To grandmother's house we go

Yesterday afternoon Doug and I drove to Covington to visit my grandmother and aunt and take back some pictures I had borrowed to scan a few months ago. Sunday was such a pretty, clear day and a little cooler than it had been over the past week or so. A lot of Nannie's flowers were blooming so I took loads of pictures. We also visited with her chickens, I was hoping Doug might be swayed by seeing them, alas he was not. Although he did think the rooster's feathers would be ideal for fly-tying.

Clematis

Iris

Crown of Thorns (Euphorbia Milii)Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis)

Snowball bush, one of my favorites (Viburnum opulus)

One of my grandmother's peacocks & a tomcat that hangs outSugar, my aunt's horse

Ricky, the rooster, who has a slightly garbled crow more 'cock-a' than 'cock-a-doodle-do' Ethel, the hen (there was another hen, Lucy, but Nannie said something got into the pen and killed her)

Valentine, a hen that (based on my aunt's best guess) is around 12 years old, which seems pretty old for a chicken. My Nannie seemed concerned the chicken might have arthritis.We also drove over to my great-grandparents old house. It's been tied up in estate issues for years now.It's nothing like it once was, but I wanted to go snap a few pictures of it. Most of the grass is overgrown and there's a possibility there are creepy-crawlies slithering around so I didn't go much further than the driveway. I have very happy memories of spending time at this house (more about that later this week). In fact when I was first born my parents lived just down the road. If I squint my eyes real hard I can see my great-grandfather sitting on the front porch cutting up an apple with his pocketknife.