Sunday, April 10, 2011

Botanical Gardens

How many pictures is too many to put in one post? Surely 10 is okay. 15? 20? Sometimes I sit down to write, and I have 30 or 40 pictures. Good grief! What am I supposed to do with that?

We went to the Botanical Gardens this afternoon. I imported 65 pictures out of the hundred-and-something that were on the camera. I would love to show you every single one...but...that just doesn't seem reasonable. :) That is just way too much blogging, and I need to be finished in time for AFV...that's 45 minutes away.

I don't know about where you live, but around here, it's rose time. Everywhere I drive I see beautiful roses. We were enjoying them on the way home from church, which gave us the idea to head out to see the roses at the Botanical Gardens. They have lots of beautiful roses.

Off we go!
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Now, there's lots of wonderful things to see on the way to the rose garden. Not least among my favorites are the herbs. We love to walk along, pinching the leaves and smelling our hands. We haven't been out to the BG in quite awhile, so I was afraid to hope that they still had one of my favorites...but they did!
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It's Chocolate Mint! What a treat to smell. Is Jesus the best, or what??? Regardless of whether Chocolate Mint is a hybrid or not--I have no idea--it's there. It was right there on God's Green Earth, waiting to be discovered. Aaaahhhhh. What will heaven be like??? He makes the best wine, fries some good fish, and invented mint. sigh... I love him.

Okay, so I was in raptures, and we weren't 15 feet into the gardens. My family really had to be patient with me.

I snuck these in before I had to catch up with them...
Poppy...
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Onion...
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I don't know what...but William says its petals feel like silk (how cute...)
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I caught up with them at the windmill. The pump handle was going up and down all by itself...at least when the breeze was up...and the boys loved the water...
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Look at that smile..."It's sweet Mom!! Sweet!!"
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It took Trevor longer to dive in, but he finally did...
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I love it dripping off their chins...
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On we go... It was fun to watch them following Tim like little ducklings...
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We made our way to the Koi Pond. Samuel liked looking at the fish. He's down on his knees, looking at them through the cracks in the bridge.
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Photo Op...
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Down in the trees, I found this beautiful moss...(er, is that moss? I need some plant geek to educate me). Wish I could have gotten a clearer picture...
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And finally, on to the roses...

I enjoyed practicing with Tim's big lens...
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Beautiful just doesn't seem a full enough word...
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Enter...thesaurus...

Beautiful: pleasing the senses or mind aesthetically
Delightful: causing delight; charming
Exquisite: extremely beautiful and, typically, delicate

Ah-Ha! That's the one...

Exquisite.
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I'm happy to have been able to present you with these gems sans gnats.

The gnats were horrible. Fortunately, there was a fountain...surely put there to bring relief to harassed little boys who must wait and wait while their mother takes just one more picture...
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We were all harassed...
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Tim and I tried to hold still long enough to have our picture taken. William took this one...
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We might have been a little more beautiful if we had had our picture done as soon as we got to the park, and not when we were all sweaty...

We wanted one to use on our new facebook page for Poplar Head...maybe this one will work. Trevor took it...
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And the boys...
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And Trevor...he's really into posing for pictures lately.
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And, back to the windmill and that sweet water...
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(Cool sign...)
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A good ending to a good excursion...
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So, how did 30 pictures treat ya? I've got 2 minutes left before AFV. It may sound silly, but the ONE hour a week we spend watching TV is not to be missed...mostly because we all enjoy it together. :)

2 comments :

  1. Jill, I just love your blog! Andrea T. told me about it a while ago, and I've been encouraged and blessed by it since! Your life looks so fun and happy! I hope you are all doing well! Take care-Dusty Reed

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  2. Dusty, you are so sweet. You almost scare me, commenting on how fun and happy our life looks. There is SO much yuck that doesn't make it into the blog. But, you make me praise Jesus...he picks us up, cleans us off, and somehow, mostly it's the beautiful stuff that sticks with us. We're a mess...but we're a blessed mess. :) Thanks for dropping a note!! ~Jill

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