The First Empty Nest Mothers Day - Bouquets and Memories

This is not exclusively a gardening blog, and I will be back to ramblin' on other subjects next week. (Stay tuned especially for Haiku Tuesday on May 10, and for my guest blogger this Thursday.)

In the Blogathon I am participating in, my gardening/photo posts have gotten good response.  So, since this is one of my favorite subjects anyway, I'll keep with it (plus the spring plants of Binghamton and Johnson City) a few more days.

This Mothers Day has dawned foggy.  I didn't mean to be up this early but my spouse snores and.....

This is my first Mothers Day as an empty nester.  Will my young adult son drop by later? (he works nights, so it wouldn't be until late afternoon or early evening.)  Will he call at least?  I'm going through that kind of thing for the first time.

Fellow mothers of adults say "he's a son" when I wonder about those things.

And, of course, I think back to other Mothers Days, when I got up early because my energetic toddler/preschooler was up early.  In those days my spouse usually worked weekends so it was just me and my son.  There were the couple of obligatory Mothers Days "breakfasts" consisting of somewhat interesting food that I grinned and beared through.  If my spouse was home, it was a joint effort.

And then I had a day to do what I wanted.  In those days, what a luxury!

I still appreciate it.

I would also be remiss if I do not pay tribute to special Mothers in my life.  For those interested I am reblogging two previous Mothers Day entries. I especially pay tribute to my Mom, who died when I was 12.  Mothers day always has a poignancy about it for that reason.  But onward....

Today, if the fog lifts, gardening is on the agenda, as my back permits.

So, as it is Mothers Day:  I have some virtual flowers for all my "mom" readers.  I've been enjoying the Blogathon, and welcome fellow blogathoners visiting my blog with more photos.

Taken yesterday on the West Side of Binghamton are pictures of creeping phlox.  This homeowner has several patches of these plantings, but I would have needed to go onto his property-which I never do-to take other pictures.  So this is what I could take from the road.

Here is another view:

The other picture is a closeup of what I think is a double flowered pink flowering cherry.  It does have cherry tree like bark. This seems to be a good year for these trees.

For some reason (probably a combination of bleariness and Blogger) my photos are not cooperating, so I am going to end the post a little sooner than I had planned to.

Later today, I hope to post pictures from our area's annual orchid show.  I took some pictures Friday but they aren't as high quality as I would have hoped. I'll pick through them and post the best.



So, from upstate NY, I wish every Mom reading this blog a Happy Mothers Day, and I hope to post some orchid pictures later today.