Just checking in

[Candice]

  Hope you all are staying well and cool!!   :hug:

[Shadow]

Hi Candy. We are good. Enjoying a respite from the heat. How are you?
Hi to all the gang  :)

[Candice]

I'm doing great!  You can keep the heat and just a little bit of the rain.  Garden is loving it all though.   

[Mhayes]

Just got back from Portland, OR before the heatwave.

[Candice]

Are you getting the rain we're having in OK?

[Shadow]

Lovely flowers Candy!

[schen]

After the tornado scare (it touched down a mile from us with F3 force), we went through a heatwave then followed by rain, rain, and rain. This is after one of the driest springs in the area.
With the rain, the wildflowers are coming out. These are taken at the abandoned railroad track by my workplace.

[Candice]

Schen, it's amazing what the change of the weather does.  While it may not suit us, there are some plants that take full advantage of it.  Our areas have been full of wild flowers!! The fleabane is beautiful and I hope you munched on a few of those dewberrys!! 

[schen]

The wild berries are tiny but very flavorful. The rain stopped and was followed by another heatwave which is supposed to end this afternoon after some severe thunderstorms. This year's weather is a real rollercoaster ride.

[schen]

I finally made it to this infamous Humboldt Park Lagoon. It became a sensation two years ago when an alligator was spotted in the water. How did an alligator more than 5 foot long got up to Chicago is still anybody's guess.

[Candice]

Beautiful, Chen!!  As for the alligator, perhaps someone finally got tired of it as a pet. I remember those alligators being sold at TG&Y when I was a girl.

[Mhayes]

How beautiful Schujen.

[jesterjeni]

Wishing everyone is safe!!

[jesterjeni]

I'm actually working on trying to get a book of poetry published
This pandemic is rough on everyone
I'm hoping all of you are staying safe !!
I thought I would share a poem I wrote with all of you wonderful people!!


I went home today

I wasn't brave enough to visit my parents graves

The majestic splendor of yesteryear
Filled my heart

The streets rolled by
like  a time capsule


The excitement of being able to see an old friend

The joy of seeing where I grew up

The hidden history in that small house
That we had all once called home

It beckoned me to look at it
To remember it
To feel it

It saddened me
To know that within its walls was something different
Someone different
Decades had passed

It rejuvenated my soul
If only for a moment
To talk to my friends as if they were a part of our family- because in many ways
They were

reminiscing about my childhood
My mother
My father
My brother

For a moment- they were alive
For a moment- I felt alive

Life is just moments
They are lived - experienced
And pass
Like a whisper

[Mhayes]

Beautiful Jesterjeni!