out.

  Swept the deck, watered everything, pulled errant weeds and grass from inbetween the boards.  I should have taken a before shot - this is a huge improvement.

 She didn't want to plant these in the yard but she had the empty pots, and lantana is drought resistant.  I expect these plants will do well since they get full sun and are easily watered.  I also pulled weeds from her rose bush and watered it, too.

 She made a terrarium of sorts out of an old fish tank and added ferns and a few rocks, with styrofoam peanuts on the bottom layer for drainage, with a few rocks here and there.  I also re-purposed an old red wicker basket to hold all her tennies and gardening shoes.  Though you can barely see it, it sits between the terrarium and the back door.

It was nice to work on the back deck for an hour or so, helping her spiff things up a little.  Though it's not easy for me to get to Brenham more often now that I am working a 40 hour week, I should probably schedule it in more often.  Sometimes it's discouraging that she blurts negative things about myself, kids, and hubby.  I try to make an allowance for the fact that she is elderly, and really, that she's always been the way she is.  Sometimes you have to  accept the flaws to appreciate the beauty, you know?  I was glad to spend the time with her, and I think she enjoyed it, too..