BIRTHDAYS

Today is my grandson, Evan's, birthday and also the birthday of my brother, Ralph. Evan is fourteen. Ralph is exactly sixty years older. He doesn't really seem that old to me. It seems like only yesterday that he was fourteen. He really has aged well. Here's a picture of him that was taken at Christmas time:

We Schmidt's tend to be partial to the months of May and June for birthdays. I was born in May, too. So were my sons, Carl and Peter. Most of the women in our nuclear family have preferred June. Our daughters, Mary and Heidi, both picked the same day (June 2) a year apart. Dickie waited till the end of the month (June 29). Our youngest daughter, Gretchen, held out until September 23. In any case, we're all having happy birthdays again this year and wish the same for everyone else!


BACK OUT TO THE COUNTY PARK

Dickie and I drove out to the county park again today to take our morning walk around the lake. That makes it a fairly lengthy exercise, but it's always enjoyable. The great blue herons that make their nests in the tops of the redwoods were in fine fettle again today. They can be very noisy. I think it's when the young ones are being fed. The quail were all over the place today, too, calling to one another. I managed to get a picture of this guy sitting on the fence as we walked by:

SURPRISE, SURPRISE

Several years ago a friend of ours gifted Dickie with an amaryllis bulb. As I recall, it was suppose to bloom at Christmas time or on her birthday, but it never did. It has been sitting around in a pot all this time in one place or another. Dickie had about given up on it ever producing, but, lo and behold, this spring it finally came to life - and it's beautiful. Here's what it looks like:

That's it for May. See you next month!