Monday, January 17, 2011

January GBBD: A No-Show

I know I'm very, very late for this month's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.  But I have a good excuse why I was a no-show on January 15.


No, it wasn't because the only blooms I have are some fake poinsettias still sitting in a pot outside.

Nor was it because I don't have any indoor blooms either.  The impatiens getting a good watering in the kitchen sink before returning to their sunny spot in the guest room haven't sported a single bloom since December.  Neither are there buds on the Christmas cactus or signs of green on a few bulbs being forced.

No, the main reason I didn't show up on time for Bloom Day is that I was preoccupied with one of my favorite "blooms"--my daughter who flew home from Arizona to spend several days with us and attend a bridal shower given in her honor.  It was so good to see her, especially since she couldn't come home for Christmas.  We had lots of quality time together, but were also very busy finalizing wedding plans for later this spring.



Daughter prefers not to be pictured here, but Granddaughter is not so shy.  An evening was spent searching for just the right flower girl dress, no easy task when the bride wants simple and the flowergirl wants Cinderella:)  But eventually everyone agreed on the perfect choice.

Daughter also enjoyed another evening with her brothers and all her nieces and nephews. The house was filled with hugs and laughter, and the grandchildren added their squeals of delight.  (It took me most of today to clean up the basement play room!)



All too soon, though, she had to return home.  We will miss her, but I know she won't miss the cold and snow of Illinois!


Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day is hosted as always by Carol at May Dreams Gardens.

32 comments:

  1. An excellent reason for missing Bloom Day! I'm glad you had a great weekend with your family!

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  2. Rose, I think you will be forgiven for being late. Especially since the 'flower' girl is such a cutie. I'm glad it was a great weekend for you all.:)

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  3. What a wonderful time you had. When is the wedding to be held? Your granddaughter will have so much fun wearing her pretty dress! :-)

    Be careful with that icicle!! (recalling Mr. Shady's mis-adventure with a huge icicle a couple of years ago!)

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  4. The best kind of bloom. Your granddaughter looks so sweet in her dress. Stay warm!

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  5. Those that live on the frozen prairie are forgiven for not attending GBBD. Besides you had the sweetest blooms dancing all around you. What a precious Granddaughter. She looks like one of those actresses on the red carpet with her red rose attached to her dress.

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  6. Beautiful granddaughter and what a big icicle!
    As usual there are plenty of lovely photos on your post.
    Maggie X

    Nuts in May

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  7. Rose, I'm sooo glad I didn't miss this post. Your granddaughter is simply gorgeous....she looks like a young starlet working with a stylist in preparation to walk the red carpet.

    That icicle is huge. I rather like the look of your fake poinsettias in the blue pot.

    You sound so happy in this post. Good for you. Enjoy the good times.

    A warm hug from me to you.

    donna

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  8. There is no doubt about it that our children and grandchildren - and great grandchildren are the most important blooms in our life. Your granddaughter is beautiful. We send all our best wishes to the shy bride.

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  9. That is a wonderful excuse no doubt - glad you had some happy blooms to brighten up your winter!

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  10. how nice you got to spend some time with your daughter and granddaughter :)
    that is one scary looking icicle!

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  11. Rose, we did have a wonderful time. Busy, but fun.

    Beckie, Wish you could have joined us on our shopping trip. Daughter-in-law is already worried about Granddaughter's plans for her wedding one day:)

    Shady, The wedding is in May in Cancun. I'd love to be on the warm beach right now! Thanks for the warning about the icicle:)

    Plant, Thanks for stopping by to visit!

    Lisa, You must know Granddaughter--she would love nothing better than to walk the red carpet:)

    Maggie May, I know you understand how special these times with family are.

    Donna, Thank you--granddaughter loves the attention. This was the perfect outing for her. I hope all is well with your family.

    Pat, Thank you for your good wishes. It's a special time, and my mind this spring will be on family more than the garden, no doubt.

    Cyndy, I told Daughter, though, that there was something wrong with this picture--I should have been visiting her in sunny Phoenix instead of her coming here to the deepfreeze:)

    Rachel, The icicle does look like a huge dagger, doesn't it?

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  12. Perfectly understandable --what fun to have your daughter home and have a bridal shower. I like the dilemma between simple and Cinderella...too cute. Love her dress.
    My daughter is getting married 2012 and since we moved I am not sure on shower locations, wedding location, etc..... hard to do long distance isn't it?

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  13. As the mom of a son~these kind of plans are not in my future; but, I can enjoy yours. Your grandblossom is lovely and she has your smile! ..Is this the dress chosen for the big occasion? It's very cute. gail ps I almost didn't post Rose~There's been no flowers for quite awhile!

