New Landscaping

Wonder of wonders.... the landscaper told us he'd be here this morning before nine o'clock, and he was here with his crew at 8:30. Forgive my doubts, but I had good reason, being that we were still waiting for other landscapers to return our calls.

The flowerbeds in the front and back yards are now totally different, which is amazing to me because they used all the plants we already had, and just added three new ones to the new design and layout. Large plants from the back were moved to the front, the zillions of spider plants in the back were thinned out.... the back yard looks bigger, the front yard looks more tropical.

The landscaper and his crew were done before 3:00, and I had time to rearrange my yard decorations in the flowerbeds before Oprah came on at 4:00. My little white porcelain ducks (The Quackernackle Choir) seem to be quite happy with the new arrangement. Our across-the-street neighbor has already been over here to ask for the name of the landscapers, along with our next-door neighbor and the lady who lives on the corner.

Now I have to decide whether to keep the yard guys who are cutting our lawn, or switch to a different company who will upkeep the flowerbeds as they are now. The current lawn guys are very nice, but most of them don't speak English so if the owner isn't with them, I can't ask them to do anything unless I look through my Spanish/English dictionary. I hate to hurt that old man's feelings, but we've just spent a lot of money on these flowerbeds and I want them to be taken care of properly.


Pajama Program news.... as of this date, we've collected 307 pajamas and 285 books. I've got a new volunteer in Houston, near downtown, who is ready to deliver her collection of pajamas from her Wine-Warming Party last week. I'm very lucky to have downtown volunteers who not only want to collect pajamas and books, but are more than happy to personally deliver them to the shelters. This new volunteer is already planning her next event... she's calling it "Books, Burgers, and Bingo." Instead of collecting pajamas, she will ask her friends to bring children's books..... her menu will be barbequed burgers, and they'll play Bingo for prizes. Not only is she a great volunteer, but she has a wonderful imagination, which is always a plus.