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  14. Your grandblossom, to borrow Gail's word, is absobloominglutely radiant and lovely in that dress. May the bride be even more so in hers!

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  15. How wonderful! What a sweet "grandblossom", Rose.

    It was raining on GBBD and there's nothing much here anyway so I never took a photo.

    Thanks for putting that impressive icicle on the blog - only get wimpy ones here ;-].

    Annie at the Transplantable Rose

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  16. rambleonrose said exactly what I was thinking: an excellent reason to miss Bloom Day! :)

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  17. Well Happy Bloomday to you and a wonderful one for sure. Family must trump blooms any day and shopping and planning for a wedding is a biggie! The dress is perfect!

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  18. I think you can be excused for being late.
    You have a lovely granddaughter.

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  19. Janet, Daughter has done almost all the planning, but I'm responsible for a few things. Communicating by email is not always the easiest way to make plans:)

    Gail, This is my first time of mother of the bride, so I'm excited to be more involved than I was when my sons got married. "Grandblossom"--I love it!


    Cindy, Thank you! We all knew when we saw this dress it was the perfect one. Daughter's dress is simple but beautiful.

    Annie, Isn't that icicle something? It's probably been building up for a month.

    Sweetbay, I wouldn't have posted at all, except I don't think I've missed a Bloom Day since I started blogging.

    Tina, My mind is pretty much on two things these days--planning a wedding and planning a garden:)

    Mac, Thank you, and thanks for stopping by!

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  20. Hello Rose,

    I don't know if I can forgive you for having fake poinsettias. :)

    Such a sweet flower girl....I like the way this photo shows the photographer as well.

    Congrats to your daughter!

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  21. Hi Rose :) Your fake Poinsettia looks a whole lot better than my 'real' one left over from Christmas, sometimes there is something to be said for fake!

    Your granddaughter looks so pretty and what an exciting time for you all, expensive too I guess ;) I'm sure we will all look forward to updates on the preparations.

    We had some of those huge icicles, they hung around (excuse the pun!) for quite some time.

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  22. Your granddaughter is adorable! The blog can wait, although it's funny that you wrote a long post about why you don't have time to blog. Your backyard looks like mine

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  23. Stay bloomin' happy and enjoy this special time, dear Rose. Your beautiful granddaughter is a 'bloom off the Rose' :)

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  24. Sounds like a wonderful time Rose! I can relate to the fun and excitement of wedding planning, although ours is still a long way off. So glad you enjoyed some special family time.

    Your granddaughter is beautiful, and her flower girl dress is lovely!

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  25. You fooled me with the Poinsettias. LOL, I thought they were real...

    What a beautiful Princess you have there Rose! She will make a wonderful Flower Girl...

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  26. Warm thoughts on a cold day! Has the mother of the bride picked out her dress?

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  27. Hi, Rose!
    Sounds like a fab time was had by all. Family comes first, flowers later. Darling dress on the grandbebe!

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  28. I'm glad you posted late for bloom day, rose...another excuse to make some more 'rounds' to some GBBD posts I've not yet gotten to.
    Your granddaughter is adorable in every way...what a little sweetie. You have much going on with grandchildren, daughter visits, wedding plans! It will be exciting to see what you share when the big day comes and I look forward to photos and your great story telling.
    By the way, had you not mentioned your Pointettia was fake I would have thought it was real. I still have a real one (though it isn't looking quite that good!) and I can be pretty naive when it comes to these things;-) So ya could've fooled me.
    I do hope you'll see some blooms on your impatience soon. I have never kept them indoors for the winter. Not a bad idea, really. Even if you don't get more blooms, you can put them right back in the ground and they'll do their magic for you later in the spring. I think that would be a great idea, especially if you had some impatience that were particularly special or difficult to find.
    Have a great weekend;-)

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  29. Dear Rose,
    You show cased the most beautiful of blooms! Your granddaughter is darling and she will always remember her Flower girl dress.
    That is a huge icicle. A few years ago I broke the huge ones off our gutter since they were weighing the gutter down so terribly. As it turned out they actually bent the gutter. Ice is heavy!
    Stay warm! Your wedding and garden plans are the magic to keep you smiling until the Spring thaw!
    Sherry

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  30. I love how happy your granddaughter looks in that photo. Her dress is so pretty. Congratulations to your daughter!

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  31. An excellent excuse! Granddaughter looks beautiful. I hope the bride will let you publish some photos from the day!

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